Novel Rupegia

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by Manasong, Oct 10, 2019.

  1. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 11th.

    I'm shriveled but Alissa massages me until I release it. This morning routine is sacred.

    Here's my progress:
    Info
    Name:Wolf RyderAge:16RaceHuman
    HP:100MP:560Magic Power:235
    Level:17Experience:386/3500
    Stats
    Strength:9Endurance:10Dexterity:9
    Speed:10Intelligence:20Wisdom:16
    Willpower:15Charisma:11Piety:12
    Perception:15Sanity:8+4
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:"Good Luck" Nickname
    Affiliations:Helios (Fellowship), Alissa (Blood Slave, Fiancee), Hanafuria (Blood Slave, Fiancee), Roxanne Succubus (Fiancee)
    Companions:Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel
    Crimes:NONE
    And my skills:

    Wolf RyderSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use9+6Dodge4+5Parry4+5
    Block1+8Shield Bash0+1Muscle Explosion0+1
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana0+5Mana Control0+7Mana Recovery6+0
    Mana Efficiency1+4Reduced Mana Cost5+0Mana Overuse Resistance0+2
    Electric Magic0+5Light Magic6+4Space Magic19+12
    Summoning Magic12+8Blessing Magic2+8Nature Magic0+8
    Redirect Mana (creator)2
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Andraste Language10+0Dismantling0+2Enhanced Semen Recharge0+3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)

    With this, my trump card is [Gate]. This skill has an extra part that's called a "coordinate" that stores the location of wherever I'm standing. I can store up to "(skill level/5)+1" "coordinates". I then choose a coordinate and when I cast the spell one black circle appears on the ground in front of me and one appears on the "coordinate". Whatever touches the black circle gets teleported to the other one just like when you teleport between floors on a dungeon. If my mana is not enough then the object just doesn't get transported. Since my [Space Magic] is level 11 I can maintain 3 "coordinates" and not lose them when I remove all my points on it.

    I believe most mages must learn a weaker version of [Gate], the prices for a space mage teleport are quite high, it must cost them a lot of mana then. With 30 points on [Space Magic] it's not really expensive and I can use it a lot for all of us. Those tests were made hiding from Ciel, of course.

    Before we leave I put more points in [Nature Magic] so I can use the level 20 spell [Animal Tongue] and speak to the spirit griffin that was waiting for us on the back wall.

    "We will be gone for a few days, ok? I'll leave this last piece of meat here but we will give you more when we come back."

    The griffin turns his head sideways and then he looks down, he at me with sad puppy eyes.



    We move to the west gate. The dinghy is still comfortable enough for us, I hug Hana and Alissa on the back while Roxanne flies it besides Ciel. When we registered Ciel she got the town pass too so we just have to spend a few seconds at the gate. The meeting place is directly outside the town past the chest-high wall, we are the first to arrive.

    I concentrate and chant [Wind Armor]. Repeating the chant a few times I get an inspiration and manage to find the way to cast it in an area, it ends up saving a lot of my mana. The way to cast it in area feels very similar to the way I expand my soul to use [Redirect Mana], I guess this is why this was easy to me.

    "Oh my, you truly are becoming quite the mage, Wolf," Ciel says.

    "Hmhm, every day I fall for you even more," Roxanne says while she rubs her cheeks on my head.

    I don't feel that proud though, I'm kind of a cheat, my Earth knowledge and point reallocation is a huge advantage here.

    I cast [Sharp Blades] in an area and after about 30 minutes chanting I also manage to cast [Swift Foot] in an area, instantly my [Blessing Magic] increases by 2 (now it's 2+10). Unfortunately this cost me 1/4th of my mana and I start to hear a ringing in my ears signifying I overused my mana. Casting mana intensive spells really screws with your body, even my throat hurts.

    Ciel can cast [Inspire] that reduces physical, magic and mental damage slightly and gives us a small stamina and mana regeneration boost. For Alissa, Ciel casts [Perfect Arrows], which reduces a lot of the drag on her arrows. You have to get used to it but Alissa has talent with the bow, she adapted quickly and now her arrows can penetrate deeper.



    I look around and nearly everyone is already here. Hilde was observing me, I see she brought 2 mercenary space mages.

    Unfortunately, Simon is here too. His fellowship, Swift Wind, is composed of 6 people. There are 2 gold haired elven male archers that look like they are constantly smelling something bad. There's a large muscle head who carries a greatsword and his face reminds me of ogres. There's a small mage with a forgettable face who looks like he's always sleepy. And there's an average brown-haired halfling who uses a sword and dagger.

    Alissa told me halflings are humans who reach a maximum of 1 meter tall. They have round faces and noses and are very adept at hunting and farming, with most of the (in)famous assassins in history being halflings. Don't ever confuse a dwarf with a halfling you don't want to anger a person who is in arms reach of your jewels.

    A man approaches us and speaks.

    "So you are the boy," he says. I don't like the way he talks.

    He's the leader of Escutcheon, a fellowship that has 4 shield users, one mage, and one archer. He's a big burly fat man with a tower shield, his skin is slightly darker than Ciel's, his black beard cover most of his round face and his small beady eyes look at me with a slight hint of wildness. In essence, he's a big black bear.

    I just raise an eyebrow and stare at him.

    "Tell the truth, how did you kill the Orc Headhunter?" He says and crosses his arms. Even Ciel glares at him.

    I point my finger to the side and expressionlessly cast [Lightning Bolt]. He jumps backwards in surprise.

    "What the fuck," he mutters.

    "I don't have to chant, you know what that means, right? I don't chant and I use the sword, you know what that means, right?"

    "Hahah, so I guess there's no way for me to ask for a spar without magic?"

    "Fuck no, that's asking a swordsman to fight with half a sword."

    "Fucking'ell, I guess you are fine then. And all your women can at least lift their weapons?"

    "Logan, remember they killed the Symbol of Hate and subjugated the goblin village," Hilde says, approaching us.

    "You always get yourself the weird ones. The boy got his own harem," he says to Hilde with a crooked smile.

    "Yes yes, this fellowship is quite valuable and expensive, go back to your place and let them work," she says while waving her hand dismissively.

    "Tch, alright," he clicks his tongue and leaves.

    "… Fucking magic dick," I clearly hear him mutter.

    At 7:40 AM we depart south.



    Alissa goes far in front in her fox form while Roxanne guides us with our map. After drinking one of Roxanne's high-grade MP potions I control 2 german shepherds on the flanks. Hilde and her party walk between Swift Wind and Escutcheon. At the back a 2-man scouting party makes sure nothing sneaks on us.

    By putting the 5 free skill points Alissa has in [Sense Presence] she can sense things from pretty far away, nothing will get past her.

    The goblin population is still down, we only met 4 of them.

    Suddenly my ring glows green. We bought another pair of Emergency Stones, this one is for Alissa. The green means she found something she can't deal alone, it's a Young Ogre.

    Alissa fires an arrow perfectly into an eye, again. The Ogre charges towards us.

    "UGOOOOO!" He yells.

    "URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Hana yells harder. The ogre decides to charge her.

    Hana grips her sword with two hands, she dodges his charge and slashes, cutting one of his legs clean on the knee. He falls down heavily and skids on the mossy dirt. When he stops Ciel stabs him on the throat mercilessly, then she grimaces. She seems content to be on this trip, she's eager to fight but I know she's not really enjoying the killing part.

    I didn't even have to fight.

    After a while, the ring goes green again. We carefully approach Alissa, it's a Grey Berserker.

    "Hm… I wanna try something. Hana will distract him, I will summon an elemental with a mace and if it gets stunned Alissa will fire an arrow on its eye, if it doesn't die you girls cast [Wind Hammer] and [Torrent] at his head in this order. If all fails we mob him and go for high-damage."

    "Why do it like this? Isn't it a bit risky?" Roxanne asks.

    "I wan to preserve the fur the most I can, it's very valuable and I also wanna test the blunt force of the elemental. So I will go right, Roxanne behind me, Ciel left and Alissa is free.

    We all agree to the plan and rush forward in formation. The Grey Berserker immediately turns and looks at us warily, it's deciding whether or not it's worthy to fight us, he's more clever than the average monster.

    "Come here, you big fat ugly shithead!" Hana taunts.

    It roars and its eyes focus on Hana, then he charges. I summon a 3-armed metal earth elemental, the more my skills increase, the less human I can make it. This one has one arm sprouting from the top of its head with a mace for a hand.

    The bear gets up on its hind legs and swipes at Hana, she dodges and then blocks the second attack, a scale flies from her shield. Holy shit these claws are sharp, this is the first time our scale shields got damaged.

    The elemental runs awkwardly towards the bear and bends its whole body down while swinging its head-arm. The attack hits the bear and brings him down but since he was standing up there wasn't enough momentum to kill him. The elemental hugs the bear who was stunned for a second, then the bear starts thrashing about, he can't break the hug.

    "He's moving too much, I can't get a shot," Alissa says.

    "[Wind Hammer]!" Immediately Ciel lets out her spell.

    The spell hits the cheek of the bear-like a boxer punch, the bear stops for a second and resumes thrashing but weaker.

    "[Torrent]!" Roxanne lets out a thick but short burst of water from the tip of her staff.

    The bear is hit on the other cheek and now he's groggy. Alissa fires her arrow and it hits his eye, the arrow goes so deep you can only see the feathers remaining. The bear twitches and his body goes limp.

    "Oh, I leveled up," says Hana.

    "Look at this, the fur is perfect!" I cheer and rub my hands, I can feel the gold coins.

    "W-what's with you Wolf?" Asks Ciel, her eyebrows knit in worry.

    There are 4 women in our house, all I want is enough money to play dress-up with all of you.

    "Well… uh, I have certain things I want to buy."

    Roxanne and Alissa share a look, they know my expensive hobbies are either tea or clothes for them.

    I approach the corpse. The fur is perfect, we will get the full price for this body. I store it all.

    "Wow, your [Item Box] is pretty big, Wolf," Ciel says.

    I had to stop myself from saying a dirty joke.



    Hilde seems satisfied with our actions since we have a good forward scout the others don't have to stop until we deal with the monsters. Even when a group of Mossy Fangpines appeared we engaged them before they threatened the expedition. Logan just scoffs and looks away, he won't admit we are skilled, what a tsundere.

    We make a stop for a quick lunch, Alissa and Ciel cooked a lot of food for us so we have proper meals and not the simple stuff from the food stalls. Corn is not as important to the local culinary so I taught a few recipes with cornmeal to Alissa and now she's putting it in everything.

    After lunch orcs start to appear but they are all naked and unarmed, it's just target practice for Alissa.

    With such a small amount of monsters appearing we had no hangups but we still barely made it to the campsite before it was sunset. It seems Hilde overestimated her own stamina as she slowed down a few hours after lunch. If she had asked for [Swift Foot] we would have been on time, maybe I should have offered first. With this, there's no time for Alissa to scout the numbers of dragons on the nest so we just make camp.

    Our camp is at the edge of a mountain range, brown rock protrudes from the ground with white diagonal streaks, this is the Pavees Mountain Range, a delicious name that reminds me of a dessert. Inside the mountain range, there's a cave system where the dragons made their nest. A warm, covered, and secluded place is the best nest for dragons, there are a few monsters who love to eat dragon eggs.

    My women and Hilde don't mingle with the other fellowships, considering they are all composed of men there's a real unbalance here and their gazes make me burn with jealousy.

    "Holy shit Ryder, are they all yours?" Simon says while we pull out our tents.

    "Hm, yes, they are all my women."

    "Last time I saw you you were just with the small lass there, the hell is your dick made off?"

    I force a wry smile.

    "Last time I saw you you were looking for someone to track the Orc Lord, right? How did that go?" I ask, trying to change the topic.

    "That was focking rough mate. We got the 'halfshit' assassin over there to track the orc for us and he actually did a good job, the orc had ran away from The Smirk and was marching back southeast to the Sea of Trees but we found him. The problem was getting near the fucker, his guards were good sniffers, we had to roll up in literal orc shit to be able to approach him. Hah, you should have seen the 'halfshit' cut the dick of the Lord and then run away like headless chicken because he enraged the fucker."

    Orcs are proud of their genitals, cutting one off will make it go berserk until it dies. Since it has no other purpose in life besides reproducing and fighting, once reproducing is cut off it will fight to the death with whatever comes in his way.

    "He actually cut it off and survived? Is he lucky or stupid?" Hana interjects and saves me from the conversation.

    "How about both? The Orc Lord actually cut down his own guards, made things easier for us until the whole orc camp woke up from the noise."

    Hana keeps the gruesome conversation until I escape and call her to the bath. Ciel keeps watch, though it's unnecessary since I can now summon 4 dogs for guarding and a bird for spying. Now that nobody has the energy after yesterday's orgy we just fondle and kiss each other, I reward Hana with a good amount of attention and breast massages.

    After we get out Ciel is blushing. I'm pretty sure we didn't make any lewd noises so I'm not sure why she's blushing, maybe she's just imagining things? I'm pretty sure she knows we do it all the time during the bath.

    After Ciel takes her bath Roxanne uses her magic to dry her hair and brushes it. Ciel integrated with us so well that basically the only difference between her and the other is that we don't touch each other, yet.

    We gave the orc corpses to the other fellowships to eat. If one didn't know about this world they would see this scene as a bunch of cannibals roasting 2 ugly green men. Orc meat is slightly green and tastes like pork. The ribs, abdomen, and arms are considered the best parts.

    I ate orc before but seeing things like this makes me a bit sick, the people here sincerely do not consider monsters to be any close to humanoids at all.

    I keep 2 Rottweilers as intimidating guards in front of my and Ciel's tent and the 2 other german shepherds keep making rounds around the camp. My bird is a small owl that I hid in a nearby tree with a good view of the camp, if anyone tries to sneak about I will know.

    Today is a slow day so I get the women to teach me her weak spots, my tongue got so tired I had trouble speaking.



    Today is the 12th.

    Hana wakes me up with her insides squeezing my member. She's getting rather addicted to me giving her pain but I don't want to make too much noise here by being rough with her so she's a little dissatisfied. We use [Clean] on the tent and Alissa makes sure there's no smell, then we call Ciel.

    Oh, the horror, our table is too small and the tent doesn't have space for a bigger one so the charcuterie board that we are used to make in the morning is much smaller.

    Ciel enters and starts blushing. Really, again? I was wondering why she was like this when I noticed Alissa is moaning softly while I brush her tail, I guess I got too good at it.

    When we break camp only my group and Hilde and her assistant have bright expressions, everyone else suffered because of the guard, bad food, and bad beds.



    Alissa doesn't waste time and sneaks into the cave entrance. Yesterday she was supposed to observe the number of dragons and how many are leaving the nest, but because we were late she couldn't do it.

    Dragons are social creatures and live in nests with around 20 others until they are mature enough to live alone and reproduce. The strategy is to wait for most of the dragons to leave to hunt and kill the remaining few, then we wait until the rest comes back one by one and ambush them inside the cave where they can't fly away. With 2 space mages perhaps we can kill the entire nest.

    We break camp and move closer to the cave entrance. If you pay attention every once in a while you hear the flap of wings, it's the dragons moving about, this makes everybody tense up.

    At around 8 AM Alissa sends me the signal, the gem on my Emergency Ring turns green.

    "Let's move," I tell Hilde.

    This time we will have very little to do. My party will stay in the back while everyone else helps kill the dragons remaining in the cave. It's not like we are useless, the noise and smell of blood could attract other monsters that we would have to deal with, we could even end up facing a dragon by ourselves if we are unlucky.

    Alissa joins with us and the party leaders.

    "I saw six dragons leave, they are all barely two meters tall. There's three at the cave, they are guarding eggs. There's two hatched and one weird signature.

    "Weird signature?" I ask.

    "Yeah, I don't know how to explain. I'm not sure if it's an animal or a monster but it's small like the other hatchlings."

    That's new.

    "I know a bit of [Nature Magic], perhaps I could use [Animal Tongue] on it."

    Hilde shrugs.

    "Suit yourself, but if it's another dragon per our contract you will have to buy it from me."

    It's not like I want it or anything, I'm just curious but whatever.

    "I will only pay the standard price for a dragon child, if it weren't for Alissa you would never know it was special."

    Hilde thinks for a moment and narrows her eyes. She knows it's fair and she has no way to scam me out of more money, [Sense Presence] is a fairly rare skill so the discovery was truly only possible because of Alissa. She sighs and resigns.

    "Fair enough."



    Escutcheon leads, followed by Swift Wind, then Hilde, and then us. The scouts will stay outside and try to warn us of anything dangerous coming, Alissa will stay at the entrance.

    This place is a cave system, it has one large tunnel that bends sneaks deeper in the mountain and multiple side-branches that goes on for a kilometer or so. The ground is uneven and full of protrusions, but you can see the effects of dragons going in and out of it every day, there's plenty of spots that got flattened by their huge feet or scraped by their claws.

    I take one point out of [Sword Use] and put it on [Sense Presence]. Without Alissa, everyone realizes how convenient her sensing is. As the main party goes forward cautiously we check plenty of the side branches.

    There's an annoying enemy in caves called Scritter due to the "scritt" noise they make. It's a 30-centimeter tall black crab-like monster that can stick to walls. It's attracted to light sources and if not dealt with they will eventually swarm you and nibble you to death so we regularly go around the side branches to exterminate them.

    We also found a few normal slimes, which are amoebas that spit acid and eat anything organic. For those Hana uses her bow and we kill them with ranged attacks. It deflates like a water balloon and leaves a rubbery outer layer that people use to make jelly.

    After Roxanne collects a few mushrooms we finally reach the cave guardians. I hear a roar and the ground shakes, the battle has started, we finish clearing the back and move forward. We reach a large open space filled with bones where the smell of animal and shit is noticeable to me, good thing Alissa isn't here.

    There are three 2-meters tall blue dragons fighting, one already has an arrow on its eye, another has a deep slash on his neck and is bleeding profusely and the last is being pushed back but is unharmed. The dragons are large quadruped lizards with long claws and thick bodies, their wings grow from their backs to over 5-meters in length, and they have long necks allowing it lots of dexterity during a bite. Their teeth have edges, allowing them to cut down whatever they bite and also carve those teeth into swords, like mine.

    Escutcheon has spread themselves and they are taking care of two dragons while the muscle-head and the halfling from Swift Wind suppress the last dragon. One or two arrows bounce off the front scales of the dragons, which is the hardest place, but most arrows penetrate the wings, making it difficult for them to move it. Some arrows hit their mark which is the back and sides of the dragon, those are the soft spots.

    A few arrows hit the right spot and the front legs of the second dragon lose their power. It tries to swipe one last time but it's so slow that the man on the front manages to cut it off, the dragon roars in pain and retreats a bit. The first dragon gets angry and charges mana, he's trying to breathe fire.

    I notice that Simon is the only one who didn't try to hide behind a mage or a shield user, he aims his bow and remains perfectly still. Once the dragon opens his mouth Simon lets out his arrow and strikes to the roof of the mouth of the dragon. It chokes and uncontrolled flames fly around but they get so weakened no one gets threatened with a burn.

    The dragon gets confused and desperate which gives an opening for the others to slash his neck. He gets completely decapitated once one of the mages uses a [Water Blade] directly on a deep cut. 1 down 2 to go.

    With new support for the halfling and the muscle-head, they go into the offensive and quickly the 3rd dragon is drenched in blood flowing from its neck. It starts to slow down and tumble when the muscle-head charges and does a savage downward slash with his greatsword. The head of the dragon flies as its cut off from its body.

    With one dragon remaining the halfling decides to be retarded and jumps into the back of the dragon. He stabs his knife and sword into the back of the dragon and uses them to hold on while the dragon goes crazy trying to shrug him off, this is bad because no one wants to approach a rampaging dragon.

    "That's enough ya halfshit!" Yells Simon.

    With a maniacal laugh, the halfling jumps off his back and the others finish killing the dragon. With only cuts and bruises, the first fight was a complete success. Ciel, the Angel runs around and heals the fighters, pure and thankful gazes share room with a few lewd and evil ones.

    I take a clean look around the nest. There's a spring nearby, this is why the nest was so deep inside the cave, there's enough water here to sustain all the dragons. Making a nest on top of trees or mountains is not a good idea for dragons since they need a nearby source of water for their young, which are very weak and can't fly until a few years later.

    Hilde immediately starts moving and with a *poof* she pulls out a huge, scary-looking knife. She starts cutting down the leather of the dragon, Lina receives the scales, cleans them and give them to the space mages. Hilde's guards bring out huge axes and start chopping the limbs and cutting the meat. Nobody else knows how to do this so we all just watch.

    I move towards the back of the nest and look at the eggs and hatchlings there. There are 4 black eggs with light blue spots on top of a bunch of dry leaves and sticks. Beside them there are 2 small dragons that are the size of small dogs, roaring to anyone who comes close, their scales move up and down like a wave, the borders of these scales are sharp like blades. The last dragon is curled and shaking at the furthest point of the cave, it's obvious which is the special one.

    "Hey, I wanna try something, don't kill the hatchlings yet!" I yell to the guys suppressing the aggressive hatchlings.

    "Eh? Why? These shits are dangerous," says one of the men.

    "Just stay back, child monsters aren't aggressive, they have a strong sense of self"preservation.

    "This is such a bother, why sh-..."

    "Just fucking do it!"

    Hana approaches and lets out a bit of [Intimidate]. Thanks, honey, that helps. The guys back off with a frown and Hilde lifts an eyebrow.

    After the hunters leave and the angry hatchlings calm down, I approach the scared hatchling and put points into [Animal Tongue] and [Sense Presence]. Using these skills I observe how the soul of this little dragon works. It is truly different from the soul of a normal monster, it feels closer to an animal.

    "Ciel, stay near me, I will meditate to try to understand more of this dragon, I will try something that might tickle you a bit. Hana and Roxanne cover the entrance."

    "Oh? Sure."

    Ciel sits close by me. I didn't tell you to sit but ok. I can feel her warmth since she's basically touching my shoulder, quite pleasant.

    I extend my soul to all the hatchlings and Ciel. The dragons tastes salty and dirty, once I start to feel the delicious taste of Ciel's skin I suppress my sense of taste and focus on observing their souls. There's a clear similarity to the souls, it's like there's a "layer" that's covering the souls of the monsters but it's covering only half of the scared dragon, it's like an orange half-peeled.

    Monster behave like animals until they meet a humanoid, when this happens their bloodthirst prevails over all other senses, aside from children and the smarter ones it even topples self-preservation. So could that last layer be the override that makes monsters aggressive? If so this explains why this little dragon doesn't attack and is instead completely scared.

    Dragons are one of the smartest race of monsters, so it's self-aware enough that knows we are humanoids who killed its parents and are about to kill it and its siblings. The fact that it's scared instead of angry tells me it's special, it's like the ID we use to differentiate monsters from humanoids is part of the "code" that makes monsters behave the way they do.

    I look at my side and Ciel is hugging my arm. There's no softness because of her armor but there's a considerable squish on her bust, her face is red and she's breathing sensually. Oh boy, I knew it felt good but I forgot how much it felt good. I know Ciel looks favorably at me so I felt like teasing her more but I think this is borderline harassment, she's not as depraved as the others.

    She notices I'm looking at her with a smirk and she quickly gets up and moves away towards the girls. Fortunately, nobody noticed her momentary lewdness.

    "Alright, kill the others, I will buy this one and keep it safe," I say.

    The guys shrug and with a frown, they draw their swords and decapitated the hatchlings. The last dragon looks even more terrified at the swords and cowers again, I draw its attention by tapping on the ground.

    Well then, I have no idea what to do but let's try to improvise.

    "Hey, look at me, I will keep you safe ok? You are special, you are different, I won't hurt you, ok?"

    The dragon locks its eyes on me and I feel it starts to reduce the shaking.

    "You understand me? I know you are not a monster but you aren't an animal or humanoid either. Can you nod if you understood this?"

    The dragon stares at me for a few seconds and it gives me a shy nod.

    "Excellent! I'm sorry about your parents but this is how life is here, they were monsters and they were dangerous to us. I can protect you, do you want my protection?"

    The dragon nods again with more confidence.

    "Here, you hungry?"

    I pull a plate and put a piece of raw mutton on it then back away. The dragon shyly unrolls itself and moves around, observing the piece of meat.

    "You can eat, if I wanted to poison you it would be easier to just use magic or cut you."

    The dragon looks at me and narrows its eyes. What? I'm telling the truth. Then I swear I hear it sigh and it starts to eat. Once it's done it stares at me with renewed courage.

    "Do you understand that you are special? These other dragons are not like you."

    The dragon looks at its parents being butchered for a while then looks at me, with a sadder look.

    "The world won't wait for you to mourn, you have to be strong and stay by my side if you want to live, ok?"

    The dragon nods. Jesus, how smart is it? I feel I'm talking to a human child.

    "Can I touch you?"

    It coils a bit but nods then I pass my hand over its scales. It's the same as Hana's, rough and round with a pointy tip, would be a perfect blade when raised and makes a clacking sound when you pass your hand over it. There are spots that have much smaller scales like the back of the head, back of the neck, and spine, these spots I felt like it enjoyed more when I passed my hand.

    [Animal Tongue] creates a mental connection between caster and animal so it understands when I speak and we can share some very simple emotions when close together. Right now I feel that the little dragon is getting calmer, though I know its heart is hurting.

    "I can't stay here long, I'll have to carry you, if we get into battle you will have to move by yourself and stay close to my group, ok?"

    It nods.

    "I also can't keep [Animal Tongue] all the time. It's a spell that lets me speak to you so sooner or later you won't understand what I say anymore, ok?"

    It thinks for a moment and then nods. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing, it's just luck that I didn't traumatize it or something like that.

    "Come here."

    I grab it and carry it in my arms as if it's a baby. It's still shaking lightly.

    "Miss Hildegard, this dragon is more of an animal than a monster, it can understand me so I'm taking it as a pet."

    "We will negotiate the price at the town, but a live dragon child is going to be at least 3 gold coins."

    "Alright, you can deduct it from our pay later."

    I know blue scales aren't special so this one is average and 3 gold coins is a good price. I go back to the entrance to reunite with Alissa and I introduce it to the girls, Hana seems to be the one most happy to touch it.

    "Now, we need to give you a name, ah, do you have a name?" I ask.

    It shakes its head.

    "Hmm… Are you a boy or a girl?" I ask.

    I frown.

    "What?" Roxanne asks me.

    "It's a girl…"

    The women share a smirk. Alissa snorts.

    "Alright, how about Aoi as a name? It means blue or azure in one of the languages of my homeland."

    Aoi is a Japanese word and the names the dragonkin use are clearly Japanese.

    "Sounds cute," says Roxanne. The others nod and Aoi seems happy.

    "Ah... oh... ih!" Aoi tries to speak.

    "Wow, those vocal cords seem good, maybe one day she will talk to us?" I ask.

    "Sounds plausible. We know that ancient dragons can speak with us," says Alissa. It's quite common to find talking dragons in her hero stories.

    Because of how we fight, Aoi will normally follow me or she will stay near Roxanne. After a few minutes talking Alissa makes a serious face.

    "A dragon is coming."

    We run back inside and tell the others so they can prepare an ambush. We hide in a branch tunnel ahead of the ambush so Alissa can sense if something else is coming behind.

    The ambush ends quickly since the dragon was completely unguarded, it was simply surrounded and decapitated. I don't let Aoi look at the corpse, I feel she has the same mindset as me.

    We take another pass clearing the branch tunnels. Aoi can hurl small fireballs capable of killing slimes, but the Scritters are too fast for her. Her body is quite long so she curls into our necks like a scarf. She had been licking Hana's scales and when she felt my jealousy she came to lick my cheeks too. So fucking adorable. Then the others also wanted a lick, her tongue is extremely slippery.

    Alissa comes back and warns us of another dragon. When it passes by our tunnel Aoi cowers in fear.

    "What's wrong?" I ask.

    I feel a coldness in my heart, a pain as if it's being repeatedly stabbed, distant from the light. It's Aoi's feelings, I believe she was being abandoned for being different. Even though we are killing her parents she didn't feel an attachment to them, she felt fear of being killed along with her siblings. Sounds a bit fucked up to me but this is one of the least brutal ways of life among monsters, orcs and goblins are way way worse.



    We stop for a quick lunch and Hilde comes to me.

    "So you want that dragon as a pet?" She asks.

    I remove [Animal Tongue].

    "Well yeah, she's different from the others, she's like a small child abandoned from her parents," I say."

    "You can talk to her?" She looks surprised.

    "Kinda, I can make questions and she understands a lot but she can't speak and I only feel vague emotions from her."

    "Hm, she looked like she was shaking with fear when we entered the cave, I have never seen anything like that."

    "Monsters feel fear and have a self"preservation instinct but when they see humans most of them go berserk and sacrifice their lives to kill us. It seems this one doesn't have any bloodthirst for humans.

    "Oh, isn't this how Dragolites were tamed?" Asks Roxanne.

    "Precisely, which is why I'm keeping her, I can study her soul and understand the differences between monsters and humanoids. Also, she's a nice pet."

    Hilde looks amused, her sharp gaze and business personality is melting a little. I guess everyone loves puppies.

    I know the empire has a dragon knight squad so they already breed dragons somehow, which means Aoi is not unique but she's still valuable. I think the royalty and plenty of the nobles like to have a dragon mount for fast travel. But to think that Hilde is not trying to haggle the price of Aoi is making me nervous.



    Considering the color of Hilde's armor and the dexterity her subordinates have when dismantling the dragons, this is clearly not the first or even second time she does this. Rabanara is a good source for wyvern and dragon parts so she must be making a career on this.

    We continue our work and successfully ambush 3 more dragons, 8 in total. When it starts to get late we wrap it up and return to the camp. The remaining dragons that come back are unlikely to come during the night. They must be on a very long trip and even if they do they will only enrage for a while but go back to hunting again after a while. They aren't going to abandon a good nest like this so easily.

    Aoi loves the bath and looks curiously at my foreplay with Roxanne. Wait, this is kinda bad, she's like a child, but nobody seems to think the same as me, for the others she's just like an annoying pet who keeps staring while you have sex. After a while, she seems to lose interest so I finally concentrate on pleasing Roxanne.

    I actually started to understand Alissa's book since I'm always cuddling her while she reads, it's not an interesting story since it's too poetic and heavy to read but I can understand the outline. I feel like I will shed my bias soon about the literature of this world and get me a book to read.

    Alissa suddenly closes her book, pushes me down and undresses me.

    "I have been imagining you all day, you know," Alissa whispers into my ears.

    "Oh? Why is that?"

    "The way Hilde is looking at you is turning to be just like Ciel's," she says while rubbing her hips on me, a mischievous smile appears on her face.

    "And… how does Ciel looks at me?"

    "Anxiety, curiosity… desire," she chuckles.

    "How can you know?"

    "Who wouldn't? The town hero that killed the Symbol… ahn, pleases three women and roped up another, a reliable presence even though he looks so young and small, recognized by the lord for his bravery and yet has a shy personality… Ahn. Any woman would have her eyes on you," she says while moaning, I can feel my leg getting wet.

    "And seeing how they look at me makes you excited?"

    "Hmm, yes… I wanna see them try to steal you from me. I know it's useless because I know how your heart belongs… to… me," she kisses me and chuckles again.

    And she puts it in, she's drenched and squeezes me tight.

    What have you done Goddess of Love? The innocent Alissa is becoming warped. She unleashed her feelings now that she has the approval of everyone and even the gods. What is she gonna become? But the most fucked up thing of all is that I'm enjoying it. I stuff Alissa's mouth with her own panties and thrust inside her with all my might.

    Ciel definitely hears her moan, her tent is right next to ours and I want her to hear. I want Ciel to masturbate to me, I want Hilde to have fantasies of the things I do to my women, I want them to believe I have a magic dick that bounds these girls to me as slaves. They need to get weak in the legs when they hear my name, they need to wet themselves in anticipation for my cock, they need to know who's the man that owns them.

    Alissa doesn't last long and orgasms on me. She falls over and I pull Hana and thrust from behind, she was already wet just from watching my savagery. I'm not holding back, I just wanna fuck something. Soon enough I find release.

    I'm not done yet, I feel it rising again. I pull Roxanne and fuck her until she begs me to stop, I throw her on the bed and she falls down, breathing roughly and with a stupid smile. I drag Alissa and fuck her some more until I finish inside her. Alissa's words had awakened a small fire in me making me cum so much it spilled on the sheets.

    My back hurts, I have to cast [Heal] to be able to move again. Then Hana gets fired up and rides me like I'm a bull. The tent reeked of cum so we had to put a lot of mana into [Clean] to make it go away.



    Today is the 13th.

    A scene of heaven on hell, 3 goddess satisfied by me in the middle of a deadly forest and near a dragon's nest, this is far from my idea of what an "adventure" would be. Alissa makes me cum hard before I'm fully awake, she's still frisky from yesterday. I think we went overboard, my back still hurts, I use [Heal] on it again.

    My [Nature Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+9) and incredibly I learned [Sense Soul (creator)]. Aoi must have pushed my knowledge about souls to a new level. Alissa also finally increased her [Fox Transformation (innate)] to 5, she's a bit bigger and can fit her weapons inside her transformation.

    It's like things finally clicked and they started making sense. A soul is divided into "layers", this is why we require more experience, or rather, more "soul parts" to increase the level. The "circumference" of the soul gets bigger and bigger, requiring more and more parts until another "layer" is completed. Aoi's half-baked layer gave me such clarity.

    [Sense Soul] is an extremely interesting skill, it concentrates a small amount of mana on my eyes and it allows to see the level of people up to 10 meters, it opens a square black screen like my menu when it activates. If I level this skill perhaps in the future I can see more information. It would be incredible if I could read other people's skills, it would give me a good idea of combat experience others have and allow me to make better decisions on engagements.

    I look at Ciel and see that she is level 29. I tell the girls about my skill and they share the same thoughts as me, this skill is incredible. Aoi is confused when I thank her but she's happy to help, somehow.

    Ciel looks a bit absent-minded so I take this opportunity to sit close to her and nudge her shoulder, this gives her a jolt.

    "What's the matter? Did yesterday's experiment awaken something in you?" I tease her.

    "Wha-wha-wha-what? N-no, it wasn't that… wait no, it was nothing, nothing happened, I'm not thinking anything, a-a-actually I was thinking something it's just that it's nothing important..." She's completely flustered, her face twitches as she can't settle on a single expression," A-anyway you never explained what that thing you did was!

    "Oh right, I can expand my soul, it allows me to collect information about body and soul. Something like touch, taste, composition, and a ton of information about the soul that a simple [Sense Presence] can't do."

    "T-t-taste!?

    At least she didn't care about touch, she's hiding something massive beneath her clothes.

    "Hahah, I'm just messing with you. I could do that but I just used the soul analysis properties. I used it on Roxanne once by mistake, she told me it felt good so I didn't think too much about it later, sorry about that. I have to try it on the girls though, the sexual potential of that is interesting."

    Alissa's ears and tail twitch, Hana smirks, and Roxanne smiles and blushes. Ciel seems to be at a loss for words and simply blushes while her jaw swings without a sound.



    With Alissa's words I'm conscious of Hilde's gaze, she doesn't show shyness but I feel she's staring, I'm likely biased now. But then again everyone seems to be looking at us, you can smell the envy in the air.

    Alissa goes into the cave and returns soon, it's empty so we will only wait in ambush. I take the time to walk around with Aoi and practice some combat maneuvering with her, she runs pretty fast but she tires easily. I believe she can stay safe during the battle but during all other moments, it might be best if she's being carried by someone. Aoi also seems starved for attention, she won't run away willingly.

    At 9AM a duo of dragons appear, this will be risky. The hunters are splitting in two, there will be less support for each side if the dragons decide to trample, but I'm not paid to help them so we stay with Hilde at a branch tunnel. Perhaps I could help if someone gets injured but my reaction time is going to be slow, jumping into the middle of a fight is dangerous.

    As soon as the dragons pass us their rhythmic ground pound slows down, they noticed something. I look at Alissa and she shrugs, she doesn't know what happened. They walk for a few seconds more and stop, I hear a whistle mixed with grunts, that's not a human whistle, must be the dragons.

    Silence…

    "ROOOOO~!"

    "CHARGE!"

    What the fuck is going on?

    I hear loud footsteps, a dragon passes us and 3 men run after it but you can't outrun a dragon, he's already escaped. We move out and in a minute the ambushed dragon is dead.

    "What the fuck happened?" Hilde asks the group, she's pissed.

    Shrugs abound.

    "I honestly have no idea, we didn't make a fucking sound, not even a pebble moved," Simon says, he's dumbfounded.

    "I heard nothing too and I have excellent hearing," Alissa chimes in.

    "What about smell?" Hilde continues.

    "Nothing," Chimes in a fox wereanimal from Escutcheon, he's grey-haired with black spots.

    Hilde grumbles and facepalms.

    "Perhaps it was too quiet?" Says Alissa.

    "What do you mean?" I ask.

    "There's not even the noise of Scritters around, the entire cave is deadly quiet, there should be a few dragons guarding the hatchlings and they should be making at least some noise."

    "Shit, you are right. Hell, 2 years hunting dragons and I never had such a situation," Hilde says with a wry smile.

    "Considering how smart Aoi is, perhaps these dragons are of a higher intelligence, which means they are more perceptive," I say.

    Hilde sighs.

    "We have to remake our ambush then, let's go closer to the entrance and perhaps we can capture a Scritter or two," she says.

    "I advise we leave, they could be bringing a swarm here," I say.

    "Fucking not, I paid you for 2 days here and you are all staying," Hilde responds with anger, "There's another exit on this cave system, that one the dragons don't know about so we can escape that way if they really do come."

    "There's a lot that could happen between the swarm coming and us escaping, there's still a lot of danger if we stay. But in the end I'm paid to protect you, it's the others who are going to have to fight the swarm.

    "Yer right, if we stay I'm going to ask for a raise, I'm here to ambush dragons not fight against a swarm," Simon pitches in.

    Hilde negotiates with the other hunters, in the end, my suggestion fails and she strikes a deal with them. I wanted to leave and tried to use the hunters to convince her but they are too greedy. It's difficult to abandon her because even if the other hunters disagree with her, her guards and the space mages might help her enough that she can return alive. Which means I can't use her life as a bargaining ship. She didn't entrust her life to me she just hired me as insurance against harm.

    We go around and collect 4 Scritters, tie them up, and throw them near the entrance. This way there's some noise at least. Hopefully the dragons don't recognize that the Scritters are making noise because they are distressed.

    The dragon that ran away had a few arrows on its back so he dripped some blood around, because of that 4 Mossy Fangpines wandered into the cave to look for the source. They are dumb enough that they think that something capable of wounding a dragon is a potential food source. Hana and Ciel took care of them on a tight corner. They just charge and get skewered, Hana skewered two in her spear and waved it about, bragging to the other hunters.

    Before lunch a single dragon appeared and got ambushed, with this there must be less than 5 dragons remaining on this nest.



    Alissa gives me a green signal, something is coming. I feel she is running here in her fox form in full speed, something is wrong. She comes around the corner and her fox mouth opens.

    "IT'S HUGE, A HUGE DRAGON IS COMING!" She screams.

    "TONNNNN~!". Something unimaginably heavy falls down on the ground and the ground shakes.

    "RROOOOOOOOOOOAAA~~!" I feel my bones shake with this roar, it's a huge fucking dragon and it's angry.

    Hilde fell on her knees and even her guards are shaking, the other hunters are already running. Aoi crawls up to me and cowers in my arms, shaking. I hear lots of heavy footsteps.

    "A SWARM!" Alissa screams again, she's desperate.

    I pull Hilde on her feet and push her forward.

    "Get the fuck back on your feet and start running! I'll cover your back but I won't die for you!" I yell.

    Hilde gets a shock and starts moving after the hunters.

    "Roxanne! Map!" I yell.

    Roxanne takes her map out and makes sure we don't take a wrong turn. With a swarm on our backs a dead end is a death sentence.

    We start running. The ground immediately turns from the beaten path into jagged and uneven rocks, making it hard to move. The paths twist and turn and become smaller. The footsteps that were getting closer start to get lower and lower until we can't hear it anymore. The tunnel reduces in size so much we have to squeeze around it to pass, thank god Hana and Ciel can pass by with their mountains.

    We are safe for now but we still have an angry huge fucking dragon after us so nobody stopped for a rest until we reached the exit and a small light could be seen. We all stop on a small room to take a breath, we have to squeeze a little.

    "Holy fucking shit boy you were right, I regret everything, hahahah!" Simon says and laughs.

    How can you laugh...

    "Fuck me, that shit must have hundreds of years of age, why did it never leave its nest until now?" Logan says.

    "A few dragons live their entire lives in their nests until they are so old they are near death, then they go die in battle," I answer.

    "What, so it's old and weak?" Asks Simon.

    "Hell no, that thing is gonna berserk on us until it dies, Rabanara is in danger, these ancient dragons can command wyverns."

    "Fuck, so did we bring that monster to Rabanara?" Asks Logan.

    "No, it was gonna rampage sooner or later, we just have the good luck to be in its path," says Hilde with a wry smile.

    "Good Luck" indeed.

    "Normal formation, we will be jogging all day until dusk. Here, [Swift Foot]," I cast the spell on Hilde and her assistant. That little girl is quite strong, her face is stern.

    "Everybody ready? Let's go!"

    Alissa rushes out first and everybody follows.



    We are reaching the first trees when Alissa yells in desperation.

    "TONNNNN~!" Again something unimaginably heavy falls down on the ground and the ground shakes. We are outside the cave at the entrance of the forest, behind us is a monstrosity. Shiny dark blue scales the size of my head, fangs the size of my body, a head the height of a truck, a body the size of blue whale, two huge horns protruding out of its head, innumerous scars on its body, one huge eye is cloudy white and the other one makes you wonder if there's a universe inside them.

    It looks at me and fear fills my mind, it hates me, it knows I'm using the bodies of its kin as armor and weapons but its gaze turns somewhere else. Hilde, she's wearing the same scales as the dragons family, she's a known dragon hunter who's been killing dragons for 2 years, the dragon knows her and it feels immense hatred for her. It didn't even glance at Aoi.

    Hilde falls down on the ground and pisses herself.

    I feel mana gathering, an amount I never felt before, an amount that gave me the chills of what's about to happen.

    Hahah, I fucking hate this world.

    "FIRE BREATH, HIDE BEHIND A TREE!" I scream, other voices yell the same.

    I have no time to rescue Hilde, I only hope she finds a tree. Unfortunately, she chose the one beside her while I chose the one away from the dragon. Alissa jumps beside me. I summon 2 titanium elementals and tell them to run in front of Hilde's tree.

    "FOOOOMMM!", the fire ravages the fire-resistant Sea of Trees, our tree goes in flame and we nearly get burned by the heat intensity. My elementals slowly lose power and melt, Roxanne is panting trying to keep a [Water Wall] up.

    The fire stops and I look outside, a hellish landscape of fire that only lasts a few seconds, the magic fire burns out quickly and the forest's resistance makes it burn out quicker. The ground is red hot and the trees are almost entirely burnt, only a small spot behind them is still intact.

    "Roxanne, water!"

    I point towards where Hilde could be and Roxanne sprays a [Torrent] in that direction. White smoke rises and mixes with the black, but the way is passable. Ciel uses [Air Hammer] and the smoke clears. Hilde is there, hugging Lina, and her guards are curling on the ground.

    The dragon notices us and Hilde, I feel its anger coming back, it starts to move forward. I open [Gate] to the campsite.

    "GET IN NOW! I WILL BRING HILDE BACK!" I scream.

    "Wol-..."

    "NOW!" I scream again and push Alissa into the black circle along with Aoi, they disappear. I store the coordinates for my current position.

    "FOR THE MISTRESS!" Charges one guard.

    "FOR HOUSE ROTH!" Charges the other.

    WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING. I rush towards Hilde.

    The dragon doesn't even slow down and swats the guards who fly away into the distance. The space mages make a distorted face of fear and disappear. The dragon looks at me and lunges towards Hilde. Lina and Hilde aren't hugging anymore but they are close, I can get them both with each hand, as long as I can grab them.

    I jump, I cast [Gate], the dragon bites.

    "Wolf!" Alissa yells.

    I take my face out of the dirt, on my right hand I'm holding Lina, on my left hand I'm holding the upper body of Hilde.

    Hilde looks at me, her mouth is half-open, her eyes stop moving. From below her armpits her body is missing.



    "ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAA...!" The dragon roars again in the distance and I lose my footing, I look away from Hilde and puke.

    I failed, I failed, I failed. If I was one second faster, one breath faster, one millisecond faster, one fucking moment faster, I could have saved her.

    "AAAAAAA..." Lina screams but Hana covers her mouth.

    "The dragon is still there! Quiet!"

    The little girl lets out muffled screams and squirms on Hana's body but she doesn't try to break free from her.

    Alissa casts [Clean] and hugs me.

    "The guards!" It dawns on me, "They might still be alive."

    I wobble a bit but I manage to stand.

    "What!? You wanna go back!?" Alissa chastises, her voice nearly cracks.

    "I have a [Gate] coordinate there, we can jump and search for them safely if the dragon is not there anymore."

    "They must be dead, they are the only ones still there, the dragon would have killed them."

    "The dragon didn't care about them he only cared about Hilde and me."

    "That's even worse! You are not going back there!" Alissa hugs me with all her strength.

    "Alissa..." Ciel touches her shoulder, "I didn't know about [Gate] but if I and you go there we could save them. How much mana do you have Wolf?"

    "Nearly half, the [Gate] is so close we barely used mana, leave your armor and weapons here and for certain we can rescue them."

    "P-please…*hic*, t-they are go-good, *hic*, p-people," Lina mutters between sobs, she broke free from Hana and is moving towards Alissa.

    "Nnngh~… FINE! But we do it quick and you obey me, when I say we are leaving, WE ARE LEAVING!" Alissa yells at me while she grabs my shoulders. I think she's traumatized after the Symbol.

    I nod and cast [Gate]. After we remove our heavy gear we walk into the circle. The hellish scene is more subdued, the fires have almost all stopped and the ground is a little less red hot, but the most important is that the huge dragon is not here.

    "This way," Alissa leads us.

    Away from the destruction about 100 meters from where we were in, is where the white fur woman landed. She's unconscious and one of her arms is bent in the wrong way. Ciel touches her and closes her eyes.

    "She will be fine, she's got a concussion, a few broken ribs, and a broken arm."

    She straightens the arm of the woman and chants something, a few seconds later she casts a spell.

    "Done."

    I open a [Gate] below the woman and she disappears. Alissa makes us cross the destruction and 200 meters is away is the Doberman woman, both her legs are broken, her head hit a stone. and she's bleeding profusely.

    "The swarm is here!" Alissa warns me.

    I immediately cast [Gate] below all of us and we return. Lina gasps.

    "She's almost dead, Wolf, help me!"

    With a shudder, we straighten her legs and I put nearly all my mana on my [Heal]. I immediately drink a mana potion and sit down to meditate. If we are found while I don't have mana for [Gate] we are dead.



    When I open my eyes my mana is on half, Lina is crying with Ciel and Roxanne besides her, the white fur woman is awake but still laying down, the Doberman woman is sleeping, Alissa is beside me, Hana is on the lookout and the corpse of Hilde is covered with a bloody cloth.

    I store Hilde's corpse in my "Items" and get a chill when I see the entry "Hildegard Roth upper body". The girls put her belongings inside a bag. When you die the contents of your [Item Box] slowly appear around you. She had her ID tablet, coins, cloth, underwear, some unknown magic stones, cutlery, cups, and emergency food.

    "How are they?" I ask Ciel.

    "The white woman will be fine, if we heal her a bit more she should be able to walk by herself, the other woman is unconscious and will take a lot more mana."

    "Use the rest of your mana on the white woman, I need to save mana for an emergency [Gate]. Alissa let's go, we are not exactly at the campsite and there could be other people there at the site."

    We walk for two minutes and we reach the campsite, the space mages and the scouts are there huddling behind bushes.

    "You came back! Thank you!" Says the first space mage. He's a man with black skin and white wool coming out of his arms and neck, he has a pair of ram horns. He's a demon-race, ram-type.

    "My life is in your hands, please help us go back!" Says the second space mage. He's a lanky man with greenish skin and a pair of green arms coming out of his back with scythes on the place of his hands. Another demon-race, praying mantis type.

    "I don't think the other fellowships are coming back, they will survive the forest easily but they have no reason to come back now," says one of the scouts. They are both twins, they have blue skin, and a spiky bony webbed mohawk coming out of their heads. They are not merfolk, they are demon-race, seahorse type.

    "Miss Hildegard is dead, I couldn't save her, we rescued the guards and the assistant girl so we might have to carry one of the guards," I say.

    Everyone makes somber faces.

    "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't have enough mana! We are carrying so many scales and meat that I could only barely get myself out!" Pleads the mantis man.

    "It's okay, what's done is done, we just need to get out alive."

    I have no energy to talk to them or encourage them more, they just need to follow orders and stay with us for them to live.



    It is 3 PM. We are gonna carry the Doberman woman on a makeshift stretcher. The white dog woman is good enough to walk and jog for a little while but she's in pain, I heal her on specific spots to ease her pain and she looks at me with puppy eyes.

    "I can't believe I'm still alive, I don't know how you did it but thank you for saving us, my name is Tadita, my comrade is Andrea," The woman bows to me and Ciel, "Thank you for your magic. I will definitely endure so I don't slow you down but please don't hesitate to leave us behind in case of danger, we already lost our master so we failed in the most important mission of our lives."

    If you hadn't charged I could have saved you 2 without wounds, though. I'm not really blaming them, they were very brave and loyal to that woman.

    "Ehrm… I won't sacrifice you two so easily, you should put more value on your life."

    "My life is already worthless since I lost the master I swore to protect," she frowns.

    "Then you should find something new that will give it value, the gods won't be happy with a life wasted as a sacrifice," I pat her shoulder.

    She frowns a little harder but I feel a bit of motivation gathering on her eyes, honorable sacrifice isn't really popular among the gods here.



    We move forward with Alissa far in front scouting, 2 dogs protecting our flanks and the scout duo behind. We rotate the carrying of Andrea but the space mages offer to carry her the longest. After an hour walking Ciel healed her enough that she could wake up, but because she still has broken bones we use a sleeping potion that Roxanne has to keep her knocked out.

    We find no other monsters until nightfall, not even the Mossy Fangpines are dumb enough to be around after hearing such a dragon roar. All tents now are near ours, they are way too scared to be away from us since we are basically their lifelines.

    We healed up most of the wounds from Andrea so she got strong enough to wobble around. The girls wake her up and help her take a towel bath. Tadita never left her side. The space mages have the tents for themselves and for the women so it's really a good thing to have them around. Alissa is organizing the dinner and cooking the provisions the space mages brought. Lina was sullen the entire time.

    "How are you feeling?" Ciel asks me while I watch Alissa cook. She sits beside me on the table in our tent.

    I suppress a sigh.

    "Depressed, disappointed…"

    "Do you blame yourself?"

    Well I guess Ciel is now my therapist.

    "Not really, I know telling people about [Gate] would be a problem, but I still feel sad about it. Because I couldn't show my power someone died. I hate feeling like this."

    "Such is the life of an adventurer. Because you made a certain decision someone died in a split second, that doesn't mean you are responsible for their deaths, it just means you were unable to save them."

    "Such is the life of an adventurer..." I smile bitterly, I chose this life, "Thanks for coming talk to me."

    "It doesn't seem like it was really needed," she smiles wryly.

    "No, really, thanks."

    She smiles, a pure smile that squeezes my heart but I feel a hint of sadness on that smile.

    "Did something like this happen to you?" I ask.

    She keeps still and her eyes look away.

    Bingo. Then I will be your therapist too.

    "I'm sorry if it's personal, but I really wanna know more about you," I insist.

    She makes a pained face. It's just like removing baby teeth, gotta do it all at once or it will hurt more.

    "It's nothing special. I just… failed…"

    "How do you feel about this?"

    She looks at me and narrows her eyes, I just smile innocently. She sighs and gets serious.

    "When I was a warrior priestess I once escorted a caravan up to Sommerland. During the trip our scouts failed and we got ambushed by a group of Dream Eaters, before we could draw our weapons there were already dead people. There was no way we could win. Our captain gave us the order to hold off the enemies long enough for the merchants to run for their lives then we would escape, if we could. In the end, I survived… So I know how you are feeling."

    Something is missing. I stare at her and frown.

    "Ciel, aren't there more details on this story?"

    "W-what do you mean?" Her eyes dart about.

    "You aren't telling me everything, there's something else that's hurting you."

    She looks at me angrily.

    "You are running away from something," I say.

    She stiffens. This is cheating, I know Arantos told me she was running from her fears so I wanna press her on that.

    "I left him…"

    I pat her back.

    "Let it out, you know that talking about it helps," I say.

    She remains still.

    "Come on, it's your turn."

    She grimaces.

    "I left him to die… I could have saved him, I had mana but I got scared and ran… I survived, he could have survived, but I left him…"

    "It's okay."

    "It' not."

    "Yes it is," I rub her back, I feel like hugging her.

    She goes quiet again.

    "Do you blame yourself?"

    She smiles bitterly.

    "Yes, I abandoned him."

    "Did you forgive yourself?"

    At one point you have to forgive yourself for your mistakes otherwise you will never move on. It seems this is the case with her.

    Quiet again. I have to keep pushing.

    "How long do you deserve to be punished for it?"

    "How should I know!? It's not like I'm doing it willingly..." She looks at me teary-eyed.

    "Then do you at least recognize that you shouldn't be suffering for it anymore?"

    "I… Yes, I don't wanna feel that pain anymore," she looks away.

    "Tell me, why did you join this fellowship? Truthfully."

    "The reasons I told you before weren't lies."

    "But there should be something more, right?" I smile innocently.

    She groans in frustration.

    "I thought… that you wouldn't run, that I could trust that you would never make me feel like I abandoned someone again," she glances at me.

    "Hm… well, I don't want you to throw all the responsibility at me, I want you to share it with me, so we can all agree on something and be capable to make our own decisions."

    "I know… I was just… running," her voice trails off.

    I grab her hand. She didn't even flinch.

    "Then it's time to take a breath and look around, you have another path you can take."

    I squeeze her hand and let it go. She bites her lips.

    "How old are you, Mr. Therapist?" She asks in a playful tone.

    "Sixteen."

    "Bullshit."

    True. I smile wryly.

    The girls notice our conversation is done and awkwardly come have dinner.

    At the bath even the cheerful Roxanne was depressed but my mood has been getting better so we have a productive cuddling session. We don't do anything more than that, nobody is in the mood. Before going to sleep me and Ciel use most of our Mana to heal the guard duo.



    Today is the 14th.

    I wake up to a pouting Alissa who's tracing her fingers over my chest. I smile and nod at her, she smiles back and goes under the covers, I just close my eyes and enjoy.

    During breakfast a disheveled Ciel gives me a pure smile and I return it. My relationship with her feels odd, unlike the others I developed affection for her before having sex with her so I'm unusually aroused and anxious right now. Hana sees my tent and smiles mischievously, when we get home I will let it all out on her.

    Ciel finishes the healing of Andrea so now she can walk and even fight, although it's unadvised since her body is still adapting to the healed bones. If I were to cast [Regenetation] for half a day on both I could get them back into normal shape but we don't want to spend any longer here, the swarm could be nearby hunting for us.

    I manage to cast [Swift Foot] in an area after 10 minutes of chanting, I still need practice but it's getting better.



    Most monsters are still far from this area so we only meet 2 naked goblins who likely just birthed on this part of the forest yesterday and then 3 Fangpines who are idiotic enough to think the area is safe.

    Because we jogged we reach Rabanara by noon, we ignore our hungry stomachs and rush towards the town.

    "Ah! Grand Ryder, p-please a moment," I hear Lina call for me.

    "Oh? What is it?"

    "P-p-p-please, bu-buy me!" She bows to me at a right angle.

    I'm dumbfounded, the women gather around me and the guard duo put their hands on Lina's shoulders in solidarity.

    "Uh, why ask me?"

    "Hm, Mr. Ryder, I'm sorry to say this about the family of my late master but… the Roth family is in a tight spot..." Says Andrea while cringing.

    "Yeah..." Tadita cringes along, "Miss Hildegard was a good merchant and a hard worker but the rest of her family isn't anywhere as good as her. If I were to guess they are going to be driven out of the market in a few years without her".

    "Wow, that bad? Why is that?" I ask.

    "They are… lazy, dumb, and wasteful. I'm sorry Miss Hildegard but it's the truth!" Andrea claps her hands in prayer and bows.

    "So you think I will be a better master?" I ask.

    "Y-yes!" Lina looks at me with teary eyes," Considering your personality, the way you treat other women, and your feats it's my dream to serve under you!

    "Hm… What can you do?" I ask. I'm a little concerned over the "dream" part.

    "I can manage a business, help with administrative tasks, enchant equipment, perform maintenance on equipment, craft basic items, and I can fight, a bit… I-I a-also c-ca-can g-give you m-my b-body!" She stutters as her pale face gets red as a lobster.

    Adorable. She looks young, younger than me, is she even of legal age in this world? Is there a legal age?

    The space mages and the scout duo who were desperate to enter the town stopped and came back to us, even though we are in front of the town they still respect me.

    "Let me consult with my fellowship," I say.

    I gather everyone in a circle far away from everybody.

    "Alright, opinions."

    "I think this is fine, she will be useful," Alissa says, then she comes closer and whispers in my ear, "I wanna see you break that tight pussy."

    I will just consider her opinion as "biased".

    "She will be perfect to maintain my armor, the metal plates of the brigandine are a bitch the fix once I get hit, besides our shields are taking damage, she's experienced in manipulating dragon scales, perhaps she could help. She could even be trained in combat, dwarves have good strength because of their [Stonebody]," says Hana.

    "Another helper would be nice, she seems to know something about the market so she could help me sell potions," says Roxanne.

    "I… feel a little guilty leaving her alone, if she gets back to the Roth family she will likely be sold to a pervert somewhere. She seems smart and dedicated, surely there's plenty of jobs we can give her," says Ciel.

    Well… I'm the biggest fucking pervert around, so I don't know what you are thinking. Though I have no plans on touching her.

    "So, there's no good reason to deny her..." I mutter.

    "What, why are you hesitating? Wouldn't having another woman be good for you?" Ciel says in a joking tone.

    That hurts a bit.

    "I'm not like that, Alissa and Hana are exceptions because I was incredibly lonely. I won't take her just because she's offering her body to me," I say a bit sad.

    "Oh, uh… sorry," Ciel apologizes awkwardly.

    "Anyway, I agree that there's no reason to deny her, if she was the private helper of Miss Hildegard then she must be competent enough," Alissa intervenes.

    "But can I really buy her? Isn't she property of the Roth family now?" I ask.

    "Not really, slaves aren't something you can inherit so easily. By law, they have a chance for freedom or to be bought by others when their master dies, but you will still have to negotiate with the Roth family. It's only a chance, not a guarantee," Alissa says.

    "But since you brought her corpse and her belongings you actually have some leverage over the Roths. You risked your life to save her, even if it wasn't successful..." Hana says.

    "You are also someone with a blessing, that's even more pressure on them to give you a fair deal," Roxanne adds.

    I sigh. Is this part of the god-sanctioned harem? I'm not lonely or scared anymore so I don't need another slave, it just gives me a bad taste in my mouth to think about using her like this. I know she will be useful but I don't really like the prospect of slavery. It's somewhat different from a Blood Slave, where there's personal responsibility and a close watch from the gods. I feel like a hypocrite but I don't have the energy to put my thoughts in order.

    "You don't have to accept her if you don't really want to," Alissa says.

    "No I… actually want to protect her, let's accept her," I answer. I feel like she's a puppy that needs an owner, I can't leave her alone.

    We go back to the group waiting for us.

    "Lina, do you want me to buy you and release you?"

    She straightens up and slowly her eyes open wide in fear.

    "P-please d-don't."

    "What? You don't want to be freed?" I raise an eyebrow.

    "I..." She can't really find a way to explain herself.

    "Perhaps she's afraid you will abandon her," Whispers Alissa.

    "Why would she think that?" I whisper back.

    "If she's your slave you have to treat her responsibly. If she's not a slave then her position might actually worsen."

    I kinda understand but it's still a bit ridiculous.

    "Slaves who find a good master don't really adapt well to being freed," Ciel whispers.

    Fine then. I sigh.

    "I won't release you. I'll buy you," I tell her.

    "T-thank you!" She clasps her hands and jumps in joy, she was expressionless most of the time but now her cute smile melts my heart.



    We enter the town and walk to the guild. Once inside our weird group causes a bit of a commotion, I'm not sure why. I go to the nearest attendant and request a meeting with the guildmaster. After a minute he comes downstairs.

    "Oh, a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Ryder. Actually, no, every time I meet you a lot of work falls on my shoulders, you are shaving off years of my life this way," Silas smiles wryly.

    "I have come to accept my nickname is the truth, but I'm sorry for giving you too much work. And it's a pleasure to see you too, guildmaster."

    "Well then, let us go to a private room. Swift Wind and Escutcheon already gave us an idea of what happened but your report is the most important one."

    Silas led us to the biggest meeting room. After a while, 7 scribes appeared and started collecting the reports. Only Lina knows about [Gate] so we coordinated with her a plausible lie to how we escaped.

    "Poison cocktail? Never heard of such a thing before."

    I shrug.

    "Desperation births creativity, I think we caused an allergic reaction to that dragon."

    Silas laughs heartily, it's the first time I see his calm demeanor crumble.

    "What in the… hell… a dragon with... allergic reaction...! The bards will love this!" Silas says while catching his breath.

    Silas coughs and recovers his composure.

    "So the only casualty is Miss Hildegard, this is quite a miracle seeing how intelligent that dragon was. Also, his vengeful attack towards Miss Hildegard means he will likely command the wyverns to attack us, send word to the lord immediately," Silas motions to an attendant nearby, he hurriedly leaves the room.

    "There's no contradiction in any of the reports, I see no unclear matter over it too, I consider the reporting as finished. Now I must tell you a representative of the Armorer's Guild is here, he wants to speak with you."

    He likely wants to abuse my mental state to drive down the rewards since my protection target died but they don't really have an advantage here.

    "Ah, can you contact the Roth family? I wish to buy Miss Hildegard's slave, Lina."

    "Hm, yes I can, you have her possessions and her corpse right? No need to give it to us, you can return it in person then. This concludes our business, do you wish to talk to the Armorer's Guild representative?"

    "Yes, please."

    Silas and the guild personnel leave the room.

    "Thank you for not abandoning us, if you ever need the services of space mages we will give you a discount. This is the least we can do to you," says the ram space mage.

    "Thank you," says the mantis space mage.

    We say our goodbyes and they leave. They leave a leather trunk with Lina's belongings.

    "You look young but you clearly know what you are doing. It was a good opportunity to work with you," says one of the scouts.

    "You have a good heart, it's no wonder people say you are the town hero. To face the dragon with just poison bottles requires some massive pair of balls, I'm glad I met you and your fellowship," says the other.

    This makes me a little embarrassed. We say our goodbyes.

    "Well then, I guess this is goodbye," says Tadita.

    "Indeed, I don't think we will meet again so soon. But once again, thank you. I don't have much to repay you but let me serve you in exchange for saving my life," says Andrea while bowing.

    "A-ah, there's no need for that, it was part of our job to keep you two safe," I answer hurriedly, Ciel nods along.

    "You are troubling him, Andrea, if you really want to be with him then just ask for marriage," says Tadita.

    "N-n-no, t-that's no-not what I-I meant!" Stutters Andrea while blushing. Tadita taps her back and grins.

    "Anyway, we will be in your debt. We will go back to the capital and join the guard or a mercenary group, we aren't hunters so staying here is not the best choice. If you visit the capital, come look for us," says Tadita.

    Everyone gives them a goodbye and they leave, only Lina stays with us.

    "I thought she really was going to ask for marriage," Alissa says, disappointed.

    What's with you, how many women do you want to add to this harem?

    "She likely thought she wasn't strong enough, we are not really lacking in firepower," Hana says.

    "A-anyway, Lina, are you going to leave now or do you prefer to stay with us?" Asks Ciel.

    "C-can I stay? I would rather not meet any other Roth for now," she answers shyly.

    "Sure, no problem," I say.

    I put 10 points into [Acting] and [Mental Resistance], we are going to need this for this part. After about 10 minutes we hear footsteps. An old man with graying black hair and two large guards enter the room. The man has a long nose and a wrinkly face that gets even wrinklier due to his frowning. He's carrying a few papers, likely the report.

    "Greetings, I am Tanquara, senior representative for the Armorer's Guild," The man says and sits down.

    "I am Wolf Ryder, leader of Helios."

    "Well then, Mr. Ryder, let's talk business. You have failed your job, Miss Hildegard is dead, al-..."

    "Hold it, my job was not simply protecting her, I was to protect her and her subordinates and secure the return of the collected materials."

    Tanquara grinds his teeth. Interrupting him was impolite but I can't let him declare the job as a failure like that.

    "Yet the most important person there was not returned," he says while narrowing his eyes.

    "She went against my advice, I even tried to use the other hunters to persuade her but greed clouded her judgment. It's unfortunate we met such a rare dragon but it still ends up being her fault."

    "But you could still have saved her. If you were faster and didn't hesitate you could have pulled her away from the dragon in time!"

    "What do you think I am!? A miracle worker!? Did you even read about the size of that monstrosity? Every other fellowship ran away the moment they could, the guards were swatted as if they were flies! It's not my onus that she died, it's my luck that I even survived! The poison cocktail was a stroke of luck, even if I had pulled her away the dragon would chase us to the end of the world if we didn't get such a reaction from him. Do you understand, it was not skill that we survived, it was just sheer dumb luck!" I shouldn't yell but this made me angry. I can't let him get to me, making me say dumb things is his goal.

    "If it was just luck perhaps choosing you as the vanguard was a mistake as you lack the skill to survive such encounter," he turns his head away in contempt.

    "You do not have the authority to judge my skill or of my fellowship, you know very well that such a dragon requires an army to deal with. It all goes back to Miss Hildegard ignoring my advice for greed. In the end, I recovered part of her body, her belongings, saved her slave, her guards and the subordinates, the only thing missing on this expedition was her returning alive."

    He stares at me and grinds his teeth. There, I closed all the ways of attack.

    "As she ignored my advice her death is her own fault, I did everything I was asked to perfection and even went beyond, I demand full rewards, deduce the price of this young dragon from it," I point to Aoi, sleeping while curled to Hana's neck.

    "I can't give you full rewards, your target of protection is dead."

    "I can't protect those who have a death-wish, she broke the contract on her own. I demand full rewards," I had put 1 point into [Intimidate] and let out a bit of my power. I see his mouth twitch, he's a tough one.

    "Fine, here's your rewards... A young dragon costs 3 gold on the imperial market, even though yours looks like it's tamable I will respect your agreement with Miss Hildegard."

    He gives us a sack of coins, I use [Metal Appraisal] on them and nod to him, he quickly leaves and I sigh. Such negotiations leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I didn't like to bad-mouth Hilde but merchants in this world are ruthless, can't give them even a centimeter.

    "That was a really good negotiation, master. I didn't believe the representative would buckle like that," Lina says. I shudder at hearing the words "master" again.

    "I had some good teachers. Hana and Roxanne are experienced in this."

    "Yep, a little bit of intimidation at the right moment and any merchant will buckle, they try to put up a strong front but they are all cowards," says Hana.

    "I see, it's a negotiation tactic different from when merchants deal with each other, it's all about a war of information and connections," Lina says with a pensive expression.

    "Remind me to never become a merchant. This seems like a nightmare to me, I'm way too straightforward," I say.

    "Well you can always use representatives if you become a merchant," she continues.

    I still don't wanna deal with that, even through someone else.

    "I'll go sell the monsters we have killed, you girls can go to a restaurant and have lunch."

    "Ah no, let's all eat together, it's not fair to you," Alissa says.

    "Hmm… anyone with a different opinion?" I ask.

    Silence.



    We move downstairs and enter the dismantling room. Gordon and Sonny are chatting.

    "Oh, Mr. Good Luck! I heard about your exploits, you are always doing something interesting," Gordon greets me.

    "I wish I wasn't. Anyway, good to see you Mr. Gordon, Mr. Sonny."

    "Uh, yes. Good to see you too Mr. Ryder," Sonny is a bit distracted.

    "Oh, looks like you got a pet dragon eh? Now then what surprise you have for us?"

    I pull out the Grey Berserker and the Young Ogre.

    "Oh! Such pristine fur! What an achievement Mr. Ryder, I'm impressed. How did you do it?"

    "I held it with my earth elemental, after that we hit his head until it got dizzy and Alissa finished it."

    "That's amazing, only the best fellowships specialized in hunting Grey Berserkers can achieve this. Oi, Sonny, help me here."

    Sonny got out of his stupor and went appraise the bear. He kept stealing glances at us, no, he kept stealing glances at Roxanne. He's a demon race, after all. I think he's a succubus too, maybe the name is incubus for men.

    I grab Roxanne's tail at twirl it around my hand, Sonny shudders. Roxanne looks at me with curiosity but then she looks at Sonny and smiles mischievously, she hugs me from behind and leans her body on me. Her hand enters my jacket from the top and she caresses my chest. Sonny's white skin turn red and he turns around, he focuses on appraising the monsters and the proof of subjugation.

    "Here are your rewards," Sonny says between gritted teeth.

    "Keep bringing those bears to me, boy, I love Grey Berserker meat. Also, don't tease Sonny too much, eh?" Gordon says and winks.

    Sonny chokes on his spit, I just smile and leave.

    "Finally, let's eat something and go home."



    Intermission 5



    A man that doesn't tell his birthplace should not be trusted, a man that hides many secrets should not be trusted, a man who lacks the common sense of the populace should not be trusted, a man who hides mysterious skills should not be trusted. And yet I can't follow any of this advice, I feel hopelessly lost in the darkness where the only light comes from his back, making me follow him. When I was used to the darkness, to the sameness and safety, he comes like a curious and innocent being who opens a path for me. It's not the same old life I yearned for but something new with a hint of nostalgia.

    He should be younger than me but I feel nothing that leads to believe it to be true, only his face and his love for women says the contrary, but that's not enough, I almost feel like stealing his ID card just to confirm his age. Logic tells me I should stay away, even though there are 2 blessings around him he's far too secretive or mysterious, but my instincts tell me otherwise, they tell me of an opportunity, of an adventure, of a new beginning. I thought I could help him but he might end up helping me more instead.

    Besides, what kind of man can please 3 women and still wake up with vigor every morning? One of them being a dragonkin no less. I only hear occasional the muffled ruffling and moaning but still, my imagination is making me embarrassed. Those have been some hard nights... and days, and mornings. Do they ever stop?
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2019
  2. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    "I-is it alright for me to eat with you?" Asks Lina.

    "Did you do any different with your last master?" I ask.

    "No… but Miss Hilde was special, As her personal attendant, it would be very inconvenient to keep eating away from her.

    "Then see it the same way, it's inconvenient to treat you worse, it's just easier to treat you like everyone else."

    "Thank you, master..." She bows.

    "You chose the right person, little Lina, Wolfy is a really kind master. Just get prepared for the night, he's a sadistic sex beast," Teases Roxanne.

    Lina freezes, Ciel looks away.

    "Roxanne! Stop that, she's gonna get scared. I didn't accept you because I want your body, I already have enough women around me."

    "I see..." Lina says, did I notice a hint of disappointment?

    "Besides, Roxanne and Hana are the predators you should be scared of."

    "No thank you, the only ones I want inside of me are Roxanne and Wolfy," Hana says shaking her head.

    "Same, but inverted… I think..." Roxanne says and pulls out her tongue.

    Ciel is massaging her eyes. I cough.

    "Lina, do you like books?" I ask, changing the topic. Her eyes shine at my words.

    "Yes! Whenever Miss Hilde would take on a peddlers job she would bring some books and let me read them during the trip. She would bring about every kind of book possible so I always had a wide variety to read."

    "Well then, you know I'm studying at the magic university, right? I wanna let you use the library and research some things for me. Do you like reading about the legends and history of the world?"

    "Oh, the magic library… yes! I want to! But, is it okay to let a slave inside? If I ever damage a book, the price for it might be even higher than the price to buy me..." Her voice trails off.

    If that happens most masters would sell the slave, some might even go as far as executing the person.

    "That's alright, if something happens I might revoke your right to use the library but I'm not unreasonable, just don't be careless."

    "Yes!"

    I feel like patting her head, she's so cute. When she's working she kept a firm expressionless face, but now she seems earnest and happy.

    "Why do you want to research legends?" Asks Ciel.

    "You know I'm from a faraway land, I just wanna know more about the life around here, perhaps there might even be similarities in the myths from my land and the local's."

    Ciel seems interested, the other girls know where I'm from so they know why exactly I'm doing this. I have no information about the history of this world so using Lina to collect it for me might be the best way to go about it, I still have so much magic and training to do I can't spend time reading fairy-tales.

    "So your job is maintenance of our equipment and research. I think we can carry you with Alissa so we might as well go to the university together," I say. She's so small I don't think Alissa will mind the extra weight with her increased level in transformation.

    "I can also help with housework," she says raising her hand.

    "Not really necessary, the other girls already help a lot and my clay golems keep the house clean from dust. Ciel and I also have a strong [Clean] so we can just use magic whenever the clay golems aren't enough."

    Her hand falls down.

    "Ah yes, you are a summoner, the golems sure seem convenient," Lina says in a pensive tone.

    We start eating our meal. It's white sauce pasta with grated cheese and roasted Dragolite, we eat lemon pudding for dessert. This is a good restaurant, not too expensive and they didn't mind letting Aoi eat with us too, her intelligence and cleanliness are higher than some people. Lina melts when she eats her pudding, as a slave she didn't have many opportunities to eat sweets, even if Hilde was kind she was a bit spartan on her way of life.


    When we get home the griffin nature spirit is sleeping on a column of the gate of our house. I put points into [Animal Tongue] and approach it.

    "Helloo! Missed me?"

    The little griffin opens his eyes and quickly gets up, he lets out a happy chirp. I pull out a piece of raw meat and leave it near the gate. The girls wave to it but no one has the courage to touch it yet. It happily eats while his cute ass shakes. Aoi is very interested in the spirit.

    When we enter I summon 3 clay golems and get them to work on the dusty house, I don't let anyone else help, today is time for us all to rest.


    "So Lina, where are you from?" Asks Ciel.

    We are in the living room, the fireplace is crackling, the tea is hot, the cookies are delicious, Ciel is chatting with Lina, Alissa is reading, Hana is massaging my brain and Roxanne is brushing her mane.

    "I was born on a surface village at the foot of the Mountainhome. Before Aremut fell to the undead the road around Mountainhome wasn't as popular and our village was only a small hub for adventurers. I was being trained as an enchanter like my father but all our tools got stolen, father had to sell me so he could buy new tools. Hilde bought me and we traveled as peddlers for a long way until we came here."

    "Wow, Mountainhome is on the other side of the continent, that's quite the distance. Where does the Roth family live?" Hana says.

    "The Roth family didn't have a home, it was only 2 years ago that we settled around the Shore of Leaves and the High Forest for hunting dragons. They bought a house in Goldcross but Miss Hildegard has a brother staying here so we should get a response from them soon," Lina continues.

    "What about you Ciel, born here?" I ask.

    "Yes, I never knew my parents but I believe they came from Sommerland since I have this skin color. I joined a Templar unit that was moving there when… the battle happened and I quit being a warrior priestess."

    "What about you Hana?" I say, trying to distract her from that memory.

    "I was born in Sommerland, I used to make escort caravans from there to Ryutake on the far south but unfortunately I never went into Gnomeria, the pixies at Betoverd Bos weren't allowing many people at the forest. If we ever get the chance, let's go to Gnomeria, the gnomes are just so huggable," Hana loses her composure a bit and her eyes go wild, then she coughs, "Once dad screwed up I decided to sell myself at Rabanara because there's a wide variety of strong adventurers here."

    The other 2 retold their stories. Alissa was born at the Misty Low Forest but never left until she came into Rabanara. Roxanne traveled a lot on the Maoka continent then she came through Goldport, she went as far as Goloria then she went back and moved to Rabanara so she never traveled much on this continent.

    "Do you wanna visit your home, Lina?" I say.

    "I… do. Even though my parents sold me I know they had no alternative or we would starve, I know my body is rather childish so at least I'm thankful I wasn't sold to a perverted noble."

    "Sorry to ask but how old are you?" I ask.

    Ciel and Roxanne glare at me.

    "I am your slave, master, there's no need to worry about such things. I am fifteen."

    "What… that's just a year younger than me," I say. She looks younger.

    "Dwarven women are like that," Lina shrugs, "Where do you come from, master?"

    "My homeland is a secret, just like how I know [Gate] I have many other secrets we have to keep," I smile.

    Ciel smiles bitterly.

    "O-oh, I see, forgive me for prying," Lina bows her head in respect.

    "No need for forgiveness, ask anything and I will judge if I can answer."

    "Now that we are talking about it, how did you learn [Gate]?" Ciel asks.

    "That's another secret, but you should know that I have a talent for [Space Magic]. Just like how my [Item Box] is huge I can easily learn spells from that school."

    "Yet another secret..." Ciel mutters and even Lina looks pensive.

    I think I will tell the truth to them soon, but I think I want to propose to Ciel before that. First I need to create a romantic situation with her, I don't wanna a repeat of the last proposals I had. Even though Alissa's was heart-wrenching I still feel embarrassed at the suddenness of it all, I appreciate Hana's help but I want to do it right this time.

    "Considering his talent with using [Telekinesis] in combat I can see why this is true," Hana helps me.

    I haven't had the opportunity to fight using [Telekinesis] but Hana assures me it's gonna be a powerful strike.


    After a while Hana spars with Lina to test her combat capability, luckily Hana has a wooden warhammer for sparring. The dwarves use a long hammer, almost as long as a halberd, it has the traditional flat part of a hammer, a hook on the back and a spear at the tip, quite versatile but it lacks in slashing power.

    "She has a bit of skill, around level 5 I would guess. She can kill most normal goblins around here but will struggle against orcs, her agility is not enough to face a Young Ogre yet and her [Stonebody] is average for her age," Hana says. Lina is dropped down on the ground, completely exhausted. Her white shirt is sticking to her body.

    [Stonebody] is a spell all dwarves have, it works similar to the dragonkin skin that hardens their bodies and even gives them physical strength. While the dragonkin is something innate and physical, the dwarven [Stonebody] is purely magical.

    "The wyvern attack is all but confirmed to come in one or two days," Ciel says, "That dragon was far too smart and strong, it will easily command the wyverns. With that I think it's best to leave her out of the fight, keep her protecting Roxanne and Aoi, she doesn't have the power to face a wyvern yet."

    "Even so I would rather not let her use her body as a shield," I say.

    She seems very submissive so I have a feeling she would needlessly sacrifice herself to protect Roxanne since she's a slave and Roxanne is my fiancee.

    "Lina, I will bring you to fight but your first order is to not die, understand that? I don't want heroic sacrifices I want us to put all our effort into avoiding a situation where a sacrifice is necessary, to begin with."

    "Y-yes! Understood, master!" Lina says in high spirits.

    Alissa and Hana share a warm smile.

    "You say that but you are the one who has a tendency to do put yourself in danger, right? The Symbol, the Orc Chief and this dragon where all you jumping in danger, literally," Roxanne says with her hands on her hip.

    "Well, uh..." I'm at a loss for words.


    Today is strength training, now that we are back home Hana pushes me hard, in both meanings.

    "Lina, Ciel, do you mind taking a bath together?" Alissa says with a suspicious glint in her eyes.

    "Not really, the bath is large for this reason, right?" Ciel says.

    "I'm a slave, you shouldn't be concerned with my embarrassment. But shouldn't I wash master?"

    "It's best you not, the bath is… a place for, uh, bonding," I say.

    Ciel sighs and Lina stares blankly for a few seconds and then her cheeks reddens.


    Today is the 15th.

    Roxanne wakes me up, she doesn't have the skill but she's mastering sensual expressions with my dick in her mouth. After she's done I have to cast [Heal] on my lower back, Hana didn't unglue from me during the entire bath and then Roxanne wanted her share. Alissa, the pervert, masturbated in the corner all the time so she's happy by herself.

    My [Blessing Magic] and my [Summoning Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+11 and 11+9). It seems skills increase much faster when you are purposely training them.

    I spend my morning playing with Aoi in the sofa like you play with cats and a blade of wheat. Alissa had an idea and collected a few blades from the nearest farm yesterday, she lived with a few animal foxes and they have similar instincts to Aoi, it seems. Though I will need something stronger than the blades since Aoi completely destroys a blade with a simple swipe of her incredibly fast claws.

    At 9AM Alissa appears in the living room, she's smiling.

    "You have a visitor, his name is Nour Asaf."

    Ooooh. I go out to meet him. Nour is by the front door, he's observing the house with curiosity. It's the first time I saw him using casual clothes but there's no doubt he's rich, he's wearing red woolen clothes with a shining velvet waistcoat and a green cloak.

    Behind him is a tall dragonkin woman, she has pale white skin, shining emerald hair and ruby scales. Her nose is small, her chin is pointy and her eyes look sharp, a very feminine face. She has a chilling smirk that reminds me of my own man"eating woman. She's using a revealing red dress below a brown fur coat.

    Besides the dragonkin woman is another woman. She's short, a bit shorter than me, she has long brown hair with a few drills, freckles and a cute round face. She shyly looks at me and then turns away. She's wearing similar clothes to Nour's but with frills and a more feminine look.

    "It's been a long time Mr. Nour, I see you changed your companions."

    "Yes, well, a lot happened back home, but you changed more, Mr. Ryder."

    I stretch my hand for a handshake.

    "Just call me Wolf."

    "Then just call me Nour."

    I'm a bit glad to meet Nour. I'm not really a person that spends much time with friends, especially since now I have 5 women around me, but I'm still happy.

    I invite him over and we sit at the living room with Aoi at my lap, Alissa calls the others and soon the room is full and smelling of tea and cookies. Only Lina didn't know about Nour since I told them all in passing about my journey here, they all seem curious about who is the person that managed to befriend me.

    "This is Midori, my first wife and this is Safiya, my second wife," Nour says, embarrassed.

    Midori and Hana share a grin, Safiya blushes, bows and keeps looking down towards the cookies.

    "Uh, wait what," I say.

    "Well then," Nour immediately starts blushing, his voice is fast paces as if he just wants to get this over with, "I was sent home for an arranged marriage. My father got a deal with a mercenary company and they will provide escorts exclusively for our products so we can branch out of the Principality, Father is aiming to enter the market of the capital. The condition was to marry Midori, the captain's daughter, together we will train here in Rabanara for a few years and get stronger then we will inherit the mercenary company. During the ceremony Safiya interrupted, she's my friend from back home, one thing led to another and I married her too…"

    Nour averts his eyes in embarrassment while I blink blankly for a few seconds. Well then, it's my turn.

    "A-anyway, this is Alissa, my fiancee. She's the Blood Slave I got thanks to your gift and I'm really, really grateful for it. This is Hana, my second Blood Slave, she's also my fiancee. This is Roxanne, we met on a request, she's another fiancee. This is Ciel, she was a priest at the temple and now she's part of our fellowship. This is Lina, she was a slave for my employer during my last request but she died and I decided to buy Lina, we will negotiate for her soon. And this is Aoi a small dragon I tamed on my last request," I failed in being different from Nour, talking about things like this I realize having so many women around me is a little excessive. Though I made sure I didn't put "first" or "second" on the fiancee order.

    At my words, Nour opens his eyes wide and even Safiya looks at us. Nour chuckles.

    "I guess you win, your 'troubles' are much more than mine."

    I cough.

    "W-well, uh, what happened to your sister?"

    "Ah. When we got back home she eloped with Liam and married him," I knew it, "I broke the contract with him and Rania swore she's gonna repay me someday. Dad was furious, he wanted her to inherit the business and marry a craftsman, but then he got an idea and managed to rope the lord into marrying his son to her, when eventually she came back to talk she got interested in the idea and accepted. Unlike me she's strong enough to fight alongside the lord's son and clear dungeons, perhaps in a year or so she might even turn into a True Noble. Liam is quite happy too, he was thinking about retiring but he enjoys fighting alongside her more."

    "I understand the sentiment," Hana comments.

    So she actually has 2 husbands, what an interesting world. I know Raina is a powerful mage, she was tired and still managed to cast [Ice Lance], which is a level 30 [Water Magic] spell. This spell is basically a one-hit kill for anything that doesn't have disgusting agility like the Orc Headhunter had.

    "Here's something I brought from home," Nour pulls something out of his [Item Box], it's a small basket and inside…

    "Chocolate!"

    "W-what?" Nour looks confused.

    "He's addicted to chocolate," Alissa says.

    I immediately grab a black cube and eat. It's semi-sweet chocolate, not my favorite and not the best taste but it's the first chocolate I ate in a long time. It melts into my mouth and I feel bliss.

    "Huh, where did you eat such a thing?" Nour raises an eyebrow, "It's quite a new find that's popular on the Principality. When I left the emperor had requested an urgent caravan with chocolate for the capital so it's going to take some time for it to spread."

    "I uh, ate it once beyond the Maoka continent," I lie.

    Just saying "my homeland" and keeping quiet about it might not cut it. Ciel raises an eyebrow.

    "Well that's quite the journey, the Maoka continent itself exports a good amount of interesting products so I'm not that surprised."

    He should know I'm a bit reserved about my past.

    The girls eat and even Hana and Midori look pleased. Chocolate is love, chocolate is life.

    "You brought more chocolate with you?" I ask, "The last of chocolate in the town has been for a long time."

    "Yeah, I came with a small caravan. I will tell you where they are selling the cocoa, the chocolate they make there will sell fast."

    "Say, Nour, what exactly your family works on?" I ask.

    "We are dealing with the new version of magic tools for flight. We have a few craftsmen that achieved a breakthrough in copying the tools of the chimeras. Dad has been working with the empire in building an airship fleet."

    Everyone is wide-eyed.

    "That's... your family must be quite powerful," I say.

    Nour cringes.

    "Yeaaah. Kind of... well you know how it goes, when people get too much money the others start to covet. I came here to get away from all that nonsense, in Rabanara nobody really cares where you are from."

    Boy, am I thankful for that.

    "So, are you two from the same family or something?" I ask Hana and Midori.

    "I think so, the color of our scales says we are related somehow but your skin color is rare over at Ryutake," says Midori.

    "I was born at Sommerland but mom is from Ryutake. Did you know the Yokubo family?" Says Hana.

    "Hm, I think I heard this name before…"

    "Well the last Yokubo at Ryutake was my grandmother so it's no surprise you don't remember much."

    With that, we talk freely. Nour is planning on hiring an archer or tracker and another vanguard and delving into dungeons, he's never going to set foot into Royd's Kerfuffle again, though. Hana is older so Midori has some things to learn from her, Hana's route passed through Faium so they had some stories to share.

    Safiya is quite shy but she did well with Roxanne and Ciel, she's a fire and wind mage. She started training when Nour left for the first time, then learned she has quite a magical aptitude, so she entered the magic university there for a basic course.

    At 10 AM a letter came to me, Dietgard Roth, Hilde's younger brother, will like to meet me to receive Hilde's remains, her belongings and to negotiate Lina. He asks to meet in the afternoon. At 11 AM Alissa, Ciel and Safiya go prepare lunch and we eat with Nour, good thing we have spare chairs as the table is getting crowded. I notice Nour is a bit uncomfortable around Midori, or rather, he's scared of her, in a cute way.


    "Thanks for the lunch Wolf, or should I say, Mr. 'Good Luck'," Nour laughs, "Stay out of trouble, I didn't think someone as careful as you would be involved in so much fighting."

    "Maybe it's because I'm careful that I can fight so much."

    "Certainly seems so."

    "One thing," I get closer to Nour and whisper, "The dragon is a wild animal, you have to grab it and make it submit by force if you want to tame it. A dragon answers to power and if you don't tame it and ride it, it will tame you and ride you."

    Nour squirms and I smirk. We shake hands and he leaves. It's interesting how the act of shaking hands is present on this world.


    At 2 PM we leave house and go towards the inn that Dietgard is at, it's on the nobles quarters so it's close by. To enter the quarters you have to show your ID and I suspect that if your clothes are too low quality the guards won't let you pass.

    The houses here are all mansions or inns that look more like mansions, the shops even show their products behind glass panes allowing the beginnings of window-shopping to appear. Ciel and Roxanne show the most interest while Lina and Alissa hide their curiosity but I can still notice it. Hana only shows interest in the weapons shops but she scoffs at the weapons on display, they are all fashionable but of low quality.

    "Damn pompous nobles," she mutters.

    We reach a pretty building made of pale yellow concrete and salmon-colored roof tiles. With the small flower garden in the front, this inn looks so sweet I puke in my mouth. Bright colors seem to be the style of choice around the Quarters. The receptionist wears a matching pink and pale yellow uniform.

    "I'm looking for Dietgard Roth, my name is Wolf Ryder, he's expecting me," I tell the woman.

    With a fake smile, she looks at the register and then goes out to call for him, in a minute Dietgard comes downstairs.

    Dietgard is a medium-sized man who looks like Hildegard but with bob hair, quite the androgynous face. His clothes are a similar qipao and pants that Hilde used in the first meeting. Oh, wait… he's a "trap".

    "Ah, Mr. Ryder, good meeting you, I'm Dietgard Roth," he says with a somber tone.

    "Good meeting you too, I'm sorry for your loss," I say and shake his hand.

    "I read the reports, it's such an unfortunate encounter. My sister was such a good person, I'm thankful you risked yourself to bring her remains. Please come with me, I prepared a room to receive her," he lowers his head while speaking.

    We go upstairs and enter a room, there's nothing besides a table with a thick cloth. A simple man with plain black clothes is standing at the corner.

    "Please put her here," Dietgard points to the table.

    I put her corpse in the table, it's wrapped in cloth but there's still blood dripping so the table cloth immediately gets bloody. I leave the sack with her belongings beside the table. Dietgard pulls the cloth in her face and grimaces.

    "Take her and prepare the ceremony," he says. The man in the corner wraps her corpse in the table cloth and stores it in his [Item Box] and then leaves.

    He grabs the sack and investigates its contents.

    "Thank you for bringing her belongings too. Ask me anything and I will reward you if it's on my capabilities."

    "Thank you for your consideration but I don't need rewards for this, I only did what was right."

    His lips curl in a small and painful smile

    "You are a good man, Mr. Ryder, pity we meet under such circumstances."

    "Indeed."

    He sighs.

    "Let us go downstairs and talk about Lina's future."

    We sit by a table at the restaurant. It seems that even though the outside is completely different the design of inns is all the same.

    "Now then, you wish to buy Lina?" His somber expression disappears and the sharp gaze of a serious merchant covers his face.

    "Yes."

    "50 gold coins," he answers immediately.

    I'm so dumbfounded I lose my voice, Lina's expressionless face turns into one of disbelief. The rest of the girls frown. Lina was bought first by 5 gold coins, this is not a reasonable amount.

    "Why do you think she's this valuable?" I ask.

    "She's a hard-working slave with a keen business sense and much experience, she will bring a lot of value to any merchant that gets her," he says. His stare is so strong it's as if he wants to stare into my soul.

    I look at Lina, she pinches my thigh, this is a signal he's lying. During negotiations she used this kind of signal a lot with Hilde.

    "She's merely 15 and most of the credit goes to Miss Hildegard's business sense. Lina was merely a dedicated assistant, you can find such slave in the market for 1 or 2 gold coins," I say. Lina was more expensive because she's young and cute.

    It's mostly the poor that sells their family to temporary slavery. A few gold coins can change the life of a commoner.

    "Acquiring the experience of living with such a talented merchant like my sister is the most valuable aspect," I can feel his poker face straining.

    "Oh please, do not inflate Miss Hildegard's talent so much. She was capable but far from being such a genius that just by staying near her you could acquire talent by osmosis."

    "Os-osmosis?

    "Oh oops, expression from my homeland. I mean, acquire talent by just rubbing on it."

    "Still, her talents are more than just in business, she's quite capable of combat and crafting."

    "She's below average for combat and her crafting apprenticeship barely started," Hana says, "I sparred with her personally and appraised her crafting using our equipment."

    "Oh if she's so average then why do you wish for her?" He pushes in a mocking tone.

    "If she's so average why are you asking so much for her?" I push back.

    "Because I see talent in her!" He's losing his temper, good.

    "And so do I. But I have plenty of other experienced individuals and the capabilities to help her. Hana is experienced in combat, Roxanne is experienced in magic and alchemy, Ciel is experienced in combat and healing, Alissa is experienced in tracking and archery, I'm experienced in magic and combat. Not only that but I have a blessing of the Goddess of Knowledge and I will let her use the library of the magic university that I'm currently enrolled in. What kind of future can you give her that's better than what I'm giving?"

    He bites his lip in frustration, it would be sensual if he was a woman. He inhales and exhales, trying to calm himself.

    "Lina… please marry me..." He says.

    I choke on my spit and Lina sighs. She looks at me while I recover.

    "Uh… you wanna speak? Please do," I say.

    "I'm sorry Grand Dietgard, I do not wish to marry you," she says and bows.

    I don't want to ask why.

    "Please, I can give you anything, you will be my first wife and we will inherit the house name. Ever since I first saw you when Hilde bought you I have been in love, I will treat you nicely and never marry another, we will be happy together, just the 2 of us," he says, his voice increasing in pitch, I'm not sure if it's a man or a woman talking anymore.

    "Please understand, I do not wish to marry you, I'm sorry," she says and bows again, this time her head keeps down for a long time.

    Dietgard sighs. He massages his eyes with his hands.

    "Name your price Mr. Ryder," he says in a defeated tone.

    "Fifteen gold coins."

    He opens his eyes in surprise.

    "I told you she's valuable, but not that much," I say.

    "Fine…"

    I give him the money and he takes it without looking. I pass him a thick piece of paper, it has the name, description, date, and place that Lina was bought, this is the proof of purchase. It's in the name of Hildegard Roth but since she's dead the closest family member, Dietgard, has authority over her sale. Lina was sold for 40 years, by the time she finished her contract she would be 50, by then it would be unlikely she would ever find someone to marry.

    In a small space Dietgard writes his signature and the words "Sold to Wolf Ryder", now I have to go to a Slavers Guild to register her in my name. We share a weak handshake and we leave immediately, he didn't even look at Lina again. Having a slave decline marrying him must have hurt his pride.

    Once we are some distance from the inn Lina stops and grabs my arm.

    "Thank you, thank you. I won't disappoint you, I will work hard and make myself useful. I don't think Grand Dietgard was a bad person but I do not wish to be with him, thank you again for keeping me."

    With teary eyes she hugs me, her head barely reaches my chest. I pat her head, she's so cute, so cute. Wait, no, put that phone away, please.

    Ciel looks at her with warm eyes as one looks at a puppy. When Lina releases her hug she's blushing like a tomato.

    "Don't need to overdo it, it's no good to be all work and no fun."

    "Well… I think going to the library might be more fun than work..." She says bashfully.


    On the way back we pass by some stores to buy a high-quality set of clothes for Lina. Walking around with Aoi on Hana's neck is rather eye-catching.

    We end up passing by the Slavers Guild, it looks the same as the Golden Necklace, but less well decorated. Registering Lina is quite simple, with the paper, my name, and a small fee I get a new paper that proves her purchase. Then the tag in her metal collar gets changed to a new one with my name. On my "Affiliations" the entry "Lina (slave)" appeared.

    After that we enter a luxurious store outside of the noble's quarters and Lina freezes inside, it takes Alissa to whisper something to her that she accepts to buy something from it. I see the store's owner is a middle-aged man holding back a smirk, I get an idea and approach him.

    "Excuse me, I know this might not be the best place to ask but do you know of a romantic place where I could spend an evening with my women?" I ask, holding back my embarrassment.

    His face lights up.

    "I know just the place. Here's my favorite restaurant, I take my wife there every few day-cycles, what's special is the siren that sings there, there's also a lamia and a scylla that play instruments. If you are not going there for the singing at least go there for the view, these race's charms affect even the women so they are marvelous to looks at," his voice lowers to a whisper and he gives me a small paper.

    "The theater has a new play every day-cycle, most of them are aimed at women so perhaps you should go there. Coming next is 'Roberto and Judea', I greatly recommend that one, my wife cried the first time she saw it.

    Sounds familiar.

    Well I gotta treat them better, I have been a bit too absorbed in working and not given them that much attention besides sex and cuddling.

    When Lina gets out of the fitting room she's blushing. I massage my forehead and pray Alissa isn't going overboard. In the end, I see they chose a cute short white and black dress with a silver lining, some stockings, a pair of low wedge black shoes and a cloak with bunny ears. I tap Alissa in the shoulder and kiss her cheek, that cloak is something special, such cuteness needs to be rewarded.


    The merchant stores are not something I had paid much attention to but now I'm starting to enjoy them. Most are a bit cramped and with their odd architecture it seems every single one tries to appeal with charm. There are wind chimes that play sounds that resemble the chirp of birds. Perfumes filling the store with a pleasant scent seem to be common among women's stores, the glands of monsters help a lot in creating perfumes. Every shop related to food seems to have a specialty, they probably hire a specialized hunter to catch a specific monster. The Smirk has so many different dungeons with so many different monsters that I didn't even read about them all, I had just chosen the closest one because it fit what we wanted.

    On a store I found a set of not-chess called Noblesse Oblige, one side has humans and the other has goblins and orcs. Instead of king and queen it's lord and lady, the bishop is warrior-priest, the tower is a mage, the pawn is soldier, the horse is a knight. Mage and knight have inverted move types and some other rule changes. There's a more advanced version that's humanoids versus humanoids, it uses more mages and weird, complex rules, it's called Civil War. I bought it and a set of not-backgammon.

    Alissa explained to me about the Lord and Lady titles. The title Lord is a little weird, it's given to any noble that holds land and it can be given to a man or woman. Lady is given to the wife of the noble regardless whether she fights alongside the noble or not. The title Gentleman is the Lady counterpart that's used only for when the man does not fight but even so it's rarely used aside for addressing amorphous groups of people. Even though this society does not put women down there are still some weird things in regard to gender differences.

    Before we go home I sneak out and make a reservation on the restaurant for the 19th. They certainly know where I went since the party radar is still working but hopefully they didn't pay much attention. I told them to wait for a surprise for the 19th.


    When we get home Lina tries to help with the kitchen but Alissa and Ciel get her out, seeing her dejected I give her a random book we have and her eyes sparkle. She can use our small library anytime but she seems reluctant, she must not have had much free time and is too used to having a lot of work to do.

    I'm actually quite content today so I reward Alissa and receive my love marks on my back.


    Today is the 16th.

    Every day I have been awaking by a small piece of heaven, today I woke up to hell falling on earth. Waking up by air raid siren is bound to give an old man a heart attack.

    "W-where's the bunker!?" I ask.

    "The what?" Questions Alissa.

    "It's the wyvern attack, get up," Hana says. She's already putting on her clothes and armor.

    It's not even dawn yet, it's 5 AM. Ciel explained to me how it's going to work so I just go to the hunters guild with Alissa while the girls prepare and wait at the house. We run through the town, the magical lights give an eerie atmosphere, the cloudy skies block the colorful moons, and the light rain is the cherry on the gloomy cake of today.

    When it's starting to feel chilly we reach the guild, there are adventurers coming from everywhere. The guild extended a large tent outside the building and everyone is huddling inside of it.

    "Silence! Speak only when necessary!" Yells an attendant with a magically enhanced voice.

    She repeats this every so often and the incessant talking dies down to murmurs. I can see Silas is at the middle of the tent on a table while one of his attendant is searching both on a map and a list. A line forms and I get on it.

    "Fellowship name?" The attendant asks.

    "Helios," I answer.

    "Farm protection. Number 3, east side."

    "We have great expectations upon you, Mr. Ryder, don't disappoint us on this time of need," Silas says, rubbing his magnificent beard

    The murmuring dies down completely and all eyes are on me. I expected a dangerous position but number 3 is worse than even Ciel imagined. Anyway, it's time to look cool.

    "Helios will not disappoint, we are ready and willing to fight for this town," I say, with a clenched fist over my heart.

    We will fight but we will not die, I will use [Gate] the moment any of us gets too close to danger. But my words seem to have the intended effect causing Silas to smile, then the murmuring exploded again making the attendant yell for silence.

    There's not much else to do, we return home.


    "By the gods, Wolf, you owe that guildmaster some favors or something?" Ciel asks.

    No good deed goes unpunished.

    "I think he owes me, actually, after this I expect some good rewards. We did bring quite a lot of proof of subjugation of strong monsters so I guess he really thinks we are strong," I say.

    "Zinotue and Burkanolf are stronger than the average wyvern, the problem here will be the number," Roxanne says.

    "Well, you don't seem too worried about this fight," Ciel says.

    "I will keep [Gate] ready for us, any sign of real danger and we are leaving. I don't care if we have to escape the continent to avoid shame I won't let any of you die."

    "Awn..." Roxanne hugs me and sniffs, "When we marry we can just live inside the succubus sacred territory, no one will question you there."

    "I hardly think we will have to go that far," Hana says, "With Roxanne's elixir and a defensive position we will last a long time, we even have a good window to ask for assistance."

    We review our strategy. Ciel, Hana and me at the front, 3 water elementals behind for support, Lina for any stragglers, and Roxanne and Alissa on top of the chest-high wall beside the road. Aoi will stay besides Roxanne, I have no confidence in ever leaving Aoi alone, a tamable dragon is valuable.

    "I am sorry for not being useful," Lina says and bows.

    That was uncalled for. I throw a hand chop on her head.

    "Gueh!"

    "Don't be silly, we will train you and you will certainly get strong enough to be a vanguard," I say. I hate such submissive behavior.

    "Yes, I will work hard!"

    "Now, give me your hand, it's time for the party."

    She extends her pale, frail hand. Such delicate hands, hard to believe she can wield such a large war hammer. Once I release her hand her pale face is as red as Hana's hair.


    We move towards the east gate, it's fully raining now. Above us, a huge wooden platform floats towards the southern wall.

    "On top of that is the Lord's heavy ballista, the Dragon's Bane. We won't be able to see it but at position 3 perhaps we can see when the bolt fires," says Ciel.

    We reach the gate and there's a long line of soldiers marching through it. Groups of adventurers are also leaving but in much smaller numbers. Once we cross we see the soldiers going south, they will be positioned to defend the wall. The soldiers are all holding rectangular scuta shields and long pikes.

    Any attack by monsters who are not breeders or led by a monster of the type of the Orc Chief will be just a horde attacking the biggest concentrations of humanoids, whether these humanoids are combatants or not. On Rabanara this means that hiding behind the walls will only cause the wyverns to fly over and enter the town, creating chaos.

    To counter that the lord brings out his army outside the south wall as bait and starts massacring any monster that gets close. They use mages to create ditches and moats, they put palisades to funnel them, traps at choke points and random spikes and rocks. The way they modify the terrain to maximize extermination efficiency could almost be considered art.

    There's also the main weapons, the ballista array, they are magic tools that fire giant arrow upon arrow that almost seem like a machine gun from Earth, these terrifying weapons have a kill count that makes a hunter blush. And then there's the final weapon, the Dragon's Bane, a huge ballista that killed any dragon it met with a single shot. This strategy and organization is what gave the title Enemy of Wyverns to the Anara family and to the Lord Alaraste. No one alive in this continent killed more wyverns than him.

    While the army butchers the main force of wyverns, we, the adventurers, either patrol the town for any invaders or protect the farming fields behind Rabanara. Without the farms Rabanara will surely wither and fall. Protecting the farms is a rather dangerous job because there's an unknown number of wyverns that will detach from the main force and come towards the farms. The hunters are arranged on a line along the road, starting from 1 being the closest to the gate and 2 further away and so forth. Since we are number 3 we are rather close to the main force of wyverns, meaning we will certainly deal with a considerable number of them.


    Our position is marked with a banner, far away we can see the number 2 and number 4 fellowships, they are too far to help in a timely manner if we screw up. The number of competent and reliable fellowships is not large, every wyvern attack the adventurers are spread thin, but the prestige from success won't be small. Being called here means we are considered a very strong fellowship, which will net us a good reward in the future, if we survive.

    We stay at our positions trying to concentrate while shivering in the cold rain. Ciel casts [Inspire], I manipulate Roxanne's extra skill points so she gives us each a cup of [Filling Waters]. I give us all area blessings, summon 3 water elementals, drink an MP potion, and sit down to recover mana. Before I close my eyes I see Roxanne smirking, my water elementals are women that have a distinctive ponytail, side bangs and wear oval glasses and high heel boots.

    Hello again, gods. I'm not directing this prayer to anyone in particular right now since I'm not sure who I should ask for help so please listen to me a little. This will be a dangerous fight, we don't know how many are coming so it's hard to prepare. I ask for a bit of mercy on this fight, I want to grow and get stronger but it seems every time I fight, something dangerous is thrown at me. I don't want these women to suffer but I realize it's useless to protect them up to this degree, they are all warriors who made their decisions. So I ask that you at least give them enough power for them to stand beside me, I want us all to fight and go back home together.


    Another air raid siren is sounded, two tones, the monsters are coming. I stand up, dawn is here, 70% of my mana is recovered. We all drink Roxanne's elixir. I put the 2 extra points I had into [Battlefield Perception], I don't gain eyes on my back but I always get an "intuition" about the state of the others. The ground shakes and we hear the noise of a large amount of footsteps.

    "GUAAAAH!" We hear the cry of a wyvern. Multiple cries follow it.

    "Two Hooknoses approaching from the sky!" Alissa yells. In the distance, I see 2 black dots above the treetops.

    Hooknose is a type of 2-meters tall brown wyvern that has no claws but it has a curved sharp horn at the tip of its face, it uses it to launch its prey in the air and kill it by gravity. Its jaw is wide and flat, good for crushing if the nose is not enough.

    A wyvern appears from the middle of the trees, it's a Deathclaw, a 1 and a half meter tall black wyvern. It has bat-like wings with 3 half-meter long claws at the wing bone, it uses these claws to rip the meat of its prey.

    "COME HERE YOU LITTLE CHICK, MAMA WILL GIVE YOU A SPANKING," Hana taunts.

    None of us have a shield, there are no projectiles coming so no need for that. Hana is going to be one of the main killers of this battle, without a shield her [Sword Use] and [Two-Handed Sword Use] add to each other, allowing her to show the true strength of the dragonkin.

    The Deathclaw is going to arrive first, he's charging straight to Hana. To conserve mana only the elemental behind her starts charging a spell.

    100 meters.

    80 meters.

    60 meters.

    40 meters.

    20 meters.

    [Water Blade]! I hear the elemental cast in my mind. Through Hana's side a large, thin blade rushes towards the frenzied wyvern and hits it on the shoulder. A deep gash appears, blood pours and mixes with the rainwater. Its charge is disrupted and it tumbles forward.

    Hana jumps forward and her spear lands into the already open wound, it goes halfway in and she releases the spear.

    "GUAAH!" The wyvern cries in pain. Its head slowly moves in a dramatic way, a perfect target.

    Alissa wastes no time, with [Perfect Arrows] and her slightly enchanted bow she has no problem in the rain. Her first arrow is a hit and goes through the eyes of the wyvern, it goes limp and dies.

    "Holy shit Alissa, you are awesome as always," Hana says. I "feel" Alissa fidget.

    I'm a bit amused that "holy shit" is also a swear here.

    Hana goes back to her spear and pulls it out. I store the corpse in my "Items". We can hear sounds of battle at the distance.

    The two Hooknoses land 60 meters in front of us and charge towards Hana.

    "ALL THREE!" I scream. The elementals all charge a spell.

    Like they are in sync, the 2 Hooknoses try to skewer Hana from each side at the same time. Hana summons her wings and jumps up, the Hooknoses collide with each other and the 3 Water Blades wound both, the left one loses his horn.

    Me, Hana, and Ciel strike at the same time after the [Water Blades] do their job. I make a downward strike with all my strength and increase my sword's weight with [Telekinesis], I cut the neck of the wyvern deeply and blood spurts on my arms. I jump backwards.

    Ciel's thrust penetrated the side of the neck of the wyvern, she pushes down and keeps his head in place. Hana falls down with all her strength and her spear lodges inside the skull of the left wyvern, it's dead.

    The wyvern I cut lashes out and tries to bite me, my [Dodge] skill makes itself useful until an arrow pierces the roof of the mouth.

    "GUYEH!" It screams in surprise and retreats.

    "HAH!" Hana yells and slashes downwards with her sword. It receives another deep cut on the other side of its neck.

    The wyvern writhes in pain and tries to run but collapses midway, it will die soon due to blood loss. I store the closest wyvern in "Items" after I help Hana recover her spear with [Telekinesis].

    "You are now level 18."

    I put all my points into [Sword Use] (now 13+6).

    "The way I'm using this spear it will break soon," Hana says.

    "It's low quality anyway, we should have gotten you a high quality one," I say.

    "Look forward! Three Coming!" Alissa yells and our short break ends.

    2 Hooknoses appear with a Deathclaw in the middle of both.

    "Ciel! Together!" Roxanne yells. I feel them both charging a spell.

    "Remember that you are light, don't let the Hooknose lift you!" Hana yells to me.

    Actually… I have an idea. I charge [Lightning Bolt].

    When in range, Ciel lets out [Wind Blade] and Roxanne [Water Blade]. The Hooknose loses the right wing to it and rolls around in the ground in pain, Ciel rushes to skewer it. Hana throws her spear into her Deathclaw, it pierces its chest, making it stagger and lose the speed of charge. I cast [Lightning Bolt] but mine barely slows down, I cast another and it reduces speed to a walk, 2 arrows pierce its flank, but not deeply.

    My wyvern bites 3 times, I swing my sword to keep it from trampling me, I land a few cuts. It swings its tail and I dodge, once its back is turned it receives a painful arrow in the back that sinks deep. Hana is having a sword fight with her Deathclaw and she cut off 2 claws already, Ciel is stabbing the Hooknose and slowly pushing it back, filling it with wounds.

    My wyvern growls and bites at me again, I have to make sure my sword doesn't get caught or I'm screwed. This time Alissa hits the tongue of the wyvern, it gets angrier and decides to try to skewer me. It lowers its head and pushes forward. I jump, slash downwards, and increase the weight of my sword as much as I can. The sword pierces the wyvern through the head and buries itself up until the hilt, it falls limp on the floor. With a little effort, I manage to dislodge my bloodied sword.

    I go help Hana and slice off the foot of the Deathclaw, it falls down on the ground and Hana pierces its heart with her sword.

    Roxanne casts [Water Blade] towards the chest and finishes off the suppressed wyvern Ciel was fighting.

    We quickly collect the proof of subjugation of each monster.

    "Hana! Taunt them!" Alissa yells and points.

    There's 2 Jazars trying to sneak through our left side. The Jazar is a 2 and a half meter tall bright red wyvern, it has no wings but it has long and thin freaky arms, at its fingers are 10cm long claws with an edge. Hunters harvest those claws to use as knives.

    "OVER HERE, SHITTY GECKOS, I NEED NEW TOOTHPICKS!" Hana taunts.

    The running monsters make an emergency stop and immediately change course towards Hana.

    "ALL THREE! GIRLS, WAIT FOR THE SPELL!" I scream, the elementals obey.

    We gather near Hana and wait. The wyverns run with their arms raised high, it's really creepy.

    When they reach 20 meters three [Water Blades] fly through us. The right arm of the left wyvern gets cut off, the other wyvern receives one long cut through its flank and dodges the last blade.

    Hana charges with her spear and skewers the left wyvern, it gets stopped in place and her spear breaks, following the break Ciel stabs the wyvern and it tries to escape. My wyvern ignores me and I run my sword through its flank, due to [Telekinesis] the wound is much deeper than I could ever cut. The wyvern screams and tumbles down past me. When it raises its head it receives an arrow through the eye and dies.

    Hana moves past her wyvern and blocks its escape. This wyvern got desperate and it's swinging its remaining arm wildly, blocking any of us from getting close.

    "Four more are coming!" Alissa yells. She can't do anything, the scales of this one are too tough for her arrows.

    "Roxanne! Finish it!" I yell, she starts gathering mana.

    "[Water Blade]!" She yells.

    The wyvern gets hit in the back and staggers, it was a really deep wound. Hana and Ciel waste no time, they both slash towards its neck and blood gushes out. We retreat, it wobbles a bit and collapses a few meters away from us.

    "EVERYONE…! BARRAGE!" I scream, trying to catch my breath. Everyone gathers mana, I charge [Lightning Bolt].

    The wyverns land 80 meters from us and pick up speed, they are all Hooknoses.

    "FIRE!" I yell.

    I let out my charged [Lightning Bolt], the one I hit falls down and eats dirt. Before he even stops moving an arrow goes through his eye and he dies. The others get multiple wounds, one is wobbling and can only walk towards us, the last 2 keep their charge.

    Hana and Ciel get ready to receive the charge.

    "[Wind Wall]!" Ciel yells.

    An area in front of her gets blurred and the wyvern slows down, it struggles but passes through. This delay was enough and Ciel thrusts at its chest, the attack misses the heart but it goes deep. Ciel follows it with a slash, the already wounded wyvern gets cautious and stops moving just to receive an arrow at the flank. It enrages again and charges, receiving Roxanne's [Water Blade] on the skull, making it wince. Ciel then slashes downward with her glaive and the blade buries itself on the already wounded part of the head, the wyvern goes limp.

    Hana summons her wings and receives the charge by thrusting her sword at the chest of the wyvern and holding it in place. The monster tries to bite at her but she kicks it off her sword and pushes it to the side. It falls near me and I slash at its neck aided by [Telekinesis], blood spurts out again and reaches my face. The monster whips back and tries to skewer me. Hana dashes forward and buries her sword into its skull through its eye, it's dead.

    The last wyvern limps forward and receives an arrow in the last leg, it falls down and pitifully tries to crawl towards us, its eyes glare at us with hate and evil intent. Then the shine on its eyes goes away as an arrow pierces one eye and kills it.

    We get a small breather. Hana pulls out a spare shitty spear we have.


    Lina collects the proof of extermination for us, she's quite anxious about not being able to do anything so she insisted on doing this. I'm sitting down trying to meditate but the cold from the rain is making it difficult.

    "Lina! Five coming!" Alissa yells.

    Lina cutely scurries back towards us and we get ready again.

    From multiple places 5 wyverns appear, 2 Hooknoses, 2 Deathclaws and a Jazar.

    "EVERYONE! FOCUS JAZAR! FIRE AT WILL!" I scream.

    Alissa lets out multiple arrows, the Jazar slows down. The elementals finish casting and multiple wounds cover its body, it stubbornly keeps moving. Ciel unleashes her [Wind Blade] and it barely dodges, opening a long cut on its flank. Alissa fires another arrow and it stumbles, Roxanne takes the opportunity and unleashes her [Water Blade], it goes through the skull and it dies on the spot.

    "DEATHCLAWS? MORE LIKE KNIFECLAWS, YOUR CLAWS CAN'T EVEN SCRATCH ME!" Hana taunts.

    The Deathclaws aim at her and the Hooknoses aim at me and Ciel, one for each of us. Mine seems a bit big though, I'm just slightly scared.

    "CIEL! JAZAR COMING!" Alissa screams. I "feel" that Roxanne is capable of assisting her, she will be fine.

    The Hooknose is coming too fast for me to face it head-on. I don't wanna waste more mana on him and Alissa is busy covering Ciel, I will just avoid him until I get an opening.

    The wyvern comes with such a force the ground trembles. I dodge towards the side, I slash as I dodge and I manage to give a shallow wound, then my view goes dark…


    I blink, I see the sky and rainwater goes into my eyes. My head hurts. I immediately cast [Heal], the pain goes away and I lift my body, I see the Sea of Trees in front of me. I feel a chill on my back so powerful I almost piss myself, "death" is coming. Fucker had spread its wings and hit me in the head as I moved past it.

    I roll sideways and I hear a pound, I roll again and I hear a clack, I get into a crouch position and jump, I feel the wind on my back as a tail swipes at were I was. I turn around and a pointy horn is thrusting towards me. I use [Telekinesis] on myself, reducing my weight, I put my foot on the nose besides the horn and I'm lifted upwards like a feather.

    I'm flying, kinda. I don't have a lot of control over [Telekinesis] when I use it on myself so I'm still kinda screwed when I fall down. I look at my hand and luckily I'm still holding my sword, convenient.

    I don't want to fall slowly into the open mouth of that monster so I increase the gravity of my sword as much as I can, it pulls me down fast.

    The monster opens its mouth and ignores my sword, fucking retard. I cut through its mouth like butter, its flesh, bone, and fangs were nothing to stop me. The sword was angled in such a way the lower jaw is left hanging by a small piece of bone. I fall down heavily on the ground, couldn't manipulate my gravity skillfully enough, my legs and spine hurt. I "feel" Hana is hurt, but I hear her laugh so I guess she's fine.

    The monster roars and shakes its head, spewing blood all over, its tongue falls down on the floor. For his temper tantrum, he receives an arrow down his throat. The monster chokes and retches dramatically.

    I rush forward and slash at its leg, it falls down on one knee and tries to swipe at me with its tail. I block with my sword and I'm thrown back a few meters ass down into the mud. My muscles ache, I'm getting tired.

    I "feel" Ciel get hurt, my heart aches but I have to finish this one first, I believe Roxanne won't let her die.

    I dash forward and the monster tries to skewer me but it lacks power. I dodge and slash at its nose, a shallow wound. It tries to sweep me again but I'm too far, a small step back and I'm fine. Once its back is turned I slash at the other leg, it cries in pain again and nearly falls.

    It tries to squash me with its head but I dodge sideways and slash again, this time I make a deep wound at the neck with [Telekinesis].

    The girls are fine, the wounds are just like mine, acceptable. The monster tries to spread its wings again and hit me but I just duck and stab it. The monster tries to retract the wings and I pull my sword causing a large and painful tear on its wing. It gets cautious and glares at me, trying to retreat.

    An arrow on its back and it gets desperate, trying to trample over me. I crouch and use [Telekinesis] on the sword and thrust it upwards, the wyvern steps on me but it screams and retreats its huge foot, now bleeding.

    The monster stops for a second, perfect, I raise my free hand with a clenched fist and the elemental casts a [Water Blade] on the back of the monster. It roars and falls, I dash and slash at its already wounded throat.

    "GUAaaaah~," The wyvern cries weakly.

    It tries to wobble away and collapses, I thrust my sword down its skull, it's dead.

    "You are now level 19."

    Damn, that's a lot of experience. I put all my points into [Mana Recovery] (now 10+0).

    Hana and Ciel are fighting one Deathclaw each, the Jazar is already dead from the elementals and Roxanne. I rush towards Hana and cast [Lightning Bolt], the wyvern freezes, it's stunned.

    Hana's elemental unleashes a [Water Blade] and a wing is cut off. The monster roars and Hana takes the chance, she inflicts multiple deep cuts on the wyvern, her spare spear is already broken and half embedded into its chest. It flails its wings in vain, I slash at its leg and it falls on one knee.

    "HAAAH!" Hana yells.

    She slashes downward and the wyvern tries to defend but it's not strong enough. Its wings bend before Hana's slash and her sword gets embedded into the skull of the wyvern, it's dead.

    Ciel pierces the jaw of Deathclaw and holds it in place, Alissa unleashes her arrow and it pierces the eye, killing it. She frees her glaive and crouches down, I rush towards her. She has 3 slashes across her chest, some blood and a little bit of chocolate cleavage can be seen.

    I hear Ciel murmuring.

    "How are you?" I ask, and touch her shoulder.

    "… [Heal]. Ugh, I'm okay, just a flesh wound," she says and looks at her bloodied clothes.

    I cast [Clean].

    "Still bleeding?"

    "Hm, nope, I'm fine," she says while feeling her clothes and armor," Don't look at me like that, I have been worse.

    I sigh. I get too anxious when I see them bloodied.

    "Heal Hana too please, I'm using too much of my mana already."

    Hana is also fine just a scratch and bruises. She has 3 slashes on her flank and one on her shoulder, cutting the padding of the brigandine and exposing the metal plates. Her only flesh wound is a slash on her cheek, though it won't scar, dragonkin skin is just that good.


    Wagons and horsemen rush around the road, wounded, news, replacement requests. This is a city-wide effort and their experience shows, for hundreds of years they have been doing this every year or so.

    The rain is thinning but I'm still shivering with cold.

    "SEVEN COMING!" Alissa yells.

    Fuck me, they keep increasing.

    "BATTERY!" I yell.

    150 meters. They are not out of the woods yet.

    Hana brings out her bow and arrows. We all charge mana.

    "FIRE!"

    Hana actually hits her arrow even in the rain with an average bow. No kills.

    "AIM!"

    120 meters.

    "FIRE!"

    No kills.

    "AIM!"

    90 meters.

    "FIRE!"

    1 down. 6 to go.

    "AIM!"

    70 meters.

    "FIRE!"

    1 down. 5 to go.

    "FIRE AT WILL!"

    My mana is low, I have to save my spells.

    "YOU ARE JUST EXPERIENCE FOR MY SOUL! COME TO ME!" Hana taunts, she fires one last arrow and throws her bow.

    A Deathclaw comes to me, it has 2 arrows on its chest, it's bleeding from the lower body and it has a long tear on a wing. I draw my knife on my back and throw it. I'm actually bad at throwing so I use a bit of [Telekinesis] and turn it into an arrow. It sinks heavily into the shoulder of the wyvern and slows it down. I charge forward.

    I slash upwards and the wyvern parries with a claw, the other wing comes and I dodge back, the wyverns are awkward at fighting close range, they rely on overwhelming strength instead of skill. I lift my hand with a clenched fist and a weak [Water Blade] slashes the wyvern at the neck, it's a shallow wound.

    I gotta buy time for the elemental to charge a blade strong enough. Alissa is busy trying to support Hana, the 2 Jazars she's fighting are being tough, Roxanne is also busy helping Ciel fight 2 Hooknoses.

    The wyvern coughs blood, good, it's weakened so I can parry its attacks more easily. I say that but when I parried its claws it's still stupid strong like an orc. I use my skills and deflect the attack allowing me a quick slice on its wing. The wyvern is not enraging, perhaps it's smarter than the others.

    We trade a few blows and I dodge back to catch my breath, it coughs blood again. It charges forward, I dodge sideways and it slashes at me at an odd angle, weak. I push back and jump forward to slash, I put weight into my sword and start to cut over its chest. Something hits my flank and I see the sky again.

    I fall down on something hard and the air escapes my lungs. Holy shit it hurts.

    "ALISSA! HELP MASTER!" Lina screams.

    I try to stand up and fall down in pain, I use nearly all my mana on [Heal], something is definitely broken. I had fallen on a rock, my ribs still hurt even after healing. If I use any more overuse symptoms will start.

    A shadow covers me and I look forward, the wyvern is going to bite me. A large orange fox tackles the wyvern and bites it on the wing. The wyvern struggles and shakes around, the fox suddenly flies away and lands on its feet, it has a bloody mouth and spits a lump of wyvern muscle.

    "Master, are you alright?" Lina asks, she brings a red potion to my mouth and I drink it.

    "I'm out, I can barely fight."

    The wyvern suddenly turns to me. Oh fuck, did it hear me? Can it understand me?

    It moves towards me. Alissa charges after it and bites the leg, the wyvern tumbles but doesn't fall.

    "HAAAH!" Lina screams.

    She immediately jumps forward and her long war hammer hits the head of the wyvern, it slashes back at the same time and Lina flies away. The wyvern struggles to keep moving, its head is wobbling. Thanks, Lina.

    I lift my hand in a clenched fist. The elemental lets out a blade, it buries deeply inside the neck of the wyvern. It falters and Alissa incredibly manages to throw it backward, it twitches and doesn't get up.

    "You are now level 20."

    There must be some bonus for killing monsters the first few times.

    Hana is hurt again, I'm worried now.

    "Help Hana!" I yell to Alissa and regret it since pain strikes me again.

    She turns around and transforms back. With incredible speed she fires two shots and moves sideways to flank the wyverns.

    I look at Lina, she's getting up, she's just bruised and dirty with mud. With the help of Roxanne, Ciel finishes her last Hooknose, she immediately jumps forward and slashes at Hana's Jazar. It's too weak to dodge and defends itself with its arm, which gets cut off.

    Alissa circles around the last wyvern and puts 2 more arrows on its back, it struggles to move due to pain. Hana summons her wings and jumps, she lets gravity act and slashes downwards, she splits the head of the wyvern in two.

    Hana falls on her knees, Ciel rushes to heal her. Hana's armor is ruined, she must have plenty of bruises now. I wonder what would have happened if we didn't have [Wind Armor] or Roxanne's elixir.

    Roxanne is tired, her mana is nearly gone, the elementals regenerate fast on this rain but they are still not that strong against these wyverns. They are the most stable to use in the rain, electric elementals are the most dangerous and fire elementals are useless, even earth elementals get weaker in the rain. We need to ask for a replacement.

    I feel mana gathering far away, it's a lot of mana.

    5 wyverns appear on the forest line, it's a group of Jazars. They are rushing towards us but they slow down and stop.

    The mana gathering is so high the monsters are feeling it, even Hana who has the weakest [Sense Mana] stopped to look at the mana gathering. It's coming from the wall of the town, something is happening there.

    I feel chills down on my bone, it's like I'm being pressured by the mana, it's the fear of what kind of spell requires so much mana. I feel like I could be dragged into a hole if I went there, I feel an instinctive urge to run away. The wyverns freeze and Alissa kills one with an arrow through the eye, hah. The other wyverns retreat.

    I look back at the town and see black clouds gathering, our cloudy day turns into a frightening night as a thunderstorm starts. I don't feel much strength in my legs so I sit down.

    I hear something resonate into my mind… [THUNDER STRIKE]!

    The world turns white, day has come for a split second, the ground shakes and my ears hurt at the sound of a thunder so strong I wonder if it wasn't just a bomb instead. The cloudy day comes back after a few seconds.

    A black dot on the sky starts to become bigger, it's falling down. I see the familiar blue shine of dragon scales. The falling dragon gets so large there's no doubt about it, it was the ancient dragon that killed Hilde.

    Suddenly a thick black rod appears from the town and pierces the helpless falling dragon. As if it was nothing, the rod pushes away the dragon and it falls down far deep into the Sea of Trees.

    "GUEEE!"

    "GUOOO!"

    "GAAAAA!"

    The wyverns cry. The ground shakes and we hear again the beat of a large number of footsteps. The sound grows faint and distant until the only thing we can hear is the rain, no more sounds of battle.

    "We won!?" I ask.

    "YES!" Ciel cries and jumps.

    "WE WON!"

    We hear cheers in the distance.

    "KWEEH!" Aoi yells.

    "WE WON!" Alissa jumps at me.

    "AH! My ribs!"

    "Sorry! Sorry! Ciel, heal him please!"

    After my ribs get put back into place we do a group hug. It's 9:00AM, we won the battle against the wyverns.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2019
  3. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    I kind of leveled a lot. Could it have been help from the Goddess of Growth? I have been giving her small prayers every day, perhaps she answered. There's also what seems to be a boost to the first few kills of a new type of monster, the same thing happened with the goblins at Royd's Kerfuffle. Or is it just diminishing returns? Perhaps it's an anti-grind mechanic. It's all just speculation, I got nothing.

    We wait a little longer and a squad of soldiers appear, they look winded but capable of fighting, they are here to hold the area and replace us. Soon the townspeople will be let out to recover the corpses of every wyvern killed. We will receive a bonus for each proof we bring but the price of wyvern ingredients will fall drastically so even if we bring all corpses the extra money isn't that great.

    There are still hunters inside town patrolling, a few wyverns decided to fly over town so they helped keep the town safe. The town is still silent and the populace is slowly coming out of their homes.

    With that everyone goes into the bath, except for Ciel and Lina. I'm feeling a little bad about them but they got magic tools to warm themselves so it will be fine. Alissa gets clingy during the bath, she's getting a bit too overprotective, which just makes me feel bad because I think I'm even worse.

    Too tired to make a proper meal we just eat a lot of meat with bread.

    "Let me just say, I'm glad you are all here. This was a tough fight, but we survived, we succeeded and I'm very proud to fight alongside you all," I say and lift my cup for a toast.

    "Awn..." Roxanne tilts her head.

    Alissa sniffles and Hana gives me a bear hug.

    "I'm glad I decided to join," Ciel says.

    "I'm glad you are my master," Lina says.

    "Now… what are you doing?" Alissa asks.

    After surviving the bear hug I kept my cup raised waiting for the others.

    "Erm… a toast?

    "What? Bread?" Alissa tilts her head in confusion, cute.

    "No, uhm… here, in my homeland we celebrate by hitting the sides of our cups to make noise," I grab her cup and mimick a toast, "Then we go like this and say 'cheers'!"

    "Ooooh, a 'Brother's Pledge'," says Lina.

    "What's that?" I ask.

    "Dwarven warriors hit their cups together and share their beer before a battle. This is a pledge that since they will spill blood together soon they might as well share alcohol too."

    "Curious, it's somehow similar," I say.

    "Well then, cheers!" Hana says and we clink our cups.



    We leave Aoi home with Hana and go to the university, the rain is very light so we just use a simple cloak. I'm not tired enough to skip classes and Lina is excited to enter the library. The problem is riding Alissa along with Lina, I have to hug her and she fits perfectly between my arms. This is quite stimulating.

    I enter the class feeling a little more tired than when I left home. I sit down on my chair and touch my ribs, the discomfort is still there. Healing magic leaves your body confused after you use it so you can still get some discomfort and reduced performance for a while even if you are perfectly healthy.

    "Oh, Ryder! You are here! Aren't you supposed to be fighting?" Lyle asks as he enters the room.

    "What are you talking about the battle ended a few hours ago."

    "Is that so? Father had me locked in the room all day so I have no idea what happened," he says and scratches his cheek shyly.

    Wow, I can actually imagine him running out to try out his lightning on the wyverns.

    "What position were you in? Did you see grandpa's magic? Did you see the Dragon's Bane? Did you see the army fight? What about the other fellowships, did you see who had position one?" He rushes towards my desk.

    "Jesus, calm down. One question at a time."

    The entire class starts murmuring.

    "Erm, who's Jesus?"

    "Reference from my homeland, ignore it… Anyway, I was position three, east side."

    "What?!" This time its Garanae who's surprised.

    "Ah, you said 'grandpa', so it was he who used [Thunder Strike]?"

    "Yes! Tell me how it was!" He's like a child at Christmas.

    Suddenly there's a circle of students around me waiting to hear the story.

    "Oh, what's with this commotion," says professor Ludwick, he just arrived.

    "Professor! Ryder fought at position three!" Says a random student.

    Save me!

    "Wonderful! Tell us how it went!" The professor smiles widely and floats towards us.

    Seriously!



    After a distraction class resumes as usual. Today we will have a group learning session about [Item Box], we will use the method of staying close to someone who knows the spell and observing how his mana behaves. This method is easier if you don't know the theory of how the spell works. [Item Box] has a chant but it's like trying to sing a song on a language you don't know, you are just going to butcher the chanting. Learning with this method also cuts the need for a chant.

    We push back the desks and gather in a circle around the professor, everyone here should have enough levels in [Sense Mana] that we don't need to hug him to observe the spell. I feel a little sad though, for some reason this cute little old man is very hugable.



    As expected half the class pass with no one acquiring the skill. I kept quiet the entire time since people already saw me use "Items" but no one seems to remember. Possibly because "Items" uses no mana and so nobody paid attention when I used it.

    We sit by the usual spot at the buffet. It seems Garanae is acquiring some respect for me after he heard of my battle with the wyverns. He's still someone who never saw real combat and while we are (on the outside) at the same age I'm already the town hero with plenty of notches on my experience belt. His family is rather protective of him as the sole child with combat prowess, but then again, neither Lyle or Hatara has experience in battle. I kind of understand their family's reasoning, Rabanara is a rather ruthless place to live so they are only going to fight after they finish their courses.

    After a few minutes of talking Lina finally appears.

    "This is Lina, my newest slave."

    She bows and sits and I introduce the others to her. Alissa pushes a plate with cookies for her and gives her a strong gaze. Lina is likely to not eat anything in front of these nobles so I guess she needs a little push.

    "Another?!" Garanae erupts. His respect for me waves goodbye, it was short but we had a good time.

    "She's just a slave, I'm having her read books at the library and soon I will get someone to teach her enchanting, hopefully."

    Lina was confused at Garanae's outburst but now she's perking her ears to my statement.

    "Still, another woman! How many are you gonna have around you until you are satisfied?!"

    I shrug, Lyle sighs, Hatara squeezes his arm but he does not notice.

    "I actually never went after any of the women around me, we just met and they decided to love me."

    "That's... shameful!" He stands up and looks down on us, "That's not how love should be, love is dedicating yourself fully to another person. How can you say you are giving all your heart to Miss Alissa when you have to cut it into pieces to any woman that approaches you. The Goddess of Love would be disappointed."

    Lina clenches her fist and her face muscles twitch, she's struggling to keep her poker face. A slave shouldn't argue with a noble, though it would please me if she did.

    "I have a blessing… from the Goddess of Love," Alissa says in a chipper tone.

    Garanae's mouth hangs open.

    "You lie," he finally lets it out.

    "I do not. You can check at the temple, we verified it there and told them how I got it. Perhaps they can even tell you the story if you are oh, so curious," Alissa says with poison on her tongue.

    Hatara finally manages to push him down. Garanae seems to be lost for words. He finally makes his mind and leaves silently, seemingly stunned. Hatara follows him close.

    "I apologize on his behalf, Mr. Ryder, his family is very pious and takes pride in that," Lyle says with a small nod.

    "No offense taken, we just have an irreconcilable difference on morals. I really don't think he's very knowledgeable, he's just repeating what he learned. But what about you? Do you share his opinion or will you have a harem of your own? If your grandfather is a powerful court mage then there might be a wide number of women that would be pleased to marry you."

    "I… well, this is… something…

    "Let me tell you that there's nothing better than waking up surrounded by women, especially when one wakes you up using her mouth," I smirk.

    "Wha, mou, huh, wake, dic-, hah…"

    Lyle broke. He gets up.

    "See, uh, see you l-later, Mr. Ryder…"

    "See you later, Mr. Rizek."

    Lyle leaves with robotic movements. Lina is blushing.

    "See, little Lina, your master is a proper sadist, even his friends aren't safe from his teasing," Alissa says with a grin.

    "Alissa, I-I'm not that bad."

    "So you say."

    "And you are just like me!"

    "I take that as a compliment."

    Lina blushes harder.

    "Master, what did you mean by teaching me 'enchanting'?"

    I'm glad the topic changed.

    "Well, there's a dwarf in one of my classes that's researching enchanting. Perhaps he could help you increase your [General Enchanting] skill."

    "Oh, a dwarf! Perhaps we could use the dwarven pride against him, he would likely accept if we goad him in the right way," her smile is mischievous.

    I'm a little concerned about your choice of words.



    We get back to class and Garanae avoids my eyes, Hatara is annoyed and looks apologetic, Lyle is back to normal but a bit shy.

    The rest of the class is free, most people use this time to talk to the professor about the theory. If you are having trouble increasing your skill by practice then you need to touch up on your theory. It's nice that this university isn't hand-holding you with lengthy and boring classes, if you are here you are paying to learn, not to just get a useless degree to fill a checkmark on a list of things necessary for you to succeed in life.

    Back at home, Alissa had passed at the bakeries Nour talked about and brings the first wonder, chocolate chip cookies, my heart melts. With the rest of the minotaur milk, I dunk my cookies in the milk and eat them in front of the fireplace while light rain pitter-patters on the windows. Comfy.

    Ciel laughed at the idea of using milk like that but they all agreed it was wonderful, only chocolate chip cookies are worthy of being dunked.

    Aoi seems to dislike chocolate. Whatever, more to me then.

    During the night I talk to Lina and she tells me the resumed version of what she found. I'm telling her to focus on the story of the High Forest for now and then expand. I plan on visiting there once so I want to know all about the lands on the way there.



    Today is the 17th.

    I wake up refreshed as always and notice a lot has changed. My strength, endurance and speed increased by 1 (now 10, 11 and 11), my [Space Magic] increased by 4 (now 18+16), my [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+12), my MP increased by 40 (now 600) and my "Magic Power" increased by 5 (now 240).

    Roxanne leveled up once and her [Water Magic] increased by 1 (now 23) and her [Mana Control] by 1 (now 25). I put all 7 remaining skill points Roxanne had into [Water Magic], with that she can cast [Ice Lance].

    Alissa leveled up twice, her [Bow Use] increased by 2 (now 25), her [Hawk Eyes] increased by 1 (now 3) and she gained the title "Blinding Arrows".

    "Blinding Arrows, why did you receive that?" I ask.

    "She did hit a lot of eyes with her arrows, perhaps the townsfolk that got the corpses recognized her kills," Ciel says.

    "How do titles work anyway?" I ask.

    "It's a way to reward those who accomplish great deeds with some glory. It has a bit of an effect like blessings do, though much, much more subdued. It's no surprise for an experienced fellowship to have people with titles."

    "But hers is different from mine, mine is a nickname."

    "Yeah, unfortunately, yours is not about great deeds. Nicknames are special but don't be ashamed when people use it, someone calling you by your nickname means well," Ciel says with a snicker.

    "Then why are you laughing?"

    "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at your shy behavior when people mention your nickname."

    Well, whatever.

    In the morning I go to the hunters guild with Alissa to sell our corpses and submit the proofs of subjugation. When we enter the whispers start, most eyes are now on Alissa. Although I'm happy I'm not the attention I get jealous at a few of the clearly lewd stares.

    When she sees us a familiar brunette attendant hurries out of her booth to greet us.

    "Mr. Ryder, good morning. I have a message addressed to you," she says with a bow, "It's an invitation to the celebration party for the battle against the wyverns. The Lord is hosting it. Here.

    She hands me the envelope. The same as last time he invited us, only that the location is going to be on an estate owned by the Lord's family. This estate is behind the castle, so we will have quite the scenery to look at when we go there."

    We deliver our spoils to Gordon, who seems content at the number we killed. Sonny appears for delivering the rewards and I'm sure he looks a little disappointed. The reward for participation in the battle as position 3 was 40 gold coins, quite a good sum. But the guildmaster still owes me a bit.

    We go back home to spar.

    I have been putting some points into [Inspire Growth] but aside from my ridiculous growth none of the girls seems to have noticed any difference. Maybe it's because I'm not teaching them, the skill might need me to actually inspire them. I will put their extra points into [Increased Growth] when they are training.

    After my sparring session, I finally acquire [Battlefield Perception] at level 1.



    Today is nature class, the professor teaches us [Regeneration], [Vine Weapon], [Grow] and [Animal Tongue]. We are to train individually any spell we want.

    Level 10 spell [Vine Weapon] creates and harden vines until they are usable as weapons. At first, we can only use it to make blunt weapons but with higher levels, you can make usable swords and make them last even when you release the vine. I learn the chant and try to copy the mana flow the professor is leaking. It was rather easy to make a club even though I'm not level 10. With a bit of effort, you can easily make other things, like shields or armor.

    The next spell at level 15 is [Grow], it is the secret of the elves of the High Forest and the halflings of Lorei Laurelai. They are so good at these spells they just look at a plant and they can make it grow any way they want. No wonder the halflings are considered experts in farming. The elves of the High Forest use this spell to mold the trees so they can live inside them. They can model walkways and roads high up on the trees and even make things like furniture and weapons from the wood.

    Level 20 is [Animal Tongue], it is the one I'm most interested in, I need this to talk to Aoi more easily. It's like a [Blessing Magic], which you cast once and it lasts a long time. It's odd because casting it from the skill system without chanting is like flipping a switch. When the spell is on it consumes my mana very, very slowly, so I see there's more than one way the same spell can be invoked. I gotta research that, I never heard about such a thing before.



    We go back home and my discomfort with Lina increases. I use the skill every man should learn and achieve absolute mental purity while her cute little ass shakes and presses on my crotch. To make things worse I'm sure she intentionally moved backward just to press her own body into mine.

    There's already plenty of wyvern meat on the market, it tastes exactly like turkey. Alissa bought a lot since it's dirt cheap.

    Aoi seems extra happy today, when we were gone she managed to approach the griffin nature spirit. Being part animal herself the spirit seems to not mind her presence, but even she won't dare touch it yet.



    Today is the 18th.

    My nature magic increased by 2 (now 0+11).

    In the morning we all leave to go shopping. I want to upgrade mine and Ciel's armor into scale armor, she nags me that it's a waste but she got cut last time in the chest by the claws, our armor should at least protect us against slashes.

    I feel like I wasted my time looking at other shops, the Bear Hug is the one we previously bought our equipment at and again it seems to have the best deals around. The owner is a friendly, large fat man with a round black beard and curly hair. His aura makes him seem very hugable but his eyes are of a predator and no one dares hug such a man, I only feel death by crushing will be the result.

    Lina's trivia: Mining in this world is a dangerous job. Not only can monsters spawn inside long mines but the mines themselves get regularly attacked. This seems to explain the high price of metal armor and the comparatively low price of leather or scale armor. Even cloth armor is expensive in comparison.

    We settle down with adding emerald scales to our leather armor, quite literally an upgrade. Now it's heavier, more difficult to move in and makes more noise but it's nearly impervious to slashing. With the rewards for the wyvern battle, this armor didn't even cost us half the reward, the market is overflowed with dragon and wyvern products right now.

    We give Roxanne a Grey Berserker jacket, she had an older Young Behemoth she got on her hometown. We wanted to give her a hauberk or something like that but she lacks the muscle for it, Hana will force Roxanne to exercise a bit with aerobics so she deals better with the increase in armor.

    I finally buy bodkin arrows for Alissa and a warbow with a strong draw. It's much bigger than the current one and requires a lot more strength to draw it so she won't be able to use it for eye-popping, it's going to be used for enemies with much stronger armor, like dragon scales or plate armor. I have a plan for it that involves Lina.

    Alissa bought a cabinet to put in the hallway and another in the living room with glass to display some fine plates, cutlery, and a tea set we bought along with a potted flower plant. Little by little our house gets comfier, too bad its a rental.

    Lina starts to show her usefulness as she shows us she can repair Hana's armor with time, she knows how to sew and with her [General Smithing] skill she can basically repair anything not magical or made of wood. Though right now Hana's armor was too damaged so we replaced the cloth entirely instead of just fixing it.

    I notice Rings of Fertility are rather common among shops, common and cheap. I saw a panty enchanted with [Regeneration], apparently it's for regenerating the hymen. Now I understand why sex before marriage seems to be dealt with so casually.

    I go early to the university and report my [Sense Soul] to Mathias. He verifies it and claps his hands in excitement, he fills some papers and finally, I don't have to pay for my education. We pass by the treasury and they return what I already paid.

    The skill [Sense Soul] seems dangerous, I can just imagine that with levels I will be able to know the skills and even the stats of other people just like I can see that of my lovers. All this information is stored into the soul and this skill interprets what I see into information that I can digest. In the end, information is power.

    In [Electric Magic] class the professor teaches us [Shocking Touch] and [Rush]. [Rush] is a spell that gives you a burst of speed. You have to be careful as it's possible to hurt yourself if the burst is high enough because it stresses the nervous system. [Haste] is a level 50 spell from [Blessing Magic] that has a similar effect but you can't hurt yourself as it's more of a time dilation for yourself.

    The professor talks about how [Shocking Touch] is an amazing spell and gives examples of tales where the spell is used, including the one where a man uses it into the eyes of a dragon. The last example he gives is me and my fight with the Symbol, thankfully he didn't ask me to demonstrate as I had used the system so I can't chant it yet.



    When the bell chimes I get confused as Alissa is not waiting for me but instead, she's behind another building. Lyle accompanies me, he seems to have recovered from the last tease, perhaps he's an M.

    I turn the corner of the building just in time to see Garanae steal a kiss from Alissa's lips.

    *Slap!* I was about to castrate someone when the incredibly satisfying sound of the slap filled my ears. The sound of such a glorious slap must have traveled through dozens of meters. Garanae falls and freezes.

    I smile at such a beautiful sight.

    I see Alissa twitch and her hand goes towards her back, under her shirt. I get alarmed, like me that's where she hides her dagger. I desperately turn my Emergency Ring counterclockwise 3 times, it should turn red and give her a sting of pain so she shouldn't miss the signal.

    "Aren't you... going to do something?" Says Lyle looking at me confused.

    "No, this is the breaking point of Garanae. After this, he will never look at Alissa again."

    "'Breaking point'...?"

    She stops and looks at her ring on her right hand, then she takes her hand out of her shirt. She says some things I can't hear since she's too far and points to the direction the exit of the university is. Garanae gets up and talks a bit more with his posture hunched. Alissa stamps her feet talks some more. Garanae shudders and looks away, then he drops his shoulder in defeat and leaves.

    Alissa immediately turns and runs towards us.

    "Wolfy~! You gotta reward me with your di-..." She stops mid-sentence. She notices Lyle beside me, with his mouth hanging open.

    Why are you yelling such things in public?

    "You gotta reward me with your fat big cock! I need you to cum directly in my throat so the taint of that man gets out of my lips!" Alissa says with a wicked grin.

    Goddammit.

    Lyle squirms and closes his eyes. Not as bad as last time, perhaps he's adapting.

    I cough, "Alissa, why did he do that?"

    "Oh my, he's such a..." She makes an angry face and a crushing motion with her hands," Well you know. He saw my blood slave symbol and he assumed I'm being forced to marry you. He simply can't believe 'someone as pure as you would be in love with someone as corrupt as him'," she mimics his voice mockingly.

    "It seems he got the roles inverted."

    "Yep!" She jumps on my arms and hugs me.

    "I see, he never had a chance then..." Mutters Lyle.

    "What did you tell him to go away?" I ask.

    "I told him I wasn't a virgin and that I like to masturbate while watching you fuck other women," she answers in a flat tone.

    I cringe, "That was a bit... too much information, right?"

    "No, better just be over with it. He didn't seem to understand unless I was completely brutal with him. Besides, I was very angry too, I couldn't just hold back," she smirks.

    I sigh.

    "What did you mean by 'breaking point'?" Lyle asks again, forcing himself to gloss over what just he heard.

    "Well, he's obviously infatuated with Alissa and Hatara has been making moves on him. Unless he's a completely dense idiot he has to make a decision soon enough. Unfortunately for Hatara, he chose Alissa first, but whatever, he'll go to her now and all's well that ends well."

    "You seem oddly calm at this," Lyle says with a frown.

    "That's trust, I love and trust Alissa," she smiles and kisses my cheek, "Also there's no need to castrate him when Alissa already did it to his pride."

    Lyle shudders and we go to the buffet have our afternoon tea.



    We continue our class and I succeed in casting [Rush] that lasted for a second, I immediately smacked my hand on my face due to the lack of control of my speed. Lyle shocked himself with [Shocking Touch] and nearly passed out so I think I had the less shameful accident.

    On today's strength training I noticed the difference a point in my stats makes, I can basically increase all the repetitions by 10 and during the bath, I have more power to keep Hana tamed.

    At the night I reward Alissa as she asked, choo choo, full steam ahead. I make her scream and she draws blood from sinking her nails on my back. She apologizes for that and I actually have to heal the wounds, can't go around with my back bleeding.



    Today is the 19th.

    My [Electric Magic] increased by 2 (now 0+7).



    Today is a free day for Selina so Alissa and Hana go visit her. Lina and Ciel are sparring and I spend the morning with Roxanne, she strokes my hair while reading an alchemy book and I practice [Sense Soul] on my summons.

    I can see where the "layer" boundary is on my soul, I can count these "layers" and get the level of my soul. I can see how the "layer" is the same as on Aoi, though hers covers only half her soul. There are no other layers on Aoi's soul and neither there is on the summons. It's something I expected since only humanoids should have the capability of gaining levels.

    The skill doesn't give me a full picture of the soul but I have a much deeper knowledge than I ever did without it. I have been identifying the similar patterns between them and I think I found what controls the limbs. All mammals and humans share many similarities in bone structure, we are all basically quadrupeds that slowly evolved their bodies into different forms. Like how a bird's wing is just a thin arm with very long, webbed fingers; a dog's leg is basically a human arm where they walk on their fingers, their digits, instead of their feet sole/hand palm, which is why they are called digitigrade; a whale's flipper is just a very small arm with long fingers turned into a single roll of muscle.

    Looking at the clay dolls I see there's a difference in how the "limb" part of the soul connects to the rest. While animals use muscles, which are controlled by electrical impulses from the brain, the clay dolls' bodies are hollow and they use some form of "magic muscle" to move their bodies. There are similarities to what this "nervous system" is connected to, which I believe is the "brain", but the interesting part is that this "brain" is merely a small part of what makes the soul.

    Something I want to understand is, is the soul a reflection of the body or is the body a reflection of the soul? Due to how [Illusion Magic] works, I believe it's the latter. A soul has no sensory input, [Illusion Magic] hijacks the input the body receives and modifies it at its own will, then the soul receives the warped input, creating an illusion. And there's the fact that [Illusion Magic] doesn't modify anything on the body. This makes me interested in knowing how brain surgery would affect people here.

    I'll tell Alissa to find me some dolls of different materials, I will try to copy the clay golem's soul and see what happens.



    When we are getting ready to go to the university I see Lina and Alissa smile to each other before Alissa transforms. When we get on top of her Lina moves back into an uncomfortable position for her just so she can have her entire body touching mine. There's no doubt Alissa is influencing her to seduce me, but she's underestimating my willpower!

    Blessing class the professor taught us the chants of the spells I already knew so I just focused on shortening the chant.

    Hatara seems a bit sad today so I let her and Alissa talk alone. I ate my small piece of cake by myself, feeling lonely.

    After class we quickly go back home and take a bath, it's time for our special dinner.



    "Ciel, here's something we got for you, a gift," I present her a dress.

    A red velvet dress, just the way she likes, embroidered with white flowers. It covers her whole body so there's no cleavage but there are two straps that you tighten around the waist and below the bust. This dress will show all the curves of her body, she's going to look magnificent on it.

    "W-wow, thank you, Wolf. But why?" She looks at the dress, marveled.

    I smile.

    "Why not? You deserve as many dresses as you want, those priest robes really didn't show much of your beauty," I smile.

    She sighs and shakes her head then turns around. I can see a hint of a smile.

    The other girls don't hold back when it's time to look beautiful. As expected, Lina is totally on the camp of super cute along with Alissa and their frilly dresses while Hana and Roxanne are on the camp of super hot with their silk dress with cleavage.

    I don't want to stare but I think Ciel's breasts grew, I'm just a bit confused right now.

    "She was hiding them because she was ashamed of them and it was kinda inconvenient to fight with them bouncing around," Alissa whispers to me, noticing where I'm looking.

    A crime against men.

    "Why would she change now?" I ask, knowing the answer.

    "Now there's someone who's worthy of looking at them," she says in a joyful tone.

    I shiver. Those are two mountains I want to climb, they are even bigger than Hana's!



    We go by flying dinghy. The girls quickly find their seats and leave me, Lina, and Ciel with the back seat. Ciel keeps a calm expression but Lina quickly snuggles up to me and grabs my arm.

    Discreetly I put [Battlefield Perception] at 4 and I notice Ciel is stealing glances at Lina, slowly she gets fidgety. I guess she's jealous. I entwine my arm with Ciel's, she jumps in surprise but does nothing, her fidgeting stops.

    We quickly get to the place and Ciel tries to run in embarrassment but I grab her by the waist and keep her close, Lina doesn't even release my arm.

    The restaurant is a 3-story building with a white cupola on top. It has silver gilded corbels and windows, white quoins on the corner of the yellowed brick walls and a loggia on the second floor where our table is at.

    The first floor has a reception and a normal buffet. On the second floor, the lights are dimmer and there's a ceiling light projecting directly on our tables, making it much more difficult to look at others but very easy to look at our food.

    Lina is still a bit anxious that she has her own seat, which by coincidence ends up being beside mine. Her necklace is visible so everyone knows she's a slave, but it's quite common to have slaves being treated well. Perhaps they think she's my sex slave, which is… Ah screw it, who cares, let her be happy.

    At this loggia we get a nice view of the castle, every window shines with light and the stone gleams with the moonlight. The lonely castle up on the night sky make up for quite the picturesque scenery.

    We are high enough to see pretty far so we can see there's still a considerable number of people walking around the night streets, where only the main streets have light. The sky is clear and the psychedelic moon shines to us, though the roof of the loggia covers part of it. I can see the blue moon is shining brighter than any other.

    Inside the building there's a very well lighted stage with a large open area in front of it, just waiting for the show to start.

    This restaurant has seafood coming directly from Goldport so I take my chances with squid(?) rings accompanied by a sweet leafy salad and a thick not-shrimp soup. Roxanne seems delighted to eat crabs again, freshwater crabs from mangroves were a popular dish at her home.

    In a few minutes, the wine is brought along the grape juice because screw getting drunk. The tables get filled and 3 women appear on stage.

    One of the women is a lamia, she has from the waist up the body of a woman and the rest is the body of a blue serpent. Her hair is the same color of her snake body and it flows down like silk up to her waist, her eyes shine light blue. Her delicate hand with long nails carries a large harp.

    Another is a Scylla, like the lamia she's part human with tanned skin, and the other part is a mess of purple octopus tentacles. Her hair is curly flows to her shoulders with the same color of her tentacles. Her hair along with her large chest jiggles with every movement she makes. She carries a lute as she glides through the floor.

    The last woman is what I believe, a siren. She's the one who looks the closest to a normal human, her ears are spiky and webbed, her hands have a bit of webbing, her skin is so unnaturally white it reminds me of the demon-race. The most inhuman thing about her is her hair, it floats in the air as if she was underwater, it's as black as night and has no reflections, it feels like no light ever comes out of it.

    The siren scans the audience, when her eyes meet mine I feel my heart beat faster and my body gets hotter. I look at my stats and see that there's "Charmed (small)" under "Status Effects". Being able to see your "Status Effects" is based on your "Perception". I guess this is why she was scanning the audience, she's the reason this place is so popular.

    She lifts her hands and the floor goes silent. She starts singing and I feel my ears are being massaged, I feel she's directly whispering in my ear while the instruments cloud my mind every time a note is played. The singing of professor Alciel of [Blessing Magic] does not compare to this, this is truly a magical song.

    The siren sings and dances, the Scylla glides around and the lamia slithers among us. The siren sings in a language I don't understand but I know what she's singing about, for some reason. She sings about the bittersweet life in this world, of the warm and innocent first love, of the pain of growing up and getting stronger, of the difficulties to fight for survival, of the happiness of going home to your loved ones and creating a new family with them, only for the cycle to repeat again.

    The next song is lighter and more whimsical, of a traveling person scraping by and exploring the world. With this song our food comes.



    Roxanne and Hana go dance in the middle of the floor. I don't dance, so no way I'm going to follow them. Ciel goes upstairs to the cupola. Lina goes to the edge of the loggia to look at the outside.

    Aoi is curled up on a chair and sleeps soundly. It seems most places in this world do not care about pets, when you can easily talk and transmit feelings to them they become way less messy. I see a dog and a scaly mini horse beside other tables, pets from other rich people.

    "What a wonderful place you found, Wolfy," Alissa says to me, snuggling close.

    The current song is about each of the Festivals of Seasons.

    "Just by luck, I guess I have to thank the man who recommended this place."

    "Thank him a lot, I never imagined I would one day be coming to a place like this," she looks warmly at the siren.

    Each month has a theme. Birth, Dance, Drink, Food, Color, Song, Prayer, Love, Combat, and Death.

    "To a slave that wished only to treated as a tool to young woman snuggling to her fiance. You really came a long way," I smirk.

    She kisses my cheek.

    "That doesn't mean I abandoned my duty. It's just like you said, I can be happy while I stay true to my purpose."

    I'm glad she understood.

    "What do you think about the other girls?"

    "Hm? What do you wanna know, specifically?"

    Each month the temple tells the people to make a festival once a month in honor of these themes.

    "Well just, talk about what you think about each of them. I want your opinion on how everyone's doing."

    "Hm… At first, I thought Hana wasn't fit to be a slave but she was reliable and she could protect you so I thought it was fine. After you asked to marry her, her behavior didn't matter anymore so I guess she's fine."

    Rabanara is a rather chaotic town so the Lord doesn't organize a single festival, instead, he encourages people to keep up the festive mood the entire month.

    "Roxanne is fine too. She's powerful and she needs someone watching over her so I think you are the perfect choice for her. She won't ever think about leaving you."

    "Ciel I think is the most important. I feel you will get lost in this world even with my help, I'm..." She frowns slightly, "Not fit to advise you, so I think someone with the experience of Ciel will help you the most. Just make sure you seduce her properly, she seems to be playing a bit hard, eh?"

    I smile wryly, Ciel just needs a few more pushes.

    The song tells us to embrace this, to keep living our lives with vigor every day instead of only once a month.

    "And Lina is Lina. She's adorable and a hard worker. There's plenty of ways she will be helpful to us."

    "So why are you throwing Lina to me?" I say with a sharp glare.

    "You know what I want you to do to her, besides, she's getting attached to you. You are the first real man in her life so why not just enjoy her?" She says with a mischievous grin.

    The song tells us of a hero, a very pious hero who lived his life like this and achieved great glory.

    "Well, I don't want to just keep adding women to our life anytime someone interested appears. You might not mind but what about the others?"

    "They are fine with it."

    "What?"

    "They are fine with it. Everyone thinks Lina is adorable, even Ciel likes her and wishes her to be happy."

    "Just… don't any of you have the want to monopolize me or something? Why do you keep throwing women at me?" I'm dumbfounded.

    This hero ended up fighting to save a kingdom. After the biggest fight, he was left standing alone, the sole survivor.

    "Ciel and Roxanne certainly do. Well, Roxanne likes women too so I don't know much about her… Ciel is just too soft. I know she's a bit jealous of us, she keeps giving us stares and pouting. But what can you do if the man you love also gives his love to others? You just learn to share."

    "But… what about you? Why do you not feel jealous?"

    She puts a finger in her chin and averts her eyes in thought. Cute, argh, focus.

    "Just me is not enough. It's like I said, the others have their strengths and their ways of helping you. Those days where it was just the 2 of us were the happiest I ever had, but also the most dangerous and anxious."

    "Then why not hire people, why couldn't we join a fellowship with people that could help me?"

    The hero felt lost for losing so much, he endured the pain and decided to go back home. Little by little his soul healed and he didn't go back to being like he was, he became someone better.

    "It wouldn't be the same thing. To begin with, you are really not the type to make friends. How long do you think it would take for a stranger to have the same amount of trust towards you as Hana has? Roxanne, Ciel and now even Lina, they are all ready to fight and work hard, to shed blood for you because they love you or are starting to love you. Having to fight alongside those you love is much safer than fighting alongside those whose bonds are only as deep as a pocket."

    "But what about the danger? If any of you die I will be devastated."

    "We just do as you always tell us. No need for sacrifices, we will just go in a way where such a situation will never happen to begin with," she grins.

    I sigh, I lose. I might as well just throw myself at these women then, what reason is there not to?

    "What about Hana? Doesn't she gets jealous?"

    "Hana is a freak, as long as she gets her share of your dick she's fine, I think."

    I laugh, I guess it's true.

    "Well, that's a bit rude to her. She does feel some jealousy but you do a good job with her so she's happy," Alissa adds, "Anyway, we talked too long, go after Ciel."

    She pushes me away.

    "Yes yes, just making sure where you stood before I went to her."



    The cupola is a large round room with tall and wide windows, there are sofas pointed outwards and a few tables were a waiter keeps hot tea and cookies. There are a few couples around, displaying some envious public affection. Ciel is sitting alone on a sofa.

    "This place is even better than the loggia," I say sitting close beside her.

    "There's no wind here so it's very comfortable," she says with a smile.

    I grab a cup of tea and stare towards the view for a few minutes.

    "I'm glad you are here Ciel. You are the first person I befriended in this town."

    She chuckles.

    "So you were completely alone here before meeting me?"

    "Yeah. I'm really not the kind that makes lots of friends. I just don't talk that much."

    "Except for women," she glares.

    "Come on, not just any women."

    "That's what they all say."

    I feel a hint of mockery, she's not completely serious.

    "Oh? So you have experience?"

    She smiles.

    "You are not the first that invited me."

    "But I'm the first you accepted, why is that?"

    "Because you are interesting. I already said that before."

    "Is that all?"

    "..." She looks away I see the hint of a smile.

    "I feel like I really do care about you. Call it whatever you wish but I care about you as much as I care about the others," I say.

    "You care about Lina too?" She sends me a sharp gaze.

    "One step at a time, I know Lina for far too little time to say such a thing."

    "But you will eventually buckle."

    I shrug.

    "Who knows. Would that be a bad thing?"

    "For Lina? No. But what about the future?"

    "What about it?"

    "Are you just going to accept any woman that throws herself at you?" I notice a hint of poison on her voice.

    "No. First of all, I won't accept any woman the others also do not accept, I just need one of them to disagree. I don't own them, we are a team, a fellowship. I just make the decision most of the time but I want, no, need their opinion on this, we are all equals and we all love each other. And so will be you, if you join us."

    She looks away and I grab her hand.

    Oh boy, it's now or never.

    "Ciel... would like to marry me?"

    She bites her lips and thinks. I'm getting chills.

    She stares into my eyes, her tone turns decisive and leaves no room for question, "No. You have to tell me your secrets first. Only then will I answer."

    I breathe a sigh of relief.

    "I was planning on that, but I have to tell Lina too so perhaps we should wait until we are home, it's a long story."

    Ciel looks at me confused, then her eyes change to that of concern.

    "I'm not a bad person. You should know I'm alone here and I come from very far away, I just didn't come here walking."

    "Hm... so you teleported here? But how?"

    "That's the difficult part to explain."

    Her expression freezes for a few moments.

    "Will you go back?" I feel the anxiety in her voice.

    "No," I smile bitterly, "I decided to keep here, to make a family here."

    She sighs. She interlaces her fingers with mine and squeezes my hand.

    No need for modesty, I pull her close and kiss her. She seems surprised and resists at first but then she melts. I push my tongue and a few seconds later we are passionately kissing each other, I grab her waist and pull her closer. Her delicious flowery perfume, the sweetness of the moisturizer she uses on her lips, the taste of Gorgon wine on her tongue, the slight breath of alcohol. I take it all and enjoy it, this woman is now mine, she didn't answer yet but it's not needed, I know she's mine.



    We break the kiss and spend some time cuddling. She pulled in me so I just enjoy it. Her massive breasts are a better pillow than Hana's, I'm sorry but it's the truth.

    It's getting late so we go down and bring back the girls. Alissa was dancing slowly with Lina, they refused other men who asked for a dance. Roxanne was at the table sleeping in Hana's arms. Aoi is biting Hana's cheek scales playfully.

    When we leave Roxanne wakes up and wants to drive, I give her a head chop, don't drink and drive. I'm the one who drives this time.

    Back at home, Roxanne sobered up a bit and we all sit down at the table.

    "Time for the truth," I say.



    Ciel is looking at me with her mouth open, Lina is expressionless.

    "You can't possibly believe we will just accept this," Ciel says.

    "Just like this? No. Here, look at my ID card, look at the magic skills, specifically."

    I hand them the card. Lina blushes.

    "[Enhanced Sem-..."

    "Not that! The magic! Look at the magic!" I interrupt Ciel.

    "Oh, uh, okay," she blushes a bit.

    I put 15 points into [Water Magic] and cast [Water Breathing] on them both.

    "Wait, what?! This is [Water Magic] and you didn't even chant!"

    "Look at the card again."

    "Oh... it's true…"

    I end [Water Breathing] and remove the points.

    "Look at it again."

    "The skill is gone..." Ciel is stunned.

    Ciel covers her eyes with her hands and keeps quiet.

    *Slam!* Lina hits her hands on the table, "YOU ARE AMAZING, MASTER! I always knew there was something special about you, your power is amazing!" Her mouth hangs open.

    "Erm... the power is good, I agree but don't need to praise me this much. This system helps me learn things much faster than normal."

    "Precisely! No wonder you received a blessing from the Goddess of Knowledge. But how does the point manipulation works? Can you manipulate my skills? I don't have many skills so after the wyvern battle I have a lot of unused soul potential."

    "Well I didn't pay attention when it happened with Alissa but with the others, it was after we... had sex.

    She stares blankly for a moment.

    "Master! Please take my virginity!" She looks at me with fierce eyes.

    I facepalm. I knew it.

    "I don't want to use my power this way, sex is only for someone I love."

    "Ah... forgive me, master, I understand, I got carried away. It would be shameful to use you in such a way," she bows.

    The girls are chuckling while Ciel keeps thinking.

    "It actually makes sense..." Ciel finally talks, "Two blessings, these coincidences, the women around you, the type of enemies you fought so far. You are being trained and tested, Wolf, you are going to be a hero in the future."

    Not again...

    "I don't wanna be a hero…"

    "A hero is not something you choose to be, it's a destiny that's given to you. But in the end, it's the actions that you take that make you a hero."

    "Then I will just run and hide someplace safe!" I throw my hands in the air.

    "As if you could. You actually want to be a hero, right?" She says and grins.

    "Ok, who doesn't want to be a hero? Sure this power sounds nice but I'm scared, scared of fighting and losing any of you."

    "This is why the gods put us all together. It's Because we can bring you forward and help you fight," Alissa says.

    The others nod, even Lina. Hopefully, a hero's curse comes with enough plot armor.

    "Please don't tell me you are all here just because you believe that's what the Gods want," I say with a crooked smile.

    "Wolf!" Alissa yells with reproachful eyes, "What the Gods want does not matter, I love you and you know it!"

    Hana pulls me and gives me a bear hug.

    "Don't say such things, Wolfy, I love you," says Hana.

    "Don't make me repeat my vows," says Roxanne, pouting.

    Aoi comes and curls herself on my lap.

    "Kweeh!" She makes a cute noise towards me.

    Yeah, I guess I said something stupid.

    "I'm sorry…"

    Ciel sighs.

    "Anyway, don't ever tell your powers to anybody. The empire would enslave you in an instant if they knew you could use [Blood Magic] and leave no traces. This is how they make our Identification Crystals and ID's, there would be a long line of criminals wanting your power," Ciel says.

    I break Hana's hug.

    "Yeah, I know. This is why I took so long to tell you, I wanted to know you more before I could trust you with this. It scares me too much that someone could tear us apart," I say and look at the girls.

    "But now that you know it, you owe me an answer," I stare at Ciel.

    She blushes and starts flustering. After a minute she calms herself, "Wolf, I... I accept…"

    "Even though I told you of how dangerous my life might be?"

    "Yes, I'm not a coward, Wolf, well I was but... I trust you, I trust you will do everything to keep us safe. Even if we end up failing, that... That will be enough," she says, her face is pained but her tone is resolute.

    I go towards Ciel and grab her hand.

    "I will take care of you, support you, fight with you, and love you. I swear to be always at your side and that I will always work towards a better future, together."

    "I will take care of you, support you, fight with you, and love you. I swear to be always at your side and that I will always work towards a better future, together," she repeats and smiles.

    I kiss her.

    "Now please call me Wolfy from now on, it really tickles my heart."

    "Sure, Wolfy, I agree it's cute," Ciel says and laughs.

    "C-can I call you that too...?" Lina asks bashfully.

    "Sure, I'm uncomfortable with 'master'."

    Lina smiles.

    It's too late, we all just go to bed immediately.



    God, I'm greedy, 4 women now.
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2019
  4. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 20th.

    Alissa seems extra eager this morning, the proposal must have put her fetish on overdrive.

    My [Sense Soul] and [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 2 and 0+13). Now I can see someone's race with [Sense Soul].



    Ciel seems to have gone back to being an innocent maiden, she's blushing every time our eyes meet. I steal a kiss from her and sit close, she nearly loses her composure. I see she looks a bit tired, perhaps she didn't sleep too well last night.

    After breakfast she goes to the living room and keeps fidgeting about, I guess she wants to talk.

    I give a piece of raw meat to Aoi and she brings it to the spirit griffin that's on our back wall like always, watching Hana and Lina spar. The griffin shyly gets closer to Aoi and chirps happily, then it starts to eat, I can feel Aoi is quite happy watching him eat. I turn to Ciel.

    "What's the matter with you now? Suddenly so shy."

    "It's nothing."

    A switch has been flipped.

    "Oh? You certainly wouldn't become so shy suddenly if you weren't thinking of something... lewd," I smirk, "Come on, tell me, you know we should talk about anything bothering you."

    "W-well... you, uh, you d-did it with the others, right?" She says looking down.

    "Did what?"

    "That…"

    "What is... 'that'?"

    "Y-you...! The thing, at night, together…"

    "What thing? We do a lot of things at night, we cuddle, read, talk, play board games," I get closer to her.

    She groans.

    "Damn you! Sex, you had sex with the others, right!?"

    I hear a chuckle in the distance. Ciel turns into a tomato. I actually wanna eat a tomato, I haven't found it in the farmers market or on the imports, I have to ask Alissa if she remembers if something similar to a tomato exists here.

    "Yes, I did it with the others, except Lina, of course."

    "T-then…"

    "Then?" I get very close to her.

    She grits her teeth. She starts to breathe heavily.

    I kiss her.

    "You know, the ceremony is merely a formality, our vows have been traded and they are valid. So... there's no reason to wait, right?"

    She fidgets. I kiss her again and push my tongue in her mouth. I bring her close to me and I can feel the softness that would make men go to war to have a piece of. Her shyness quickly disappears and a thirst takes hold, she moves her tongue with vigor.

    I break the kiss. She almost lost herself on it.

    "Let's go upstairs," I say.

    She nods shyly.

    I lead her by hand and push her down on the bed. She seems very anxious, she's breathing heavily again. I look back and the wardrobe is ajar, a hungry eye watches over us. I immediately look forward and do my all to ignore what I saw.

    "What's wrong?" Ciel asks.

    "N-nothing."

    I kiss her to keep her quiet.

    I start to run my hand through her body, she squirms and locks her legs around my waist. I put my hand below her shirt and run up her body, I immediately grab her breast and she makes a noise in surprise. Such powerful softness was hidden behind a tight sash. I pull it down and play with her nipple.

    She moans and breaks the kiss. I pull up her shirt and grab the other breast. Black nipples, they look delicious, I put my mouth on one and play with them. She moans and closes her eyes.

    "What a crime hiding these two mounds of joy."

    She doesn't respond but purses her lips.

    Slowly she starts rubbing her crotch on me, I can feel its heat on my legs. I move a hand down below her pants, I reach the sacred place and feel her wetness, I push my finger inside and she opens her eyes. She's a little scared, she shivers and tries to squeeze my hand by closing her legs.

    I slowly move my finger, her resistance slowly melts and she opens her legs. She's moaning constantly now and my finger makes wet noises as I quickly move it inside her.

    I pull her pants down and remove her shirt, now she's completely exposed to me. Dreamy breasts with a bit of sag, only a dragonkin could have skin so perfect they would never sag. Her delicious light chocolate color makes me want to kiss her all over, her shy face waiting for me to make the next move, her hair sprawled all over the bed, large dark chocolate nipples waiting for attention, her body with curves and softness all on the right places, those damn thick thighs, the perfect trim, lips spreading out from its home. This woman is mine and I love her.

    I take off my shirt and she traces her hands over my body. I have been getting fitter, even though I'm small I look manlier with this amount of muscle, I hope. When I take my pants off she freezes.

    "Never seen one before?" I smirk.

    "N-n-not like this."

    "Oh? Scared?"

    She fidgets.

    I pull out the towel and put it below her.

    "I'm putting it in, okay?"

    She nods.

    It slides in easily, such a wonderful feeling.

    "Eh?" She makes a sound and her eyes open wide.

    "What?"

    "S-shouldn't... shouldn't it hurt? Shouldn't it have some resistance? I-I am a virgin! I swear!" She panics.

    "Calm down," I pinch her cheek, "Even if you weren't it wouldn't change anything. You were a warrior priestess, the, uh, the hymen could have torn during training or fighting."

    I'm actually surprised Hana still had hers.

    "O-oh…"

    She calms down. I smile and start to move slowly, she winces and arches her spine, then she starts to moan. That face, those sounds, those are things no other man will ever see, they are the mark of her trust in me, the mark of her love.

    I kiss her, grope, finger her, suck her. I do everything I can, everything I want with her delicious body, she's just so sexy I want to bite and lick her all over. She sings for me with her moans. I flip her over, do her from behind, and pick up the pace. Dat ass, son, I sink my nails on the large peach.

    "Ah, T-too... ah... too much... slow down," she barely manages to speak.

    I slow down and take that moment to hug her and grope her harder. I kiss every part of her that I can reach, her face, her cheeks, her neck, her shoulder, her back, then I flip her over again and kiss her breasts, her nipples, her legs, damn those thighs. She giggles amid moans.

    "Ciel, I love you."

    "I... ah, love you, ah, too."

    I shut her mouth with a kiss. I feel something very warm on my heart. I love this woman, I cherish her, I want to make her happy, I want to giver he pleasure, I want to keep her safe, I want to keep her by my side. It's the same thing as the other girls, I don't care if it's too soon, whether it's real love or not, I just want to open my heart to them and live a happy life together. I will take all our vows to heart.

    I reach over and play with her clit as I thrust, making her sing louder. I focus on keeping a steady pace, slowly she moans louder and louder. She arches her back, her insides squeeze me, she loses her voice and she looks to the distance. She came.

    After she recovers her breath I start to move slowly again, I don't hold back and squeeze both her legs together. Such tightness is going to make me cum.

    "I will cum inside your mouth, ok?"

    "O-ok."

    She locks her eyes with mine, she's a bit concerned. I guess not everyone is a freak.

    Her pained face as I pierce her puts me over the edge. I remove it from inside her and press it down her mouth. She awkwardly sucks on me and I cum down her mouth, then she swallows and grimaces.

    "A bit bitter…"

    "Gotta drink too much juice to make it sweet."

    "Wait, you actually can do it?" She laughs.

    "Secrets of my world."

    I collapse beside her and pull her close. My arms and legs tie her up in place with a hug.



    I can finally look at her stats:
    Info
    Name:CielAge:21RaceHuman
    HP:100MP:705Magic Power:250
    Level:30Experience:8302/9000
    Stats
    Strength:14Endurance:13Dexterity:17
    Speed:18Intelligence:15Wisdom:18
    Willpower:12Charisma:17Piety:21
    Perception:12Sanity:19
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Helios (Fellowship), Templar Knights (Honorary Member), Temple Priestess (Former Member)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Lina
    Crimes:NONE
    Her Skills:
    CielSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Glaive Use15Sword Use5Parry8
    Dodge6Block4Imperial hasterrum Style2
    Muscle Explosion2Battlefield Perception1
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana2Mana Control6Reduced Mana Cost1
    Mana Efficiency4Wind Magic15Fire Magic1
    Light Magic23Space Magic3Conjuring Magic1
    Diagnosis7
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    First-Aid3Housework3Cooking2
    Cleaning1Washing1Riding1
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)
    Her spells are:
    Spells
    CleanSpirit LightHealInspirePurify BodyWind Blade
    Wind HammerWind WallPerfect ArrowsFireballConjure WaterTelekinesis
    Item Box (weak)

    I caress her beautiful black hair, she closes her eyes and nearly falls asleep. I look to the wardrobe and give it a thumbs up. A very happy naked Alissa with a glistening pussy leaves the wardrobe in complete silence, must be [Quiet Action].

    I hug Ciel tighter.

    "Ciel, I really wanna know. What happened with you and the Templars that day?" I ask.

    She bites her lips and looks pained.

    "Please, you didn't tell me everything yet."

    "I guess it's only fair…"

    "You know everything about me, quite literally."

    She takes a few breaths.

    "What do you know about the Templars?" She asks.

    "Very little, Lina didn't research this for me yet."

    "Well, Templar Knights are known as 'Rabid Dogs', that's because of the system they use. Most of the knights fight alongside a lover, or more..." She coughs, "This makes them have a very tight bond, they are one of the strongest of this realm. But the real strength comes when one of them dies, the way they are trained that only fuels rage, a rage that they can channel and fight even harder. This is why they are feared, they fight to the death and more."

    Kind of like what we are doing.

    "I joined a unit one day and was interested in... one of them. He was a good fighter, had more honor and grace than a noble, had the curiosity of a scholar, and a killer body..." Her voice trails off.

    I roll my eyes even though she can't see.

    "When the time came, when the enemies were many, I couldn't follow him, I couldn't do what was almost suicide. There was a chance to live, but only a chance, when the order came to retreat I ran as fast as I could and I... I left him to die..." She makes a pained face.

    I hug her tighter and kiss her neck.

    "I don't want to ever be in a situation like this again, I don't want to have to run to survive, I don't want to fight against such impossible odds. I'm a coward, I know you have the destiny to fight and I will do my best to help you with that but I'm a coward," she turns around and hugs me tight, her eyes water.

    "Then I'm a coward too, let's be cowards together. I don't want to put ourselves in such danger, I know I have to fight but I don't have any divine guidance saying I have to kill myself for others. I just want to live happy and safe with all of you," I pull her face up and kiss her, she smiles bitterly and snuggles up to my chest.

    We cuddle and she naps on my arms. Her face is of complete bliss, it almost makes me get overwhelmed with emotions. I love you, Ciel.

    We ask Roxanne for a bath and she's grinning while Ciel is blushing. As I wash her body and her beautiful ass shows itself to me, I'm not an ass man but damn. That puts me in the mood again, I play around with her body until she's wet and we do it again while inside the water. We move slowly while facing each other, my tongue never leaves her mouth. We keep like this until I finish inside her. Now I'm tired, really tired.



    On the trip with Lina to the university, she tries to stimulate me again, which only makes me feel the pain of doing it too much.

    Today is mana cost class. I sit down on the magic training range and an owl flies through the students, it does a spin and lands beside me. In an instant, it turns into Toroo.

    "Hahah, impressive."

    "My, thank you. How are you doing, Mr. Ryder? How was your expedition?"

    "I'm fine, thank you. Well, we had some problems on the expedition but anyway, I got a few dragon eyes for you. What about you, how you doing?"

    "Wonderful! I'm doing fine. I have been practicing hard my illusions but I reached a wall, I have to go back and brush up my theoretical knowledge, I have to study how light is perceived by the eyes."

    We cut our chat short as the professor arrived. Garanae and Hatara both didn't appear for this class, oh boy.



    As the bell rings for recess Lyle decides do accompany us. Toroo smirks when I introduce Lina to her and laughs lightly behind her hand. She graciously bows when she meets Lyle, embarrassing him.

    "These are the eyes, they are from young dragons of blue scales, I don't know the name of the species, though."

    I put down on the table a cloth where 4 large eyes are resting. The sclera of dragon eyes are any color from black to white and the iris is formed by a swirl of colors and bright dots, it reminds me of galaxies. These ones the sclera is pure black while the swirl is a mix of blues and reds.

    "Wonderful, just by the eyes I can say its the common 'Azurite' species. Now, here's your book, I will give you a few pointers and teach you the chants of [Ghost Lights] and [Double Image]."

    Chanting [Illusion Magic] has a sort of "waltz" rhythm to it and includes plenty of laughs. Rather curious magic.

    "I simply cannot understand how such magic works," says Lyle. Alissa gives him a sympathetic look.

    He's been trying to stay on the same level as our talk but failing. I guess people have certain affinities they can't ignore, Lyle certainly knows more about [Electric Magic] than I do.



    Another class passes and no one makes any progress with this skill.

    When the last bell rings Alissa and Lina approach us, we go towards the dwarf Gimbo Bombur. So far I haven't seen anyone ever talk to him.

    Lina's Trivia: The gnomes, dwarves, and elves are undoubtedly the best craftsmen of the continent. They attribute their talent as an "inheritance" from the God of Creation, they call it the Spark of Creation. A dwarf would gladly teach another dwarf crafting skills, but Lina is a slave, the dwarves see slave craftsmen as having sold their Spark, they believe only a free person could truly achieve the greatness in their craft. Because of this Gimbo is unlikely to teach Lina, unless we do as Lina suggested, appeal to his emotions.

    "Excuse, Mr. Bombur?"

    "Yes," he turns to us and speaks in a sleepy voice.

    "My name is Wolf Ryder, as you can see I'm also a researcher here, I'm studying [Golemancy]," he lifts an eyebrow, "This is my fiancee Alissa and this is my slave Lina, she's a dwarf too and I'm searching for someone who could teach her enchanting."

    He narrows his eyes.

    "Not interested."

    He turns his head away.

    "Erm! Please, there must be something you are interested in, even if you don't, could you allow a fellow dwarf to be like this? She was sold as a debt slave and I took her in as her second master. I want to fully raise her to be a proud dwarf, something her previous master neglected."

    He looks at me, then at Lina, then at me again, and finally, he stares at Lina. I don't know what's happening but they are having a staring contest.

    "The Spark of Creation resides within me, I only lack the means to do so," Lina says with a bow.

    "And you would submit your Spark under your master? Let him control your heart?" Gimbo says with poison on his tongue.

    "My Spark is my own but I will use every tool available to help my master, I owe him that much."

    "But you still submit."

    "Should we not pay our debts? Mine will be for life, there's no better way to repay it than with slavery."

    He furrows his eyebrows.

    "What could another do that even your Spark is up for sale?"

    "Again, I didn't sell my Spark. Master gave me a new life, a new hope, a new way to see the world, and this is just the beginning. This collar is a mere formality, I feel freer than the time I wasn't a slave."

    She hugs my arm. I nearly flinch in surprise but I maintain my poker face.

    Bimbo stares at us for a few seconds more.

    He sighs.

    "Very well, child. Two gold in total, every other day she should come towards my house for training starting on the 22nd. I will only teach her until I finish this course at the university. Deal?"

    "Deal."

    We shake hands.

    I wait until we are far away.

    "If he ever tries to touch you inappropriately even for a second don't even think about it and just tell me, I will deal with him. Understood?" I say in a decisive tone towards Lina.

    "Understood. Though I hardly believe he will do so, I'm actually stronger than him."

    I don't know how she measured this but I guess it must be a dwarf thing.



    "S-should we all enter together?" Ciel asks.

    "There's room even for Lina," Alissa says.

    "Please, Lina would be a bit much," I say.

    "Eh, she's gonna be lonely taking a bath by herself, you know," Roxanne says with a grin.

    Yeah, I'm totally gonna buckle and accept Lina soon. Hopefully, she's the last.

    "Let her deal with it... for now," I say.

    "A slave servicing her master is a common thing," Alissa says and turns her head away.

    Ciel tries to cuddle up with me but Roxanne stops her.

    "Now now, Miss Ciel, lately you have been a bit too close to him, don't you think? It's time for sharing the load," Roxanne says, grinning again.

    Roxanne comes over and sits on my lap, her hand strokes me slowly. Hana comes and hugs me from behind, I put my hand behind me and run up her legs.

    "Y-you are gonna do it? Here? In front of everybody?" Ciel mutters.

    "Well... it's the most practical way," I say with a shrug.

    "There are no secrets among us," Hana says.

    "I'm sorry but you will have to get used to it," Alissa says and rubs Ciel's shoulders.

    "Didn't you have to take a bath with the other priestesses?" I ask.

    "Well, yeah. But no one would have sex with each other... at least not in public," she turns red and sinks on the bath, trying to hide.

    Her breasts float upwards and she pushes them down, getting even more embarrassed.

    Ciel is much more innocent than we thought, she didn't even lift her head once while me, Hana, and Roxanne were playing around.

    The burden on my body increased, I feel I will level that skill soon.



    We have the lord's party to go to so we just get a snack and leave early.

    As we fly low through the town I just stare at the night sky. The lack of light pollution makes the night sky absolutely dazzling, I can see a nebula that reminds me of the Pillars of Creation from Earth. There's another that looks like a red eye with blue sclera and another that's a swirl of colors like a striped tornado.

    At the gates, there's plenty of proto-butlers to guide us and a few groups of people are coming behind us.

    After the first gate, there's the guest houses for royalty or other very important people, it's a rather small strip of land filled with mansions. After the second gate, I feel something weird, I don't know what so I have to ignore it for now.

    We cross by the flower gardens, hedge gardens, tree gardens, pool garden, and finally, we finish passing by the side of the castle. Behind it is a row of mansions owned by the lord where his extended family lives. After the mansions, there's another wall and then the town continues for a bit more until it ends on the north gate.

    We are led into a very large victorian mansion. We pass by a circular fountain and a small circular steps, then enter the mansion and after a small corridor, we are led into a huge ballroom. The floor is made of tiles painted with swirls that lead you over the available paths. The ceiling has paintings that remind of the Sistine Chapel and the walls are covered in embroidered fabric and gilded with gold. This is the most luxurious building I have ever been to in this world.

    At the ballroom, there's a fiddle, some big drums, a harp, a clavichord, a few flutes, and surprisingly a hurdy-gurdy. They are playing a light and low tone as background music while the guests still arrive.

    We see a few heads turn to us and a princess comes towards us in a hurried pace. She wears a long frilly dress with a wide crinoline. Her silver dress, her silver gloves, her silver tiara it all goes well perfectly with her silver hair and blue eyes making her seem angelical.

    "Alissa!" Silvane calls.

    "It's good to see you, Miss Silvane," she replies.

    "Likewise," Silvane gives a short ladylike bow.

    "Glad to see you are all fine, the battle with the wyverns was fierce," she continues.

    "Did you fight too?" I ask.

    "Certainly! I wouldn't dare leave my beloved to fight alone," she grins, "Ah, but let me ask something, Mr. Ryder. Weren't you supposed to be attending the university? I couldn't find you there."

    "Hm? Yes, I am attending, but I decided to start with beginners' classes first to brush up my knowledge."

    "I see. Because I'm already under apprenticeship I took intermediate classes. Perhaps we could meet during recess?"

    "Certainly, I'm always at a certain spot at the buffet."

    Alissa seems very satisfied with this arrangement.

    "Excuse me, let me fully introduce you to my companions, my fiancees."



    Silvane looks at me wide-eyed.

    "My, my, Mr. Ryder... the emperor would be proud," she gives me a wicked smile.

    "A-anyway, I have someone I want to meet, excuse me," I take my leave.

    The girls stay to talk with Silvane, only Lina decides to follow.

    "Wouldn't you enjoy more talking to Silvane?" I ask.

    "Not really, I'm not good at making conversation during parties."

    "You and me both."

    I'm glad I won't be left alone then.

    I notice the shining bald head among the crowd and find the glorious beard of Silas, the guildmaster.

    "Good evening, Mr. Silas."

    "Good evening, Mr. Ryder. My thanks to you, you and your fellowship helped us so much during the wyvern attack, the performance of your archer was astounding."

    "Yes, indeed, I'm very grateful," I say through gritted teeth, "that someone such as me who has been known here for such a short time managed to be given the honor of the position three."

    Silas was quite reckless to put us at position 3. From 1 through 5 are only given to experienced and known fellowships, ours is quite young to be put at such a place.

    Silas grins.

    "I pride myself on my ability to put the right people in the right place. Someone as reliable as you is hard to find, I am certainly in your debt for your efforts."

    Ciel told us Silas wants us dead or he really trusts us, it seems it's the latter.

    "I am glad to be of help to Rabanara but I greatly value the safety of my companions and fiancees, I would rather keep them away from such danger," I send a light glare to him.

    "I understand," his expression fades a little, "But the next attack might be on the next year, someone like you would certainly be much stronger until then."

    "Well, before next year I wish to leave town, we will likely go to the High Forest to conquer a dungeon and then explore the world."

    Silas looks disappointed.

    "Oh, what a shame, Rabanara would certainly benefit from your fellowship. But no matter, good fortune on your future adventures."

    "Thank you."

    We leave the conversation and go eat something. The food has been brought and the music is on full power. Self-service buffet seems to be the norm when dealing with adventurers because they likely do not know the etiquette necessary to have a proper meal with a noble.

    I'm eating some delicious fried sweets when I feel a shiver. I look around and a presence catches my eyes, it's a vicious gaze that looks through my soul.

    A princess in a red and black dress as beautiful as Silvane's comes forward. She has long glossy black hair tied up with brooches in a dignified way, her eyes look sharp and her thin lips curve into a smile when she sees me.

    "Good evening, you must be Wolf Ryder, correct?" She asks, her voice rings in my ears with both authority and softness.

    "Yes, I am, forgive me as I do not know your name."

    "I am Vanea Anara, daughter of Lord Alaraste Anara."

    I shiver. I manage to give a proper bow. She's a few centimeters taller than me, must be the high heels.

    "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Anara. This is my slave, Lina."

    She gives a short nod.

    "I have seen your other companions, four women, all your fiancees," she sends a sharp gaze towards me, "Quite a strong and brave fellowship you have Mr. Ryder to even achieve the position three in the defense, you will certainly achieve much more in the future."

    "You praise me too much. The battle was hard-fought and I would pray to not have to repeat it, I'm not as brave as some stories tell."

    "Please, to throw yourself into the claws of the Symbol is enough proof of your bravery, surviving the battle with the wyverns is enough proof of your strength and such scars," she leans closer and brushes her fingers over the scar on my cheek, "is proof of your experience, beside other things."

    She gives me a wicked smile. What is this woman planning? Lina is very anxious and holding herself.

    "What is so interesting over such a boy," says a voice beside us.

    I look to my side and there's a tall man glaring at me. He has a square jaw, golden-blond hair, and a stubble. He's wearing a proto-suit so well it's like he was born to wear it. I gotta admit, he's quite handsome.

    "Are you jealous Mr. Darean? He's a new hunter and yet he's the one who killed the Symbol and even saved brother's little flower."

    Darean's mouth twitches.

    "The symbol was killed by the mage, he just used himself as bait."

    "And what kind of man has the courage to face death in the hands of the Symbol like this?" She chuckles with her hand in her mouth.

    Just what is going on?

    "A fool, most likely," he says between gritted teeth.

    "How rude! Dare not disrespect my master in such a way. Master's bravery is what saved all of those present during the fight!" Lina lets out her anger.

    I let a sigh escape me. I don't feel anger, I'm just tired someone so bothersome is here. I put my hand on Lina's shoulder and she quiets down.

    "Excuse me, Miss Anara said your name is Darean is that right? Did we meet before? I don't remember your name or your face."

    "Yes, I am Darean, leader of Great Destiny, position one," his tone shows pride, his eyes show disgust.

    "Then what did I do to deserve such treatment from someone as yourself? As was said, I am someone new here so I do not know what I did towards you."

    "Nothing you should concern yourself with, I'm just making sure there's no fraud scurrying about near Lady Anara," he gives her a dashing smile.

    She chuckles graciously.

    "Please, Lady is a title, do not use it so carelessly."

    Before I can speak again a huge lion appears behind Darean. His mouth is so large he could bite my head off, his hand is the shape of a human's but his fingers are furry and with claws the size of my thumb, his short tail swings about wildly. He's wearing a fur coat that tells me he's the same social level as Darean. He's a beastfolk, they are very rare around here as the continent they come from. Bestiaram is on the west of this continent, Gilios, and we are at the eastern end of the continent.

    The lion puts his large furry hand on the shoulder of Darean, he turns around and they trade a few hurried whispers, the lion man is very nervous.

    "Excuse me, Lady Anara, Mr. Ryder," he glares at me and ignores Lina, "I must go, for I have some business to attend to."

    Go away and never come back. He bows slightly and leaves with the lion.

    Vanea bites her lip in a sensual way and sighs.

    "What a shame, Mr. Ryder," Then she turns towards me, her expression turns somber, her voice becomes devoid of emotion, and for a second I see the real person behind her mask, "If only he wasn't such a fool…"

    Her gaze gives me chills. I have to strain myself so much to keep a poker face.

    "W-what is the matter with him? Why would he be so aggressive?"

    "Who knows?" Her voice returns to ringing in my ears, "his reputation is much to be desired, perhaps you had a run-in with the underworld?"

    Only the Red Smile... Oh? Was he a sibling of that golden-blond man we killed? He certainly resembles him, but could an adventurer at position 1 really be related to such a wicked person?

    "Tell me, Mr. Ryder. What do you plan for your future? Will you remain here?"

    "Well, I plan on conquering a dungeon in the future," her eyes gleam, "But I'll leave to the High Forest for that, then I will travel through the world."

    "Hm. Won't you stay at the Shore of Leaves? There's much to be gained on this land, on the contrary to certain parts of the empire, the situation here is stable but very dynamic. There are many more opportunities here for an adventurer than in any other place in this realm."

    "I'm not chasing high positions, I'm only doing what I wish from my heart and one of those wishes is to see the world."

    Her expression freezes for a moment.

    "What a shame, if you ever change your mind remember that Rabanara is always open to the strong, no other place in the empire has the same values as ours."

    "I will keep that in mind. Excuse me, there's someone I wish to talk to."

    "Please come and visit me sometime, Mr. Ryder, I would love to hear about your tales of combat."

    We share a light bow and I leave. I will certainly not visit.

    "Master, I'm afraid of that woman, it's best we do not talk too much to her," Lina whispers to me.

    "Agreed. Anyway, didn't you say you would call me 'Wolfy'?"

    "N-not in public, please."

    "Alright…"



    I find the shining bald head in the crowd, Silas. I wait until he leaves his circle to get more food and approach him.

    "Guildmaster, could you spare a minute?"

    "Certainly."

    "What do you know about the fellowship Great Destiny?"

    He stares at me for a second, perhaps he's thinking about my motives.

    "Not much and it's not good. Why do you wish to know?"

    Bingo.

    "Well the leader, Darean, might have some... disagreements with me."

    "You best keep away from him. He's position one so even the Lord depends on him but he's involved in far too many coincidences for him to be truly trustworthy. But do not worry too much, the temple has their eyes on him and they guarantee he's not wicked."

    A consolation prize.

    "What about his family? Any information on that?"

    Silas frowns.

    "Even if we did we wouldn't be able to tell such things. I'm a guildmaster for the hunters, I don't run a spy network, you might want to talk to the Lord or the temple for that. But if even they haven't made a move then there's not much else there," he shrugs.

    "Then he's just an unpleasant person to associate with."

    "Yes... for now."

    "Oh?"

    "He's becoming worse. It's been a month that he started to become a bit, unhinged."

    A month eh? It seems quite obvious now that he confronted me. Why would he do such a thing? Well, they say that the true criminals are those you never hear about so perhaps he's not as smart as he thinks he is.

    "Hm, thank you for this, guildmaster, it's enough to put my mind at ease. Not that I will put my guard down, though. I still don't consider this as a favor repaid."

    "Hah! You are more cunning than your age shows. I half expected you to confront him again."

    "What kind of stories have you heard about me?" I frown in disbelief.

    "Those that tell of your bravery, you even bragged about it once to the late Miss Hildegard, didn't you?"

    "That's just a small part of what I am," I smile innocently.

    "I would have to agree," Lina says.

    Silas grins, we take our leave.



    "Who was that woman?" Ciel asks in a sharp tone.

    "Erm, what?" I lose my train of thought.

    "That beautiful brunette with that luxurious dress that so delicately traced her fingers on your cheek," I feel a bit of poison in her voice.

    Wow, such sharp eyes, we were on the other side of the ballroom. Silvane is chuckling.

    "That was Vanea Anara, daughter of the Lord and I mean no offense Silvane but I truly do not wish to associate with her."

    "None taken. She's a remarkable woman, I believe she would be capable of making the emperor ditch his own harem if she married him."

    This time Alissa shudders.

    We sit down upon a table and pass time. I mostly talk to Lina about her research like we are doing every night. Apart from her burst of jealousy, Ciel is pretty happy talking to Silvane. Hana and Roxanne are out dancing again, Hana is always leading. Aoi is sleeping on Silvane's lap, it seems even Aoi trusts the pure heart of the elf princess.

    Haaran and the lord passed by a few times but they were a bit busy talking to groups of people, nobles, merchants and even hunters were pestering them about something all the time.

    There's a number of nobles talking freely, another opportunity for hunters to get a step in the door of upper society.



    It gets late and I carry an exhausted Roxanne like a princess. A bit of an odd sight since she's taller than me but I'm proud of my increased strength. Ciel takes the lead to drive since she didn't drink and she's been practicing it enough.

    I tell the others of our encounter with Darean and warn them not to ever walk alone. The only one who has permission to do it sometimes is Alissa since she's the fastest of us all.

    Not enough time or energy to take another bath we just used [Clean] and go to sleep. For the first time, I sleep hugging Ciel. Hana and Roxanne are going to sleep together and then cycle with Ciel every day.



    Today is the 21st.

    "Y-you do this every morning?" Ciel asks.

    "Yesh," says Alissa.

    "Don't talk with your mouth full Alissa, it's impolite," I say.

    She lifts her head and grins.

    "Yes, yes."



    I gained [Illusion Magic] with 2 points. It's a wonderful thing, but I don't have time to keep training it yet.



    Lina is wearing a very loose and thin white shirt. When it presses on her body I can see the outline of her nipples. When she gets close to me I can see down her shirt and into her (non-existent) cleavage. Flat is justice.

    Roxanne has a hangover so she spends her morning cuddling with me again. I pull out the dolls Alissa found for me. There are a teddy bear, a girl's cloth doll, and a hollow clay statue of a toddler. I put the maximum points into [Golemancy], 15, and cast [Infuse].

    I'm tripping balls again but now I have some idea of what's happening. I try to remember what I saw with [Sense Soul], it takes some effort but by far the most difficult part is making the soul look the way I want. It's not as simple as imagining the pattern I want, souls aren't really "geometric patterns", it's just that my brain interprets this kind of "data" this way so just imagining the pattern is meaningless, I have to "manipulate" the soul so it forms what I want.

    Little by little I manipulate it by trial and error, like a puzzle where you have to copy the solution. Eventually, I reach it but it's incomplete, the deeper parts are unknown, but whatever, let's do it. I press the imaginary "Complete" button of this spell and my vision returns to normal.

    There's a small shining ball on my hand, Roxanne groans and covers her eyes.

    "Wolfyy~"

    "Sorry, just a second."

    I touch the teddy bear, the ball disappears and nearly all my mana is gone.

    I wait a few seconds, we are both filled with anticipation.

    It twitches. It falls down from its sitting position then it twitches again and again. The twitching increases in intensity and it starts to move its body. Like a baby, it kicks around and rolls then the kicking slows down and it stops.

    "Is it dead?" Roxanne asks.

    "I hope not…"

    It suddenly jerks and stands up, then it loses its balance and falls. It stands up again and falls just to stand again, little by little it gains balance and manages to stand. Then it turns away and turns his beady little eyes towards me.

    "Hello? Do you understand me?"

    It nods awkwardly.

    I clap my hands.

    "Alive. It's alive! IT'S ALI~IVE! AHAHAHAH!"

    "Wolfyy!" Roxanne clutches her head in pain.

    "Sorry. You should have drunk more water, remember, it prevents hangovers.

    "You should have reminded me of that…"

    The girls appear on the window, Lina's sweaty shirt is clinging to her body. Roxanne conjures water directly on her mouth and chokes, I thought she was proficient in swallowing by now.

    "What's going on?" Hana asks.

    "Behold! My first golem!"

    The teddy waves awkwardly.

    "Oh, my, god…"

    Alissa jumps over the wall and hugs the teddy, it squirms but surrenders to its fate.

    In the end, the golem behaves similarly to the small clay golems I created but it has a bit more personality than the summoned ones, that act like robots. I think the inner parts of the soul got filled with something, I don't know exactly what.

    It has very little dexterity and even though it learned how to use its body it does so poorly and walks like a toddler, it also has no strength. I will have to develop an intelligence training course to determine how smart it is, perhaps I can get the university's help for that.

    After recharging my mana I infuse the cloth doll and the clay statue. The cloth goes the same as the teddy but the clay statue doesn't move, it only shakes about until it falls on the ground and shatters. It's dead, Jim. The other golems look at their fallen comrade and shrug, almost giving me a heart attack by cuteness.

    The golems also need a recharge every hour or they just stop moving. It seems there's plenty I need to improve on. There's also the need for vocal cords, the elementals can grunt but I don't know how to copy it or how to improve it so they can talk. I will have to work with signs, the golems don't know how to write.

    Curiously they do not have a sense of self-preservation. I told the teddy I was going to kill it and it just nodded, I asked if it was sad and it shakes its head, I asked if it's capable of being sad and it shakes its head. I think there are no ethical concerns about using them as test subjects then, I certainly need to keep them without this sense of self-preservation or the capability of feeling pain.

    During lunch, I remember something.

    "Ciel, why don't any of you have the [Andraste Language] or [Writing] skills?" I ask.

    "Oh, you didn't know? Well, to learn the skill you need a very strong conscience, you learn the language mostly when you are a child so you end up never learning the skill and going about it the normal way. Once you get older your parents tell you to wish to never learn this skill not to waste your soul potential," Ciel answers. She has a different tone when she's explaining things, it's sweeter and calmer than her normal.

    "So you can 'not' learn skills?"

    "Yeah, you can also 'unlearn' skills but that's a very difficult ritual the temple can do."

    "So who learns the language skill?"

    "Language teachers, you need deep knowledge of the grammar to actually learn it."

    "Can you teach me Andraste? I have been using the skill so far but I want to use the points I put on it."

    "Well sure, I don't think I'm the best teacher but I can teach the children at the orphanage at least," she smiles wryly.

    I will try to read things without the skill when we are resting, though it will make talking more difficult.



    [Space Magic] class brings a surprise, an awkward Garanae comes with his arm entwined with a woman. With confident steps and the dignity of a high noble Hatara leads him forward and she sits beside me. A wicked smile fills her lips and she looks away. Mission accomplished. Lyle looks surprised but then shakes his head, it seems he accepted whatever transformation Alissa did to Hatara.

    The class is a continuation of theory, most students should be hitting a wall now so we have to go back to theory. Things get a bit more advanced and algebra starts to annoy even me.

    We all have a break together at my usual spot. When Hatara and Alissa's eyes meet they share a wicked grin. Garanae tries his best to keep his eyes away from Alissa or else Hatara pinches his arm, he's completely tamed. Lyle is becoming adept at ignoring awkward situations and focuses on talking with Lina, to her surprise. He comes from the capital and has a few recommendations of books that teach history. Since it was a required study for a noble, he was taught it when he was younger.

    "Anyway, Mr. Rizek, where's your brother, Dennis?"

    "Ah, just call my Lyle already. Anyway, my brother is traveling, he met a group of Templar Knights and left to who knows where. Last time I saw him he was muttering something about 'future of glory'. Do you want to meet him?"

    Ack! No!

    "No need, I was just curious since he asked me to join his fellowship sometime ago."

    "I don't really understand him, he had plenty of arguments with his companions and ended up changing some of them. I also have no idea what he wants, it's unlikely he wants to succeed the family and join the Lord's court. I kinda do miss him, though, not even grandpa can match his love for [Electric Magic]."

    What a family of eccentrics. I don't even want to ask about his father or mother.



    "Old maaan! How cruel, Ted told me you were going to dispose of him!" Ciel yells at me.

    "W-what? Who?"

    Alissa glares at me as if I hurt her.

    "Ted! Our cute little golem."

    Oh, I see. It's actually impressive how you managed to get that info from him.

    "You already gave him a name... anyway if you want to keep him ok, but I don't know what golems can do, they are different from elementals, they could even hurt you."

    "Ted is incapable of hurting a flower!" Alissa joins.

    "T-Ted is a pure soul," Lina mutters.

    I look at Hana, she shrugs.

    "Ted is nice. Also, Suzy too, he will be lonely without his girlfriend," Hana says.

    "Kwee! Teh!" Aoi yells.

    I sigh. Future tests must be done in secret.



    Today is the 22nd.

    Every morning I have been cleaning my face with [Clean] ever since I got a level in [Light Magic]. I had some hints of pimples appearing but since then my skin has been basically perfect, I guess this is the secret for the perfect skin that nearly everyone seems to have on this world.

    I got my first level in [Golemancy]. I will try to level it by using [Mold] on Ted. Hopefully, the girls won't mind.



    "Wolfy, there's something I remembered," Ciel says.

    "What is it?"

    "It's about 'Gifts' there are some tales that tell of people who can do things no other person can."

    Alissa tilts her head.

    "I never heard of such tale before," she says.

    "It's not something circulated to the populace. People with gifts are very sought after so they are generally protected, either by the empire or the temple."

    "Then perhaps my abilities can be explained as Gifts?" I ask.

    "Yes, precisely. I remember there's an 'Oracle' at the temple in the capital, supposedly she could look into your soul and discover what kind of Gift you have. But since a Gift is something that doesn't come for hundreds of years I don't know how true it really is. It's only something I read about by curiosity during my training as a priest. I guess those higher at the hierarchy would know more."

    "Remind me of that when we visit the capital. I don't think you should ask Arantos about it, it would be extremely suspicious."

    "Yeah, it would."



    Ciel drives Lina to the house of Gimbo, he's a noble so they have to pass through the gate. Fortunately, our town pass also makes entering the noble's quarters easy. We got an Emergency Stone for Lina and Ciel will be in charge of the receiving end.

    This morning I spend with Alissa, I'm using the [Sense Soul] to try and understand where in her soul are the vocal cords. I summoned a small earth elemental and it had distinctive long black hair and bangs, much to Alissa's amusement. I used this elemental to understand the part of its soul where it could make grunts and compare it to Alissa's.

    I see something different on Ted and Suzy's souls, there's a new, small protrusion that wasn't there before, I'm sure of it.

    What changed? I looked into our own souls and see a similar protrusion, the elemental doesn't have one, though. How curious, could it be the place where the name is stored? The little golems didn't have a name before yesterday and I noticed no other changes in their souls, from what limited vision I have. I'll leave it for later.

    There's only a very minute similarity between the 2 vocal cords, I couldn't identify anything else. So I put 15 points into [Golemancy] and cast [Mold]. My hands glow and when I touch Ted I'm put back into the "Soul Creation" mode. I look for the part where vocal cords are and see only straight lines. Slowly I try to change the soul to be the same way as the elemental.

    When I'm done Ted can mutter vowels with a voice similar to a dying old man. I try some trial and error and he improves to only an old man. Suzy ends up the same but I can't make her voice sound more feminine.

    Curiously I can store Ted and Suzy inside my "Items" but when I do it with the elemental it gets destroyed. For the little golems, time completely freezes so they don't mind being stored. Once their "batteries" run out they feel like they go to sleep so they also don't mind.

    When Lina comes back she's rather happy with her lesson. Gimbo is actually a very old retired adventurer and he's planning on getting more apprentices once he finishes his research. He's a Noble Descendant and lives with his wife.



    At the class, I train [Animal Tongue] exclusively and manage to cast a weak version of it. It lasts less time than when I put all the points required.

    At the break, Lyle and the others were waiting at our spot at the buffet. Hatara asked how nature class was and everyone except Alissa regretted listening about the Gloomy Pervert, as the class nicknamed the professor.

    I and Alissa suddenly turn our heads at a frightening presence. I feel like I'm a rabbit in the open field while a hawk is approaching. The source of such gaze is Vanea Anara, beside her is Silvane, the devil and an angel are walking side-by-side towards us. With the corner of my eye, I see Lyle sweating cold and I can feel the fear Alissa is trying to suppress.

    "Good afternoon, Mr. Ryder," says Vanea.

    "Good afternoon. Finally found you, Mr. Ryder," says Silvane with an innocent smile.

    After awkward introductions from Lyle and the others, the two girls sit down. Clearly being acquainted with the Lord's daughter and the fiancee of Lord's son is no trifling matter.

    "I see you have good taste in tea, Mr. Ryder," says Vanea.

    "Thank you."

    Alissa diligently and graciously serves both of them.

    "Mr. Ryder, everyone is amazed at the two skills you managed to create. The court mages are giddy with excitement trying to acquire [Sense Soul], they are desperately searching for someone who can teach them [Sense Presence]," says Silvane with a giggle.

    "W-wait, he created two skills?" Asks Lyle, his eyes open wide with incredulity.

    "Precisely, and that's not even his aim as a researcher, it was the so mysterious [Golemancy]. By the way, how goes the research on that area?" Silvane continues.

    I'm getting uncomfortable, Vanea seems a bit too pleased.

    "Ah, I already managed to acquire it. I can't show the results now since I left the two golems I created back at home."

    The girls didn't want to let me take them.

    "Ohoh. That's great news, say, are you going to share your knowledge about this magic? I know someone who would be very interesting in learning about it," Asks Silvane.

    "Not for free. I think I will ask for a permanent chair in trade for my knowledge."

    "Oh, that's a great idea," says Vanea.

    "Hm. Have you ever thought about joining a circle of magi?" Asks Silvane.

    A what?

    "What is a circle of magi?" I ask.

    Silvane lifts an eyebrow. Another thing I should have known about if I were a native.

    "It's normally an organization of mages who share knowledge of magic, work together for a common goal, and develop Unique Spells. They also make it very easy to become a court mage."

    Ahah, I knew it, she wants me to become a court mage. Everyone wants something with my power. The guildmaster, Vanea, and even my women would never fall for me if I was weak. Well this is a world made for the strong so I don't really blame them, you either live or you die at the belly of a monster.

    Lina's Trivia: Unique Spells are original magic spells that do not belong to a school and because of that they never show on the skill system. There are plenty of spells that need specific conditions for casting so even if they belong to a school of magic they won't show on the skill system. These spells are really sought for because they can be extremely powerful, but they are extremely dangerous to research. A good amount of magic tools are Unique Spells.

    "That sounds great, but what are the detriments of joining such an organization?" I ask.

    Nothing good comes free, especially in this world.

    Silvane frowns and Vanea smiles.

    "You know how space mages who know [Gate] are treated right? Well it's the same thing, it all depends on how useful you are and how much backing you have," says Vanea.

    "Vanea, don't exaggerate. [Gate] is a very dangerous spell on the wrong hands, the circles certainly do not put as many restrictions as the empire do."

    "That all depends on the mage."

    Silvane narrows her eyes, she certainly can't refute that argument.

    "Well, I don't feel like restricting myself yet, I have a long way to go until I settle down," I say.

    "Keep it in mind that the hunters guild and the university can give you some protection but their influence is limited," Vanea says, "The further you are from Rabanara the less that influence works on keeping interested parties away. Be careful with whom you associate with Mr. Ryder," she smiles innocently.

    "I will take this advice to heart Miss Anara," I say.

    "... Anyway, Mr. Ryder, did you meet with Nononya yet?" Asks Silvane.

    "Who?" I ask.

    "It's the summoning researcher here, she complained to me once she couldn't find you. You want to meet her now?"

    "Sure."

    We stand up and Lyle's group freezes, they have been very tense during this conversation. I guess I'm developing a little amount of resistance to Vanea's eyes.

    "Mr. Ryzek you and your friends should come too," says Vanea with a wicked smile.

    Lyle and the other immediately stand and follow us.

    Silvane leads us to a large white building, it almost reminds me of a hospital. I smell pure alcohol and other cleaning agents, I believe this means there's a lot of biological contaminants here.

    We enter a room and the first thing we notice is the smell of animals and the noise that comes with it. They are all caged in the walls, a variety of birds, dogs, and monsters that resemble birds and dogs. In the middle of the room, there are a few operation tables and on one of them, there's a woman with a light blue hospital scrub operating on a dead dog. I see a small and round white bunny tail protruding from her back.

    "Hello Nononya, I brought guests," says Silvane.

    The woman turns around and removes her head protection. White and long bunny ears stand up, white short hair raised in a way that makes her head look very fluffy, large turquoise eyes stare at us in surprise. Her whiskers cutely twitch when the expression on her cute round face turns from surprise to happiness. A human with bunny characteristics, a werebunny.

    "He-he-hello Miss Silvane. Oh, Miss Anara, hello to you too," she answers with a slight bow.

    "This is Mr. Ryder, the other researcher who knows about summoning magic."

    "Ah! Finally, I searched for you everywhere. I went into your office but it looked abandoned."

    "Uh yeah, I work at home, I don't really need an office," I say shyly.

    "If you took your breaks at the appropriate time you would easily find him at the buffet," Reproaches Silvane.

    "B-b-b-b-but you also don't go to the buffet!" Responds Nononya.

    "That's because I'm always with Haaran. As his fiancee, we should always treasure our private time together."

    "But you always have plenty of time together at night…"

    "Nono!"

    "Hihi. Sorry, sorry," she lets her tongue out.

    Silvane massages her eyes.

    "Anyway, I'll be taking my leave. Until another day."

    "I'll be going too," says Vanea.

    She gives me a last sharp gaze and a smile, then leaves with Silvane. The atmospheric pressure immediately decreases a few psi.

    "Greetings Mr. Ryder. As Silvane said my name is Nononya. I was born on Conchononoi and came here as my lack of noble blood kept me from progressing," she says and bows.

    "No need for bowing, I'm no noble."

    Because I'm known by my last name people assume I'm a noble. After a bit of confusion, we finish our greetings.

    Lyle and the others finally start talking. As a future healer, Hatara seems interested in anatomy and asks to see some of the drawings Nononya did from her dissections. Garanae is more of an animal person and got interested in the animals here, it must be the first time I actually saw him talking casually.

    Summoning magic is basically two parts: the body and the soul. Nononya's research was based around understanding the body of the summon, which is actually a perfect copy of a living being. My knowledge of the soul is much more advanced than what she has, she couldn't get much out of [Spirit Magic] so she was stumped in where to go next. In exchange for my knowledge of the soul, she will share her knowledge of summoning.

    Nononya's research goal is on improving the [Summon Small Bird] and [Summon Dog] spells, she wants to increase control over it. She's trying to summon a condor bird, which is too big to be summoned by the spell, and she wants to summon wolves.

    Our time ends and the bell chimes, In the middle of the way back I turn to Lyle.

    "Why were you so afraid of Miss Anara?" I ask.

    "Hm... since you aren't a noble you couldn't have known. Every noble here is actually afraid of her, or rather, afraid of what she wants. It seems it's her life's goal to have Rabanara acknowledged and have her family receive the recognition they deserve. Everyone is too afraid of what she might actually do to accomplish this."

    "Why would the empire not acknowledge Rabanara?"

    "Well, there are a few reasons. It's too far, too isolated, too troublesome to control, and I think the most important is that the Lord is far too close to the commoners, the adventurers."

    Heh, I kinda guessed that Rabanara had an odd relationship between nobles and commoners. My time here at the university as a commoner was far too peaceful.

    "Human nobles that want to escape the cloak and dagger of the capital come here, so plenty of the nobles here are considered 'outcasts' by the royalty. Even grandpa was laughed at his face when he said he was going to Rabanara and you saw how much power he has," Lyle shrugs.

    "Hm, so everyone is afraid they will be dragged into a war or something?"

    "Well, yes and no. An actual war would be too much, the nobles are far too afraid of a real war with the threat of the Monster King. Miss Anara's real power is her cunning, she could easily sail around the power games of the royalty but anyone that follows her will have an uncertain fate."

    That is certainly frightening.

    I'm glad I kept a rather low profile so far. If someone like Vanea found me when I had just come into this world she would surely sink her fangs on me and drag me into her fight. Well, the more I fight the more I get involved with those sorts of people, it feels like I can't escape this. It seems useless and foolish to run, so if I can't run then I better prepare to fight, at least now I feel prepared.

    I sigh. Vanea's gaze gives me shivers every time I think about her, I'll have to put some points in [Mental Resistance] next time I meet her.



    At home, I start copying my notes for Nononya.

    "Why don't you use the study anymore?" Asks Alissa.

    "Ain't it obvious?"

    I grab a chocolate tablet and eat it, then I rest my head on Hana's breast pillow and pull out a blanket to cover my legs. I use [Telekinesis] to hold a wooden board in front of me so I can copy my notes for Nononya while I listen to Lina continue talking about the books she read today, she absentmindedly plays with my feet with her own cute little feet. Ciel puts a few scented logs in the fireplace and Aoi tries to sustain a flame breath to try to light the logs. Roxanne plays with Ted and Suzy, she seems to be teaching them how to wrestle.



    Today is the 23rd.

    My [Nature Magic] increased by 2 (now 13), my [Golemancy] increased by 1 (now 2), my [Sense Soul] increased by 1 (now 3) and my "Intelligence" increased by 1 (now 21). I was right, the small "bump" in the soul is where the name is stored, now I can see everyone's names with [Sense Soul].



    I have decided to improve my MP. I have some mana problems because [Summoning Magic] uses so much of my mana and even limits the maximum, I really need loads of mana to summon a proper squad of elementals.

    I will use [Earth Magic] and see if I can get a few levels on it. Level 10 [Sand Storm] and level 15 [Soul Sand] are some really useful support spells. I can also teach Lina [Manipulate Metal] and that will help a lot when she's repairing our equipment or enchanting.

    As level 20 I have 80 skill points to use and 11 extra. I put 10 points into [Mana Overuse Resistance] 20 into [Increased Growth] and divide the rest into [Earth Magic], [Mana Recovery], [Mana Control] and [Reduced Mana Cost]. I assume that [Increased Growth] requires quite a lot of points to make a difference since so far the girls didn't notice faster growth when I put this skill on them.

    I raise an earth wall and use [Earth Bullet] on it until it crumbles. Once my mana runs out I meditate and try to use [Redirect Mana] to speed my recovery without overexerting myself. Aoi and the griffin nature spirit sleep at the wall, uninterested at my repeating training regimen.

    I don't really understand much about what Aoi thinks, I can feel that she's content most of the time but she still doesn't talk much. She seems to very observant but aside from being petted, there's not much she does. Monsters grow physically and mentally much much faster than any humanoid, this might explain how she has a high intellect, lots of knowledge about the world, but low emotional intelligence.

    "What have you done!?" Yells Ciel.

    I'm thrown off my meditation and feel as if a bucket of cold water was poured on me.

    "Hm... what do you mean?" I ask innocently.

    "The garden is ruined!"

    Hana stops her training and slowly sneaks away.

    "I-I need to train my mana, so I thought training w-with [Earth Magic] might be a good idea."

    "A good idea? The living room is filled with dust, the flowers bellow the windows are wilting, and the backyard is a mess filled with mud!" Ciel huffs at me, her angry face is not scary, it's heartbreaking.

    "I-I'm sorry... I can fix the garden…"

    "You better!"

    She closes the window with anger. From the kitchen window I see Alissa narrow her eyes, she closes the kitchen window slowly.

    I'm sorry~~...!



    I create a new shielding wall and don't let the earth hit the flowers or spread through the backyard. After I'm done I increase my mana control until I can destroy all earth I created and to lower the walls. With the spell [Grow] from level 15 [Nature Magic] I can fix the garden.

    I don't feel any pain from overuse but my morale is broken. I put 10 points into [Massage] and put Alissa to sleep through her ears, then I bring Ciel to the bedroom and massage her feet. She pouts for a little while but after a sigh, she returns to normal. I had to ask Hana to take care of the lunch and make sure nothing burns while I work for forgiveness.



    Hatara seems elated and doesn't stay very far from Garanae, he's getting more comfortable with her and is responding to her affection. To the delight of everyone around him, he's less uptight and rude to others.

    We are all reaching walls and progress has been slow, though I have been focusing on [Rush] since it's the most useful spell for now. I need to shorten chant time and then increase duration. Using the system and adding my free points to it so I can instant cast is easier to use, but it's not as useful for training my [Electric Magic].



    On the way back I feel like I'm starting to lose my control with Lina, Alissa has been teaching her very well how to arouse me. Loose clothes that lets me see up her (non-existent) cleavage, hugging my arm tight whenever we walk, dropping her head on my lap whenever we talk about her books at the living room, wearing a very subtle and pleasing perfume on her hair that fills my nose every time we ride Alissa, and I swear she changed the way she looks at me, she went from expressionless to an abandoned puppy.

    Right now she's between my legs as I use [Manipulate Metal] while she feels the mana circulation in my body and tries to copy it. Every time we shuffle a bit she digs her ass more and more on my crotch, just a little more and the Buddhist monk will turn into a beast.

    Unfortunately, I can't deal with her right now because Alissa told us something disturbing.

    "We are being stalked."
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019
  5. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    "Start from the beginning," I say.

    "Well, I have always been going to the same few stores since they always have a steady of the things we eat normally. So yesterday, before we found your little... accident," I wince, "I sent Ciel to buy some more wyvern meat but I forgot to tell her to get the smoked sausage, so I went after her. That's when I noticed an inconspicuous woman with a hat, the important part is that she was too inconspicuous, she's certainly using some magic that makes it harder to look at her."

    "Then what really called my attention is that I couldn't see her with [Sense Presence], she was using [Hide Presence], she's deliberately hiding. She followed Ciel and I managed to get a small look into her jaw before I hid. Then I decided to pass by her and got a sniff of her smell. Both the jaw and the smell jostled my memory, I had seen a few glances of her for a few days but never really paid any attention to her, I was too confident on my [Sense Presence] being infallible," she looks down and her ears flop.

    "Don't feel down, no one would imagine we would start being stalked," Ciel says rubbing Alissa's back.

    "Then I saw glimpses of her when I dropped you both at the university and when I went to get you back. I didn't see her when Ciel went to drop or pick Lina from Mr. Bombur but she could just be waiting in the middle of the way or at Bombur's."

    "But why?" I ask.

    "Red Smile?" Hana says.

    I sigh. I hope not.

    "There's also the circle of magi that Vanea mentioned," says Lina. She rubs the right spot with her ass but the tension of the situation keeps me contained.

    Roxanne shudders.

    "Oh no, the Dawn of Fire is a circle of magi that used to stalk me at the High Forest. They stopped once I moved into Rabanara," Roxanne says.

    "But why would they stalk Ciel or Alissa?" I ask.

    Roxanne lowers her head.

    "There's always those hunters that want to know more about you, who think you could be a fraud. They could be jealous of your magic dick," says Hana.

    "Well... stalking would be a little too aggressive for them, wouldn't it?"

    "Probably..." Hana sighs.

    "Then it most likely is about Red Smile, Darean," I massage my eyes.

    "Is she all day there? We could follow her when she goes home and murd-... Capture her or her accomplices," says Lina.

    Don't tell me you too are being corrupted.

    "If Alissa can't feel her presence then she's an expert spy or assassin, who has enough experience to stalk a stalker?" I ask.

    "You," says Ciel.

    Ah shit.

    "Not experience, but you can use your skills to increase your [Hide Presence] and stalk her... " She continues, she's cringing at this idea, but it's an idea, "What about [Illusion Magic], do you know something that could help?"

    "There's the level 10 spell [Ignorance], it makes it harder to be noticed by others, possibly what that girl was using. Which means they already have the support of a magician, it makes things even more dangerous," I respond.

    "Still, Wolfy, we can't let it stay like this. Being stalked is something very, very offensive to do. Nothing good will come out of it if we ignore the problem," says Hana, she looks solemn.

    "Kweh..." Aoi makes an unhappy noise.

    Alissa comes to me and grabs my hand. Lina finally releases me from her claws, then sits somewhere else and she looks at me concerned. Alissa doesn't say anything, she stares at the ground. I bring her closer and hug her.

    "Yeah... we have to do it, you girls will follow me from a distance," I say.

    "Understood..." Alissa says dejectedly.

    "Should we do it tomorrow?" Asks Ciel.

    "I... think we better wait a little more, perhaps after tomorrow. We can all spend some time thinking on a plan or on what might happen," I answer.

    "You mean, mental training?" Asks Hana.

    "I guess it's something like that. It's gonna be more difficult than just fighting monsters, we need time to get used to the idea of following the stalker and possibly ending up fighting her. Actually, the one who needs this training the most is me," I say.

    "Ciel, did you ever kill someone?" Alissa asks.

    Ciel looks away and grimaces.

    "Yes. As an honorary member of the Templars, we killed a few bandits."

    "What about you Lina?" She asks again.

    "N-never. But I won't back down, if it's for defending Wolfy I will do anything it takes!" Her eyes glare in anger.

    "Careful. Don't let yourself be consumed by rage, to kill another humanoid you need a clear mind," says Hana.

    "I killed once and I went berserk. I would rather not feel like that ever again," I confess. It still pains me to think about that.

    Alissa kisses my forehead. Ciel gives a knowing look.

    I pat Lina's head.

    "It's mostly us two who need time to think. But I'm sure we will be able to do it."

    Lina nods and smiles.

    Fuck Darean.


    We end up the night with a group hug. Tonight Ciel is with us on the bed and I'm feeling like I want some comfort.

    "So, Ciel…"

    She looks at me expectantly.

    "You see…"

    She looks a bit impatient.

    "Alissa is a pervert…"

    "Well, all of you are," she smiles wryly.

    "Yes but she's a bit different. She... likes to watch."

    Ciel slowly turns to Alissa, who's blushing.

    "So... can we do it in front of her, while she masturbates?"

    Ciel is expressionless. Alissa is trying to hide her smirk.

    "No," she says flatly.

    "Please... you already saw us doing it in the bath or the bed."

    "T-that's different," she looks exasperated.

    "Please. We are a family, no secrets among us and being open-minded like this only makes things easier for all of us. When we go on a trip we might not have room for everyone to have their own tent, it's going to be easier if we all share one and get comfortable doing things in front of each other," I make the best puppy eyes that I can.

    Ciel facepalms. She massages her forehead and groans. After a minute she responds.

    "Okay…"

    Alissa claps her hands and instantly gets naked.

    "Remember that I'm doing this because I love you, I really do love you, Wolfy."

    "Awn... I love you too."

    I hug her tight and kiss her.

    "But don't ever think that I'm depraved, okay? I'm doing it because I love you and I love Alissa too, but I'm not completely shameless," she glares at Alissa.

    Alissa squirms in happiness and immediately starts masturbating, Ciel groans again.

    Tonight I'm extra gentle with Ciel, I use [Massage] on her breasts and make sure she orgasms at least twice. Alissa was incredibly happy.


    Today is the 24th.

    I learned [Earth Magic] and [Andraste Language] with 1 point, I guess that skills level very slowly if I don't learn the theory behind it. I increased my [Electric Magic] by 1 (now 0+8) and increased my MP by 30 (now 630).

    Ciel wrote for me some basic grammar rules and I have been trying to read without the language skill but it's very hard, using the skill really is a complete crutch for me.

    I'm impressed with my MP growth, yesterday I wasn't so focused because of shame so I'm going to do the same today and focus much harder. I'm gonna need the mana for confronting that stalker.


    We risked it and didn't change a thing in our routine. Today we won't be attacking, but tomorrow we will.

    With renewed vigor and caution, I train my mana again and make sure the backyard doesn't get destroyed. To the happiness of the girls, the griffin spirit drops down from the wall and frolics on the grass beside Aoi, this way she might end up being the first one to touch it.


    On the break of the [Blessing Magic] class, we have some time to speak with Hatara.

    "So, everything succeeded?" I ask.

    "Yep, he's mine, only mine," she answers with a giggle.

    "But do you have guarantees?" Alissa asks.

    "Heheh," she shows us a necklace, hidden under her clothes, "This is his family's symbol, his father gave it to me. Once we graduate we are to marry immediately."

    It's a simple metal medallion, polished until it's almost a mirror. It has a flame and a drop of water engraved on it.

    "His father was a bit..." She cleans her throat, "Annoyed at what I did to him but he relented when Gara told him I'm a mage. His father was looking for a court mage's daughter to introduce to him but he told us 'she'll do'," she smiles bitterly.

    She doesn't seem very happy with Gara's father but it's understandable, considering their situation.

    "Wolfy, can you give us some privacy? There's still some... things I have to teach her," Alissa says with a wicked smile.

    Hatara blushes but her eyes show expectancy.

    I shrug and leave. I take this time to visit Nononya.


    "Do you ever take a break?" I ask.

    "FUAH!" Nononya crops the scalpel with a clang.

    "That was an incredibly cute noise you made."

    "P-please, don't tease me like this, Mr. Ryder," she hunches over, her cheeks red in shame, "Anyway, how can you be so silent?"

    "I don't have [Quiet Steps], you are simply far too absorbed in your work."

    "That's... yeah, Silvane told me this once," her whiskers twitch, her ears drop. Cute.

    I chuckle.

    "Here are my notes on the soul. I'm still far from done, I can certainly improve more but I have many things I want to train so I have to keep a certain priority."

    I hand her my papers.

    "Ooh, impressive handwriting. Do you have the [Writing] skill?" She asks, swiping through my notes.

    "Well, no."

    I did put the skill on while writing the notes, my handwriting is some ugly noodles without it.

    "Even more impressive."

    I smile wryly.

    "So, here is a copy of my research. I didn't write them myself, I hired a scribe to copy them, too many drawings that I will never torture myself to remake them."

    She hands me a large stack of notes, most of them have anatomy drawings covering most of the page.

    "Say, do you know anything about the level 30 spell [Summon Monster]?" I ask.

    She squints her eyes and crosses her arms. Cuute.

    "Well [Summoning Magic] is very rare to acquire since there's no living teacher for it," she increases her speed and pitch after every word, "To even reach level 30 on it would make you a master of summoning. You already have level 20 right? I heard you can summon elementals. Oh! This means you already reached level 30!?" She gets up from her chair and gets so close she's almost falling on top of me.

    "N-no. I'm just asking since I heard this is the next level," I lie. Well, half lie.

    I can see the spell now that I unlocked level 30 spells but I haven't used it yet, it sounded rather... Dangerous.

    "Hm..." She returns to her chair, "Well this spell is incredibly useful, especially for hunters. You can summon any monster that you killed because part of their information was absorbed in your soul as experience. Though it won't be as strong as the original if your level in magic is not high enough."

    I'm straining myself in keeping up with her speed.

    "Please, speak slower."

    "Oh? Hahah, sorry, Silvane keeps telling me this and I always forget about it," her speed turns back to normal.

    "Back on topic. The monster that I summon works the same as an elemental, right? It won't attack others?"

    "Yes, that's the curious thing. Anyone with [Sense Presence] will think it's a monster, though if they get real close they might sense the mana that's leaking out of it, which is unnatural for a normal monster, but not many people would know that. Though if you don't tell them to act, anyone will immediately see there's something wrong with the monster if he doesn't attack humanoids on sight."

    Her whiskers keep twitching, she's making an effort to keep her talking speed constant. Cu~ute.

    "Sounds incredibly powerful. I heard there's one more spell at level 40, you know what it is?"

    "Nope. Nobody does, if you ever reach that level you might as well call yourself the most powerful summoner in the world."

    I see. If people have difficulty reaching level 20 then [Summoning Magic] is actually a rather limited magic school, no wonder they don't teach it here yet. But if we can teach people how to get [Summon Monster] like we do [Item Box], then it could greatly influence civilization.

    There are a few monsters that could give me some massive benefits if I ever killed them, seems we are going to collect some monsters for my pocket.

    I look around at the cages, it seems there's less than half of the animals and monsters of last time.

    "What do you do with all these animals?"

    "Oh, I don't kill them all, Silvane would hit me if I did. Most of them I use to understand their behavior, I take them for a walk, give them different food, observe their mating habits," -I shudder, Tanya's flashback- "or just play with them. You can learn a lot about their anatomy when you discover all their tickling spots, can't do that with the monsters, though."

    She giggles again.

    "You seem very close to Silvane, how did that happen?"

    "Well, Conchononoi is next to Elaria. The silver elves have a good relationship with us. Silvane also seems to adore rabbit wereanimals, my ears, specifically..." her voice trails off and a silly smile appears in her mouth.

    Those fluffy ears and hair seem alluring. They seem so soft, so cute. They are asking to be petted.

    "And you seem to adore them too," she says with a smile.

    I clean my throat and recompose myself. I have Alissa's tail and ears, even Hana's hair is comfy, there's no need to lose myself in anyone else.

    Nononya chuckles.

    "Payback," she whispers.

    "A-anyway, thanks for the notes, I will let you keep working."

    "No problem, come back anytime. I always end up forgetting to talk to other people so Silvane is the only one who I talk to regularly."

    I wave goodbye and go back to the buffet, this time there's a simple chocolate cake there, oof. I get one of the last pieces, those cakes are selling fast.

    A few minutes before the bell I go back to our place and see two evil beings plotting something and laughing. A succubus with a glint on her green eyes and a fox-demoness with a bewitching tail swaying about. When I sit by them Hatara snaps out of it and blushes.


    "How about we have a quick dinner and go to the theater?" I ask the girls while we prepare the meal.

    "Oh? Some interesting play there?" Roxanne asks while washing leaves.

    "Yeah, there's a play there called Roberto and Judea, I heard it's pretty good. I think it would be good to relax a bit, you know, like we do before a battle."

    "Hm. Alright, then let's just fry so meatballs, don't wanna waste too much time making dinner," Alissa says, grabbing some ground meat from the ice box.

    Lina looks at me with wonder, she might have never seen a play before. Roxanne claps the tips of her hands in excitement.


    During the trip to the theater, Lina grabs my arm and leaves my hand on her thigh, dangerously close to the sacred place, her thin skirt doesn't help. I'm dealing with her tonight, it's very clear the other girls are giving her space like they did with Ciel.

    "Did you see her?" I ask Alissa, trying to clear my mind.

    "Yes. In the morning I saw her, or rather, felt the magic that made things difficult to see so I assume it was her. When we left I saw her a few blocks away from our house," she answers.

    Tomorrow after dinner we will stalk the stalker.

    I breathe deeply to calm my rapidly beating heart.

    I already made my resolve, I will do whatever it takes to keep my family safe.


    It's 8:50 PM. The ticketmaster is working non-stop as a line of people enters the theater. I'm happy that our clothes aren't out of the norm, we blend well with the average person here, though Hana and Roxanne are more risque than the average woman. There are a few who clearly have very expensive clothes, with their ridiculous embroidery, what looks like to be gems embedded in the clothes, even shiny scales, and most ridiculous of all a few have some very flashy feathers protruding out of their clothes.

    I assume that since there's no industry, having everything hand-crafted, and the use of magic allows for some very advanced fashion, like Snow Weave, but makes it very limited in supply. The nobility also doesn't seem to have a monopoly on fashion, creating this carnival of time periods where the most "fashionable" person is the one with the most unique or well-crafted clothes. Though official positions seem to follow a standard in uniforms, like how Rabanara's attendants seem to like velvet.

    We enter the theater and pay 50 silver per person. Lina and Ciel grimace at the cost.

    This time we are on the main floor chairs, the balconies are ridiculously expensive and the main floor gives enough of a good view. Most of the ridiculous looking people go to the balconies.


    It really is Romeo and Juliet. The families and Paris are put into a very bad light for trying to force Juliet to accept Paris. Prince Escalus is seen as a strict and foolish Lord who deals judgment without a Judge or listening to the circumstances. And Romeo and Juliet are seen as foolish for choosing suicide, though their love for each other is respected.

    Alissa and Ciel are sniffling. Roxanne is simply entranced and Hana looks at her with warm eyes. Aoi fell asleep in the first few minutes. I would be paying more attention to it but Lina is absentmindedly caressing my hand, taking my focus away.

    What do I even see her as? She's clearly smitten by me and following all of Alissa's advice on how to seduce me, but why? What does she want from me?

    Every girl is with me for a reason. Alissa needed a master to follow, someone to honor her clan, she did not need to be a tool for this so she changed her personality to please me. Hana wants to stay safe from the scheming that tore her family apart, it might be impossible to stay away so we all have to work together. Roxanne was a lonely woman who wanted the happiness she denied herself, I can give her a strong reliable family where we rely on each other. Ciel wanted adventure but she wasn't ready for the ultimate sacrifice, like me she wants to help but doesn't want to tread too close to death.

    Is Lina looking for safety? Is she looking for the power that I give? Does she simply love me? Does she want to seduce me for better treatment? Or is it just lust since I'm the first real man in her life (Dietgard does not count, in more ways than one)?

    Does it matter...?

    Love is different here, the weak love the strong. As a slave marriage is a far-fetched dream for Lina, marrying someone you truly love and being exclusive is an even more impossible dream. For her, I must be a prince.

    So why did I reject her advances until now? I'm not sure, I think it's because now that my mind is in a better place I regained my resistance to women. After putting a ring on my hand due to Lily certain women became much more flirty and I took pride that I was unaffected by them, it's regrettable that such homewreckers exist but they do. I guess this is why I rejected her, pride, pride that I was immune to women that threw themselves at me.

    But now I actually like Lina, of all the other girls she's the one with the personality the closest to mine. Quiet, reserved, introverted, curious, a bit cynical. While she enjoys reading about every book at the library I enjoyed going into my blue link adventures on Wikipedia. Even our outlook at life seem similar, we are both bitter realists.

    Then there's the fact that she's a slave. Different from a Blood Slave that can escape if they have enough willpower or are being treated bad enough, the traditional slave doesn't have a chance for this, unless if she runs to the temple. To treat her well, to give her the best life she could wish for, those things are entirely my responsibility.

    I guess I should do as Alissa said, I will just enjoy her, protect her and keep her happy, just like I do with the others. Though I'm not sure how our relationship will end up as being, she seems very insecure and has difficulty expressing her feelings, perhaps her feelings for me will evolve.


    Once we go back home I grab Lina's hand and lead her, she seems completely surprised at my action. I guess all the coaching in the world won't change her shy nature. When on the jaws of the beast even the bravest warrior can falter.

    "Let's talk a bit over here," I say and pull her to the living room.

    The girls go upstairs to the bed and I see Ciel smirk. I can't really discern their positions inside the house but I bet Alissa is outside by the door.

    I sit on the sofa and she sits on my lap without hesitation. Her aggressiveness becomes adorable because she completely stiffens when I hug her.

    "What do you see in me?" I ask.

    "W-wha-what...? I..." Her voice trails off.

    "Hmm... maybe that wasn't fair to ask. If you can't tell me then show me what you want from me."

    I turn her around. She's trembling and avoiding looking at me, her face is beet red. She's straddling me and her skirt is riding up, if I look down I will see something wonderful.

    "I... I want you..." She mutters and keeps her head down, then she starts to breathe heavily.

    "Show me what you want."

    I grab her chin and bring her face up. I stare into her eyes, her expression shows fear. She swallows and her breath normalizes, she calmed herself. Her fear turns into courage and she kisses me.

    She freezes during the kiss, after a few seconds she breaks the kiss. She starts breathing heavily again. So adorable.

    I kiss her and now I push my tongue. Her mouth opens easily and I explore her mouth. Her tongue twitches and slowly she starts moving. Her hands that were hanging loosely beside her desperately grab my body, then she hugs me tight and intensifies the kiss.

    She starts whimpering and I break up the kiss.

    "What's the matter?" I ask.

    She's almost crying. She looks down again.

    "I just... I felt so…"

    "Lonely?"

    She shakes her head.

    "Scared?"

    She doesn't move.

    "Because you thought I would abandon you?"

    She squirms, I feel her heart beating faster.

    I bring her chin up and her expression shows fear again.

    "I won't abandon you. Not now, not ever, understood?"

    She nods.

    "You don't have to worry. We will grow old together, even when your contract ends I will keep you with me. If you would still like it," I smile warmly.

    She nods furiously.

    "Then there's nothing to worry about."

    Her breath quickens again and this time she kisses me, her tongue explores mine. She hugs me tight, as tight as those twigs she calls arms can without using magic.

    I push my hand up her shirt, slowly I go up until I find some very small softness and a very stiff nipple. I slowly rub it and she squirms.

    She breaks the kiss and hangs her head on my shoulder. I use my other hand and play with her other nipple.

    She moans so softly and high pitched it's almost like a cat meowing. I push her away and she keeps her eyes closed, her face scrunched up in embarrassment. I lift her shirt and start licking her nipples, pink and small, only barely noticeable breasts.

    She slowly stops trembling and fully enjoys my tongue. I slowly drift my hand downwards and when I get in the border of her panties, she starts trembling again. I keep drifting my hand until I reach the entrance, she needs a bit more time so I slowly rub her.

    Her meows grow louder, her breath quickens even more. She hugs me tight and forces herself to keep her legs from closing.

    I get up with her hanging on me and lower her properly on the sofa. She's quickly getting wetter and wetter. I pull out a towel with one hand.

    I pull out her delicate shoes and kiss one of her cute feet. She opens her eyes and giggles. Then she goes back to moaning, I didn't take my hand off the middle of her legs.

    I lower my pants and she looks at me with fear.

    "I will put a bit of oil, won't hurt... as much."

    Thank God "Items" keeps the temperature of the objects I put. I pull out some warm scented oil and rub it on my member.

    I see fear turn into a bit of anticipation. I pull down her black laced panties and raise her skirt. A trimmed black bush just like Alissa's, a very pink slit glistening with moisture.

    "Ah... D-don't look."

    "Sorry, but I will look, I will look at every nook and cranny of your beautiful and cute body."

    She covers her face with her hands and whimpers. I slowly pull her hands apart.

    "Look at me, Lina."

    Slowly she opens her eyes. She's still cringing in embarrassment.

    "Look at me."

    She bites her lips, I kiss them and she smiles. There we go.

    I bring her waist up and angle it right. I turn on my Ring of Fertility, I never take it off. Slowly I push it in, a barely perceptible resistance is effortlessly pierced through. She's tight, very tight. She meows loudly.

    I'm intoxicated with lust, it's taking me a lot of self-control to keep myself from simply ravaging her innocence. Hana has been having quite an effect on me.

    "If it hurts tell me, if you want to stop tell me, understood?"

    "U-understood."

    I hold her face towards me and touch our foreheads. Our breaths mingle and we stare into each other as I push. She bites her lips but endures.

    I get inside her completely and I stop. Her face, tense from pain, slowly loosens and relaxes.

    "I will start to move, okay?"

    She nods.

    Very slowly I move. Even for me, it's gonna be difficult to hold on, it's so tight.

    I play with her nipples while I move. She's holding her voice or otherwise, I think she would be screaming, not from pain, I just know she wants to be loud.

    She looks so frail, so small, so weak, so vulnerable, so cute. She tickles my heart and all I want is to protect her, to hug her tight.

    Slowly her voice starts to escape and she starts to yell, which turns into screams as I pick up speed. The tightness is so amazing I don't last, I pull it out and finish all over her body and face.

    Defiled Angel, this is the name of the painting, the name of the scene she is in right now. Her cute face is that of bliss, her pure body dirtied by me. She grabs a small glob on her face, she tastes it and grimaces.

    "I-I'll get used to it..." She mutters.

    I chuckle. I cast [Clean] on her and wipe the rest with the towel, there's no blood on the towel, thankfully.

    "Thank you…"

    "You wanna sleep on my bed? I think Ciel is in her room."

    I can't really discern the exact position she is through the fellowship connection, though I'm pretty sure Alissa is on the stairs, going back to our room.

    "If I can," she mutters again and looks away.

    I hold her hand and she gets up, she wobbles a little.

    "It might feel weird to walk, so let's go this way."

    I grab her and carry her like a princess. She doesn't say anything and just buries her head on my chest, I can see a smile on the corner of her mouth.


    Today is the 25th.

    I wake up to a very eager Lina trying to fit my member on her cute mouth. Alissa is whispering something to her, she smiles when she notices I woke up. Lina blushes and freezes when our eyes meet.

    "I guess her jaw isn't good enough for this," Alissa says.

    "Just... let me try... a bit more," Lina pleads, trying to fit it after every breath.

    She's trying very hard not to use her teeth, her jaw doesn't open enough and she's applying a lot of pressure with her tongue. It seems everything on her is tight.

    "I can't, my jaw hurts too much," she looks dejected.

    "Perhaps you can get used to it in the future," Alissa says rubbing her shoulder.

    "I will... have to practice."

    "You can do it every day during bath then," I say.

    She blushes again. Her place skin reddens so easily.

    "Now then, let me show you how it's done," Alissa says with a mischievous smile.

    Lina intently stares until the end, then she breathes heavily and leaves quickly. I guess she can only retain her composure when it's time to learn.

    My [Earth Magic], [Redirect Mana] and [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+2, 3 and 0+14), my MP increased by 40 (now 670) and my "Magic Power" increased by 20 (now 260). Impressive gains but I'm a bit tired, I will "rest" this morning, the other girls need attention.

    Now I can finally see Lina's status:
    Info
    Name:LinaAge:15RaceDwarf
    HP:100MP:200Magic Power:105
    Level:14Experience:223/3000
    Stats
    Strength:7Endurance:8Dexterity:12
    Speed:11Intelligence:16Wisdom:11
    Willpower:17Charisma:10Piety:10
    Perception:14Sanity:11
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (master), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel
    Crimes:NONE

    Her Skills:
    LinaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Hammer Use6Parry1Dodge1
    Block3
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control2Mana Efficiency1
    Fire Magic1Light Magic1Space Magic1
    Conjuring Magic1General Enchanting3Magic Tool Carving1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    General Blacksmith3Sewing3Housework1
    Cleaning2Washing1Math4
    Riding2Stonebody (innate)3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)

    Her spells are:
    Spells
    CleanSpirit LightFireballConjure WaterTelekinesisItem Box (weak)
    EnchantCarveSpirit of Gaia

    With 15 skill points remaining she will learn [General Enchanting] much faster. The amount of free skill points you have is called "soul potential". The more skill points remaining you have, the more your "potential", the "easier" it is to learn a skill. You can even have negative skill points, which will greatly reduce the speed you learn new skills. Lina was actually in the negative before the wyvern battle.

    So it's not necessary to level to learn to craft. You can also learn anything the normal way and just ignore the skill system, it just takes much longer.

    [Stonebody] passively increases your "Strength" and "Endurance" by the level of the skill so Lina actually has the same strength as me. [Spirit of Gaia] gives a boost to the passive at the cost of mana. This is why dwarves are so strong even though they have very little body mass.

    Lina's Trivia: Gaia is the name of the human that gave birth to the first dwarf, feeling blessed by the God of Creation she took upon herself to lead the new dwarves. She founded a kingdom, Mountainhome, and became their first queen.

    Now I'm quite sure that we can surpass human strength without the proper muscle mass for it. Hana is incredibly strong but her body is lean, she's toned but she's far from looking like a weightlifter. Lina also has the same strength as me when I first came to this world and I was a bit more toned than the delicate twigs she calls arms, so there's more to this stat than pure muscle mass. Perhaps its growth is also related to level, I did get extra points after the wyvern battle.

    Lina comes back from the enchanting lessons looking very proud, she presents Alissa's warbow to us.

    "Mr. Bombur actually thinks I'm a genius now," Lina says, smiling.

    "You are just a cheater," Ciel says.

    The skill system gives muscle memory, intuition, and guidance, but it gives no real knowledge. Putting all Lina's extra points into enchanting made her life much, much easier but it didn't make her an expert in enchanting, she still needs someone to teach her the enchantments. Today she succeeded at enchanting the warbow with [Loosen], an enchantment that makes it easier to draw the bow.

    Right above where you grip the bow a small ring with a transparent crystal was added, this is where the spell is stored. Parting from the crystal, silver lines run through the wood. A small ring with another transparent crystal is put just above the place where you rest the arrow. This way once you nock an arrow and feed it just a bit of mana the bow will loosen and get easier to pull. Once you loosen the arrow it will stiffen back and throw the arrow just like a normal bow.

    "It really is a cheat," I say.

    We also have properly fitted Lina with armor. We used the older Grey Berserker armor set we had and had it reduced to her size and gave her a coif. We also got her a metal kite shield with a boss in the middle for gripping and bashing. She's smaller than me so a small shield is enough to protect her whole body. Her war hammer is a long wooden shaft with an expensive steel head. Her eyes gleamed when she saw it, must have been the most expensive thing she ever used.


    The stalker didn't change, he's still watching us go. The class was a blur, as always no one has any progress with [Reduced Mana Cost].

    "Are you okay, Wolf?" Lyle asks.

    "Uh? What you mean?"

    "You are very quiet, well, quieter than usual and your expression is very neutral. Normally you seem like you are always smiling a bit, even with your eyes," Lyle looks at me concerned.

    "Seems he's ruminating on something," says Toroo.

    "Wow, didn't think you were this observing. Well, I just have a lot on my mind so I have been thinking a lot."

    "Hmpf, I'm a noble from the capital, Wolf, if I wasn't at least observant enough to know your emotions I would be considered a failure," Lyle says with his chest swelled in pride, "In any case, you can always count on my help, though I'm not sure I can help a lot."

    Lyle looks away embarrassed. Hatara looks concerned while Garanae keeps a poker face. Toroo smiles warmly. Alissa and Lina know what I'm thinking about so they keep quiet.

    "Thank you for your concern, Lyle, really. It's something that I will deal with so there's nothing to worry about, I'm just a little anxious," I smile warmly.


    When we go back home Alissa tells us she's a few blocks from our house. It's time.


    I have 91 skill points. I put my skills like this:

    Wolf RyderSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use0+6Dodge0+5Parry0+5
    Block0+8Shield Bash0+1Muscle Explosion0+1
    Battlefield Perception2+1Quiet Steps10+0Quiet Action10+0
    Sense Presence11+0Hide Presence10+0
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana0+5Mana Control0+7Mana Recovery0+0
    Mana Efficiency0+5Reduced Mana Cost0+0Mana Overuse Resistance0+2
    Electric Magic0+8Earth Magic0+2Light Magic6+4
    Nature Magic0+13Space Magic14+16Summoning Magic11+9
    Blessing Magic0+14Illusion Magic8+2Golemancy0+2
    Redirect Mana (creator)2Sense Soul (creator)2
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Andraste Language9+1Dismantling0+2Enhanced Semen Recharge0+3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)
    I feel naked without my melee and the mana enhancements skills. I have to wear a cloak over my armor and I can't carry my shield. This is so dangerous.

    "Be safe," Alissa tells me.

    "We will be right behind you," Hana assures me.

    "It will be alright," Roxanne comforts me.

    "You can do this," Ciel cheers me.

    Lina seems lost for words and merely looks at me with anxiety.

    "I'll come back," I tell her.

    Each gets a kiss. I cast [Ignorance] on myself.

    "This is a bit odd, my eye wants to look away, as if it hurts to look at you," Alissa says.

    "I can't see shit, it's like you are invisible," says Hana, the one with the lowest "Perception".

    "I can feel the mana when I'm near you, though," says Roxanne, the one with the highest [Sense Mana].

    "Even though this does wonders to hiding, it would be extremely suspicious to walk around with it, you only need one person to feel the oddity and you are screwed," I say.

    No more time to waste, I move towards her last known position.

    "Turning on" all those sneaking skills makes me feel like my body is made of lead but I can actually move normally, it just takes a lot of mental effort. I wonder if Alissa feels the same, probably not otherwise she would be mentally exhausted. Is this a limitation of the system? I see that the range of my [Sense Presence] isn't that much far, each level gives less and less range. Because I have a lot of skills I shouldn't have it's giving me some sort of diminishing returns? I should have tested this before but I didn't think such problems would exist, right now I gotta deal with it.

    Soul Info
    Name:Farana UiaraRace:HumanLevel:37
    Less than a minute after leaving I see her. The only person currently walking on this street. I can sense her presence, I turn the corner and see her walking away. Grey cloak, straw sun hat, lowered head, a hint of a thin jaw. With a bit of difficulty, I keep my eyes on her and stare long enough to use [Sense Soul].



    The level of an experienced adventurer. She's dangerous.

    I keep my distance and stalk her. Only a few people are wandering about, drunks, people about to become drunk, bored guards, late adventurers, workers closing shop. Very few people on the street as the sun has now set and it's dark. Slowly the magical street lights turn on.

    I follow her for a long time, we are crossing town and I'm not liking the direction she's going. It's the slums, the part of the town I avoided and never ever got any close.

    Slowly the crooked and mixed buildings turn less crooked but more battered and run down. The mixed architecture goes away and only simple, weak-looking wooden buildings remain. I think that this part of town would get completely destroyed on an attack so this is why the buildings look relatively the same.

    The street gets dirtier and slowly I start smelling something I never smelled on this town. Piss and shit. The brick roads get worn down and patches of dirt appear.

    I see a curious group, 4 guards protecting a duo of priests. It seems they are casting [Clean] around town but it does little amidst all this filth. None of them even spared a glance to either of us, we are both completely hidden in plain sight.

    The buildings get even worse and I start to see sick homeless sleeping around the buildings. Children and old people, cripples and the not-so-sane, drunks and drug users. Fuck me I live in the really good part of the town.

    We enter a narrow alley and my heart stops, a perfect place for a trap. I nervously follow, I can sense the people inside the houses and no one makes a move, they are mostly sleeping or eating, or possibly fucking.

    We leave the alley and I let out a breath of relief. But the place we are now is worse, there are no homeless here, it's a wide-open space.

    Farana runs. Fuck. Six bleeps come running from the alleys towards me. FUCK!

    I turn the Emergency Ring red and draw my sword. Someone cloaked appears in front of me, he's walking straight to me. I see a slight rainbow shine, he has [Rainbow Shield], [Ignorance] doesn't work as well against him.

    "You! Stop right there, if you come closer I will kill you," I warn the cloaked person.

    The man stops but the other 5 don't.

    "Same goes for your five other friends!"

    Now they stop. Wait a second, I get the weird feeling again before the party.

    "You have 10 seconds to drop your weapon and come with us, quietly, or we will force you," says the man in front of me."

    "10."

    Oh no.

    "9."

    "8."

    "7."

    It doesn't work.

    "6."

    "5"

    "4."

    IT'S NOT WORKING!

    "3."

    "2."

    "1…"

    [Gate] IS NOT WORKING!

    The 4 rush forward, 2 stay back and I sense mana gathering.

    Fuck fuck fuck fuck, I'm going to die.

    I summon 4 earth elementals, can't concentrate they are all made of dirt and stone with a head full of long black hair. The group stops for a second.

    "Protect me!" I order them.

    My head hurts, this was too much to cast on a single second. I cast [Lightning Bolt] on the man in front and follow with [Entangling Vines]. Now my head explodes in pain, overuse. Keep it together!

    The man pulls a small shield and blocks the bolt, it did nothing, but the vines tangle on of his foot and he falls once he tries to walk again. I rush towards him.

    With the help of [Telekinesis] I bury my sword on his head, it goes through mail and leather up to halfway to his skull, he's dead.

    I can't stop, I gotta move, gotta move, gotta move.

    With a bit of effort, I take my sword away and look around. 2 elementals are fighting a sword and shield duo to my right, in front, an elemental is getting hit by a huge [Earth Bullet] and it's now skidding on the ground. To my left another elemental is on the ground, cut in half vertically, a huge man with blue dragon wings is charging towards me, he has a dark two-handed flamberge, there are jagged edges at each wave.

    I'm going to die! I gotta survive this charge!

    I cast [Vine Weapon] and create a small shield. I jump sideways to dodge and use my shield to deflect the blow. The sword ignores everything and cuts my hand away.

    "AAA-..."

    My scream of pain gets interrupted, I feel "death" approaching. I use [Explosive Muscles] to move my upper body to the side, I feel a gust of wind and mana from my [Wind Armor], then a horrible pain surges on the right side of my neck. I fall on the ground and put my hand on my neck, it's wet and warm, I'm bleeding horribly, I cast the biggest [Heal] I can in a second.

    "You aren't supposed to kill him!" Yells the dragonkin.

    "HE KILLED NARIAN!" Someone screams.

    "FUCK NARIAN, WE AREN'T SUPPOSED TO KILL HIM!" Screams the dragonkin from the bottom of his lungs.

    I cast [Lightning Bolt] on the dragonkin, it doesn't work, it won't come out of my handless arm. I use the other, the bolt flies.

    "Heh," Laughs the dragonkin, the bolt arched towards the sword and disappeared.

    WHY DOESN'T IT WORK!

    I cast [Earth Bullet], it hits him square in the chest and the dragonkin flies away. A flying rock is still a flying rock, block this spell you fucker.

    "What the fuck," says someone.

    A small breather, I can survive a bit longer.

    One elemental dies, the mage got him.

    My vision is foggy, too much mana in too little time, my head is splitting open. I get up, my stump is bleeding profusely, my legs are shaky, my neck is still bleeding.

    I see a hooded archer looking at the dragonkin, who's slowly getting up. The archer looks at me with fury and draws another arrow, I feel "death" coming again.

    *Thunk*. I hear an arrow getting embedded in flesh. The archer falls on the ground with an arrow behind his head, he's dead.

    "You fuckers took too long!" Yells the dragonkin.

    Another elemental dies, one of the two swordsmen destroyed an elemental.

    "FUCK YOU FUCKING FUCKS I WILL KILL YOU, I WILL KILL YOU!" Screams Hana, I guess she's too angry to be creative.

    She lands in front of the dragonkin with a savage overhead slash. The dragonkin grunts and parries Hana.

    The mage gathers mana, it's a robed woman. She's ignoring me, the taunt worked.

    I rush her, you don't let a mage cast freely. Once she hears me it's too late, I jump on her and bury my sword on her chest, then I collapse on top of her.

    I feel mana gathering away, I hear footsteps and sounds of blades hitting shields.

    I see her yellow skin, backward-pointing horns, her hooves, and fluffy goat legs, she's a krampus demon. The mage is still alive, trying to crawl away with the sword on her chest. I draw my dagger, I bury it on her back and twist it.

    "HYAAAAAAH...!" She shrieks and squirms below me. I feel horrible, I almost puke.

    "Please... help me... I don't... wanna die," she pleads.

    I can't, it's you or me, I can't. I remove the dagger again and stab her on the back of her neck, that did it. She gargles on blood and goes limp a few seconds later.

    I look in front of me. The dragonkin has an arrow on his chest, bodkin arrows doing work, he's being hit by a [Torrent] and falls on the ground. Hana is mid-flight and ready to skewer him, her face showing pure anger, something I never saw before.

    Ciel is slashing at one of the swordsmen, he's suppressed and moving backward. The other is still fighting the elemental who's missing an arm and plenty of the dirt on its chest is missing.

    I hold my stump. It hurts too much, it's bleeding too much, my body feels cold.

    Hana falls on top of the dragonkin, her sword pierces him and gets embedded on the ground, he struggles and tries to grab the sword. Hana stomps on his neck repeatedly, I hear the bones breaking.

    Roxanne casts [Fire Whip] on the swordsman fighting Ciel, she grabs his foot and he loses his balance. Ciel stabs him in the shoulder and he drops his shield, screaming in pain. He tries to parry the next stab but lacks strength, Ciel stabs him in the heart and after a few seconds of struggling, he goes limp.

    Alissa runs as a fox behind the last swordsman, he looks deathly pale, he's desperate. He tries to run away but falls on the ground with an arrow on his thigh and screams in pain.

    "MERCY! PLEASE, I YIELD!"

    Lina comes running towards me, she has my hand with her. Her face is wet with tears. I turn off [Ignorance].

    "Get Ciel... I don't have much mana..." I mutter, my voice is hoarse, it's painful to talk.

    I'm shaking uncontrollably. I feel my legs are wet and warm, it's the blood of the mage that's pooling below me.

    I crawl away from the blood and nearly collapse. I drink an emergency MP potion.

    I hear the man scream again, Hana stepped on his other leg and crushed his knee. Alissa, Ciel, and Lina rush to me.

    Alissa casts [Clean] while I hear Ciel hurriedly chant a [Heal], Lina brings my hand and holds it on my stump.

    I feel a little bit of pleasure and almost cry, the pain on my stump fades and I regain the feeling of having a hand. For now, I can barely close my fist, tomorrow it will be much better. Ciel casts another and my neck stops hurting. Alissa and Lina hug me and cry.

    I almost died.


    I don't feel like puking, progress, but I can't feel my legs, adrenaline is one hell of a drug. It seems infinitely easier to kill monsters than humanoids, or maybe I'm just the weird one.

    I don't know how long we kept the hug. The screaming man got muffled, sometime later I hear him mutter something and then he stops talking. Slowly I regain my movement, the girls help me walk.

    The other 3 are surrounding the last man and notice me, their eyes hold nothing but coldness to the surviving man. Aoi is on Roxanne's shoulders, there's smoke coming out of her nose, I can feel through [Animal Tongue] that she's grumbling. I wobble towards them, I'm still sweating cold.

    "You okay?" Asks Roxanne.

    "I think so," I answer. I look at my hand and see it's trembling a little.

    "It's okay, it will pass," says Ciel. She holds my shoulder and rubs my back. It helps, gives me a bit of comfort.

    Lina grabs my other side, she's still silently crying.

    My breathing is erratic, I focus on controlling and slowly it turns back normal. My head is still hurting a lot.

    "Did you interrogate him?" I ask.

    "Yeah, they don't know anything significant, just hired swords," Hana answers with poison on her voice, "The stalker would come here every day and make the same routine while they wait. The stalker probably didn't even know you were following."

    "Anything about who paid them?"

    "Nothing, just shady middle-men that only go by nicknames and masks. No wonder nobody gets a lead on Darean, he must have lots of money to buy silence and lackeys."

    Being a hunter pays well in Rabanara, we are proof of that.

    "Kill him," I mutter.

    Ciel sighs and nods to Hana. She lifts her sword and the whimpering man screams in fear, it gets cut short as his head falls from his body. I'm starting to feel sick again.

    "You are now level 21."

    That was necessary. Darean shouldn't know about my chanting speed and the extent of my magical knowledge, neither should he know about how close to failure we were. If he does, next time he's going be fully ready for us.

    "Bring me the bodies," I say.

    "What? Why?" Asks Ciel.

    "Infinite space," I answer.

    "Oh! Clean all the blood you can and get all the items. Not many people should know what happened here," Alissa says.

    "Why!? Let's talk to the guards!" Ciel yells, confused.

    "It's because we collected a bounty that we are in this mess, to begin with. Let's lay low for now," says Hana.

    "Oh. I remember... Gods help us, let the wicked stay away from us, let this family be safe," Prays Ciel.

    I look at the headless man. I don't feel anger, he's just a hired sword. I feel pity, pity his life ended like this. The Gods tell us not to waste our lives, to work together for a better future, for a better chance of surviving the monsters. Yet here we are, hurting each other for money.

    "Let your next life be on a better place for this one was wasted here," I pray.

    I feel something change within me, my "Piety" increased by 2 (now 14).

    "This sword is special, this guy must have been famous," says Hana.

    The two-handed flamberge is beautiful and frightening. It's made of black metal with small monster teeth embedded into it. The metal looks glossy and it faintly sparkles in the light.

    "That's 'emellanat', a metal that absorbs magic," Lina says, "It must have come from either Mountainhome or the silver elves. There's not much metal in Rabanara and definitely none of the special kind."

    So this is why [Wind Armor] and [Vine Weapon] did nothing against it.

    "Why does it use monster teeth?" I ask.

    "It doesn't hold an edge very well. It's good against mages and magic beings but it needs something else to cut."

    "There's a guy over here with another sword like that one, it's smaller though," Alissa says.

    "This shield has that metal behind it," says Hana.

    This is how they killed my elementals so easily and why my bolts didn't work. They were prepared for me.

    "They knew I could use elementals and [Electric Magic], but they didn't know how fast I could chant. If it weren't for that I would have been kidnapped already," I say.

    Alissa grinds her teeth and the other girls look down. We underestimated them hard.

    "Why didn't you use [Gate]?" Asks Roxanne.

    "Oh yes, I couldn't, I tried but something blocked me."

    Roxanne opens her eyes wide.

    "Search the mage girl corpse, she must have a magic tool there."

    Lina rummages through the corpse without hesitation. She brings out a small disk. It's made of onyx with lots of circular silver inscriptions on it.

    "Wolf... I'm sorry, I-I forgot these things existed," Roxanne looks down, tears on the corners of her eyes.

    "What?"

    "The disk is a Gate Scrubber, it blocks [Gate] and removes any 'coordinate' someone would have put down on the area affected," she clutches her staff harder.

    "Oh, the Lords use it to protect their castles. Didn't know it could be used like this," Hana says.

    "You use it in the middle of a town and you screw over the entire transport system, this is why it's not talked much."

    "This mage girl is a runaway space mage," Lina says, bounty plate in hand.

    This is why she had it then. I grab Roxanne's shoulder.

    "It's okay. None of us would have imagined this," I say to her.

    "But, we should have, I should have warned you this could happen."

    "And the plan likely wouldn't have changed. It's okay."

    Ciel hugs her from behind.

    "We don't blame you, alright?"

    Roxanne calms down and nods.

    "So, I guess now we really don't want the guards involved?" Hana says.

    "The empire would certainly investigate and use lie detectors on all of us," Roxanne answers.

    "That's... a bit risky," I say.

    "One thing is certain. Darean is not just a normal adventurer," Roxanne adds, fear in her voice.

    We use bounty plates on the other corpses, they were kidnappers and illegal slavers. The woman likely used [Gate] on the victim and teleported it to a cell or something. They weren't branded by the gods as wicked so they wouldn't be executed but the crimes they committed spelled a long sentence as a criminal slave. Except for the mage, the empire does not fuck around.

    I store everything on my "Items".

    "Let's go home," I say.

    I cast [Gate] to our living room. We go to sleep immediately after a quick wash. I hug Alissa tight and Hana hugs me from behind. Roxanne looks undecided for a second but then she drops beside Alissa and hugs her from the front.


    Today is the 26th.

    I wake up to Hana and Roxanne kissing with my dick in the middle, their tongue would entwine and then slowly play with my member, each getting a bit of time with it. I slowly built up my pleasure until I shot it all out upwards, making it rain all over the bed. I guess that wasn't a good idea.

    "Noo, what a waste," Hana says, licking my body and the sheets where it fell.

    Not because of that, though.

    My [Mana Overuse Resistance] increased by 1 (now 0+3). Ciel leveled up to 31 and increased her [Light Magic] by 1 (now 24).

    Aside from the morning lewdness, we wake up without much energy, Roxanne more than the others. Everyone is slowly taking in the reality of the danger we were in. I have two new scars now, one on my wrist and the other on my throat. These don't have some glorious memory of it, just a reminder of the danger of overconfidence.

    I just feel so weak, both in combat and in spirit. I was so close to being kidnapped, I now know they certainly wouldn't have killed me. It seems Darean is avoiding being branded as wicked by not killing me, but he wants to do something to me, what exactly I do not know.

    "What now? You think it's safe to stay here or should we leave town?" I ask Hana.

    "I don't know, I fought the underworld a few times but I never got involved like this," she answers with a frown.

    "I think we need help," says Ciel.

    "From whom?" I ask.

    "You tried talking to the guildmaster?" She asks.

    "I asked if Silas knew something about Darean's family but he said he wouldn't tell me even if he knew."

    "Tch, after all this he isn't giving much back," Ciel frowns.

    "What about Nour?" Alissa asks.

    "He came here to train, away from his family's schemes. I doubt he could help much," I answer.

    "Silvane?" Lina asks.

    "I don't think she has that much power, she's still a Blood Slave. We also don't really have much of a connection with the Lord's son or the Lord himself. Except…"

    "Vanea," Lina finishes.

    I sigh.

    "She's dangerous, who knows what she's going to ask in return," I say.

    "But she's our only bet. From what you told us she has something against him," Ciel says.

    Alissa looks concerned.

    "I... don't wanna deal with her," Hana says.

    "Why is that?" I ask.

    "You know... nobles and schemes, this, this is why father..." Hana looks down, a lot of sadness in her eyes.

    Roxanne grabs one hand and I grab the other.

    "We don't really have much of an option, except running away," Roxanne says, caressing Hana's hair.

    Hana closes her eyes.

    "Wolfy, can you promise me that... that we will be safe?" She looks at me.

    "I can, those are my vows, to keep you all safe."

    "Dad said the same thing..." She mutters.

    Her voice shows a weakness she didn't have before. A weakness, a pain that I don't want her to feel ever again.

    "I'm sorry Hana, but you know we don't have many options. There are things we just can't run from, we have to fight," Ciel says, calming confidence in her voice.

    "We need to trust each other, not just trust Wolfy. We will deal with this, together," Alissa says, a sweet tone that gives us motivation.

    After a few seconds Hana breathes in deeply and nods, her face resolved, the weakness and pain gone from her face.

    "Should we go and meet her immediately?" I ask.

    "Vanea said she wanted you to visit, right? But did she give you a token or something?" Ciel asks.

    "No, she did not."

    "Then perhaps she meant you should visit her at the university? Visiting a Lord's daughter at her home is a privilege that shouldn't be taken lightly, even she wouldn't just give it to someone she just met."

    "Then we wait until classes are back. But should we just wait here?"

    "Perhaps... we should flaunt our strength to Darean, show that we are not scared," Alissa answers.

    "Uh, what do you mean?"

    "We could collect the bounty on those people. If Darean has more spies he would think we are confident in our power."

    "Or he might think we are overconfident and attack again."

    "I find it hard to believe he has two Gate Scrubbers. If he does we might as well assume he's funded by the royalty of the empire," Roxanne says.

    "He won't attack to kill us, he wanted to kidnap you. He will have to find another way to ambush you again, he won't be able to do that so quickly," Ciel says.

    "Well, in the end, it's a bluff, we could see if it works," says Roxanne.

    "Then what? Go waltz around town and show we are not scared?" I ask.

    "Well, we could go to a dungeon. We still need to keep earning money, my potions won't sustain us all forever. Especially because someone has some curious spending habits," says Roxanne.

    I squirm and look away, the gazes are too much right now.

    "Oh, let's go to the Spiral Springs again. We can put a portal on the Moon Turtles floor and get more moss whenever we need," she says excitedly, but then she cringes, "Though we have to go through the Ant Hill again."

    No pleasant memories there.

    "We could throw off any pursuers by teleporting back home, this could also serve as a trial for how much mana it's going to cost to teleport us far away," I say.

    "I don't think he's going to pursue us for some time, but yes, I think we should go to the Spiral Springs," Alisa says.

    "There's also something I wanna get on the Roulette of the Morning Dew."
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2019
  6. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    We just buy simple food and ingredients from the current open shops and leave, there's not much else to do. We gave our goodbyes to the griffin spirit in our backyard and it chirped sadly.

    Lina is very depressed, going from losing her master to falling for me and then nearly losing me must be getting to her. I spend the trip hugging her and kissing her neck and hands.

    "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be making you worry about me like this," she says.

    "I'm the one who should be sorry, I got overconfident."

    "You are both sorry and that's it," Alissa interjects, I think she's getting jealous right now.

    I gotta give them all attention, we are all needy after facing terror.

    When the road looks clear we land behind a tree and I mark it as a "coordinate" for [Gate].

    We reach the Ant Hill pretty fast and in much more comfort than last time.

    I put my skills like this:

    Wolf RyderSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use9+6Dodge5+5Parry5+5
    Block2+8Shield Bash0+1Muscle Explosion0+1
    Battlefield Perception2+1
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana2+5Mana Control0+7Mana Recovery7+0
    Mana Efficiency2+5Reduced Mana Cost7+0Mana Overuse Resistance0+3
    Electric Magic7+8Earth Magic0+2Light Magic6+4
    Nature Magic7+13Space Magic14+16Summoning Magic11+9
    Blessing Magic0+14Illusion Magic0+2Golemancy0+2
    Redirect Mana (creator)3Sense Soul (creator)2
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Andraste Language9+1Dismantling0+2Enhanced Semen Recharge0+3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)
    I feel safer when my skills are properly distributed again.



    Everyone except Lina puts a Ring of the Servant, it's a ring that blocks experience gain and gives it all to the one without a ring. It's used by nobles for training but we will use it to power"level Lina, she's currently the weakest and can't properly fight beside us.

    I summon a spirit elemental, a light elemental and a fire elemental. The spirit elemental is invisible if you don't have [Spirit Magic], you can only sense the mana if you get too close. It's good for scouting, we will tell it to keep behind us a good distance away and warn if there's anyone following us. The light elemental is a shining outline of a curvy woman, it will give us light and it has a positive mental effect on all of us, something we are in need. The fire elemental will walk in front burning all webs.

    "Why are they all women?" Asks Ciel while frowning towards my light elemental.

    "Don't you see any similarities?" Asks Alissa.

    "To whom?" Ciel frowns harder.

    "Well, you?"

    Ciel takes a few seconds, then she opens her eyes wide and blushes a bit.

    "Now that we are talking about it, why are my elementals women? They come like this when I don't put any effort into changing them."

    "T-the elementals search the heart of the master for something to copy. They look for someone they... hold deep in their heart," Ciel says bashfully.

    I smile and kiss her lightly. Lina looks at me with expectancy, I summon a small earth elemental and she covers her face with her hands.

    "Hahahah, well, it's not that different from you, it's you know, flat," Roxanne says and pulls her tongue.

    Lina groans and Alissa pats her back. Ciel is glaring at Roxanne who hides behind Hana.

    I go to Lina and grab her hand.

    "Remember, flat is justice," Then I kiss her.



    The trip is rather calm. The Giant Tarantulas are no match for any of our group. My shield hand still hurts so I hang back.

    We reach the Arachne territory and Alissa tenses up. I put all our extra points into [Mental Resistance].

    "I hate this smell. I know it's not poison but it messes up with my smelling ability, again I won't be able to tell if we get poisoned," Alissa says, frowning.

    "Ciel, use [Diagnosis] on us every 10 or so minutes," I say.

    She nods.

    Aoi seems quite content, I thought she would be more afraid but she's very comfortable on Roxanne's shoulders. She even dared walk beside us until she got tired. She tried to fire a fireball into a spider but the spider was too agile to hit, but it's good to know she can give a small help in a pinch.

    "There's something... odd," Alissa frowns.

    "Oh, what is it?"

    "Well, I'm feeling some 'flashes' with [Sense Presence], as if pieces of souls are moving near us."

    "Hm... you are poisoned, it's a weak confusion," Ciel says.

    "Well then, it's another mind poison, right?" I grin.

    "Yeah, it's not affecting her body, only her mind," Ciel lifts an eyebrow.

    Roxanne smiles, she grabs Hana and they both kiss deeply. Alissa flinches and smiles, she remembers.

    A mere kiss won't do, to break any mind poison I have to pour my feelings into it.

    I grab Alissa by the waist and pull her. I kiss her and pour my love, my trust, my happiness for having her always beside me. I grab the back of her head and comb my fingers through her silky hair.

    When we break Ciel and Lina are lightly blushing and staring blankly.

    "Mind poison can be broken by the passion of love!" I spread my arms wide and pull Ciel.

    I do the same for her, I feel the squishiness of her body through her armor and remember all her delicious spots, her tight hug, her kind eyes, her sweet voice. I feel calm in her arms.

    I break the kiss and grab a fidgeting Lina and kiss her too. Her cute demeanor, her endless curiosity, her dedication to me, her innocent soul. All I want is to hug her and keep her safe.

    Once I finish I notice Roxanne is still kissing Hana. Roxanne is desperately trying to undo her armor, her robe is already on the ground.

    "Uh, Roxanne...?" I ask.

    "W-what?" She asks and immediately goes back to kissing.

    "What are you doing? Now is not the time."

    I grab her and pull her away. Hana sends me puppy eyes wanting more and Roxanne glares at me.

    "You okay?" I ask.

    She turns her head away and starts fidgeting.

    "Well she, uh, is still poisoned, it's medium arousal," Ciel says.

    "What? No, can't it be just normal arousal? Does it means I'm poisoned?" Roxanne says, discreetly rubbing her legs on each other.

    "Well, sorry Roxanne," I say.

    A shining hand touches Roxanne's shoulder and she stops fidgeting, her anxious face turns into one of displeasure.

    "Noo, this feels so frustrating," she drops down her head.

    "Well, having an orgy in the middle of the Arachne territory isn-..."

    I get interrupted by an unpleasant feeling. I draw my sword.

    "The spirit elemental is dead, something is coming."

    Everyone gets ready for combat immediately, Roxanne lets out a long sigh.

    I stare at the tunnel and wait for it to come. I hear nothing.

    I hear my breath, it's slowly becoming heavier in anticipation. Adrenaline runs through my body. I feel my muscles creak as I hold my sword harder. The tension brings fatigue, my body is still weary.

    It's tiring to keep my head up, I will just look with the corner of my eyes. My posture is hurting my back, I will just hunch a little, it will be easier to stay like this. I look down, my head is too heavy to keep up, I gotta save energy. I feel sleepy.

    A shining hand touches my shoulder and I feel the pleasant sensation of mana coursing through my body.

    I look up and see Hana defending a strike from an Arachne. It's a giant spider with the upper body of a woman on its head, on a normal posture it's around 2 meters tall, this one is bigger, nearly 3 meters. This one's spider body is black while the human body is sickly white and full of blue veins with disheveled black hair.

    Holy shit I think this was a spell similar to [Illusion Magic]'s level 15 spell [Pacify], how terrifying that I never felt it coming.

    Alissa hits two arrows on the Arachne's human chest. Ciel keeps in front of me while I recover my senses. Lina is beside Hana, she crushed a spider leg. Hana is countering a blow from a very pointy spider leg, she opens a long cut on the Arachne's body. Roxanne is gathering mana and besides her Aoi is staring at me, I feel her worry.

    I feel the Arachne gathering mana. I charge a bit and release [Lightning Bolt] at the same time the fire elemental and Roxanne lets out [Fireball]. The Arachne stops and convulses for a moment, it gets hit square in the exposed and well-endowed chest. Both breasts explode, opening a large wound.

    "HIREEEEE!"

    The Arachne recoils in pain and covers her eyes from the explosion. Hana takes the opportunity and charges with her wings, she decapitates the Arachne, which falls limp on the floor. That's how a sword fight goes, you look away from a second and you say goodbye to having a head on your shoulders.

    Lina falls down on the ground and starts crying.

    "Masteer! Don't leave me~!"

    "Awn, she just fell for an illusion too. It seems to be a strong nightmare," Ciel says.

    A shining woman hugs Lina from behind and she slowly stops crying. Her eyes regain focus and she looks at us confused.

    "What? You are back! Wait, where's the Arachne?" She asks, her eyes blinking repeatedly.

    "It's dead, she cast an illusion on you just before she died," I say, rubbing her hand.

    "Oh... that's good... what I saw was..." She looks with a pained face, tears still on the corner of her eyes.

    I interrupt her and give her a kiss. She stiffens and I give a few more all over her face until she giggles.

    After she recovers her composure the light elemental releases her and we move on. I summon another spirit elemental.

    "So, I think that one was really powerful, well magically, not physically. It didn't expect us to all have resistance, otherwise it wouldn't have attacked," Ciel says.

    "Yeah, I was a bit surprised that me, Lina, and Roxanne had the worst with these illusions and poisons," I say.

    "You three have the lowest 'Sanity', that makes you all more vulnerable," Ciel says.

    Roxanne sighs again. She must still be feeling frustrated.



    We don't have another encounter with an Arachne, it seems our party size makes them wary of us and the last one who we met severely underestimated us.

    With the elemental we are ahead of schedule, we reach the mole territory and have lunch. Sandwiches and some hot tea do just fine here, you don't want to spend a long time eating on these dusty and oppressive brown tunnels, it is seriously depressing and sours the mood of the meal.

    After lunch, Alissa goes to work. With her warbow, she just one-shots every mole, their thick skulls are now useless to the penetrating power of an enchanted bow.

    Not long and we reach the springs.

    "Ah! How I have not missed this stuffy and moist atmosphere," Roxanne jokes, taking a deep breath.

    "If it weren't for the little devils around here I think it could be a bit comfy," I say.

    It's not so stuffy, at least not for the almost hermit me.

    The girls frown at me, except Lina who grabs my hand and nods with happiness. Aoi seems displeased at the wetness of the ground and decides to stop walking beside us.

    I dismiss the fire elemental and bring a lead earth elemental. He will strut in front of us, stepping on all traps and simply ignoring everything. Aoi loved the elemental and decides to nest on top of its flat and hairy head.

    When we reach the stairs Hana grabs me like a princess and we jump down. With her wings, she slows the fall and we safely touch the ground. Then I open a [Gate] for the other girls and the elemental struts through the stairs. A vine trap grabs its leg and then snaps while the elemental continues as if nothing happened.

    I drink an average MP potion so I can use [Gate] more times.



    Floor 2. 1 Stalker, dispatched by Alissa.



    Floor 3. Multiple bear traps latch on the elemental, they just scratch his feet before being crushed and falling off.



    Floor 4. 1 Stalker appears and Roxanne wants to try something.

    She gathers mana, she stretches her hand forward and points her staff. She makes gestures with her hand as if she's trying to crush something. She's not chanting.

    With a crackling noise, a small ice stake grows out of nothing. I feel Roxanne's mana is coursing a few centimeters outside her body, this is not normal. Roxanne relaxes and the stake flies towards the stalker, I hear a thud in the distance.

    "Nice aim and you didn't even chant," I say.

    "Thanks. Yeah, I understand now how the system works, how that 'itch' you explained can be 'scratched'. I never felt it before you put the points for me, I still feel the urge to chant but if I hold it in I can cast it without chanting and I still have control over it. [Ice Lance] is very mana intensive but with some effort this time it cost me 3/4th of the normal," Roxanne says, she seems very proud of herself.

    "This 'itch' might be the reason I can 'expand' my soul, see if you can move whatever is inside you like you moved a muscle or a finger to try and 'scratch' that 'itch'. But try to do it when you are lacking mana otherwise it doesn't work properly. Maybe you can learn [Redirect Mana]."

    "I see, I will try it," Roxanne says with a happy nod.

    "I also felt your mana coursing outside your body, is this an enchantment?"

    "My robe has a [Mana Control] enchantment that improves it a bit."

    Lina's Trivia: mana boosting enchantments flow better on loose clothing than on metals or stiff leather, other enchantments work the opposite. Mana has to flow and harmonize, loose clothing allows the robes to flow where they are needed and aid mana flow. Chanting works similarly, it harmonizes the mana inside us and prevents it from running wild. The other enchantments have to control mana in a very specific way to form the spell required, which is why gems are more useful than metals, their crystalline structure guarantees a specific behavior.



    Floor 5. The puddles of water are bubbling and releasing noxious fumes. I put [Poison Resistance] on everybody and we just stroll through. With Ciel and Roxanne's potions, it would be quite simple even without the Resistance. Only certain puddles aren't bubbling so I guess we would need to go around these if we wanted to not get poisoned. Thanks, skill system, it's basically cheating.



    Floor 6. A stalker is following us from too far, can't really get an angle for a shot. I summon a german shepherd dog and sic him on the stalker. After a minute or so I hear a death scream. The doggy latched on the neck of the Spriggan and snapped it. I tell him to pant and wag his tail and everyone gives him a pat.

    The lead elemental steps on a crumbling floor and gets stuck on the floor. He manages to look adorable as his huge leg dangles from the stairs.



    Floor 7. We enter a suspicious corridor.

    "Go past the corridor and torment any monster on the other side," I tell the spirit elemental.

    It goes through the wall and I get glimpses of mechanisms as I share my vision with it. Yep, it's that godsdamned trap again.

    "I could go ahead and kill whatever is in the other end, this corridor is nothing for my flight," says Hana.

    "There are other traps in this corridor, better not risk it. If anything happens I will use [Gate] to send us back here, understood?"

    Hana shrugs.

    A few seconds later we hear a painful scream. I share my vision and see the spirit is hurting the soul of a Spriggan.

    "Hihihih," Roxanne giggles evilly. She coughs and recomposes herself.

    With Alissa in front, we dodge all traps. On the other side, the Spriggan is rolling on the floor screaming in pain, these monsters are completely vulnerable to magic.

    "You know what. Hana, can you tie him up?"

    "Oh, I see. Lemme try something," she grins.

    Hana first ties his hands and legs then she gets a very long rope and makes some very odd patterns with it. Once she's done it looks like the Spriggan is using a harness made of rope, it leaves him with very little mobility.

    "Hana... Where did you learn this?" I ask.

    "That's uh... a book my mom had, there were some very interesting... illustrations," she looks away."

    Me, Ciel, and Alissa massage our eyes while Lina looks confused and Roxanne shivers.

    The lead elemental carries the tied up monsters as it struggles to break free. I can hear it cry, though I'm not sure if it's from the pain or humiliation.



    Floor 8. Alissa noticed the Spriggans come near every once in a while just to run away soon after. It seems they got the message and know what will happen if they get close, capturing a Spriggan was the best idea I ever had.



    Floor 9. The Spriggan stopped crying but it's now fidgeting weirdly.



    Floor 10. The floor is filled with traps, now that the elemental is carrying the prisoner we use random rocks we had collected to set off the traps. Instead of blowing they cast a spell, either a water blade or an earth spike attacks whoever steps on it. We waste a lot of time on this floor.



    Floor 11. It's the floor full of vines. We keep the lead elemental in front but it gets slowed down by the number of vines, though it made things easier for us.



    Floor 12. I just can't ignore the way the Spriggan is acting.

    "By the Gods don't tell me he's... aroused?"I ask.

    "T-this pattern the rope is supposed to... rub the crotch, ass, and nipples..." Hana says, she fidgets and looks away.

    "Put it on the ground," I order the elemental.

    I cut one of the ropes that's limiting its movement the most.

    "Let's go," I say.

    Nobody says anything.



    Floor 13. There's heavy mist on this floor. We tie a rope to all of us and walk slowly.

    "Wolf, put all my points into [Wind Magic], at level 20 I can use [Wind Storm], it should clear the mist if I put some effort into it, though I won't be able to attack."

    "Good idea. In case we get attacked release the rope connecting us and surround Ciel and Roxanne."

    We slowly walk through the floor but nothing happens. When we reach the stairs they turn into a slide and gush water like last time. The elemental slips and slides down, he crashes into the spear trap at the ground and crushes them all.

    I touch the elemental and send a bit of mana, with this all the scratches and light penetrations get cleaned up.

    "Boy, am I glad you have [Gate]," says Hana.

    "It's almost a cheat," I say.

    "Well, it is," Ciel says.

    I shrug.



    Floor 14. The mist continues, it gets even heavier, I can barely see a meter in front of me.

    "This is bad," I say.

    "It is. Eight are coming, we are surrounded!" Alissa yells.

    The girls huddle up on the elemental. Ciel starts gathering mana.

    "You know what, Hana, spread your fire around us," I say.

    She inhales, "FOO~M!" The fire spreads. I hear screams of pain.

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    A strong wind makes it difficult to stand, at least we aren't being cut up to pieces like [Wind Storm] is supposed to work. The mist clears up around us and we see 4 Spriggans on fire and rolling on the ground in pain. The other 4 are frozen, watching their allies burn to death.

    "You guys seriously don't remember me?" I ask.

    One of the Spriggans runs away.

    "I will use your bark to smoke my meat!" Hana taunts.

    The 3 remaining Spriggrans charge and scream.

    "YAAAH!"

    "HYAA!"

    "HIII!"

    Hana drops her shield and does an overhead strike on the first one. The second one blocks a small [Fireball] and gets bashed by Ciel, once he falls he gets his throat pierced by her glaive. The last one gets an arrow on the leg and his head stepped on by the elemental.

    "Huh, I think I understand too how that 'itch' works," Ciel says.

    Aoi wakes up and smells the air. She gets down from the elemental and walks through the embers as if they were nothing, then she stops in front of one of the burned Spriggans and starts to eat his stomach.

    I turn around and wait until I hear a burp, Aoi comes running back to the elemental and returns to sleep on its head.

    "We have been giving her lots of raw meat but I guess a dragon would prefer barbecue," Hana says.

    "Her fire breath is getting more stable perhaps soon she should be able to roast her own meat," Ciel says with a smile.

    Alissa rubs my shoulder.



    Floor 15. We reached our target.

    Roxanne drops down on all fours, her staff clacks as it falls on the ground.

    There's no Moonlight Moss here.

    "There, there. With the [Gate] we can check here every few days and see if there's any more," I say, tapping Roxanne's shoulders.

    "Yeah, don't worry, we still got enough of the elixir for a while," Hana says, tapping the other shoulder.

    Roxanne groans and gets a kiss on the cheek from each of us, this makes her giggle.



    It is 9 PM. We make camp in a small, empty room and set up our bath. As soon as we enter Roxanne pounces on me. Hana gets jealous and turns Roxanne around, she rubs Roxanne's mouth on her pussy while I do her from behind. Alissa starts masturbating like always. Lina stares, trying to absorb every detail until Hana looks at her with hungry eyes and she blushes. Ciel looks down, trying to ignore Roxanne screams, Aoi is on her arms and both are pouting, feeling lonely.

    After that, we relax around the cooking magic tool. Alissa starts cooking a blue soup, we found a blue-grey moss that can be used as a seasoning, it reminds me of annatto, nostalgic. Hana is taking care of a spit roast of large slabs of wyvern meat while Aoi watches it spin, completely entranced. Ciel is cutting some vegetables. Lina is huddled next to me, reading a book. Roxanne is studying some moss with Ted and Suzy at her lap. I'm studying andraste.

    "What are you doing Roxanne?" I ask.

    "Well, I'm trying to look for the specific signature of the mana in the moss. There's always a mix of a few signatures and the mark of a good potion maker is how well he can separate those signatures," she shows me a small lens with a few black inscriptions.

    Lina stops reading and starts listening.

    "What are these signatures?"

    Roxanne smiles wildly.

    "Plenty of substances like say, meat, have a lot of mana signatures, this huge amount of signatures makes the potion have unknown interactions. You could be making a healing potion that ends up poisoning the person in the long run. Or it could have adverse effects like nausea, confusion, loss of mana control. Or like my Moonlight Moss MP potion, it paralyzes you."

    "I have been looking at the moss of this dungeon and it's incredibly similar to the Moonlight Moss. Unfortunately, it's not corrosive, it's this corrosion that makes it useful for MP potions. It bonds with silver and corrodes most signatures on common mana crystals, allowing it to refine MP potions to much better levels. The byproduct of this corrosion, unfortunately, is what causes the paralysis."

    Lina's trivia: Every atom can "absorb" mana, so when casting a spell you can "gather" this mana on the environment to aid you during chanting. Having a mana charged object close to you can affect your casting, positively or negatively. Crystals have predictable behavior, making it beneficial when they are close. Since mana has a "signature", you can use a crystal to make it easier to convert mana into the type you require, like a filter for mana.

    "So we are drinking minerals on those potions? What happens to the silver?"

    "Silver and gold are the metals that mana flows through the easiest, this is why enchanting lines are done with them, on potions they are used to make the mana flow easier from the crystals to the body. Because of how quickly a potion is absorbed, the solids end up being destroyed when the mana is taken from it or from when the mana passes through them, so the potions we drink should end up completely disappearing when inside our bodies."

    "How do you know a mana signature is harmful?"

    "There's a large encyclopedia detailing every signature," With a *poof* he pulls out a large, thick book, "If you ever find a new one you can publish it and the empire might make you rich with the reward for that."

    Unsurprisingly, potions are rather complicated and not that different from real medicine.



    I pull out a large tent. This one has a flap that we can raise to cover the table and the inside fits beds for everyone.

    "Come over here my brown angel," I say, pulling Ciel to cuddle with me.

    "What was that, old man? What a horrible flirt. Do people of Earth flirt like this?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

    "N-no. I really am bad at flirting, I'm much better at cuddling and kissing.

    "I don't really have anyone to compare to, but I will take your word for it," she smirks.

    "There's the other girls…"

    "They do not count, their opinions are biased."

    "If they don't count then who would? I only ever kissed the ones I loved."

    "Well…"

    She thinks and when she's about to talk I strike and kiss her. I run my hand through her body and lay her down on the bed. I undo her sash and squeeze the two bags filled with the dreams of men.

    She turns her face away and frowns.

    "What's wrong?" I ask.

    "Well, I just didn't think we would have an audience for this…"

    Everyone is just staring at us. Lina is the one staring the most intently.

    "Well, that's... how things are going to be, kinda. Can you try to ignore them? Look at me, don't take your eyes off me."

    I grab her face and turn her to me. I kiss her repeatedly, this mellows her out a bit.

    I undress her and kiss her body, slowly making my way down. I pay extra attention to those big, delicious nipples. When I get to the promised land I thank for the meal and dig in.

    She tries to keep composed but she eventually grabs my head and forces it in. I play with her clit, I love to nibble on it, and she seems to love it too. I give it a lot of attention and make use of my free hand to give attention to the other parts that need it.

    She closes her legs and holds my head in place, she has such strength in those thighs it's starting to hurt.

    I slow down and she releases me. She has her eyes closed.

    "Look at me."

    Slowly she opens her eyes and I penetrate her at the same time.

    The world fades away as we get entranced on each other, syncing our rhythm. We only hear our breaths, moans and the wet sounds we make.

    I feel her tighten and her face turns into ecstasy. I relax my control and slowly I feel it coming. When I'm about to finish she takes it off and pulls Alissa to me.

    Alissa starts sucking me without any hesitation and I finish on her mouth. I look at Ciel, my eyebrows raised in surprise.

    "Well... better this than making a mess," she smiles with embarrassment.

    Alissa goes back and spits it out on Hana's mouth, then Hana grabs Roxanne and they both kiss. Roxanne punches her arm, embarrassed, but only a little. Ciel sighs and shakes her head.

    Seeing them both kissing makes me get up again. This time I grab Alissa and immediately penetrate her. You don't even have to ask, it seems she's wet all the time.

    With Alissa I go slow, I don't have much stamina anymore, I just hug her and she digs her nails on my back. I play with one of her ears and one of her nipples.

    Her cute soft moans ring on my ears like music. Every thrust her nails dig harder on me.

    "I bet she likes hurting you," Ciel says.

    "N-n-no! T-that's not..." Alissa stutters.

    Ciel laughs. I don't let Alissa talk and thrust her again.

    My strength is leaving me so I squeeze her legs together and stop holding it in. When I'm about to finish I take it out and Lina appears this time to drink it all. She swallows immediately and then licks all over to clean my shaft.

    I drop to the side and almost immediately fall asleep. I feel softness and warmth getting closer before my conscience fades away.



    Today is the 26th.

    I feel an incredible tightness. It gives me an immense burst of pleasure in a rhythmic way. Slowly I open my eyes and see Lina on top of me with Alissa helping her move her hips up and down. Just as I understand what's happening I cum.

    "Awn..." Lina looks dejected.

    "Almost. But don't worry, I'm sure you will do well next time," Alissa pats her head and gives a warm smile.

    "Don't get up yet. Just give me a minute," I say.

    I fully wake up this time and slowly I feel it getting up while inside her. She's so tight.

    Now that it's completely lubed it's much easier to move. I grab Lina's hips and thrust savagely. She meows loudly.

    I have a problem with Lina, I can't last long without the "Sex Maniac" skills. The perfectly lubed tightness just makes it feel so good, so stimulating. I cum inside her again and it overflows. I barely woke up and I already feel drained.

    "Noo. Don't waste it," Hana cries.

    She takes Lina off me and cleans me. Then she pushes Lina down and cleans her insides too.

    Lina shivers but doesn't move, her legs lose strength and she moans one last time.

    I see an evil smile on Roxanne's face. I snap out of my stunned state.

    "Hana! You should ask before you do such things!" I chastise her.

    "Oh... uhm, I'm sorry little Lina. I-I did something bad to you..." Hana looks down with puppy eyes.

    "It's... okay..." She mutters and nods.

    Lina seems fine but she doesn't express herself a lot. I'm a bit worried about her, gotta have Ciel influence her to the right path.

    I increased [Space Magic] and [Summoning Magic] by 1 (now 14+17 and 11+10). I also increased [Enhanced Semen Recharge] again (now 0+4). Boy, whoever thought that satisfying 5 women was easy was wrong, very, very wrong.



    "Ciel, can I bring out the spirit of a dead person through its body?" I ask.

    She stares at me for a moment.

    "Yes. You can use [Soul Search] for that, with [Spirit Eyes] and [Spirit Link] you can talk with it privately. With [Materialization] you can even have it talk with other people. I just gotta tell you to never use [Soul Touch] to harm a spirit, that is almost a Sin and the Gods will quickly hate you if you do that," she says with concern on her voice.

    "Well, I'm counting on your help so you keep me from doing anything stupid."

    Ciel shrugs.

    "Don't have to ask."

    We all move away from camp. I sigh, I'm not eager to do this. Alissa gives me a kiss on the cheek and it gives me a small boost in motivation.

    I put 30 points into [Spirit Magic] and pull out the dragonkin corpse, he's only wearing underwear. Seeing him gives me chills.

    I cast [Soul Search]. My hands glow and I touch the corpse, the cold skin makes me feel disgusted.

    I feel like I grew another arm, except this arm is inside the dragonkin. I move this new arm and feel everything is empty.

    "How long does a soul linger on a body?" I ask.

    "Not long, but since you put his body on 'Items' it should still have a connection," Ciel says.

    "Where should this connection be?"

    "I don't know."

    I search all over his chest, then I move up his neck and feel something solid at his brain. I grab it, instinct tells me to pull so I obey.

    I feel my new arm move outside of the body, though I can't see anything. I cast [Materialize].

    An ethereal arm protrudes out of my body. On its hand is a cloth-like protrusion that connects with a floating and ethereal body of the dragonkin. His hair is purple and his scales are the color of Lapis Lazuli. His neck is crooked and there's a cut that goes through his chest, allowing you to see through it.

    "Whaaat!" He grabs his crooked neck with one hand and his wound with another. His eyes open wide, "Oh shit, I'm dead. You! You killed me. Wait no…"

    The ghost points to Hana.

    "You killed me. Fuck! What's going on, why are you calling me…"

    He looks at the cavern and his expression turns into fear.

    "Oi, oi. Y-you shouldn't mess with a spirit, the Gods will be mad, I wanna leave, please let me leave."

    I drag myself out of my stunned state.

    "Quiet!" I yell.

    The dragonkin winces.

    "I wanna know about your employer, any information about him. Any, little, detail," I say, threateningly.

    "You can torture me and get yourself branded as wicked, I don't care. I won't betray the others, they could even go for a necromancer and bring my spirit back, you know," he turns his head away and huffs.

    "I know you are not wicked so you won't go to hell, but you should know this person here is blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge," Ciel taps my shoulder. The dragonkin looks at me with curiosity, "If you help him I'm sure the Gods could reward you with a little bit of time in paradise."

    I never asked Ciel, but apparently hell and heaven are a thing here too.

    The dragonkin forgets he doesn't need to breathe and starts breathing heavier in anticipation.

    "Hm... burn my corpse right now and I will help."

    Through [Soul Search] I feel he's not lying. I look at Ciel, she nods.

    "Roxanne, that's you," I say.

    I pull away from him, making sure to maintain my [Soul Search]. If I release him and he doesn't have a body to return to, he will immediately disappear, forever.

    Roxanne concentrates and creates a very small [Firestorm] that consumes his body entirely. When it's over there's only a small pile of ashes and the smell of pork in the air.

    "There, now complete your side of the deal," I say.

    "Well then. I have some info but truth be told we don't know much about our employers. We only accept masked payers and they know where to find us, they only come by reference so this way we keep away from their business and they pay us extra," he scratches the back of his head, "The only info I have is on the girl we had to watch. She came every day at the same time and did the same things, I kinda started to watch her closely, you know, that cute little ass shakes so well I almost screwed the job just to get closer to her…"

    He coughs. Oh boy, here we go.

    "She's small but she's not a dwarf. One day her hat flew and I got a good look at her, I burned her in my memory, she's just so cute. She has some traces that remind me of the elves, her chin is thin, her lips are small and red, her face is very pale and freckled, her brown hair is always braided and curled inside her hat. She doesn't have any breasts but her ass is big and her hips are wide, by the Gods I wanna put my dick in that ass."

    I massage the bridge of my nose and struggle to keep [Soul Search]. He's a dragonkin alright...

    "The only time I got near her I had a sniff of her perfume, it's a citrus fruit, what do you call it... Ranja, I think it was from the High Forest."

    Alissa opens her eyes wide.

    "Yes! That's the smell I felt, I couldn't remember where I knew it from but now I'm sure. It's very, very faint, I think it's just a residue from her hair products. How did you smell her? I have a very good nose but I had to get close to her to feel that smell."

    The dragonkin looks embarrassed.

    "Well, I... I have a good memory for smells, every pussy smells different, you know?"

    Ciel groans. He looks at the girls then smiles at me.

    "You should know, right?" He asks.

    "Is that all you have?" I ask.

    "Yes. We di-..."

    I release him.

    "That could be helpful in finding her. But we won't be able to do it alone. Not when she seems to move in the slums with ease. She also has someone cast [Illusion Magic] on her, she has help," I say.

    "Yeah. Just another reason talking to Vanea will be helpful," Alissa says, shuddering when she mentions that woman, "Ah. Since his connection lasted this long then perhaps the body of the woman space mage should be valuable. The empire could interrogate her soul."

    "Another bargaining chip for Vanaea?" I ask.

    "Could be," Ciel answers.



    There's nothing else to do here so I prepare for [Gate]. The girls put on bags all the personal items they are carrying on their [Item Boxes]. I keep their armor and weapons just in case. I dismiss the elementals and I divide all my points into [Space Magic] and [Mana Efficiency], [Reduced Mana Cost] only helps on the first cast so efficiency is the way to go.

    "Alright, first Hana and Ciel, then Roxanne, Aoi and Lina, then me and Alissa."

    After it's done it took 2/3rds of my mana. If we want to go to the High Forest and be able to come back I'm going to have to keep increasing my mana, a lot.

    I pull the dinghy out and we go back to the Roulette of the Morning Dew.

    We reach the entrance before noon. I feel a chill remembering the 7th floor, thankfully we don't have to enter it. The floors we can go are shared with Lina so we all enter the 8th floor.

    The theme of this floor is mountaintop towns. There are 5 mountains connected in an 8 pattern, we are at a bridge connecting the two southernmost towns. Below us is only an ominous mist.

    The brick bridge is overgrown and falling apart, there are plenty of holes around we have to move around. It's 20 meters wide and full destroyed carts, wagons, blockades, and skeletons, both civilian and those with ruined purple lamellar armor.

    "C-can we please move fast? T-these holes are giving me chills," Lina says, grabbing my arm.

    "Are you afraid of heights?" I ask.

    "I don't think there's a dwarf who isn't," Alissa says, patting Lina's head.

    We move with me holding one of Lina's hands and Alissa the other. If we were older we would look like a married couple walking our child. I kiss Lina's hand and she stops trembling.

    "I'm starting to get a bit jealous," Roxanne says with a smirk.

    Hana grabs her hand and kisses it, Roxanne giggles.

    "You guys would flirt in the middle of a battlefield," Ciel says, massaging her eyes.

    "Gotta keep the tension down somehow," Alissa shrugs.



    We move a few minutes west when Alissa looks north and narrows her eyes.

    "Harpies."

    I think I see black dots coming from the central mountaintop. I summon a wind elemental, Hana takes out her bow and spear.

    We reach halfway to our target when Alissa stops us.

    "They are coming towards us, no mistake."

    "Fire when in range. If we see a Needler then Hana, Lina, and I will stay in front. The rest focus on ranged attacks."

    Harpies are human-looking women with hawk legs and wings instead of arms. They predate upon smaller humanoids and attack in groups. The standard harpy only attacks by diving and gouging meat with her claws, the Needler variant can summon feathers that act as projectiles, if they hit and get embedded in flesh, they limit movement and disrupt mana flow, monster acupuncture.

    Alissa lets out the first arrow. The harpy tried to dodge but it got hit in the wing, with trouble flying she falls down into the mist.

    Hana fires but her arrow is dodged.

    Roxanne fires a [Fire Arrow], it brushes the wing and starts a small fire, the harpy struggles to put it out.

    Alissa fires again. 2 down 11 to go.

    Ciel fires a [Wind Blade]. Three harpies have to stop to contain the blade.

    Alissa fires another arrow and kills one of the harpies that had stopped. 10 to go.

    Hana fires an arrow. It grazes the flank of a harpy, it shrieks in pain.

    The wind elemental waves its hand at a harpy, it starts to struggle to move. I cast [Gravity Crush] on it. Now the harpy is basically locked in place, it shrieks as its bones creak and crack. An arrow ends the shriek and I stop the spell. 9 to go.

    [Gravity Crush] is useful but due to the nature of acting directly on another living being's body, it's rather mana intensive.

    Hana fires a last arrow and hits the gut of a harpy. It shrieks and has trouble moving, Alissa finishes it off with an arrow on the throat. 8 to go.

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    3 Harpies get nearly cut to shreds inside of it. They survive but they won't be much help on the battle.

    One wounded harpy gets a [Fire Arrow] to the face and dies. 7 to go, 2 are wounded.

    The harpies are close. Hana drops her bow and grabs her shield and spear.

    "[Ice Lance]!"

    A harpy gets a large hole on its chest and coughs blood, slowly it falls towards the mist. 6 to go, 2 wounded.

    A harpy gets an arrow to the face. 5 to go, 2 wounded.

    Another harpy gets caught by my elemental, another [Gravity Crush] and it receives a [Wind Blade] to the face. 4 to go, 2 wounded.

    A harpy tries to dive on Hana, she blocks the claws and tries to riposte. The harpy contorts its body and avoids the spear, receiving only a slight cut on the flank.

    A harpy tries to dive on Lina, I feel the mana coursing through her body and she defends against the claws as if it were nothing. On her riposte, she swings her hammer wildly and it catches a retreating claw, which gets shattered. The harpy shrieks.

    An arrow kills a wounded harpy. 3 to go, 1 wounded.

    Aoi fires a fireball at the harpy that tried to hit Hana. One wing gets singed and the harpy gets distracted, receiving a small [Wind Blade] to the chest, it struggles to recover. 3 to go, 2 wounded.

    "Needlers!" Alissa yells.

    I look into the distance and see 3 harpies are approaching fast. They have small feathers floating around it.

    I cast [Lightning Bolt] on a harpy. It struggles to maintain flight and gets a [Fire Arrow] on the wing. It flails about trying to put it out. 3 to go, all wounded, 3 Needlers.

    "Incoming!" Hana yells.

    I feel a hint of mana on the distance. I pull my shield up and Alissa hides behind me.

    Multiple clinks of something solid hitting metal can be heard. I feel a few hit my legs that aren't fully covered but the scale armor holds.

    A harpy screams just as the sounds stop. Hana perfectly skewered a harpy that tried to attack as soon as the barrage ended. She swings the spear and smashes the harpy on the bridge. Aoi inhales deeply and fires a fireball at the struggling harpy, its neck explodes. In a few seconds it passes out due to bleeding. 2 to go, 2 wounded, 3 Needlers.

    Alissa fires an arrow and gets the harpy with the [Fire Arrow] on the wing. 1 to go, 3 Needlers.

    The last harpy charges at Lina again. I cast [Lightning Bolt] and it convulses, failing to retreat in time. Lina swings her hammer sideways, it connects with the harpy and it gets thrown into the bridge. Ciel jumps into it and pierces the heart of the harpy, it struggles for a few seconds and goes limp. 3 Needlers to go.

    "Incoming!" Hana yells again.

    I feel the slight mana gathering and raise my shield again.

    "Elemental! Hold them all in place once the barrage is over!" I order.

    I hear an ethereal grunt in response.

    The clinking stops and I cast [Gravity Crush] on all harpies. To cast area magic you have to focus on a point in space and unleash your mana towards that point. Casting in the middle of the air is really difficult due to depth perception but since they are clumping I just cast it on the middle harpy.

    I pull all my effort into keeping them in place. "Willpower" does wonders for these types of spells.

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    The harpies get cut up and blood flows off them, the blood swims in the air and slowly the tornado gets tinged red. The harpies shriek and they gradually lower the volume. Soon the Needlers turn silent.

    Unfortunately, we can't recover the bodies or the proof's from the harpies, Needlers can give some good money. We end our spells and sit down on the ground. I grab Ciel's hand and give it a kiss, she shakes her head but I see her smile.

    After an MP potion and some meditation, we are ready to go again. I recall the elemental.

    "You know, I think I can understand how your [Redirect Mana] works. Though I think it will take some good amount of effort to actually get it to work," Ciel says.

    "Well yeah, I would be depre-... impressed if you managed to get it so easily. I did get it after a life or death situation," I say.

    "You better put some effort to get it. It's what saved my life," Roxanne says and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

    "A mage that can regenerate mana at will is almost cheating," Alissa says.

    "Good thing some of his cheats are rubbing off on us," Ciel smiles.

    "It's still not so easy to do it," I say.

    "It's still an unfair advantage no one else has," Ciel replies and shows me her tongue.



    We finally reach the end of the bridge. This town is called Mons Meridien. The mountaintop is circular so the town is divided into circular layers, we are at the middle layer. The same overgrown ruins full of partially destroyed concrete buildings, arches, and domes, with overuse of columns. There's also ivies, vines, and moss covering any still-standing wall, tall grass everywhere that's not a paved road, pieces of rubble spread all over. A few not-olive trees on a garden or other.

    We walk down the steps, the only sound is the rustling of leaves and our footsteps. This floor is not very popular due to the harpies and the height.

    "I hear snoring," Alissa says.

    "Can you go check? Don't fight it, please," I say.

    "Yees," she smiles and goes off.

    She takes a minute and silently comes back. If I wasn't looking she could easily sneak on all of us.

    "It's a minotaur, female. Thankfully it's wearing a dress."

    "Still sleeping?"

    "Yes."

    "Then I have an idea."

    We get closer, trying not to make any noise. It's starting to get misty. On a plaza I see a pile of rubble has two horns protruding out of it, the pile rises and lowers, if I concentrate I can hear it snoring.

    I put 5 points in [Throw].

    "Well then, here goes nothing."

    I cast [Summon Elemental]. Instead of making it appear instantly beside me I use the traditional way of creating a small ball of light. I pick this ball and throw it into the rubble.

    When the ball touches the rubble a large lead elemental appears and hugs the sleeping minotaur.

    "MOOOOO~!" It yells, trying to break free.

    "RAAA!" Hana yells, she charges forward with her emerald wings open wide.

    Hana falls beside the struggling minotaur and does an overhead slash with both hands. The minotaur tries to dodge but there's no room, all it does is that instead of being decapitated its neck gets cut halfway.

    In less than a minute the minotaur passes out. We just wait a little more and Alissa confirms the kill.

    "A cheat as always," Ciel sighs.

    "Oh? We got another one," Alissa says.

    Here comes the problem with this town. It's too small, other minotaurs might end up hearing the sounds of battle in this quiet town.

    The lead elemental awkwardly gets up and stands in front. Out of the mist, a male minotaur appears, it's wearing a ripped, filthy shirt and a filthy loincloth.

    "Thank the Gods," I pray.

    "The bulge is still visible," Hana says.

    Ciel shudders.

    The minotaur pierces its horns into the chest of the elemental. I feel the metal bent slightly.

    For this, he receives an arrow to the chest, a [Water Blade] to the flank, a [Wind Blade] to the belly, a hammer on the right knee, and a spear to the left thigh.

    It pushes the elemental away and I cast [Earth Bullet] on its chest. The air goes out of its lungs and it staggers back. It raises its head and an arrow pierces the eye.

    "MUOOOOH!" It roars again and jumps back. Alissa clicks her tongue, she's not using the warbow.

    Hana drops her spear and charges with her sword, she slashes towards the neck and the minotaur defends with his arms. Hana jerks her sword and the blade slides through the arms instead of getting stuck midway.

    Lina swipes sideways at its legs and it's forced on its knees. Blood pours through all its wounds, yet it finds the strength to swipe at Hana, sending her flying backward. She uses her wings to stabilize in the air and lands gracefully.

    "Lina! Come back!" I yell.

    Lina turns and runs as awkwardly and adorably as a dwarf can. Her face is pale, she does not want to be swiped at by this minotaur.

    I charge the biggest [Earth Bullet] that I can. The minotaur stands up.

    "[Wind Blade]!"

    "[Water Blade]!"

    I let out my spell at the same time an arrow pierces its throat. He is hit in the face with a rock, and a deep wound on its chest opens from both spell blades. It falls backward, unconscious.

    Hana joins us in the front and the elemental awkwardly gets up again. We wait a minute or so and it dies from blood loss. I recall the elemental.

    "Catching it by surprise really does make things easy," I say.

    "What, you thought this was hard? I was thinking we barely have a challenge here," Hana says and grins.

    "Don't start…"

    She laughs.



    We continue our way down, the town slowly disappears into the mist and we plunge into near darkness. Our path that is circling around the mountain edge ends and we find a small door on the wall. We open it and it's the stairs down.



    We reach the 9th floor.

    This floor is kind of bad, it's called Tower of Melancholy, for the sake of our minds it's best we don't spend much time here. This whole dungeon floor is a single tower full of holes and crumbling ground, broken furniture all over making it difficult to walk, cobwebs make it horrifying to move, dust everywhere makes it difficult to breathe. It follows the same architectural style as the other floors, coupled with even more ominous skeletons around, including those of children. Outside there's only white mist. There's no known ground floor.

    We all cast [Spirit Light]. Lina is even more scared on this floor.

    I summon a nature elemental. It's a dryad, a green woman with moss-like skin, leaves for hair, and bark instead of nails or teeth. Thankfully she wears a modest ivy dress. The nature spirit is light, so she won't crumble the floor like an earth elemental and she has enough physical strength to help with combat.

    We move out and start exploring. There are no maps of this dungeon floor, the floors are thought to be infinite and so there are only incomplete maps available. Also, a single floor is the size of a village, making you waste time until you realize where you are.

    We spend a good amount of time mapping the floor so we don't get lost. Fortunately, Ciel is good at drawings, so she and Roxanne work on that.

    "I got something. Seems like it has a bit of knowledge in [Hide Presence]," Alissa says.

    We enter a room and our lights reflect on the eyes of a monster, a Shadow Satyr. Satyrs are humans with horse ears and horse legs, the shadow version is a monster that is eerily and completely black, it has a straight, featureless face. It wields a very curved scimitar, almost a crescent. It can cast bullets of darkness that hurt like a bitch. This is supposedly a rare monster, we are just that lucky.

    I immediately cast [Lighting Bolt] and it dodges, no it teleports sideways.

    "Motherfuc-..."

    It charges Lina.

    An arrow flies and it dodges, I feel Alissa's anger. Roxanne lets out a weak [Fire Arrow], it singes his hair and embers fly. Hana slashes towards it and it dodges but it stops the charge. The elemental times the opening perfectly and manages to grab it with a vine.

    The satyr jumps around, trying to get free but it's not strong enough. It slashes the vines only to get its arm grabbed. The elemental pulls him and he falls on the ground, an arrow pierces his arm and it drops the scimitar.

    It decides to jump towards the elemental and scratch at its face. The elemental screams and turns into vines, entangling him more. Hana charges and slashes sideways cutting the satyr in half by the waist.

    In the middle of the air, it fires a small dark bullet towards Lina. I extend my arm and block it with my shield.

    "AAAAARGH!"

    I feel like my arm is crushed. I instinctively cast [Heal] but nothing happens. Lina grabs my arm and looks at me horrified.

    "Wolfy... why would you do such a thing..." Lina mutters to me.

    "Well, I don't know..." I wince in pain, "I just thought it would be better... if I felt the pain... instead of you."

    The pain pulses but with each pulse it reduces. I feel a light chop on my head.

    "Wolfy, that's rude, Lina isn't so weak she can't handle some pain," Alissa says to me, reproachfully.

    I feel another chop on my head, this time it's Lina.

    "Alright, I get it."

    Just our luck, the stairs are in this room. After healing the elemental we move on.



    We reach the 10th floor.

    Once in a while you get filled with excitement and wonder at what a dungeon can show you, this is the prize explorers are looking for. This floor is a sky archipelago, floating islands in the middle of the sky, just like the sky lands of the chimeras. This floor is called Proud Memory.

    We are at grassland at the edge of an island, there's only a wooden fence between us and the infinite blue. There's no ground, there's only a blue abyss below us.

    Lina's Trivia: The sky lands are camouflaged magically. An ancient spell that was given to them possibly by the first emperor as a token of friendship. Anyone who looks towards the sky lands sees nothing, they are invisible. Anyone on a sky land who looks down only sees the infinite blue, they don't see land until they leave the spell's influence.

    Around us, we see a grassland with a few pink willows and at the distance, there are white and black marble ruins. The other islands follow a similar pattern, there are dozens around us, above or below. We see from above a few have lakes with fish that we could eat. Above, we see the green crystals bellow the island that glows harmonically, they keep the islands afloat. White clouds once in a while pass through an island.

    A few wooden bridges and spiral stairs connect the islands. On these bridges we can see the Marker Kites, they are long squares of very light cloth where each corner is tied to a long, light rope. These markers than are left to fly about, most keep upwards as the wind normally comes from below. If you see one of these markers flailing about you have to stay away, a rogue gust of wind is passing through and you don't want to be hit by it while you are vulnerable near the edge of the blue abyss.

    Ciel runs up to the fence.

    "Wow..." It escapes her lips.

    "Hatara would love to come here," Alissa says, coming up beside Ciel.

    I grab Lina's hand and lead her to the fence, I feel her hand tremble.

    "Hold my hand tight, I will keep you safe."

    She nods and squeezes tighter. A few steps more and her trembling reduces a bit.

    We stare at the blue sky for a few minutes. It feels odd that there's no sun here but the beauty of the environment is entrancing.

    I look behind us. In the middle of the island, there is a 3 story building with a cupola and a small tower on the top.

    "Let's go there, we can locate ourselves better on top of that building," I say.

    As we walk I feel an itch on my head. It's somehow similar to the "itch", of using magic, it's just stronger and makes me want to scratch it immediately. I squirm, trying to scratch it.

    Alissa jumps to my side and slashes near my shoulder with the scabbard of her sword. I look to where she tried to strike, a Plom floats about, Alissa tries to strike it again but it slips away and creates some distance from us.

    Alissa sighs and puts her scabbard back in place. Ploms are magical animals that feed on mana, they sneak on you and slowly suck your mana. They are nearly impossible to kill due to how easily they manipulate the air around them and slip away from any attack.

    "I'm surprised it could bypass your [Sense Presence]," I say.

    "It didn't, it just has such a small presence I didn't notice it. It's smaller than a mouse."

    "There are Ploms on Maoka. Annoying little creatures, adorable, but annoying," Roxanne says.

    She passes us by and I swat a Plom on her back. It slips from my attack, my hand only manages to brush at its fluffy fur. Roxanne groans.

    "My... mana... 1/5th is gone!" She cries.

    "I'll pay more attention to them," Alissa says, with pitying eyes.

    "Pleeease!"



    As we get closer to the building we reach a small group of marble houses.

    "There's something weird in there," Alissa says.

    "Living Armors. The satyrs only appear in dark places," I answer.

    Lina's Trivia: Living Armors are suits of armor that got possessed by spirits, somewhat similar to a nature spirit. Living Armors are generally found in battlefields or tombs, which means their personalities are aggressive or territorial. They give no proof of extermination and their metal is of poor quality, but if you can capture one the hunters guild pays a good price for them, depending on their form. They work well for sparring since you can control their aggressiveness with [Spirit Magic].

    "There's four, they are patrolling the front of the building."

    "We could go around but let's go fight them and see how we do," I say.

    We pass by the houses and enter a courtyard, the Armors are walking side by side through this courtyard and stop when they see us. They are ethereal humanoids without any features. Their armor is a hauberk with a metal plate cuirass on top, greaves, sabatons, metal pauldrons, vambraces, gauntlets, a bevor, and a sallet.

    Though they would look imposing with so much metal, it's nearly all rusted and decaying. Their longswords look a little better.

    They charge towards us. We'll do a melee test, Alissa, Roxanne, and Aoi will do nothing unless necessary.

    I ready myself. My Armor does an overhead slash, such a telegraphed attack is easily dodged and deflected by my shield. I slash sideways and destroy the armor on the left arm. As a combo, I slash again and destroy a part of armor on the chest.

    Hana takes the charge and ripostes towards his belly. The sword easily slides in and the Armor winces, somehow their spirits can be harmed physically.

    Ciel parries the attack while stepping back and digs her glaive on the Armor's shoulder. With a bit of a yank, she removes the glaive and parries the next attack.

    I feel the mana circling on Lina's body, she takes the hit head-on and immediately counters with a swing on the knee. It gets completely shattered and the Armor falls on its knee.

    My Armor tries to swing upwards and gets deflected again. I slide my blade on the exposed chest armor and pierces a lung, not that the spirit breathes, but it does "feel" pain.

    Hana slashes at the Living Armor's chest and its sword is caught on the way and sent flying. She finishes the Armor by decapitating it, the crumbling bevor did nothing to protect its neck. The spirit believes it's alive, if you cut its head off it will believe it's "dead" and truly die.

    Ciel digs her glaive on the arm of the Armor, it tries to shorten the distance but gets a kick and it's pushed back again. Now it has only one functioning arm.

    Lina takes the chance and swings her hammer upwards and it connects with the chin of the armor, its bevor gets crushed and the helmet flies off. It's "dead".

    I bash my Armor on the moment it winces in pain. It falls backward and I thrust my sword on its neck, I use the bevor as a lever and push the sallet upwards. Then I thrust my blade on its round, featureless, and ethereal face, it's "dead".

    Ciel parries the weak slash and thrusts towards the heart. The blade slides in and she twists it, the armor squirms and struggles in pain for a few seconds then "dies".

    The remaining metal of the Living Armors corrodes and turns to dust.

    "That was easy," Lina says.

    "This is the first level with these monsters, they aren't that good," Hana says.

    "These were especially weak, really old looking. Living Armors shouldn't be this rusty," I say.

    "The ones at the guild looks like ceremonial armors compared to these ones," Alissa says.

    We move inside the building. It's rather large but completely empty, at least there's no ruined furniture, debris or skeletons. The walls are decorated with carvings of battles, mostly have winged humanoids and monsters fighting each other. The building has no seams, it's like it's carved from a single rock of white marble with streaks of black, it's certainly not the minimalist architecture of the chimeras.

    "I have a few hits. Humanoids... I think I recognize three of them," Alissa says.

    Oh? We better go meet them.

    Ciel and I share a look, we don't really believe in coincidences.



    Intermission 6



    I have never been happier, free to explore the library, discussing what I read every day, continuing my training in enchanting, actually fighting alongside strong people. Mom, Dad, I'm okay now, I'm happy. I just want you to know that, I don't want you to feel guilty anymore, I don't blame you for selling me, I just want you to know that I'm happy.

    Master Hilde, thank you for everything.

    I thought master wouldn't find me attractive seeing how Ciel is... big. But now I'm sure I'm making him happy, it's the least I can do to repay this new life. Even so, I have been training, this time I will have strength, I will have power. When the time comes, none shall stand on his path.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2019
  7. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    "You all stay here, Hana and I will go upstairs so we look less threatening."

    Alissa frowns but she accepts. We start climbing the spiral staircase, it goes up the 3 floors and ends up on the cupola.

    In the middle of the way, we hear footsteps above. A large woman in plate and leather comes out with a tower shield and behind her is a dog wereanimal woman archer in monster leather.

    "Who are you and why are you here," The archer tells us, arrow nocked.

    "Wolf Ryder, adventurer, just like you. I'm here because one of my companions sensed one of my friends, Nour Asaf.

    The archer expression lightens and pulls the shield woman upstairs. More footsteps and in a minute Nour appears.

    "What a coincidence! Never thought we would meet again inside a dungeon," Nour says with arms open wide. He is wearing his black leather again, this time he has a pristine black scaled shield hanging on his back.

    He goes down the stairs and we shake hands.

    "Was bound to happen, right? Neither of us can resist the call of the dungeons," I smile.

    "How are you doing, Wolf?" His eyes turn warm.

    "The same as always, very happy. You?"

    Even though we have the problem with Darean my mood isn't bad.

    "Just starting my adventure, let's say that I'm very excited, no marriage proposal to take me away from here this time," he smiles, "Come upstairs, the view is wonderful."

    "This is Iana, a tracker we hired," he points to the wereanimal woman.

    She has skin black as night and curly, short, boyish hair. Her black ears are nearly camouflaged among her hair.

    "This is Bellatrix, a Blood Slave," he points to the other woman.

    She removes her helmet. Bright red skin, two small protrusions on her forehead and swept back, glossy black hair that reaches the shoulders. Her grin shows some very pointy fangs. She's a devil-type demon.

    "So, you are the Wolf Ryder?" Asks Iana, her pretty eyes open wide.

    Oh boy.

    "W-well, what do you mean by this?"

    "You know, the one who killed the Symbol and the one the town criers announced some time ago."

    "Yes, that's me."

    "Wow! Amazing," she shakes my hand vigorously.

    "I never thought you would be so small, some stories tell of your cold, killer eyes, of your booming commanding voice, your hundred spells you can call on a whim," she looks at the girls," But the other parts are true, just what is so special about you?

    The spells is partially true.

    "Nothing, really," I smile wryly.

    She holds her head in her hand and pouts cutely. I feel 2 of the girls are getting very annoyed. I hurry and continue the introductions, Nour lifts his eyebrow.

    "Another fiancee?" He laughs.

    "Look who's talking," I rebuke.

    Midori and Bellatrix smirk.

    "Anyway, let's go to the top of the tower, the view there is pretty good," Nour swiftly turns around.

    "Let's bring everyone, I can leave my elemental here as a guard."

    "Wonderful."



    The view really is nice, though just a bit windy, perhaps I should summon a wind elemental if it gets worse. We can view the entire island, we are on corner of a once marble town, possibly filled with living armors, not really a good place to go. There's the corner of an abandoned farm covering a good part of the island, in there we will be too exposed to the flying monsters of this level. Near the path we came there's the light forest, the safest place to go through, we will take a spiral stairs there and go to the next island, there are no stairs for the next level on this island.

    We look up the blue sky, the lights slowly dims as the sun sets outside the dungeon, it's weird not seeing a sun and not having an orange sunset to appreciate. As the light dims little stars can be seen very far in the distance, the mana crystals still retain some light, giving us the same light as a moonlit night. The little stars that surround us gives me a chill, I feel as if we are drifting among stars.

    I see Ciel smile in a way she didn't smile before. It's a daring smile, one you do before you jump from the plane and open your parachute. A smile of nostalgia, adventure was something she missed and now she's getting it back.

    We set up camp on the cupola and decided to spend the night together. Safiya, Alissa and Ciel got in charge of dinner, although Iana knows how to cook an adventurers cooking is far too rough for our sensitive palate. I force my disgust away and help butcher 2 harpies that Nour shared with us, my [Dismantling] getting its rare use. Then the girls fry the bird parts, tastes like turkey with a mustard aftertaste, something on their fat does this.

    Even though people here eat orc and goblin, only when it's explicitly part human they don't eat it. Cannibalism really is a taboo here, but it has a line much further than that of Earth.

    After the gruesome butchering the girls responsible for the dinner don't need our help anymore. Lina and Bellatrix start maintaining the weapons and armor while Iana talks to them about enchanted bow maintenance. Hana and Midori go fawn over Aoi, tickling her belly, she seems to love the new dragonkin acquaintance. Roxanne comes to my side, she's having Ted and Suzy try to dance, I can see some jealous glances from Ciel towards the golems. Nour sits in front of me.

    "Say, Nour, you might have some more experience on this type of thing so I want your opinion."

    I tell him of Darean.

    "Wow, well not that surprising, some people can be vengeful. I agree that he doesn't want to kill you, most likely have you sent as a slave somewhere, I know some circle of magi use illegal slave mages," he says to me.

    Roxanne shudders.

    "I was afraid Dawn of Fire was involved in something like this. I feared what they would do if I traveled alone so I ran from Goloria and went to Rabanara, which seemed a place not under the influence of the circles of magi," Roxanne says.

    "Yeah, some of them are really bad, but you just need someone to vouch for you and they run away. They don't want to suffer through an investigation so they keep away from people that can bring them trouble," Nour says while nodding, "But anyway, I really think Darean has backing."

    "Backing?" I ask.

    "Yes, that rogue space mage is not cheap and it's not easy to find, you know the empire is very protective of [Gate]. This is not something a simple adventurer can find with just money, he needs connections and someone to vouch for him, though he's seriously misusing his power."

    "Who would back him, then?"

    "I don't know. I don't have connections in the underworld, at least not here..." He cleans his throat, "So I don't know much about the factions that work here, I just know who to avoid. But we can try to make a deduction, do you know if he has allies and enemies?"

    "I only know Vanea Anara seems to dislike him."

    He winces at her name. Roxanne looks at him concerned, she hasn't met the little devil.

    "So she could be his enemy. Perhaps he's the one who's blocking her."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well, you know that Vanea wants the emperor to recognize the efforts of her family, right?" I nod, "To do that she's gathering allies, people who can owe her favors, people she can buy, people she can protect so they will swear loyalty to her, all this stuff, this being the reason she's one I want to avoid. The thing is, she can't get anyone near her, someone is blackmailing or buying out any ally she can get, most likely some faction from the capital."

    "So, Darean is position 1, he likely has a close relationship to the Lord and by extension he can get near Vanea rather easily, he seems to be showing he's romantically interested in her, though that could be fake. Being an adventurer means he most likely works for money so he can be bought, he's the perfect spy on the Anara family," I say.

    Rabanara's closeness to adventurers seems to be backfiring on this part.

    "Exactly, at position 1 Darean might as well be considered a knight working with the Lord, I hear they fight together a lot. This is only guesswork but it's the closest you have. Sorry, but I can't help much more, since I don't have connections all I can do is get you bodyguards, but I don't think that's the kind of help you want."

    Roxanne nods in agreement.

    "Yeah, I don't want to live in fear. I was only looking for advice anyway. Say, if you have a name, body description and a possible quirk, like the smell of the hair product someone uses, how easy can you find this person? Though I know she could be using [Ignorance] to keep low."

    "That depends a bit, but the smell is a good thing, sniffers don't care about illusion spells. If the town doesn't suffer with smuggling then it's rather easy to lock down the town and make a sweep. If this person is in Rabanara then I think the Anara family can find them. I assume you got a lead?"

    "Yeah, do you know hair products that use Ranja?"

    "Oh yes, from the High Forest, one of the few things they export, those elitist bastards. Safiya loves it, bit expensive though," he whispers and then smiles, "How did you get that information? You should have gotten very close to smell a hair product."

    "Well, I talked to a spirit of one of the kidnappers, he gave me a very good description of the one who lead me to the trap."

    Nour knits his eyebrows in worry

    "You didn't mess with him, right?"

    "No, no. I still have my blessing, I didn't do anything bad."

    Nour's expression relaxes in relief.

    "Dealing with spirits of the dead is very... dangerous. Lots of nobles got their lives ruined by going too far and the temple getting a whiff of what they have done."

    "Ciel is a former priestess, she helps me keep in line."

    He chuckles.

    "You got some good companions, I see. Rather, good wives-to-be."

    Roxanne chuckles.

    "Just what a good husband-to-be deserves," she gives me a kiss on the cheek.

    I smile. A productive conversation, now I know I actually got some bargaining chips for Vanea.

    "How did the 9th floor go for you?" Nour gives a pained smile, "It was a nightmare for us, those damn spiders kept crawling up to me and Safiya. Then we met two minotaurs, luckily for us one fell on a crumbling piece of the floor and disappeared a few levels below. But we ended up meeting it again before we found the stairs."

    "Oh, well I just met a Shadow Satyr on the floor we arrived, behind him was the stairs so it was rather quick."

    Nour's mouth hangs open.

    "T-that's unfair, you and your damn good luck."



    After dinner comes time for the bath. Safiya is a fellow mage who knows how to make a bath in a few seconds, though I saw Nour's bathtub was smaller than ours. With the summons, we have the added cheat of not needing to keep guard.

    Bath ends up being Alissa's time, can't really make too much noise so Hana and Roxanne are left for bedtime, the gag will get used again with them. When Lina tries to "practice" Ciel sighs.

    "Even you, Lina?"

    "I... I…"

    "She just wants to make me happy," I say.

    Ciel rolls her eyes but she keeps watching Lina with the corner of her eye.

    I spend some time reviewing our coordination tactics. I decided to teach them a few commands in English, it's a good thing to be able to yell orders without the enemy knowing what they mean.

    The living armors occasionally patrol the lower floors but none came up towards the cupola. The anti-monster stone should have some effect on them too.



    Today is the 28th.

    A silent storm called Hana's mouth wakes me, Roxanne wasn't awake yet so she just swallowed all by herself.

    "Better this way, I get it all for me," Hana smiles.

    "Shameful, she's also your wife-to-be, you gotta share everything," I say.

    I actually got Hana, she looks away and blushes.

    My [Summoning Magic], [Space Magic], [Sword Use], [Andraste Language] and [Dismantling] increased by 1 (now 11+11, 14+18, 9+7, 8+2 and 0+3)

    Lina is leveling up nicely, now she's level 18. With this amount of extra skills points her learning rate is very fast.

    Hana increased her [Block] by 1 (now 8).

    "Why is your block so low? I would expect someone experienced like you to have it higher. Especially when your style is about blocking and countering," I ask Hana.

    "Well, I don't really have the... delicacy, to learn how to block so effectively. Besides, with my strength and endurance I can just take the hit, even if it's not on a shield. If an attack can't penetrate my skin or scales, why block it? These things aren't just for the fetishists like you," she smiles and points to the scales on her cheeks," You know, these things already deflected a few blades.

    She really fights like a barbarian. I see Midori has a two-hander with her, she might be even worse than Hana.

    For breakfast, we share our charcuterie with Nour.

    "So, where are you going after this?" He asks.

    "We will go to the 13th floor."

    Nour and Safiya grimace.

    "Ugh, I might as well pay for someone to help me skip those floors. Why are you going there?"

    The Shadow Satyr was just an entree of what I really want. Two special monsters from the 13th floor.

    "Well, there's a monster I want to fight, for magic research. Though the description of that floor sounds interesting."

    "The monsters of that floor do have some very good uses for poison and dark magic," Safiya says.

    "Something like that, mostly poison, I don't deal with dark magic," I say.

    "You sound just like Rania," he smiles nostalgically.

    "What would she research?

    "Alchemicism. She had a very peculiar habit of trying out acids. You know, the Orc Headhunter was really lucky, she had just used all her acid," Nour makes a pained face, not because of the orc, but because of the image of what acid does.

    Lina's Trivia: Alchemicism is a magic school where alchemy is combined with spells. I can learn it with the skill system but I can't use it since I need to ingredients before I can cast a spell and the skill system does not give me the knowledge of which ingredients I need.

    "I, uh, I would rather not fight with acid, I'm having Roxanne create some poisons and venoms, though. I mainly want paralysis, some monsters are quite valuable if you get them intact."

    Roxanne looks at me with an evil smirk.

    "I would rather create healing potions but poison can be fun too," she says.

    "I see, well we rarely bring the bodies back, don't really need the money so Rania had no reason to hold back, besides for the effect it has on my mental health."

    "Well I, I also don't hold back, the less time fighting a monster the better," Safiya smiles a bit painfully.

    "The girls are the same, sometimes they hold back for me, I just do not do well with gore," I scratch my cheek, shyly.

    "Don't be ashamed of that. Everyone has a weakness," Alissa says, tapping my shoulder.

    Thanks, honey.

    "My weakness is invisible enemies," Hana says.

    "My weakness is swarms," Ciel says, frowning.

    Dream Eaters attack in swarms.

    "My weakness is spiders," Safiya says.

    Nour shares an understanding look with her.

    "My weakness is heights," Lina says, lowly.

    "My weakness is cute enemies," Midori says.

    Everyone raises an eyebrow at her, she chuckles.

    "I simply can't kill the Rabid Rabbit," she shrugs.

    Ciel puts a finger in her chin.

    "Understandable," she says.

    Roxanne nods in agreement.

    "Some people say you are not a proper adventurer if you can't handle gore," Nour says.

    "To hell with them!" I yell

    Nour laughs.

    "To hell with them!" He yells too.



    We break camp and say our goodbyes. Nour is going to a bigger island while we are going upstairs to the closest stair for the next dungeon floor.

    We meet some proper Living Armors this time. A trio that looks like plated knights, they all use long swords.

    "Let's test our melee again. Lina, Wolfy, you two fight together one of them, you may have skills but it's not the same as having experience," Hana says.

    We nod. I give the warbow and bodkin arrows to Alissa, she won't be able to do much with just her normal bow. The nature elemental will be ready, any sign of blood and she will restrain the armor.

    The Armors are in the street walking towards us. We move out of our hiding spot and they immediately charge towards us.

    "I can handle the first strike," Lina says.

    I kinda agree, my "Strength" isn't rising quickly enough even though I have been doing strength exercises, [Stonebody] is a cheat.

    The Living Armor slashes sideways towards Lina. It was smart enough not to go all-in on a single strike. She grunts and deflects the blow upwards. She counters with strike on the knee and the armor gets dented, forcing it to kneel for a second.

    I strike the bevor on the neck of the Armor, there aren't many openings in the armor so I have to create one. Nothing visible happens to the bevor but a few more strikes will be enough.

    Hana is not using her shield, she deflects the first strike with her sword and kicks the Armor away. She summons her wings and charges towards it.

    Ciel keeps the Armor away, it tried to force itself into her guard but she forced it back with a strong thrust towards its chest, denting the armor.

    Our Armor steps back and slashes downwards towards me, I dodge backward and feel the tip of the blade get slow down by [Wind Armor]. It immediately slashes sideways towards Lina, she deflects upwards again and strikes the shin. The leg gets lifted with the strike and it jumps back to keep its balance.

    Hana strikes the Armor's sword upwards, opening its guard and hits it with her shoulder, sending it flying backward. She lands on top of the arms of the Armor, preventing it from getting up, then she grabs the bevor and rips it away. She thrusts her sword into the neck and it pierces the coif, the Armor struggles for a few seconds but "dies".

    The Armor tries to charge again and Ciel finds an opening on the armpit of the Living Armor and disables the arm. The Armor tries to strike with a single arm but Ciel blocks the strike with her small shield strapped to her forearm, then she jumps backward and gets ready for the next attack.

    Lina charges forward and strikes downwards, the Armor parries and tries to twist its sword to pull the hammer off Lina's hand. She goes with it and bashes the Armor's hand, making it wince. I slide my blade below the bevor and it gets snagged into something, I pull my sword with all my strength and something snaps. The Armor recovers from the wince and kicks my shield, keeping me away.

    Ciel deflects an awkward blow from the Armor and slides her blade past the Armor's neck, she turns it around and uses the hook on her glaive to snag the bevor and pull it. The Armor stumbles and Ciel sweeps his legs, making it fall face down on the ground. Ciel thrusts and pierces the Armor on an opening at the back of its waist, making it desperately spasm. The Armor turns around and grabs the blade when Ciel tries to thrust again. She wrangles it from its hands and jumps backward.

    The bevor is hanging from our Living Armor's neck, exposing the mail coif behind it. One of its legs is lame and it can't walk properly. I feint and strike the Armor towards the neck but it deflects my sword away. Lina charges and gets her shield kicked, I feel mana flowing through her, she holds her ground. She uses the hook on her hammer to pull the good leg of the Armor. It falls back on the ground.

    Ciel's Armor struggles to get up, it draws a dagger and lunges towards her. Ciel easily deflects it and sweeps its legs again. The Armor falls and Ciel drops on top of it. She draws a dagger and jams it on the opening of the bevor, the Armor tries to struggle but "dies".

    I step on one arm and Lina steps on the other. She smashes the helmet of the Armor and it caves in, the Armor loses most of its strength. I thrust with all my strength and pierce the coif, the Armor slowly stops struggling and "dies".

    I raise my head and look around, we are the last to finish. Hana is looking at us with a smirk. I just take a look at her work and smile.

    "You fight like a barbarian," Ciel says.

    "Only Hana could do such a thing," Lina says.

    Hana laughs.

    "I rather have magic than just muscles," Hana says.

    "Let them be envious for a bit more," I say.

    Magic really makes things much easier.

    The remaining metal of the Living Armors corrodes and turns rusty, parts of it turn to dust. This is why their metal isn't too valuable, it quickly ages when the spirit dies, even when the Armor looks new it's going to degrade a lot after killing it.

    We leave the small ruins and move towards the light forest.



    I'm glad it's daytime and bright, there's a chance Shadow Satyrs appear in dark places. Even though they are rare and valuable I'm not so eager to find one again.

    Alissa stops and stares towards the sky, her eyes narrow and then she smirks.

    "A Kite Dragon, looks young."

    "Oooh, how big?" I ask.

    "Looks to be around 2 or 3 meters long.

    "Can you hit it?"

    "Just gonna prickle him at this distance, but it will certainly get his attention."

    Time for the real test of the warbow.

    "Let's get to a clearing and set the trap. Roxanne, how's the paralysis venom?"

    "On a Kite Dragon it should take a minute or two to act," she taps her chin.

    "Perfect we can certainly hold it down until then."

    Screw Shadow Satyrs, a Kite Dragon is even more valuable. This dragon is flat and long, it has no wings but long flipper-like limbs on its side, it swims through the air like a flatworm, its head is flat and triangular like a crocodile's but its eyes are on the sides of the mouth and move independently like a chameleon's. Its scales make high-quality scale armor, even better than ours.

    I look up and don't see anything, the dragon has some camouflage, he lights his own scales to look bright enough you mistake it for the sky. I take 5 points from [Parry] and put it in [Electric Magic].

    Alissa nocks an arrow on the warbow, she waits, her eyes glued to wherever that dragon is. With nearly inhuman speed she draws her bow and releases the arrow. It flies high and I see a small blur on the sky, the arrow hits this blur and I finally manage to spot the outline of the dragon.

    Silently the dragon comes, its entire body snakes towards us in a fast zig"zag pattern.

    Hana is in the middle of the clearing while everybody is hiding behind a tree.

    "COME HERE LITTLE WORM, I WANNA USE YOU AS BAIT FOR FISHING!" Hana taunts and strikes her shield."

    "UROOOOO!" It answers.

    Its crocodile mouth opens and light comes out of it. A huge clump of ice shoots out of his mouth and towards Hana. She dodges sideways and the ice scratches her shield. The clump explodes in the ground, covering everything with an unusual chilling thin layer of snow.

    Hana breathes fire around her, she would quickly get frostbite otherwise.

    "URAAH!" The dragon screams again.

    Using its side flippers it swipes at Hana, the attack sends flying multiple emerald scales of her shield.

    I cast [Discharge]. Low voltage, high spread. The entire dragon gets covered in sparks coming out of my fingers. Unlimited Pow-...

    The dragon turns to me with anger in his eyes. He opens his mouth again and mana gathers.

    Fuck! More power!

    An arrow pierces the top of its mouth and it stops charging mana. It turns to Alissa.

    Fuck! EAT MORE POWER!

    "[Wind Hammer]!"

    "[Torrent]!"

    It gets disrupted again and with another arrow on its mouth it decides not to open it anymore. It turns upwards and starts to leave.

    MAXIMUM POWERRRR!

    My head hurts and my MP drops like a waterfall but finally, the dragon starts convulsing. This is what [Discharge] is all about, disabling the enemy.

    An arrow pierces its head. Damn thick skull, it didn't penetrate much.

    Another set of attacks from Ciel and Roxanne. Scales break off its head, I feel tears forming at the coins disappearing.

    My head hurts, overuse is setting in, my mana is super low.

    "NOW!" I yell.

    The nature elemental throws its vines at the same moment I stop using [Discharge]. I fall behind the tree and drink an MP potion.

    The vines wrap around the body and keep it from leaving. The dragon tries to fly upwards and the elemental is dragged a meter before it wraps more vines on a tree.

    Hana flies and pierces its throat with her spear. Not enough "Dexterity" to hit the head while it's flailing about.

    Hana rides the dragon by holding on the spear and her weight lowers him near the ground. Dust and dirt gets kicked about as it struggles. Aoi flaps her wings in excitement, through [Animal Tongue] I feel she wants Hana to ride her.

    "IRAAAAH!" The Kite Dragon shrieks desperately.

    The dragon uses its last strength like a whip and throws Hana upwards. She spreads her wings and gracefully touches the ground.

    The elemental now has full control of the dragon. In a few seconds, it loses the last of its strength and falls on the ground.

    "Careful, he's only paralyzed," Alissa says.

    "Let me do the honors," Hana says.

    She draws her sword and with all her strength pierces the skull of the dragon. Now it's dead.

    "Without the warbow I wouldn't have even dented it," Alissa says.

    Lina looks away shyly and Alissa sneaks behind her.

    "It's all thanks to you!" She pounces and hugs Lina.

    "Wha-wha-... oh, y-you welcome..." Lina mutters.

    "You okay, Wolf?" Roxanne comes to me.

    Alissa freezes and her head snaps to me, she hadn't noticed my struggle.

    "Had to use all my mana on [Discharge], didn't think it was that immune to electricity."

    "Well, yeah, dragons are kinda like that," Aoi chirps happily, "Though I think it's just that your 'Magic Power' is not high enough, even I wouldn't be able to contain him for long if I knew [Discharge]."

    I sigh.

    "Gotta keep training my mana."

    "Well, we all gotta do this, with [Increased Growth] I think we can get a significant increase, even if it didn't show much with skill training," Ciel says.

    Roxanne groans, "You know, I'm the only one bringing stable income to us, can't I just continue making potions?"

    "No," Ciel answers flatly.

    Roxanne pouts.

    "Learn [Redirect Mana] and it won't be as bad. With one or two points in [Mana Overuse Resistance], the headaches won't appear easily," I say.

    "Cheater," Ciel silently mouths to me, then she shows me her tongue.



    The forest had a few more Ploms but nothing else. Aoi started to notice them and fired a few fireballs before they approached. She seems much more active and happy when we are outside of town.

    We reach the spiral stairs and Lina stops on her tracks. There are railings on the wooden stairs but you can easily see the blue abyss if you look down. Even I am concerned with the safety of this thing.

    "If we put a blindfold on you would you feel better?" I ask.

    Lina shivers and looks at me with fear.

    "Ok, bad idea... what if I carry you?"

    She looks pensively.

    "What if I carry you," Ciel says, smiling.

    Lina smiles faintly.

    "What if I carry you," Hana says, smirking.

    Lina squirms and looks away, then she nods.

    "What...?"

    "Don't look too deep into it, Wolfy," Alissa pats my shoulder.

    We go through the stairs with a confident Hana in front and a scrawny Lina trying to disappear in her arms. I realize the error of my suggestion, no way I would have been safe carrying Lina, with every step the wood creaks, with every blow of wind the stair sways, with every second the blue abyss comes closer. I give a quick prayer and hurry upwards.

    The new island is very long and has a mountain on it, a grey, unremarkable conical mountain, in the middle of that mountain is our exit. There are only woods around here so the outside is safe, I just hope we don't meet a group of Shadow Satyrs inside the mountain.

    As we walk through the long field of pink willows, the soft breeze and warm, uh, mana crystal light tickles my skin. Soon I feel like simply closing my eyes while walking.

    "What's that, old man, is it time for your nap?" Ciel smirks.

    I'm pushed back to reality, there are still other monsters in the sky that could attack us.

    "Just enjoying the breeze."

    "The view makes you forget you are inside a dungeon, huh?"

    "Yeah, you enjoying our little vacation?"

    Ciel laughs.

    "Sure, with you around this really feels like a vacation."

    "Imagine what we are gonna be like in a few years when our levels are much higher," Alissa joins in."

    "Ridiculous," Ciel answers immediately.



    We reach the edge of the mountain.

    "Dwarven architecture," Lina says.

    "How can you tell?"

    "The tunnel is wide and not very tall, the lines are perfectly straight, not much use of rounded edges, none of your silly drawings on the walls, the stone is smoothed to perfection, and the lights are embedded in the stone. It feels... feels like home," she says with bittersweet happiness on her voice.

    "Silly drawings?"

    "Well, murals depicting events are only for the most important of events. You can only carve a wall once, if you make a bad mural then you have soiled a good piece of wall, better to just hang a painting and not risk it."

    "Dwarves value good planning and carving things on the stone. The most prestigious buildings are entirely carved on stone, instead of constructed with bricks or cement like we do," Alissa says.

    Lina nods in agreement. Alissa seems to know a little about everything.

    The more you know.

    Like Lina said, there aren't rounded surfaces here, the tunnels all either branch on a grid or on an angle, they never curve. This makes it easier for us since we just go straight to the heart of the mountain.

    The lights on the walls get dimmer and eventually we have to use [Spirit Light]. I believe we are very close to the exit.

    "Four Living Armors," Alissa says.

    "Coming towards us?"

    "No, they are standing in line on our path."

    "Well, let's just attack them when in range. I will use [Discharge] while you girls charge something powerful."

    As we approach we see these armors are a bit different.

    "Dwarven men-of-the-line," Lina mutters.

    4 metal squares block our way. Black shields with a boss and a small opening for a spear.

    "Let's see how they like this," Roxanne says and starts gathering mana.

    The shields immediately move forward followed by the clanking of heavily armored men.

    I cast [Discharge]. Same as the dragon, UNLIMITED POWWEEER!

    One shield falls, a fully plated and short Living Armor is behind it. It immediately receives an arrow that penetrates its helmet and "dies".

    "[Wind Hammer]!"

    A burst of mana flies beside me and hits another Living Armor on the top of its head, making it fall forward on top of its shield with a large dent on the helmet.

    A large and long [Ice Lance] flies beside me and pierces the shield of another Living Armor, I don't believe it's dead but its chest could have been pierced.

    "Lina! Get the downed one!" Hana yells.

    "NOW!" I scream.

    My head hurts a lot, overuse is stacking.

    The nature elemental stretches its vines and holds the shield of the last Living Armor. Hana charges towards it with her wings, her spear pierces the Armor, it lets the shield go and it falls on the ground. Her spear breaks but she grabs the part that's stuck and drives it harder on the Armor.

    Lina charges forward and destroys the helmet with a savage overhead strike.

    The Armor with the [Ice Lance] drops its shield and staggers backward, there's an opening on its chest. It receives an arrow on the face and "dies".

    I massage my forehead. Overuse keeps me from reaching my full potential with magic, guess if it weren't for that magic would be unstoppable.

    "...-tyrs!"

    What? Alissa yelled something. I hear clopping.

    "AAARGH!"

    Pain fills my shield arm and I drop it, I cast [Heal] on it and nothing happens. I feel "death" approaching. In reflex I lift my left shoulder and arm to protect myself, even though I have no shield in hand anymore.

    A shadow covers my sight and I feel immense pain on my side. A hand pulls me away and I fall back a meter.

    Ciel kicks the shadow and it jumps backward, dodging it. It then charges forward again with such speed it nearly gets inside her guard.

    I cast [Lighting Bolt] and it teleports sideways, my head hurts even more. It charges Ciel but has to immediately stop as an arrow flies where its head was supposed to be. A [Fire Arrow] pierces its shoulder and lights a small fire.

    It looks to the fire and nearly fails do dodge Ciel's thrust, she makes a wound at its neck. Ciel twists the glaive and uses the hook to grab the neck of the Shadow Satyr, she pulls it and it tumbles forward, only to be met with her knee. It falls down on the ground and an arrow pierces its face.

    I hear Lina scream in pain.

    She clutches her shield arm while Hana stands in front of her, parrying a blow from another Shadow Satyr. A vine tries to wrap around its leg only for it to teleport backward, safe from harm.

    I grab my shield and walk backward towards Roxanne and Aoi, I'm disabled until I can at least use my shield. Thankfully the scimitar didn't cut through my scale armor but my shoulder hurts like hell.

    Roxanne and Ciel prepare a spell. The Satyr momentarily looks at them, then it disappears and appears in front of Hana, she barely has time to react and receives the blow with her shield.

    Hana yells as a dark bullet hits her shield arm at point-blank, she doesn't drop it and remains in front of Lina. But she couldn't counter so the Satyr moves to strike again.

    An arrow flies and the satyr teleports backward. Silently, a [Wind Blade] cuts at its flank, sending black blood flying. An ice spear lodges on its chest and it staggers backward. It looks at us in what seems to be confusion.

    An arrow hits its face and it dies.

    Ciel relaxes and comes to me, she chants a heal.

    "Better?"

    "Better, thanks."

    I feel a light head chop.

    "You overused your mana and because of that you got distracted," Roxanne says to me, her mouth distorted in annoyance."

    I feel another light head chop.

    "You overuse your mana too much, you need to be more careful," This time a very angry Alissa looks at me.

    "I'm sorry…"

    I just wanted to test [Discharge] on the Living Armors but I guess I was a too reckless.

    Alissa mellows out and kisses my forehead.

    "You said the 13th floor was even worse?" Hana asks with her hands on her hips.

    "Well, yes…"

    "You gotta compensate us for that, this shit hurts and I'm not gonna let myself orgasm to a monster."

    "What...?" Ciel looks bewildered.

    "She has [Pain Conversion], it lets her convert pain into pleasure, but still feel the pain," I answer.

    Ciel facepalms.

    "You know what, screw it, I don't care, if this is the champion the Gods want then who am I to judge."

    She throws her hands in the air and starts walking. We share a few looks and smiles and then follow.

    Soon after we find the stairs.



    We reach the 11th floor.

    This is a weird floor, it's called Trial for the Reckless. Hundreds of island surround a large island, floating tunnels connect the smaller islands to the central island. Each tunnel section is dark and closed off and between each tunnel, there's an exposed wooden spiral stair.

    We are thrown into one of the smaller islands, nothing but empty blue void around our island, except that above the central island the sky turns dark.

    We are on a marble road, there are only a few houses before the island suddenly ends. It is as if this piece of land was cut directly from a town.

    I'm quite happy that an elemental can go to the next floor if I order it. I thought the floor selection prompt wouldn't appear to it but it does, saving me from wasting mana dismissing and re-summoning it.

    Our mood was a bit dark until we sat down and filled our stomachs, it's difficult to be grumpy when satisfied.

    We force ourselves to move otherwise our mood will make the situation quickly degenerate into a cuddling session, possibly progressing even further.

    We reach the first tunnel and dwarven architecture is seen again. We push the heavy stone double doors and move forward. The light doesn't reach far so we invoke our [Spirit Lights].

    Each tunnel section we have to fight once. The first time it was a single Living Armor, then 2, then 3, then 4, then 5 so I summoned an earth elemental to help. With our experience it was a very simple fight, some of them lack shields, making them easy targets for Alissa.

    Lina had to be carried by Hana every spiral stair but she seemed to be less afraid each time.

    We fought 6 and then 7 Living Armors, then we get something new, a Nalusa, threat level 5. It's a two meters tall human-looking monster that looks like it's made of charred flesh with missing pieces of meat and exposed bones, it smells like burnt meat. It has hair on its back with white bones protruding out of it, it moves very fast and it swings sharp claws. Its face contains 4 eyes with a large white sclera, it's nose and mouth are mere slits that are almost invisible. It controls blood and turns it into projectiles, either their own or of their prey.

    It immediately charges forward.

    "Protect Alissa and Roxanne!" I order the nature elemental.

    The earth elemental stands beside Hana. Ciel stands between them and Lina and I are at the flanks.

    The monster slashes at the elemental, the shield on its left hand gets scratched and it counters with a spear stab. The monster dodges sideways and gets in range of Lina, she smashes one of its feet and it jumps backward. A small clump of blood floats in front of it.

    It dodges an arrow and turns the clump of blood into a shard. It flies towards Alissa and the nature elemental intercepts it, getting stuck on her vines. The Nalusa tilts its head and dodges backward again when a [Water Blade] flies towards it.

    "The blood has venom, talk to us if you get hurt by it!" I yell.

    I'm not sure about the physiology of the nature elemental. Hopefully, it is immune to poisons and venoms.

    A tense minute goes on. On this small corridor we risk too much friendly"fire to fire our ranged attacks wildly, besides, the monster is too fast for most of our ranged attacks but at least it can't get close due to our solid line.

    "Let's move forward, push it back to the wall!" Hana yells.

    "Understood! Keep the line!" I answer.

    The monster looks at us expressionlessly, its eyes blink out of sync. We slowly inch forward and it slowly inches backward.

    It charges Hana.

    She strikes downwards, the monster parries it with a hand and the other scrapes by her shield. The elemental and Ciel pierce the chest lightly. It jumps backward.

    A ball of blood floats beside it.

    "Tch, it will get more powerful if we only scratch it," I say.

    "No other way around it," Ciel says.

    Another minute and the ball gets bigger. It charges towards me.

    I cast [Entangling Vines] in front of me. The monster swipes at me and I block with my shield. The attack pushes me backward, brutish strength but little sharpness on the claws.

    Hana strikes and wounds the arm, the bone is too tough, the sword can't cut through it. The vines wrap around an ankle. Another arm comes towards me.

    I rest my sword on my shield and it slides between the fingers of the monster, nearly splitting its hand into two. Hana tries to combo a thrust but it immediately jumps backward and falls.

    Hana's thrust turns into a slash and cuts into its belly. I pierce a leg with my sword. It cuts the vines and rolls backward.

    The blood ball is much bigger now, fortunately the monster seems to be slowing down. We keep inching forward.

    The monsters bleeds for another few minutes, I'm very concerned over the blood ball.

    We reach the end, the light shows the door at the end of the tunnel.

    The blood ball turns into hundreds of little spikes and they all fly towards us.

    I hide behind my shield, I lower down into the floor to reduce my exposed profile. I hear multiple shattering sounds as the solidified blood breaks into my shield. A spike pierces my boot and I feel a sharp pain in my foot.

    I look up and the monster is swinging at me. My position is bad, the arm hits my shield and I fly backward.

    Hana strikes him but he defends with the other claw, it forces him down and he slips away forward. Ciel slashes at his leg but it feels nothing.

    I feel sick, I feel something moving inside my body.

    He covers his face with his claws and an arrow pierces his chest. He ignores me and charges towards Alissa.

    The nature elemental jumps in front of it and it gets torn to shreds by the claws, but it's not dead. The monster jumps towards Alissa who's drawing her sword.

    A torrent hits its chest and it falls back into Hana's sword. She lifts it up and changes the direction of her charge midair, she swings her sword down and the monster crashes in the floor headfirst.

    The monster trashes and pushes itself off the ground, Hana loses her sword. I cast [Lightning Bolt] on it and my muscles tense, making me immobile, it's the venom Mage's Trap. Let's see if it was worth it.

    The monster convulses for a second and Ciel pierces it through the chest sending it back down.

    Alissa jumps sideways to get a clear shot and an arrow flies into an eye. It loses a brain, it still has another.

    Hana draws her dagger and falls on top of one arm, digging the knife on its shoulder. She covers her face and a blood spike pierces her arm. The other arm strikes her and pushes her off its body.

    It swings its hand again and Ciel jumps backward not to get caught in that, the earth elemental pierces it and pushes it to the ground again. Alissa fires another arrow and it blocks its face with its nearly ruined arm.

    "HAAAH!" Lina screams.

    She rushes to the monster and does a savage overhead strike, the hammer buries itself into the head of the monster. A large blood spike flies and pierces Lina on the waist, an exposed part where the leather shirt ends.

    The monster drops its hand, it is dead.

    I'm sweating cold, I feel like something horrible is running free inside my body. Lina is hunched over, clutching her belly. Ciel rushes to her and starts chanting.

    "Wolf?" Alissa asks me.

    I can't answer.

    "He, he's paralyzed!" She yells, desperation on her voice.

    Ciel looks at me concerned but keeps chanting, Roxanne rushes towards me and pokes me all around. It hurts, my muscles are sore, stop it!

    "Mage's Trap, he got paralyzed because he used mana, the venom uses the mana of a spell to produce the paralytic substance. Only Ciel can heal him now, he can't drink anti-venom," Roxanne says, adjusting her glasses.

    Lucky for me using directly on the body of another person is very hard so there's no venom inside my brain or heart, though it's difficult to breathe I won't die.

    "C-Ciel!" Alissa calls her.

    "Lina takes priority," Roxanne puts a hand on her shoulder.

    Lina's wound is a bit problematic, it's deep. Ciel is taking a while to chant a proper heal.

    "We should have gotten her a hauberk," Hana says.

    "Wouldn't have helped, the blood spike would have flown through the openings of the rings just like it did on your arm," Alissa says, rubbing her arm, looking uncomfortable.

    Alissa comes to me and touches my cheek. Roxanne grabs her hand.

    "Better not, his muscles must be sore and sensitive."

    Alissa looks even more dejected, she sits down and holds her knee staring at me, worry in her eyes.

    Ciel finishes her chant and runs to me. She starts chanting [Purify Body].

    Another minute of that horrible feeling and she finally finishes. My muscles relax and I collapse, I feel exhausted.

    Alissa runs to to me and grabs my body. She lowers me and gives me a lap-pillow.

    Ciel instantly cast [Refresh] and much of the soreness goes away. Putting the spare points in [Light Magic] she can cast this level 25 spell.

    "That took a lot of mana," Ciel says.

    "Bring me the monster," I ask.

    Hana drags it to me and I immediately store it on "Items", can't let that precious blood run away. Alissa chuckles.

    "Greedy little man."

    I pout, feelings hurt.

    Lina walks to me and hugs my arm. I don't feel like pouting anymore.

    "You okay?" I ask.

    "Yes. Only a bit uncomfortable."

    "Cuddle puddle!" Roxanne drops on the ground and hugs me.

    "How romantic..." Ciel rolls her eyes and chuckles.

    The smell of the blood and burnt meat of the monster is still in the air.

    Hana scoops Roxanne and lays down beside me, with Roxanne on top of her.

    Ciel sighs and lays down on my other side. Lina releases my arm and moves over, laying down on my belly.

    I cast [Purify Body] on Lina and Hana.

    "Thank you, Wolfy," Lina says and curls up.

    "Muuch better, that thing feels horrible," Hana says.

    I sigh.

    "Getting myself paralyzed wasn't such a good idea," I say.

    "Eh," Hana shrugs.

    "I'm not that good at improvising."

    "That's why we are here," Alissa says.

    "To clean up your doo-doo's," Roxanne pokes me.

    Alissa plays with my hair and we spend some time like this. Life or death situations are the best for forming bonds.

    When we move it's 6 PM.



    That was the last of the tunnels. After another spiral bridge, we enter the central island. It's a place with very few monsters so fellowships camp here. Though not many fellowships come here in comparison with the other floors, the Nalusa being one of the reasons why.

    I would rather not camp here, it's always going to be tense meeting other fellowships with the number of women ours have.

    We move inside the marble ruins and look for a clock tower. It's like the entire town simply petrified into marble. There are carts, people, guards, animals, furniture, everything is made of marble and glued to the ground.

    We find a specific house and enter, the stairs are there.



    We reach the 12th floor.

    This floor is called Faded Glory. There's two huge roots going in a spiral, they are as thick as Rabanara's castle. There are multiple islands stuck on those roots, simple marble bridges connect each island, and Marker Kites show when it's safe to move, multiple are swinging about.

    Around us, there's no more blue sky, only a sandstorm a dozen meters away from the roots. The sandstorm is the only source of light, it produces a weak light that flickers, once in a while the sand sparkles.

    Above and below a black mist slowly blocks our view, preventing us from seeing too far up or down.

    Our island is a piece of a town, we find a walled-off house and set up inside, ignoring the statues(?) of people, I pull our tent in the backyard.

    The first thing we do is take a bath.

    "Say, Hana, you said you wanted a reward?"I grin.

    I pull out a leather belt. She looks at me with hunger.

    I wrap the belt on her neck. Bypassing the tip through the buckle the more I pull, the tighter it gets. I put on my "Sex Maniac" build.

    She doesn't even say anything, she just turns around and spreads herself for me, I thrust immediately.

    With both hands, I pull the belt in sync with my thrusts. She grabs the belt to give her a little more air but it's not enough, soon enough her strength starts to vanish, eventually she can't hold the belt anymore and lets it go.

    Her back arches and she chokes, trying to breathe. Little by little she loses her strength and her eyes go white. I loosen the belt and she gasps for air.

    When the gasps reduce a little I pull the belt back and resume thrusting.

    I slap her ass, again and again, she cums again and again, every time she cums her legs shake more and more. I feel like I'm riding a bull, I wonder if [Riding] would help here.

    I let her breathe two more times until I push her to the limit. She stops moving and uses all her strength to pull the belt back a little to breathe. As her desperation grows I feel her insides tighten more and more.

    I take my points off and cum inside her then I let the belt go and she collapses, barely any strength to let herself from drowning on the tub. Roxanne pulls her to the edge of the tub where she wheezes and coughs.

    "Don't... heal me..." She mutters in a rough voice.

    Alissa looks very frisky so I take her next. Slowly from behind, I thrust, one hand on the base of her tail, the other arm wrapped around her throat. I choke her lightly and bite her ears, making her squeal.

    She claws on my arm as her desperation grows. I relent and she coughs. Once we continue, I hold it in until she's desperately out of air, then I cum inside.

    After she regains her breath I keep my tongue inside her mouth during the rest of the bath.



    Hana has been getting better at roasting meat with her fire breath, though I had to heal her throat for this dinner. Aoi is trying to help but her flame is still too unsteady for roasting. We eat some nice Minotaur meat with not-potato and not-onion soup.

    "So, what do you want for your reward?" I ask Lina.

    She makes thinking sounds and fidgets about.

    "I... don't know…"

    "How about a massage?"

    Ciel, who was almost falling asleep suddenly opens her eyes.

    "S-say, Wolfy, I'm gonna be on the front line too, d-don't I deserve a reward?" Ciel tries to sound as innocent as possible.

    Alissa mutters something to Roxanne.

    "M-me too! Using spells is tiring, you know! Walking around all day on those boots that you like makes my feet sore, you know," Roxanne says, nodding and grinning.

    "Well, I do like them but you use those high heeled boots because you like them too, I'm not forcing you," I answer.

    "T-that's not... I still walked a lot, and, and-and-and..." She loses her train of thought.

    I smirk.

    "I will do all of you."

    I put 20 points in [Massage], that's the maximum. I start with Aoi and massage her little body, she has a bit of meat to knead and seems to love having her scales pressed, I do it until she sleeps. Then I do Hana so she learns how it's supposed to feel, I mix some kisses and a few licks and get plenty of giggles in return, who knew that even Hana would be ticklish. I do Ciel as Hana copies my every move while doing Roxanne. As her reward, I did Lina for twice as long as any.

    Ciel got frisky after all that, she might have a slight foot fetish.



    Today is the 29th.

    Me and Hana gained [Massage] with 1 point. I increased my [Sword Use], [Electric Magic] and [Summoning Magic] by 1 (now 9+8, 11+12), my [Light Magic] and [Mana Control] by 2 (now 6+6 and 0+9).

    Lina is now the same level as me, though she has less experience. I left 5 SP on Lina so she can grow her skills with more ease, like enchanting.
    LinaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Hammer Use6+8Parry2+3Dodge1+3
    Block6Muscle Explosion2+0Shield Bash1+0
    Battlefield Perception2+0Dwarven Pride Style2+0Enhanced Speed2+0
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control3Mana Efficiency1
    Fire Magic1Earth Magic5+0Light Magic1
    Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1General Enchanting7
    Magic Tool Carving1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    General Blacksmith4Sewing4Housework1
    Cleaning2Washing1Math4
    Riding2Stonebody (innate)3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)
    With this we remove the Rings of the Servant. After a few more levels I think the girls are going to use it again except me and Lina, we want everyone to be on a similar level. Currently, the other girls are suppressing their skills growth so we have some extra skill points to use on what's necessary, like resistances.

    I switch the girls extra points to [Enhanced Speed] except Ciel because [Refresh] is going to be useful here. These enhancements skills aren't passive bonus to our status, they give you "intuition" and muscle memory of how to improve such status, though there might be a slight amount of magic involved into those skills. If I concentrate I can think of ways of moving faster and more efficiently but it takes a mental toll, it's impressive that Hana has so many of these enhancements skills.

    If the last floor was unpopular this one is deserted, it's because there's only a single type of monster here, Symbol of Envy, threat level 6. It is disgusting ball of meat, its eyes secrete a petrifying liquid, and it's black and white tentacles are long and sticky. Thankfully they don't move unless an enemy is found, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to casually spend a night on this floor.

    Lina's Trivia: There was once a rich and xenophobic kingdom of chimeras during the Age of Oppression that left others to fend for themselves. The envy the others felt birthed this horrifying monster and eventually the kingdom fell to it, so the legends say. It would hide in their wells, making people unknowingly ingest the secretion and it would spread through the air once the water dried like when used for cooking or washing. Once the contamination reached a critical mass a bit of mana was all it took to start a chain reaction and petrify everyone and everything.

    is it Valuable? Yes. is it worth the risk of getting petrified and dying? No.



    We move out of our campsite and walk towards the edge of our island, there's a bridge that leads us to an island embedded into the roots. The Marker Kite shows only a slight turbulence.

    "Can you do this?" I ask Lina.

    She fidgets and I grab her hand. She slowly calms down and breathes deeply.

    "Yes," she says, resolute.

    As we pass the bridge Aoi flaps her wings and closes her eyes, feeling the wind.

    "Please don't even think about trying to fly here," I tell her.

    "Kweh!" She chirps as if she's offended.

    "Just making sure," I shrug.

    We move into the new island, a few pink willows and a lake cut in half. The water flows down into the nothingness but the level of the lake's water does not change.

    We reach the root and see a staircase carved into it. It leads us to top of the root. It's windy so I summon a nature elemental.

    The nature elemental turns it's arms into vines and we tie the vines to our belts. Tied to one arm are Hana, Roxanne, and Ciel with Aoi on her shoulders; and on the other are me, Lina, and Alissa.

    It's a long climb until the next island. The wind starts to change and I wonder if this path was a good idea.

    "Oh no," Alissa mutters, "IT'S COMING, IT'S ROLLING DOWN!"

    Alissa points forward, there's a small ball on the distance rolling down the root. Ah shit, terrible place.

    "PUSH IT OVER THE EDGE. WAIT FOR MY SIGNAL," I yell.

    I summon a wind elemental.

    Hana moves to the front and readies her shield. We huddle up behind the nature elemental.

    The ball rolls rapidly. It's 2 meters tall, full of disgusting tentacles covering half of the surface, and small eyes covering the rest. There's a mouth somewhere but that's not important.

    I wait until it's around 50 meters from us.

    "Elemental... now!"

    The wind elemental swipes her hand sideways with great strength and a strong gust of wind hits the rolling ball. It flies sideways and rolls off the root. Mid"air a black tentacle shoots towards the root and gets stuck to it.

    "NOW!" I yell.

    "[Wind Hammer]!"

    "[Torrent]!"

    I cast [Earth Bullet].

    An arrow flies into the tentacle that grabbed the root. The tentacle releases the root and it flies away towards the nothingness with great speed.

    "Alright, move forward quickly!" I order.

    "Is the fall not gonna kill it?" Asks Hana.

    "The book tells to never underestimate it, that ball of horrors is tenacious," I answer.

    "It was like a horror story," Alissa says.

    "O-ok, let's go then," Ciel looks backward repeatedly in worry.

    We quickly jog upwards. Ciel and Alissa keep glancing back every once in a while.

    "Kweh!" Aoi yells.

    I follow her gaze. There's a second root that twists around the one we are at. Over at the distance, there's a ball that's shooting tentacles and using its momentum to swing forward very fast. It's coming at us.

    "Well, I'll be damned," Hana says.

    We run with a spring on our step. Nothing like being chased to give you renewed vigor and a horrible chill on your back that only gets stronger.

    The monster gets closer. The root it is on will pass right on top of us, at this speed, it will intercept us.

    "Elemental, again!"

    It swipes and the monster gets hit with another strong gust of wind. It swings towards the root and it disappears behind it. I bought us a few seconds.

    We pass by the root above us and I hear a disgusting sound of meaty flesh.

    "Above!" Alissa yells.

    The ball swung behind the root and now it's coming down directly on top of us. I cast [Earth Bullet] on it and it stops in the middle of the air. An arrow flies and pierces an eye.

    "Niroahoaho!" It screeches in a distorted voice.

    We keep running and the sound of wet, meaty flesh reaches our ears right behind us. Ciel cuts the tentacle that grabbed the root. Aoi throws a fireball and Hana fires her breath.

    *FOOOM!* The air behind us turns into flames.

    "NIOOROROROAHO!" The distorted screeching gets louder.

    We see the ball flying back, a tentacle grabbing further away from us. Multiple tentacles got charred but the monster has fast regeneration, it's a complete cheat, not that I'm not a cheater too.

    We are reaching the end of this root, it turns upwards suddenly but there are a small arch and stairs carved inside the root.

    We hear another wet, meaty sound and I look back, nearly at our side the slightly charred monster is flying towards us at a frightening speed.

    A huge [Ice Lance] pierces it and it flies back from where it came from.

    "NIROOONIO!"

    It swings around and in a few seconds it's on the other side of the root. We reach the entrance and move up the stairs. The entrance gets covered by the monster and a long white tentacle waves upwards towards us.

    Alissa dodges the tentacle and it gets stuck on Lina's shield. With a single motion and the help of [Telekinesis] I draw my sword and cut the tentacle.

    "NAAAARIAAAA!" The monster screeches in anger.

    Roxanne hurriedly pulls a potion and splashes it on Lina's shield, the tentacle stuck on it fizzles and melts, the petrification that was starting to appear stops and slowly recedes.

    "Don't stop!" Hana yells to us.

    We quickly move upwards and get out of reach.



    The stairs go up for a long time, the small mana crystals giving just about enough light that we don't trip during our run. Suddenly the stairs turn into marble.

    Our stairs end into a castle room. We push a very small door and we are into a hall, this was a secret exit, camouflaged into the wall.

    This castle is filled with statues(?) of chimeras. Most have legs of bulls, chest of humans, arms of lion-type beastfolk, wings of dragonkin, heads of dog-type wereanimals, and tail of a succubus. Chimeras have many variations but this is the most common among soldiers. Their armor is light, delicate scale. They carry spears, short swords, and bows.

    We go upwards, towards the highest tower. Hopefully, the Symbol of Envy won't catch up, they have more trouble moving upwards then downwards.

    The guard-like chimeras change into softer, smaller and well-endowed women chimeras wearing very light and risque clothing. If I were to guess it was once semi-transparent.

    "The chimeras are very good painters, too bad we can't see anything now that it is petrified," Alissa comments.

    "True, it almost seems like there's no decoration at all," Ciel says.

    With a bit of difficulty, we navigate the confusing castle and reach the correct tower. When you can fly everywhere it seems that walking distance is not of much concern to the castle engineers.

    After another long climb we reach the top. I switch my points so me and Ciel can cast [Refresh] on everybody and regain some lost stamina. The spell doesn't produce energy, it only speeds up the replenishment so we have to take a quick break to eat some snacks.

    The room at the top is rather fascinating, it's full of trinkets, gadgets, multiple telescopes, and books. Though I can't read any I see the name of a few has the titles written in relief on the book. With a little bit of luck messing with the skill system, I learn that the language of the chimeras is called "Reo".

    With a bit of pain in my heart, we leave the room, on the only window of the room there's a bridge connecting to another staircase inside the root.

    Alissa looks down for a few seconds and squints her eyes.

    "It's still chasing us and it's almost completely regenerated, it seems."

    We start running again, the spring on our step comes back.



    This time the stairs are short, we come upon the plaza of a town. A quick look into the map and the compass and we find the way to the bridge we need.

    Alissa stops us all.

    "There's one right where we are supposed to go."

    "Go around then?"

    "Yes, but we have to be quiet."

    We all look at Hana.

    "You better just put some points in [Quiet Steps]," she says scratching her cheek.

    Even [Quiet Steps] is not enough to completely silence Hana's stomps.

    We take a turn and move two blocks down, then we turn back to the direction we should be going. We move more blocks forward but we hit the town wall. The exit is a block to the side, we might be exposed to the monster if we leave this way.

    "Can you cast [Ignorance] on all of us?" Ciel asks.

    "No, too much mana and I don't have all my mana due to the elementals."

    Alissa's ears twitch.

    "Oh no," I say.

    "Oh yes," she smiles wryly, "It's coming directly towards us."

    "Run."

    We run from behind our cover and dash towards the gate. Outside is a brick road into thick woods.

    We reach the woods.

    "Faster! They are both coming!" Alissa yells.

    "I can't!" Lina yells back.

    Her small legs are taking its toll. I slow down and move beside her. With a yank, I grab her by her armpits.

    "Put your weapons away!"

    She stores them inside her [Item Box], she's much lighter now. With this, I can carry her like a princess.

    We are reaching the bridge. The Marker Kite is flapping wildly, fortunately, the wind elemental helps protect us.

    "Hanaa...!" Roxanne complains.

    Roxanne stores her staff in her [Item Box] and Hana puts her weapons away. Hana slows and sweeps Roxanne off the floor.

    I put all my strength in running. The sounds of wet, meaty flesh get louder.

    "Elemental, now!" Roxanne orders.

    A gust of wind flies by us. Roxanne chants hurriedly.

    "[Torrent]!"

    The sounds of chase wind down.

    "Nature elemental, after this bridge you stay and hold them down!" Roxanne orders again.

    The sounds of the chasers increase again, I glance back and see both of them swinging upwards from below the bridge. I throw an [Earth Bullet].

    "[Wind... Hammer]!" Ciel manages to cast something while breathing heavily.

    The nature elemental unwraps from us and stays behind. I feel it immediately getting hurt by monsters.

    This new island is a cave, it's too large, it won't stop the monsters.

    We run uphill, pebbles roll down all the time and it's hard to keep your footing. My legs ache but I trained for this, all that strength training wasn't for nothing, I can hold on much longer.

    The nature elemental dies.

    The stalagmites and stalactites increase in number and size. I get an idea.

    "Roxanne...! Explode... the stalactites!"

    "The what?"

    "Pointy things... on the ceiling!"

    "Oh, right. Hold onto your butts! This will make a mess!"

    I feel mana gathering, a lot of mana. The fleshy sounds are increasing rapidly.

    "Wind elemental... hold them!" Ciel orders.

    The wind elemental explodes in a storm of wind. The fleshy sounds decrease.

    They quickly increase again. I see a dark shadow coming.

    "[EXPLOSION]!"

    The blast was too close, I fall down and twist my body not to fall on top of Lina. My vision gets covered by dust and steam.

    I hear the sounds of flesh hitting stone but they are muffled.

    "The rubble is going to disappear soon, keep moving!" Roxanne orders.

    We don't have time to catch our breath, we run again.

    The sounds of flesh die down and only our echoing footsteps and quickened breaths remain.

    The cave finally opens up into another small wonder. A mana crystal cave. Twinkling lights, rotating shadows, rainbows of colors, small sounds of cracking and tinkles, all this creates a slightly psychedelic show. Most crystals are transparent, only a small number has other colors besides green. The green crystals have waving forms with multiple curls and turbulent points, they grow in many directions but mostly upwards.

    Lina's Trivia: Mana crystals are solidified mana that grows in mana-heavy places, mostly places where there's danger of a mana storm appearing. They can acquire an "affinity" to a magic type, we say that this crystal has "attuned". While most crystals naturally attune to the most prominent element of the environment they can also attune to any magic school, including spells or magic types not covered by the skill system. Attuned Mana crystals gather environment mana and turn it into the mana of its affinity, aiding in casting any spell related to that affinity.

    Unfortunately, these crystals are all part of the dungeon. If we break them they simply disappear, but their effects are very real. This place would make a very good place to practice [Wind Magic]. Ciel looks around with a pained expression.

    "If only we weren't being chased," she mutters, which echoes on the cavern.

    We let Roxanne and Lina down. At the center of the crystal room there are our stairs.



    We reach the 13th floor.

    I drop down on all fours to catch my breath.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2019
  8. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    We finally get to our destination, the Root of the Abyssal Forest.

    Purple grass, brown dirt, black leaves, brown bark with blotches of ominous white and green. Simple, small, and weak trees that look like birches fill this forest. Huge mushrooms glow a light blue and bring a little light to this darkness. Plenty of red and yellow fireflies buzzing around. Frogs croak on a lake near us. A faint weird smell on the air makes me think of "death".

    The sky is filled with galaxies and nebulas, none are familiar to me. The ground is completely broken and full of holes, we can see the abyss through them just like the chimera sky lands. This place is a mishmash of sky lands clumped together.

    On the distance, huge roots with the same ominous blotches can be seen clumping up and moving upwards until they disappear on a black mist.

    The next levels are called Trunk of the Abyssal Forest and Crown of the Abyssal Forest. Hopefully, we will never go to these floors, the crown, more specifically.

    Ciel flops down on the grass and laughs.

    "That was horrible," she says with a smile.

    I raise one of my eyebrows at her.

    "Yes, nothing like running for our lives in the morning, a rather pleasant and fun experience," I say.

    "I know you are being sarcastic but I do enjoy things like these, it's why I was born," Hana says with a satisfied grin on her face.

    "Don't complain, Wolfy, you chose both of them, it was pretty obvious how they would turn out to be," Alissa says, flopping down beside me.

    "Ei, you are the one who recommended them to me," I say.

    She smirks.

    "Anyway, we weren't really in that much danger, you can always use [Gate] to send us to a safe place," Ciel adds.

    "I know you enjoyed it too, Wolfy," Roxanne grins.

    "No, I did not."

    "I know you enjoyed carrying Lina," she continues.

    "Yes, that I did," I smile.

    Lina smiles shyly.

    "I... enjoyed that too, even the running," she says.

    "Even you!"

    It's almost mid-day but these floors are shrouded in an eternal night. After resting and cleaning our sweat we have a quick lunch.



    I put an extra point into [Blessing Magic], with this we can use [Rainbow Shield], we will need it here. With this spell on every once in a while a small rainbow forms near us. I split the girls extra points between [Mental Resistance] and [Pain Resistance], thought it's not much it will help a bit.

    I summon a spirit elemental and a light elemental. The spirit elemental is going to circle around us as early warning, unfortunately Alissa's [Sense Presence] is useless on this floor.

    "Ah, the nostalgic and also horrible feeling of not knowing when the enemy will attack," Hana says.

    "We got too used to Alissa's [Sense Presence]. It really is too convenient," Ciel says, twitching and looking around.

    "Some things we only appreciate when we lose them," I say, giving a kiss to Alissa's hand.

    "My ears and nose still work, you know.

    "That..." I try to speak but I actually forgot she has better senses than us, I also relied too much on her [Sense Presence].

    We walk surrounding Roxanne, Alissa, and the light elemental. Aoi decided to ride the light elemental, apparently her hair is very, very soft.

    Roxanne is a bit happy and anxious, there's a monster here who has very valuable materials for her potions.

    We move closer to the gigantic roots while being vaguely aware of our position on the map, the terrain is far too complicated. We all tie ropes to each other, better be safe than sorry when someone falls into the abyss.

    The spirit elemental picks up something.

    "Stop," I whisper.

    I point to the direction where the signal came from. We all huddle up and look out for every direction, the signal is a trap, the attack will most likely come from the opposite direction.

    Out of a bush a shadow slides out into the grass, Symbol of Darkness, a threat level 6 monster, but only if you are caught by surprise. I cast [Spirit Light] and throw it into the shadow, it slows down and I see it tremble.

    Ethereal tendrils shoot out of the shadow and hit my arms. Horrible pain but it's much less than the dark bullet from the Shadow Satyrs. Lina whimpers, she must be fighting another.

    I charge forward and pierce my sword into the shadow, it enters deeply into the ground. The shadow grows out of the ground and tries to engulf me, I immediately dodge back and leave my sword there, the shadow is stuck.

    I draw my dagger and wait. An arrow pierces it and tendrils shoot upwards, trembling.

    Lina is fighting one alongside Ciel. They are pounding and slashing it, I feel they are in quite a bit of pain. Hana is just starting to fight hers, Alissa pinned it with an arrow. Roxanne is casting a long spell, she won't be much help, these monsters are resistant to magic.

    The tendrils of my monster stop trembling and they shoot out towards me, I dodge but one hits my head.

    I see Alissa sprawled on the ground, tears running down her cheek, her hand clawing on her face as she goes insane. She's dying, the monster is eating her mind. A filthy man approaches her, he pulls down her pants...

    FUCK YOU!

    I dash forward and stab my dagger on the shadow repeatedly. Tendrils hit my chest and make me stop breathing. I win the endurance battle and the monster tries to retreat from me, it can't run further than where my sword is.

    I move back and catch my breath.

    "[Firestorm]!"

    Roxanne casts a very contained firestorm somewhere, it burns specifically where the monster is. I can't hear shrieks but I can "feel" them, a horrible pain and darkness over my heart.

    The light elemental hugs me and the pain goes away, I melt on her arms and nearly fall asleep. The sound of a fireball hitting the grass and exploding gets me back on the fight. When I got out of the way Aoi fired a few towards my monster.

    Lina recovers her breath and moves to my side.

    "You okay?" She asks.

    "Now I am," I answer and break the elemental's hug, she really is soft.

    We dash towards the shadow and repeatedly pound it down, slowly breaking apart its existence. The closer the light elemental gets the more it trembles, it desperately tries to pull out my sword from the ground but it has little physical strength.

    It tries to send tendrils towards us but it misses our heads this time. I intensify my stabbing and a tendril hits my heart, I immediately feel cold and sluggish, I almost pass out. The light elemental touches my shoulder and I feel two opposite forces battling inside of me, it's not pleasant.

    Lina increases her speed seeing my suffering and the ground gets littered with small craters. The shadow loses power and the elemental wins the battle for my heart.

    The tendrils disappear and the shadow "cracks", light escaping from those cracks. With the sound of shattering glass the monster breaks apart repeatedly until it turns into dust and that dust turns into nothing.

    "[Firestorm]!"

    Roxanne casts another small storm. I look in time to see a weakened Symbol of Darkness, filled with arrows, crack and disappear amid the fire.

    Mentally tired we all huddle up around the light elemental. She starts to dance and twirl, we just stare at her absentmindedly, slowly it heals our hearts.

    "Did anyone get hit in the head?" Hana asks.

    "I did," I answer.

    "Did you get a nightmare too?

    "Worse than a nightmare it was an illusion, for me it was real, it feels like a memory instead of feeling like a dream."

    "Even with our resistances it's still like this," she frowns.

    "This is why everyone hates these levels."

    "Yeah, but I can see it's worth it, though I didn't get hit in the head. [Summon Monster] really is powerful," Ciel says.

    "It will help a lot against Darean," Alissa says.

    "We need trinkets like mine, they help a lot with things like these," Roxanne says, showing us her amulet.

    It's a simple metal necklace with a medal in the shape of a closed fist, unremarkable.

    I grab Alissa's hand and kiss it, the dance of the elemental makes us temporarily forget the oppressive forest we are in.



    We move on and now I summon another spirit elemental, this one will patrol the top of the trees, we are looking for a Beholder, threat level 5. This monster lives mostly near the huge roots we are going towards. It's a small black eye with bat wings, two skinny legs with claws and a small mouth with very sharp teeth. It's even more difficult to find than the Symbol of Darkness, it's very small and it even casts a spell similar to [Ignorance] on itself. The danger is the poison, its extremely effective but very slow acting, you just need a tickle from the monster to get poisoned.

    There are small groups of Eldritch Horrors, little balls of purple flesh that move similarly to the Symbol of Envy. They move rather slowly and their blood is acidic so we just use them as target practice. These are the monsters Roxanne wants. She prances towards every corpse to analyze it and prod it, then makes me carry them all. She wants even the proof of extermination, the single purple eye they have.

    We reach the roots and start looking for the stairs, too much of a mess here, the map is useless. The roots smell of mold and the air is stale, this place just keeps getting worse.

    Ciel stops us and looks at Alissa.

    "You got poisoned."

    Roxanne pulls out a small flask and gives her to drink.

    "Damn, to sneak up on Alissa the little shits must be good," Hana says.

    "Exactly, it's why we are here, they are too good," I say, "One must be stalking us, we stay here I will try to use my [Redirect Mana] to look for its trail. Spirit elementals, sweep the area."

    I sit down and the girls surround me. I kill my senses and focus on identifying the sources of mana floating around here. Every stream of mana I sense sends me shivers down my spine and makes my heart hurt, they all seem to be coming from the roots and going upwards.

    Time passes and I finally get a trickle of something foul, it makes me feel twitchy and anxious. I open my eyes and let my instincts take over, I point towards a root on top of us and cast [Lighting Bolt].

    "IIIIIIIIIIH!" A high pitched scream fills our heads as a black ball falls down in the middle of us.

    An arrow immediately pierces it and it's followed by a spear. It struggles for a moment and dies.

    "That took a while," Ciel breathes in relief.

    "How long was I out?" I ask.

    "About half an hour, I think."

    I have to work on my sense of time while meditating.

    "Now let's get the hell out of here."

    We hurry along the roots until we find the blessed stairs.



    The damp air, the smell of moss and nature, the feeling of the normal ground, the familiar trees, the pitch black darkness. Finally we are out of the dungeon and into The Smirk.

    We all groan, the atmosphere of that floor was really oppressive, except for Roxanne, she loved those Eldritch Horrors.

    I look around, we are not anywhere near close the door to the dungeon.

    "Someone is entering the dungeon," Alissa says, squinting her eyes at the direction where I believe the doors is.

    "Some dungeons are dangerous because they teleport you right outside the entrance, perfect place for an ambush," Roxanne says, a little pain in her eyes.

    Hana consoles her and we leave the forest. We use our dinghy and we reach home well into the night.



    Today is the 30th.

    Alissa is the one who eagerly wakes me. Ciel ends up cuddling with Lina and they are both still sleeping. I gotta convince Ciel to sleep naked, she's the only one who sleeps in her underwear. All I want is to wake up one day with my morning wood buried into her ass.

    "How are you always awake before me?"

    She smiles and swallows.

    "Your breathing gets faster before you awake. I wake Hana and Roxanne when it's time."

    "And you are that sensitive to my sleeping patterns?"

    "Yes, I can tell when you are having a bad dream. I was trained to have light sleep in case I needed to protect my master."

    There are some things I just don't know how to react to.

    Good thing is that yesterday made me grow quite a bit. I increased my "Strength", "Endurance", "Speed", [Blessing Magic] and [Summoning Magic] by 1 (now 11, 12, 12, 0+15 and 7+13).

    Alissa and Roxanne leveled up. Alissa increased her [Bow Use] by 1 (now 26) and gained [Enhanced Stamina] with 1 point. She now has 10 skill points left.

    Roxanne increased her [Potion Brewing], [Fire Magic] and her "Endurance" by 1 (now 11, 23 and 9) and her [Poison Brewing] by 2 (now 4). She has 8 skill points left.

    Hana should be the next one to level up.



    With Roxanne and Ciel's success at chantless casting I believe it's time for everyone to learn a few spells, a single [Earth Bullet] is powerful when used chantless, doing it point blank to someone can send even a dragonkin flying, like I did. I put [Inspire Growth] on Ciel and Roxanne and [Increased Growth] on the other girls, hopefully it's enough to brute-force some skill learning without having to delve too much into the theory.

    When the spirit griffin appeared Aoi apparently got fired up and started to push her flame breath and fire balls to the limit.

    I put their extra points into [Earth Magic], except for Alissa, who wants to learn [Illusion Magic], she read the book a few times and wants to try it so I give her a single point in it. The first spell of [Illusion Magic] is [Ghost Lights], it's used to distract an enemy when it looks at you, perfect if you want to make someone incapable of dodging your arrows even if they are looking right at you. [Ghost Lights] is easy to cast but it requires good control, if you screw up your allies will be affected by it.

    Leaving them to their training I focus on my training for [Summoning Magic]. Increasing that summoning to level 30 takes too many points, I'm going to put Nononya's notes to use and try to level this skill asap.

    I summon 3 Symbols of Darkness and 1 Beholder, slowly of course, no need to overuse mana already. The Symbols of Darkness will now be called "Shad", Shad 1 will stay with me, Shad 2 will stay with Roxanne, Shad 3 with Lina. These monsters can easily hide in our own shadows and they will stay as a countermeasure against assassination. Unfortunately I can't summon one for everyone so this is one of the reasons why I have to train.

    The Beholder will now be called "Holly". It will stay mostly on top of our house as a sentry and will follow whoever leaves the house. This one can easily hide among people but it's risky, the [Ignorance] spell isn't perfect and it would cause an uproar if a monster was found inside the town, so it will remain far away from groups of peoples. If it's revealed that I can summon monsters then it might attract too much attention, more than the annoying amount I already have.

    With these monsters and the 2 clay golems all summoned at the same time my mana drops to 1/6th. It's quite massive but this is only for training. I try to keep the maximum amount of senses on but at 4 it's straining me, 5 makes my head hurt.

    The Shad's don't see like we do, they have a sort of "mana infrared", they see mana in the air directly but their vision isn't that great for much else, they don't serve as scouts unless you are hunting a mage. Interestingly they can't detect each other unless they are really close.

    Holly has dark vision (can see in absolute darkness) and hawk eyes, so she's(?) the perfect choice for scouting. Holly's poison doesn't work too well yet, it has a very delicate mana signature so I can't recreate it even with level 30 [Summoning Magic].

    I have one of the clay golems stare at Nononya's notes while I try to meditate and practice [Earth Bullet], even though I have very little mana. Basically multi-tasking. I level [Nature Magic] to 30 so I can use [Manasynthesis], with this I can recharge mana even faster just by staying in the sun.

    I can meditate with my summons out and my sense of time doesn't get too disrupted. But it feels weird, like I'm looking through a movie. If only I could talk to them telepathically I could seriously multi-task.



    Time for lunch comes and after that we all leave to the hunters guild to sell our stuff. We are going shopping after this.

    At the guild I get the stares like usual, I have a tendency of being dramatic and call my women goddesses but they are not that eye-catching, at least not without their dresses. It's just that the male:female ratio of our party attracts attention, specially when I'm not a charismatic 2-meters tall hunk.

    I see a request to investigate the Spriggans at the Spiral Springs, it claims that they suddenly started wearing ropes with weird patterns on them. I just move away from that board.

    Then I overhear a conversation about hunters complaining that they don't cut down the Sea of Trees anymore so the monsters use it as breeding grounds. This means that whatever is protecting the Sea of Trees likely made a deal with Rabanara, now what could a magical being offer a Lord that's worth so much?

    When I turn around after having my fill of the conversation I see a bear like man staring at me. His eyes are bloodshot and he clearly looks drunk, I think he's the leader of Escutcheon. He doesn't look like he has been having good days, I hurry Roxanne to the dismantling area and the others to leave the guild and wait outside. I should have brought Alissa, the loss of her blessing is stressing.

    "Mr. Ryder! Good to see you, how was your hunt?" Gordon asks with arms open wide, a bloody grin, and the usual shining bald head.

    "Wonderful, you might want to get Sonny here and it's not just because I want to tease him."

    Gordon chuckles while I pull out a male minotaur, the Kite Dragon, the 3 Shadow Satyrs, a pile of scrap metal from the Living Armors, and the Beholder. Gordon smile twitches in surprise but he tells his assistant to get Sonny. Gordon seems to be unable to decide where to start, his eyes dart between the Kite Dragon, the satyrs, and the Beholder.

    "S-so many rare monsters... such 'luck'," he sniggers.

    I sit down on Roxanne's lap and she runs her fingers through my hair.

    Sonny comes and his body jerks twice, once to look at Roxanne and again to continue marching forward, pretending that didn't happen.

    "Most scales are good, even the skull, it could be made into some wonderful plating. The satyrs are in good condition, somewhere there's a filthy potion maker that will be delightful in having their brains, eyes, and hearts. The Beholder has a considerable amount of poison on its claws and it's poison gland isn't ruptured, the damage to the eye is regrettable but there's no other way to kill them," Sonny reads his report.

    He gives us 70 gold for it all. Ah, money, money, money, money. One day I want to kill the Symbol of Envy, I might get a rose coin for it, so juicy.

    Roxanne takes the gold from Sonny, she deliberately touches his wand and gives him a wink. He jumps in surprise and tries to keep his body upright.

    "Any, uh, if-if that's all I will come to, no, be leaving to my, my, room?" He questions his own words.

    "That's all, I will see you someday, Mr. Sonny," Roxanne says with a small bow.

    "Yes, uh, bye."

    He awkwardly leaves. I wonder how old he is, he seems to be nearly 20.

    "Boy, come more often, even if just for teasing him."

    "If I do you will eventually stop being surprised at my visits," I say smugly.

    "It better be this way, if not you will get in your head to fight that Symbol of Envy someday."

    Mind reader. I smile awkwardly.

    "See?" He gives me an exaggerated disapproving look.

    Roxanne chuckles.

    "My greedy little man," she hugs me tighter.

    I cough.

    "Say, I saw the leader of Escutcheon, I forgot his name-..."

    "Logan."

    "Yeah, that one. He's looking pretty, uh, pretty bad, out of shape, you know? Anything happen to him?"

    "You would know," he gives me a smug smirk, "After the he met that ancient dragon he started drinking a lot. People heard him muttering things like 'coward' and 'abandoned'. They say he was chasing that woman that died with you. His fellowship is taking an extended break, if they haven't disbanded already, so nobody is around to confirm these things."

    I raise an eyebrow.

    "Didn't know you were such a fan of gossiping," I make my tone as disapproving as I can.

    "Hey! I'm here all day waiting for monsters, what do you think I do to pass time? It's not like I enjoy it or anything..." Gordon looks away embarrassed.

    I just smirk and he shakes his head, he realizes he fell for my teasing.



    We leave the guild and go buy more armor. Everyone gets a proper padded barbute this time, Roxanne and Alissa get a comfortable high-quality padded coif. All the girls will now have to properly tie their hairs before using the helmets. We shouldn't skimp on protection, we have been avoiding monsters with projectiles but it won't always be like this.

    Roxanne looks at herself in the mirror.

    "I look so…"

    "Protected," Ciel completes.

    "Safe," I add.

    "Unfashionable," Roxanne frowns.

    "There, there, nobody will notice," Hana consoles her and rubs her back.

    "But I want them to notice."

    "You only need to make us two notice and we notice you, all day, every day," I say.

    Hana nods in agreement. Roxanne her lips curve upwards a little and she shakes her head in defeat. At least she can still use her hat over her coif.

    Now everybody has scale armor, we also add fur padding to help with blunt attacks. It might get hot but Lina is going to focus on a temperature regulation enchantment next.

    There isn't much cloth armor here. Space in the Shore of Leaves comes at a premium, there's not enough space for livestock. People prefer to use the abundant monster fur and leather than waste the precious wool in disposable armor, wool is also a bit weaker than some of the fur of monsters. Even the everyday clothes made of wool are made with economy of materials in mind. Rabanara seems to import most of its clothes instead of making them here.

    We are now low on money. No more extravagant dinners, theaters or expensive food until the next break from my classes.

    We spent the afternoon shopping so after dinner I spend my time trying to talk to Ciel without the skill system. I talk like a toddler. Surprisingly I can't chant magic in English, it just does not work.



    Today is the 1st of the 8th month, the month of Love. Ciel told me this month the brothels are all cheaper, it's also the month most people marry or decide to have children.

    Roxanne wakes me up, she's starting to pick up a style, though it's still difficult to discern it I feel a bit of mischievousness with the rhythm she takes.

    I increased my "Willpower", [Nature Magic], [Earth Magic] and [Andraste Language] by 1 (now 16, 16+14, 0+3 and 7+3), [Summoning Magic] by 2 (now 15+15), my MP by 20 (now 690) and my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 265).

    The girls only grew a bit of MP, Roxanne and Ciel are likely to acquire [Redirect Mana] in a few days.



    I have been wondering how I am going to "unlock" level 40 spells. First time was when I prayed and increased "Piety" to 10, second time was after I got "Wisdom" to level 16 so maybe it's related to stats? What do some of these stats do anyway.

    "Roxanne, what are the effects of 'Intelligence' and 'Wisdom'?" I ask.

    I know that "Willpower" helps with mana control or with modifying spells. "Endurance" is about stamina and having your body resist shutting down. "Dexterity" is minute control over your muscles. "Charisma" has some sort of mental effect on others that can be dampened with [Mental Resistance].

    "'Intelligence' is your ability to learn new things, they help with skill growth, yours is quite high, even for a scholar. 'Wisdom' helps with improvement and efficiency, it helps you apply better what you know," she answers.

    What does "Piety" and "Wisdom" have to do with not being able to use higher level spells? Is it a glitch of the system? Meaning that since I'm abusing something that shouldn't work this way it simply does not allow me to cast these spells but a normal person would achieve the requirements before being able to cast the spell? Or is it some arbitrary restriction that the "God" that brought me here created just so I couldn't easily use the highest spell possible?

    Now that I think about it, why do we automatically learn spells as soon as we level? Is there some reason why people wouldn't learn it?

    "Roxanne, did you ever hear about someone that has the level to cast a spell but can't for some reason?"

    She taps her chin with the tip of her finger and thinks deeply.

    "Nope!" She gives me an innocent smile, "You thinking about 'unlocking' your level 40 spells?"

    "Yeah, level 40 has some very interesting spells. Anyway, Why do we automatically learn spells as soon as we level?"

    "Spells are just muscle memory for mana, once you reach a certain level you should have enough knowledge so that you can stabilize your mana and cast the spell properly."

    "If I try to learn a spell with a very high level, is there some danger?"

    "Shouldn't be, it should only waste mana if you are using System Magic."

    Lina's Trivia: System Magic are the simplest and more well develop magic schools, Rabanara only teaches System Magic. The other magic schools are much more complicated and dangerous. Not many people practice these schools outside of the race that created them.

    "Hmm... so the other magic schools aren't safe?"

    "Yes, they could have some nasty side effects from malformed spells."

    "Why is System Magic safe?"

    "Skills are based on the collective knowledge of all humanoids that have ever lived. System Magic schools have explored very well how to create a spell and how not to create a spell, they know exactly how to manipulate mana safely. So what the skill system passes to us the most popular spell, which is the version that is the safest and easiest to control. Without the system we have to manipulate mana in a 'raw' state, which is very dangerous."

    "Then perhaps if the system gives you spell 'muscle memory' and I don't have the 'muscles' to cast this spell then it won't give me the spell?"

    "That sounds... plausible."

    "But how do I gain this missing 'muscle'?"

    Roxanne shrugs.

    "It took us a long time until we learned how to scratch that 'itch' you told us to cast spells chantless. When we did it's like a new world of magic opened to us, perhaps it's something similar, you are lacking some sort of 'perspective' about the world," Ciel joins in.

    I got access to level 20 and 25 spells when I decided to pray to the gods before the goblins village extermination, it's when I decided to "trust" the Gods. I got access to level 30 spells when I had a better perspective on the differences of monsters and humanoids. Maybe the "Wisdom" and "Piety" increase was just a coincidence, it's not the stats it's the knowledge about the world. Magic is very dependent on our knowledge and visualization of the world.

    "I know I have tons of technical knowledge of physics so this is helping me level spells fast but I don't have in-depth knowledge of mana and magic, if I focus on these two then perhaps I could get a new 'perspective'?"

    "Perhaps," Ciel says.

    Roxanne nods in agreement.

    I have created skills, but maybe if I create a Unique Spell I would understand mana better. But then again, Unique Spells require me to manipulate raw mana, which is known to be dangerous...

    Nothing else will come of thinking about this "perspective" for now so I go back to my training. The girls spend the morning training the same way. This time I search Nononya's notes for the anatomy of more magical beasts, most of the ones she investigated are simple animals, what I need is to understand better how elementals work.

    The nature spirit griffin brings the spirit cat with an oversized head again. Both play tag and frolic at the grass. Aoi kept glancing at them but she focused on training her fire breath. I did notice a small growth on its size.



    Hana's [Earth Bullet] is pitiful, she never had much talent in magic but I pray that she gets help from the Gods, just a little more power and it could be a trump card for her.

    Back to the elementals, it seems their body operates a kind of inverted [Manasynthesis], they let mana course through their body and converts that mana into energy for the cells when necessary. This removes the need for veins and allows for the body to be easily reformed.

    Elementals do not have organs except for a source of mana, they move entirely by some sort of [Telekinesis] their cells are capable of using. Their cells are like spirits, held together by a thin layer of mana, which is why they are so vulnerable to emellanat, it easily cuts down their mana cells.

    So this is why even summons that are non-corporeal require a lot of mana to be summoned, their cell "spirits" require to be built and maintained. The mana cost covers the conjuration of the materials to build the body of the elemental while the maximum MP reduction is caused by a small part of the "mana source" or "mana organ" on the summoner to be transplanted to the summon, giving it life.

    This "mana organ" is where we store mana and how we gather mana from the environment. It's said to be part of our soul, but this mana source is not the only thing that gets taken, a small part of the soul goes with it and it's used as a base to give the summons its simple soul.

    The nature elemental's body is the most interesting, it's plant-like cells allow it to unglue from each other and then re glue themselves in basically any way it wants to with extreme ease. It can also use [Grow] on itself to quickly increase the size of its vines.

    Lina kept her back always touching mine as she felt my [Earth Bullet] and tried to copy it.



    Lunch comes and the time to talk to Vanea draws near.

    "So, the time to speak to Vanea is coming. Anyone has any objection?" I ask.

    We already talked a lot about it, we won't ask for help, we will carefully bargain with her. She doesn't have many allies, the information we have is very valuable to her, she needs us more than we need her.

    I don't hear any objection but Hana looks pained. I go to her side.

    "If you don't mind can you tell us, or at least me and Roxanne, what happened to you and your family? It would help in understanding your pain," I whisper.

    She breathes deeply.

    "It's fine, I guess it's better that everyone knows more about me," she answers.

    "It's not much, really. My family used to transport alchemy and potion materials from Sommerland to Ryutake, I was in charge of protecting our wagons. For most of the time nothing happened but about a year before everything fell apart the attacks intensified. Filthy bandits throwing their lives away to our swords, coordinated attacks uncharacteristic of the region, something was wrong. Our stores were being sabotaged and we started to lose merchandise and customers, people were ending contracts with us and little by little we were being driven out.

    "Dad kept firm, instead of fleeing he made us work harder until we could move no longer, we held on for a few more months but it was useless in the end. Father lost all the money but refused to back down, he started smuggling, he avoided taxes and transported some dangerous things, I don't even know what, I wanted as much distance from that as I could.

    "Smuggling didn't last long, an investigator from the empire suddenly appeared and knew exactly where to look. Someone betrayed us, don't know who, the bunch of mercenaries we employed have no real loyalty. I don't know what happened to them but dad was supposed to be locked away for a long time, but he was always frail..." She looks even more pained.

    Both me and Roxanne squeeze her hand and kiss it at the same time. Hana smiles faintly and shakes her head.

    "Mother is certainly on a prison somewhere, she would never sell herself after meeting dad. I have a brother and a sister too, they weren't trained enough to be worthy of being a Blood Slave like me, there's a chance they were sent to a noble as a servant slave but I don't know. The Judge made sure we were all separated and couldn't reunite easily. I chose slavery because there was a chance I would be sent to a lazy noble who only wanted a pet."

    She finishes her talking and keeps her head down.

    "If I become a noble is there a way I can release all of your family?" I ask.

    Hana immediately raises her head and stares me deeply.

    "Y-you would do that?" Her eyes show hope and pain.

    "I don't know what I can do, but I would if possible."

    She pulls me into a bear hug.

    "Your father would be difficult, your mother is a bit less uncertain. Your siblings would certainly be able to be released, the word of a noble with a blessing and a wife with another blessing certainly carry a lot of weight for a Judge. For your sister it would be very easy if she decides to marry Wolfy..." Ciel trails off.

    "Is she human or dragonkin?" Alissa asks.

    "Human."

    Alissa looks disappointed.

    "Stop with this, I won't be getting another woman," I say.

    "Yes, yes," Alissa giggles.

    "Anyway, thank you for sharing, Hana, I understand why this is difficult for you," Ciel says.

    "Yes, but from what you told us your father was too proud. We won't let the same thing happen to you again," Alissa says.

    "We are all cowards here, we will run the moment things get too dangerous," I say.

    "Starting over won't hurt, as we never had that much to begin with. The most important is that we stay together," Roxanne says, giving another kiss to Hana's hand.

    Lina just gives Hana an innocent smile.

    For a second Hana makes a crying face, then she collects herself and smiles with a bit of pain. I raise my head towards her.

    "Whenever you are ready let the tears out, it helps clear your mind," I whisper.

    She nods to me. It helped me, at least.

    "Group hug!" Roxanne declares.

    Hana's bear hug was already hurting my ribs a bit, now things are much worse.

    "Can't... breathe... help!"



    Alissa finds no stalker these days. With Holly on the lookout we will not miss it again.

    "What happened to you?" Is the first thing Lyle says to me when he enters class.

    That's expected, I can't really hide this scar on my neck.

    "Had a fight with some monster, got a little too close to danger," I force an innocent smile.

    Lyle frowns but remains quiet.

    The professor asks the level of [Space Magic] others are at, everyone is around level 4 while I'm level 19. I lied and said level 10 and still got a big reaction from the class, the gnome professor wasn't that surprised since he saw me use [Telekinesis] chantless.

    "You planning on becoming a space mage, Wolf?" Lyle asks.

    "No, I just have a bit of talent with [Telekinesis], it's why I have so many levels with it."

    "If you are progressing this fast then you could certainly enter the advanced classes easily."

    Lina's Trivia: Beginner is considered up to level 10. Intermediate is from 11 to 30. Advanced is from 31 to 60. After that you are granted the tile Grand Magus of the magic school. There are very few people in history acquired level 100 on any skill, most of them are either the creators of such skills, an emperor with a fascination for such skill, or a hero.

    "I don't plan on increasing it much more, I would rather keep away from learning [Gate]."

    "If you were to stay in Rabanara you could get the favor from the Lord to be free from working for the empire," Hatara says with a smile.

    It seems she also wants me here. If I didn't want to leave and become a noble, joining the knights sounds somewhat like a good career path.

    Before I can answer I feel a chill, a vicious gaze pierces my soul, this damn family and their stupid eyes. It seems Lina didn't need to ask Nononya where to find Vanea, she already knew about my fight. I turn my ring green so she comes back.

    "Good day, Mr. Ryder. A pleasant day for a chat isn't it?" Says Vanea with a beautiful smile.

    "Good day, Mr. Ryder. I heard you went deep in the dungeon of the Morning Dew," says Silvane with an innocent smile.

    "Good day Miss Silvane, Miss Anara," I answer with a smile, thank the Gods for [Acting] and [Mental Resistance], "Yes, I was hunting for money, these floors were horrible but rather profitable, unfortunately I never got the morning dew in any of them. Anyway, I would love to chat Miss Anara."

    "Should we move somewhere more private?"Vanea asks.

    "Yes, please."

    Lyle and the others look worried, hopefully they won't gossip, I don't want many people knowing I'm associating with Vanea.

    We get up and follow Vanea towards the offices building. She leads us to the top floor into a large and luxurious office. On the door there's a metal plaque written "Vanea Arana, Chairwoman".

    The office is very large, it has a huge window overseeing the courtyard below, a lavish table with comfortable chairs and one large chair for her, two long comfy sofas with another decorated table, and multiple plants on the walls surrounding a painting of her family. They have a little sister I never met, a mini blue-eyed Vanea. The Lord's wife is a beautiful and delicate woman with long silky black hair and kind blue eyes, certainly recessive genes.

    "You are part of the administration?" I ask her.

    "Yes. I'm trying to get acceptance over [Cursing Magic]. The old quacks are too afraid of that magic school, they don't know who created it so they think it might be related to the undead like [Bloodwork] is," she sits on her chair and waves her hand dismissively.

    "I admit I know nothing about that magic school."

    It's one of the magic schools that I never mentioned for fear of what the reaction would be.

    Silvane grabs a chair and sits behind Vanea.

    "I would be very surprised if you did. Only a few mages in Dyrmorder or the savages at the Wild Steppes know anything about it. I wanted to bring it here to give us more power but unless if the emperor himself or his ministers endorse it the quacks won't accept it fully due to its... dark nature."

    No wonder, just the name makes me apprehensive.

    "Is it a complete magic school?"

    "It is, surprisingly."

    Lina enters the room.

    "Excuse me…"

    I motion her to sit besides me. She trembles once but it stops, [Mental Resistance] doing work again.

    "I would like to know more about this school, does it have any books written on it?"

    "Only a few, they are restricted so you won't be able to get them."

    "I want to submit my work on [Golemancy] and exchange it for a chair at the university, would that be enough?"

    Vanea smiles.

    "Certainly, make sure you don't announce it to anyone else before you get your chair, the quacks would tremble in their boots if they knew what you were searching for. But anyway, we aren't here to discuss this."

    Everyone tenses up and straighten their postures. My moral support is assembled, it's time for battle.

    "Yes. I assume you know what happened at the 25th," I smile a bit.

    "Hard not to, seeing how much noise you made. Both during battle and the aftermath. It seems you might be requiring some help?" She smiles back.

    "Help? Have you seen how we fought? No, we don't require help, we are rather fine for now," I bluff.

    Vanea thinks for a second. I think it worked, her followers must not have seen the fight themselves.

    "Surely you understand Darean is more than a mere position 1 adventurer," her soft and commanding tone is unchanging.

    She just confirmed for me that Darean is behind the attack.

    "Yes, but we aren't his main target, he's coming for us as a personal vendetta. His employer must be pretty mad from losing such an important team with absolutely nothing in return."

    She thinks longer. Does she know it was a kidnapping team that attacked me?

    "You don't think he will attack again?"

    "Attack? No, he won't. His trap failed once and now it will never work again."

    "What gives you such confidence?" Her face shows a hint of worry and skepticism.

    I simply smile, the answer to that is a secret.

    Vanea looks down, her eyes race about, she's rapidly thinking of something

    "Do you have a Gate Scrubber?"

    Blunt, but I can't just straight up admit it.

    "No," I keep my face expressionless.

    Vanea stares at me for a few seconds.

    "I can have you searched," her tone turns stern.

    Careful now.

    "Yes you can, but you won't find anything. Even if you get the empire's lie detectors," I lie.

    Vanea stays still, my spidey senses are tingling.

    "It seems you don't want to go that far. Why are you so interested in this scrubber?"

    "A Gate Scrubber was stolen sometime ago. We believe Darean tipped off a group of thieves who then sold the scrubber to the kidnappers, giving Darean his connection," Silvane confesses.

    Vanea gives her a look but Silvane doesn't budge.

    "Vanea, it would do well to show a bit of trust once in a while," Silvane says, no hint of unease in her voice.

    Information is key here, Silvane wants our trust so she gave something for free. The empire knowing they lost a scrubber would look really bad on them. I will certainly never tell anyone about this scrubber, I look at Silvane and give a grateful nod.

    "I see, but like I said, I don't need help. If I sniff a trap I can just walk away, I'm not tied to Rabanara."

    Silvane's poker face twitches. I'm sorry but I don't have loyalty to either of you.

    "But you won't leave yet?" Silvane asks.

    "I do not wish to. The only tie I have here is the university, with my research and blessing I can enter another rather easily. I don't need help Miss Anara, you do," I smile again.

    Her eye twitches.

    "Since you don't have a Gate Scrubber what help can you provide us?" She asks.

    Good, she fell for my bluff, she thinks we aren't afraid and that Darean is an inconvenience instead of a threat.

    "Information. I can help you get someone close to Darean."

    "Who?" She's fails to completely contain her eagerness, it seems she really was cornered by Darean.

    "What can you give in return?"

    "I don't know the value of the information if I don't know the person," she smiles.

    "We can just agree in something preliminary. You will keep me updated on any move Darean makes, you knew I was being stalked and did nothing."

    "I am not that heartless, I lacked a lot of information," Vanea looks a bit offended.

    "I didn't mean to offend, but you knew something and never warned me."

    "Fine. But you will have to provide all info that you know, everything, even whether you really have the scrubber. You can keep it as long as you keep it quiet from the empire," she slips a hint of anger in her tone.

    "A fair deal," I bow lightly.

    "The name?"

    I slip her a piece of paper. "Farana Uiara, human, level 37. Small body, around 160cm tall, traces that resemble the elves, thin chin, small red lips, pale face and freckles, braided brown hair curled inside a hat. She doesn't have any breasts but her ass is big and her hips are wide. Her hair smells of Ranja hair products, expensive and possibly from the High Forest."

    Silvane lifts an eyebrow.

    "Who gave you that description?"

    "A dragonkin."

    "Figures…"

    Vanea breath quickens for a few seconds and then she controls herself.

    "That's his bitch, the little thief, she leads the thieves. We have to find her and capture her. She also has the help of someone with [Illusion Magic]. "

    "Yes, she was using [Ignorance] when stalking us."

    Vanea thinks for a second.

    "I want you to fight for me. Help me capture her," Vanea says, moving her body closer.

    "No," I answer immediately.

    "You don't understand, I don't have enough reliable people that could stand against an illusion mage, if you killed those kidnappers then you are good enough to fight for me," her gaze is unwavering.

    Shit. I can't tell if she's bluffing, she was being pushed into a corner, there's a very good chance she's telling the truth.

    "I have to talk to the others about this. If we do we are at minimum going to ask for a lot of money, you must know our rates from when we escorted the representative for armorer's guild. We are gonna ask for a lot more than that."

    Vanea reclines back, her posture relaxes.

    "That's fine, Rabanara is rich."

    "And we are going to ask for protection, you must make sure nothing happens to us before, during or after the battle."

    She narrows her eyes.

    "You are going to have to fight, I can't hold your hand during the battle."

    "But you can help us prepare, we are going to fight against a mage and we don't have that much experience."

    She sighs, her authoritative voice is nearly gone.

    "I will prepare something. But I will only protect you as long as you are in Rabanara."

    I nod.

    "Do I have the word of Miss Vanea Anara, daughter of a True Noble?" I ask in a stern tone.

    She growls.

    "You will have to share everything you know."

    "Deal."

    She glares at me one final time, "I, Vanea Anara, daughter of a True Noble give you my word, let the Gods observe me and judge me for my actions."

    An oath that Ciel taught me. Everything we agreed to is now under watch by the Gods, if she screws me over I can invoke the Gods wrath upon her.

    "Now spill everything else you know."

    It wasn't much but it was valuable information to her. I also gave her the remaining corpses and she will give me the bounty, but silently, no need to increase my fame. She glares at me when I tell the truth about the Gate Scrubber but I'm keeping it, she said it herself, it's also my guarantee Darean won't try to kidnap me again.

    Vanea says that after our fight the underworld got spooked about what the spirits on the corpses I have could spill and decided to hide. She is making sure no necromancer that could pull the spirits of the dead appears in Rabanara, they could do it even without a body.

    The kidnappers had bribed the guards to keep their patrols away from the location we were to fight, it backfired on them since the guards only found a small amount of dried blood the morning after. With this there was nothing to start an investigation so the guard just dropped it, not even the people of the slums wanted to testify that they heard the screams, they know nothing good would come from it.

    Vanea never saw the fight, she knew the kidnappers were bought and on the move but couldn't find any more lead on the target, she only knew later that they failed and disappeared, obviously died. She heard a rumor that Darean was targeting us and when the kidnappers failed someone slipped that Darean might have fucked over some valuable hired swords by sending them into a trap. With this she connected the dots and assumed we killed the kidnappers.

    "Here's how we talk. This one is for giving me your answer, turn it and it will send a signal to me that you accepted or rejected," Vanea points to an Emergency Ring.

    "This one is a compacted lithograph, I will send you the place where we meet. Keep it close to you, it will warm up when it receives a message," Vanea points to a small metal box.

    That box has a glass window where I can see a white and black liquid floating around it, they don't mix. I assume the black liquid will form words when the message comes. It's a fantasy pager.

    "With this we conclude our business," Vanea gives a wicked smile.

    I hope I haven't made a deal with the devil.

    Outside of that office the tension on my shoulders dissipates, it went as well as it could have been, Alissa gives me a quick shoulder massage. We go back to Lyle with Silvane in tow, she makes a small excuse that Vanea wanted to know in detail about my [Sense Soul], which is not totally a lie but covers my back in case someone gossips that I'm meeting her in private.



    We are going to get another influx of money, perhaps I can buy bone-and-chain armor for Hana. I kind of quit trying to have her wear plate, too expensive and the prices fluctuate too much. With [Alchemy] I think Lina and Roxanne can work together to maintain it.



    "I'm not really against fighting for her, if you want a job well done you do it yourself," Hana says.

    "You made her do the vow, the last thing she needs is the Gods turning her luck against her. She will be a good ally as long as we keep a distance and the advantage," Lina says.

    Lina seems to be getting more interested in the games of the nobility. It's not that different from the negotiations of the merchants, just more ruthless.

    "Fighting is our specialty, after all," Roxanne says.

    Ciel and me are anxious.

    "Wolfy, I think this is a time we have to fight, we can make sure this ends as quickly as possible," Alissa says, grabbing my hand.

    I kiss it.

    "We are not going to do it alone, she said she didn't have enough allies, not that she doesn't have any. The most obvious ones are Haaran and his knights. If our allies are not good enough we can always just walk away," Lina says.

    Now even she is encouraging us.

    "This time you won't be forced to put your points into sneaking, we will be able to fight full force," Alissa says.

    I don't have the energy to go against this argument. I look at Ciel and she doesn't either.



    I need to clear my head, I ask Hana and we all spar a bit. I train more of my [Telekinesis], I'm getting the hang of casting it on myself but I won't be able to use it for long when I have all my summons out.

    I can win against Alissa if she gets tired, otherwise she's just too fast for me. Lina had a very large growth on her martial prowess, the system gives too much of an advantage on melee. With her skill points she can already win against me, though I can't win against Ciel or Hana so it's not that big of a deal.

    "Do you think I should use a style, too? Now even Lina can get the upper hand on me," I ask Hana.

    "I don't think you should use a style from the system, you should create your own," she answers.

    "Why is that?"

    "Your [Telekinesis] permits you to fight in a way I have never seen before, perhaps there is a style the old heroes used that could fit you but you still have quite a lot of unique options on how to fight. If you combine [Telekinesis] with [Fly] or [Rush] you could have incredible freedom in fighting."

    "It will take me a while until I learn [Wind Magic]."

    "Still…"

    "I could teach you," Ciel's bright smile lifts my spirits.

    "Later, there's too much to learn. Let's leave it for when I learn more about Andraste or when I finish my courses at the university."

    "Awn…"

    I will certainly buy you some teacher cosplay one day.

    "So anyway, how should I go making my own style?"

    "Well. Style is all about the strategy, [Sword Use] only tells you how to use a sword, the style tells you when to use the sword. I can show you the [Imperial Tower Style] as basis but you have to think of it on your own.

    "You have to think about things like posture, stance, footwork, strength, precision and speed of attacks or defenses, which direction to cut in, when and how to combo, grappling and bare handed attacks, feints and counters, weapons to use, and how to fight specific weapon and enemy type combinations. There's a lot to think about and your [Telekinesis] changes all of them, if you just adopt an existing style it will be very inefficient.

    "I see... it will really take a long time to develop a style, I guess I should just use a single point in [Imperial Tower Style] while we spar. By the way, how does this style compare to yours?" I ask.

    "This style is all about sword and shield while mine is more than just that, it encompasses all the weapons I use. It's also about fighting multiple enemies and how to counter them or overpower them. The imperial style is about coordination and working together with a simple sword and shield, the empire will never send their soldiers to be outnumbered or to work alone, I think this is why it would fit you well as a basis. It even tells about coordination with mages and archers, which you already do occasionally."

    Yes, that's certainly interesting. Coordinating with Alissa and Roxanne when I retreat opens up attacks for them, I already did this a few times before, if I master [Telekinesis] or [Rush] I can enter and leave attack range basically at will.

    While we talk Ciel pokes Roxanne's Shad with her finger. You shouldn't feel anything except for the mana leaking.

    "Wolf, you are not looking at us when we... go to the bathroom, right?" Ciel asks, frowning slightly.

    "I'm a pervert but I'm not that perverted. Besides, I can barely see a proper outline with their vision."

    "That's, good to know."

    We go back to sparring and I start getting pummeled by Lina, I better develop a style fast, she's reading my movements already. She's a bit scary when we spar, there's a fire in her that reminds me of Hana, but at least Hana knows how to go easy.



    Tonight I act as human dildo for Hana and Roxanne as they take the stress of the training on each other. Alissa gives me a few scratches, I really do enjoy the feeling of her nails.

    After we are all done Aoi gets out of her bored trance and pulls me and Hana together with her little claws. She always sleeps with either of us but when we sleep together she wants to sleep between both of us.

    I spend a few more moments staring at Vanea's ring. The shrieks of that space mage I killed keep repeating in my head, I'm scared of fighting, I'm scared of the unknown enemy. I have to trust those women, even Ciel who doesn't want to fight got convinced. They trust me and I trust them.

    I turn the ring green, I hope I didn't make a deal with the devil.
     
    Last edited: Dec 6, 2019
  9. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 2nd.

    Lina wakes me up, her jaw still hurts a bit so she gets Alissa to finish.


    I increased my "Charisma", [Sense Mana], [Nature Magic] and [Space Magic] by 1 (now 12, 2+6, 15+15 and 11+19), my [Summoning Magic] by 2 (now 12+17), my MP by 20 (now 710) and my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 270).


    Today we can't even go outside since it's raining, worst of all the griffin spirit doesn't appear and Aoi gets depressed. Without Lina to hug I sit on Hana's lap while she practices her control by making the smallest [Earth Bullet] that she can. Roxanne asked for a corgi so she can cuddle with it while she works.

    I bring Holly, a nature elemental, and my Shad in front of me while I observe them. The secret to level up is on them, Nononya's notes had a lot of information about anatomy but it isn't the same information that I can get if I use my soul to look inside their bodies.

    I "expand" my soul towards them and "enter" their bodies to explore. I don't cut my feeling of taste, I need to know precisely how each of these are made.

    Holly has a weird, diminutive body. She feeds on blood from unconscious victims, but the size of her stomach is too small to digest it, she must be absorbing the mana inside the blood. Mana courses through the body by using the veins as "guides", this makes blood the most mana charged part of our bodies, because of this many MP potions use blood of monsters as base ingredient.

    Holly also doesn't have any sort of fat storage, she must be using inverted [Manasynthesis], converting mana into energy for the body. The poison gland is interesting, it's a mix of using digested blood with some other ingredient created by mana, this is something that's not on her entry on the monster book.

    If I concentrate I can see in much more detail, I can go up to discerning the borders of every cell. Her cells are not glued by mana so these monsters shouldn't be vulnerable against emellanat. For their size they cost more mana than the elementals, it must be because their cells are more well developed. I wish I could look deeper into the cell, it starts to hurt my brain if I try to see more detail.

    Hana hugs me and rests her head besides mine.

    Shad's anatomy is basically nonexistent, it absorbs mana from the environment so it doesn't starve easily but it seeks out sources of mana, like mages. I can't see anything on their "bodies" besides where the soul rests, they are "magical beings", they do not follow the laws of physics like most monsters do. Roxanne's tail, wings and horns are considered to be of the same class of matter.

    They are not even considered spirits or ghosts, they are literally shadows. Their ethereal tendrils are semi-corporeal though, they have a very weak interaction with matter, allowing them to move things like when one tried to remove my sword.

    They react to interactions like Living Armors do, they get "cut" and "crushed" until their form breaks and dissipates. They easily interact with magic, which breaks apart their cohesion, but they have a lot of resistance to it. For example they don't "burn" from the [Firestorm], only the storm of mana raging through their bodies causes their cohesion to break.

    It's all interesting to learn more about their anatomy but it isn't doing enough to level the skill faster. I need to look deeper, this anatomy analysis is only after the summoning, I need to learn how matters is formed the moment the monster is summoned.

    Hana pulls my dick out and starts stroking it, with her other hand she fingers herself.

    "Hana?" I ask.

    "W-what you did, it felt so good," she answers, her breath is ragged and her face is very warm.

    Oh, I guess she touched my soul "expansion" for a moment.

    "We have to do it fast, we still have to train more."

    "Okay…"

    She turns me around and mounts me. Even on this comfy sofa my hips receive blunt trauma.

    The girls open their eyes for a second and then go back to their own training.

    "You should use that soul thing you do on all of us," Roxanne says.

    "That would... turn into... a massive... orgy," I say between crushing attacks.

    I still want to use the bunny ears hood on the girls, it's just that normal sex with each of them is already satisfying enough for now, I don't need even more stimulation.

    "Exactly," she gives an evil grin.

    "I'm not sure. It felt good but it only makes you feel like you are empty, like you are missing something," Ciel says, reminiscing my casual sexual harassment at the cave.

    "Like, a dick inside of you?"

    "I, ye-, w-, well, I guess so," Ciel stumbles on her words and her face reddens.

    Alissa opens her eyes and tilts her head. She and Lina are the only ones who didn't experience this.

    After finishing inside Hana, Roxanne helps me out and cleans us both with her tongue while I cast [Heal] on my hips.

    Back to training, this time I put my back to Hana's so she won't "accidentally" brush on my soul. I cast [Summon Monster] and use the orb method, I throw the summoning orb in the air and expand my soul, absorbing every moment as the ball falls and turns into Holly.

    There's too much information to process. I couldn't really see how it "appears" but I saw how it grows. It literally grows, from an embryo to a baby to a young monster to its adult form. It's like watching a video of a baby growing in fast forward, but I could also see how its insides grow.

    I dismiss it and summon a Shad. This time instead of it an embryo appearing it simply grows into its maximum size. I summon it again and focus giving it more power, it only grew a little bigger. I do the same with Holly and instead of being bigger it was "older", it spent more time "growing".

    I can modify the shape of the elementals at will but I can't do it with the monsters. If I killed a different kind, say an older or bigger type then sure, I can summon the bigger version, but I can't change their form. The only thing I can control is the age, I can only summon a "younger" version than the one I killed, I can even summon embryos, which are disgusting and die quickly. Interestingly I can summon armored goblins.

    Maybe if I increase my magical knowledge and mana control I can dabble on summoning customized monsters. There's many "safety measures" on this skill system that limit versatility.

    I try to focus on the moment the ball of light turn into an embryo to see if I can absorb more details but it's so fast that I actually doubt there's something in between these moments. It could even be that there's nothing there and it instantly turns into an embryo as soon as the light ball hits the ground.

    I observe every other monster that I can summon, except for the big ones like the Kite Dragon or the Symbol of Hate, they wouldn't fit inside this room. My knowledge of anatomy reached a limit.


    Today is nature class, more theory, at least we ended the talk about mating habits.

    The Gloomy Pervert taught us about the importance of the moons to nature, the brightest moon should influence the behavior of nature and the spirits. You shouldn't try to interact with nature when the brightest moon is red (aspect of aggressiveness), like for example, hunting, they are very aggressive during this period and many animals that are passive or skittish will actively fight back. When the purple (aspect of wickedness) moon is the brightest things get worse as the entire forest might hunt you and "play" with you. Indigo (aspect of othewordlyness) things just get... Weird, so it's also not that great of an idea to go to the forest. Any other color is fine.

    Alissa going away and coming is getting annoying, losing and gaining her blessing is stressing to me. I really do feel good when I'm near her and I'm starting to dread when she goes away. I'm tempted to ask her to always stay nearby.


    Lina spent the afternoon at home, sparring with the girls. I have cut her time at the library in half until she has gained all the combat skills she needs. She will stay home the same days I have to do strength training, we will do this training together, me for muscles, her for [Stonebody].

    When we are getting near home Holly spots a cloaked man who was at the same spot since last time. I tell Alissa to stop, I pull my sword out of "Items" and tie the belt to my waist.

    She goes back home to call the girls and in a minute everyone is by the corner of the street.

    This stalker is not even trying to hide, it's a big burly man with his face hidden by a hood. He is simply staring at our house a block away.

    "I don't think it's related to Darean, he's too obvious, maybe he just wants to talk?" Alissa says, slightly confused.

    "It's very suspicious to be cloaked and just staring at our house. Why doesn't he just come and knock?" Hana says and sends him an obvious glare, the man doesn't move.

    "He looks at bit drunk," Ciel says.

    After looking more carefully I see he's swaying slowly.

    "There's no one near him to help, Holly scouted the area and he's alone," I say.

    "Then there's nothing else to do besides confronting him," Alissa says.

    "Turn on the scrubber for safety," Lina says.

    I hope no space mage dropped a "coordinate" nearby.

    We carefully approach him. Once close enough I can see past his hood, black beard, round face, dark brown skin, it's Logan from Escutcheon.

    "Wolf... Ryder!" He says with a slur on his voice, clearly drunk.

    "Yes, me and my wives. And you are Logan."

    "Yesh...! I have been meaning to... talk to you..." I see a toothy grin.

    "What for? Why not just knock on our door?" Hana says, clearly very annoyed.

    "That's... Well, it'sh no matter! We are here now so let'sh talk!"

    Hana clenches her teeth.

    "Sure..." I say.

    "You remember little Hilde, right? That... Woman we were with sssome time ago? How long washit?"

    Uh... I'm bad with dates.

    "About a month," Alissa saves me.

    "Already!? Huh..." He loses himself in thought.

    "So, what about it?" I ask.

    He jolts back to reality and takes two steps forward.

    "We were shuppos' to protect her... Right?"

    "Only us, you were paid to kill the dragons."

    He takes another step forward. The girls are getting anxious.

    "Yesh but, we were shuppos' to help, like all good humanoidss we are shuppose' tha be."

    He takes another step, I can smell he didn't take a bath. Hana is gripping her sword.

    "And we did, we did all we could but it wasn't enough," I say, bitterness seeps into my voice as I'm being reminded of this.

    Lina makes a pained face, holding some tears.

    "It washn't enough!"

    He takes another step and falls on his knees. I can only stare at him, bewildered.

    "We weren't enough!"

    He grabs my waist and pulls me closer. He sobs and the hood falls off his head, he's completely disheveled, his beard is unkempt, and he lost considerable weight. Tears flow freely on his face.

    "We, didn't, do, enough," he mutters between sobs.

    Gods help me.

    After a few seconds of sobbing I put my hand on his shoulder.

    "There, there... We did all we could. Sometimes that's just not enough," I try to console him.

    "And that's how life is," Ciel says, she lowers herself to his height and rubs his other shoulder, "We live and we die, we do our best and even then we fail, so we should always live life to the fullest. Don't let her death ruin you too, if she could she would tell you not to waste your life with sadness."

    He hugs my waist tighter. Please stop, this hurts.

    "She was a strong woman, she will certainly spend some time in paradise. Now you need to grow more, you need to be stronger so you can join her when it's your time too."

    This does something to him, he loosens his grip slowly. Ciel grabs his chin and makes him look forward.

    "Remember to live well, you can still see her again one more time."

    "One more time..." He repeats.

    Ciel takes his arms off of me and pulls his hand so he stands again.

    "I'm younger than you so when it's my time I expect to see you there," I say.

    Logan chuckles. I hope this "paradise" works like this.

    Ciel grabs him and sends a few more words to him. His beard is wet but his tears ran dry. At least his eyes regain some focus, some of their wildness returns. She pulls him back and they walk a few steps until he stops.

    "Thank you, priestess," he looks at me and nods, "One more time…"

    Ciel taps him on his huge back and he walks away. Ciel comes back to us and sighs.

    "You worked well," I say.

    "His type is the most common at the temple, people who lost loved ones so they lose their way."

    I feel proud to have such a woman with me, I give her a kiss on her hand and she looks at me warmly.

    "You are a wonderful woman," I say and give her a pure smile.

    She waves me away and goes back home, cheeks dyed red.


    I feel like training to get my mind out of this. I have to train my strength with Lina so I have Hana work us both hard, Lina needs to clear her mind too, those memories are still painful to her.

    Lina still uses thin and loose white shirts when training just to provoke me. Her small, cute, and pink nipples are just inviting me, I see them get hard once I start staring at her. We go to the bath and I feel like punishing her, just as we enter the bath Hana moves towards me.

    "Roxanne, can you take care of Hana today?" I ask.

    Roxanne smiles and pushes her backwards. I take a look at Lina.

    "Someone was provoking me during training so I gotta deal some punishment," I glare at Lina.

    She misunderstands me and her face goes pale, slave training is still ingrained in her. I grab her and kiss her deeply, her tongue keeps still until I suck on it and she realizes what I'm doing.

    I angle my dick and immediately thrust. She gasps and soon she's yelling following by screaming. She grinds her teeth and closes her eyes, her senses are nearly overwhelmed.

    Her tight little pussy feels delicious, she squeezes me tighter and makes me groan in pleasure. She's so light I can easily pierce her just by holding on her cute little ass. I nibble on her lips and suck on her tongue, she barely has any energy to fight back.

    Once I'm near I take it out and shove it on her mouth, having her drink it all. She's getting good, she didn't choke.

    It seems punishment was effective as Lina decide to cover my chest with kisses, eliciting a jealousy response from Ciel who wanted attention. I felt peace as I played with Lina's hair with one hand and Ciel's with the other as I kissed her.

    At night I spend my time studying Andraste again. It reminds me of greek, not that I ever heard someone speak greek but the letters are strikingly similar. I will likely never forget them, I have seen too many alphas, betas, and thetas in math to forget how they look.

    "Ciel, why are there so few people with accents?" I ask.

    I barely remember anyone but Simon having an accent.

    "Most places have a teacher with a few points in Andraste, only the very small or isolated villages don't have a proper language teacher."

    Knowing how Simon behaves I'm not surprised. But this is interesting, it's not an "everyone has an accent" situation, people literally do not have accents due to the skill never changing along time. Words get added but the pronunciation of existing words never changes.

    I slowly play with Alissa and Roxanne in bed, can't have anyone feel neglected.


    Today is the 3rd.

    Hana wakes me up and then wakes Roxanne up with a sticky kiss.

    My [Summoning Magic] and [Andraste Language] increased by 1 (now 13+17 and 6+4). It seems I have to change my training regimen, simply repeating what I was doing won't take me much further. Even my MP increase slowed down.


    This morning I train my MP. I use [Fireball] this time because I actually miss having this spell readily available. The next days I'm going to train Wind and [Water Magic] too because the first spell of each of these schools can actually be useful.

    Leaving only Lina's Shad and Holly out I have enough mana to train. [Manasynthesis] is becoming really useful for this type of training.


    "What does the spell [Rush] has in common with electricity?" The professor asks.

    That's actually a good question.

    "It's for the same reason why [Lightning Bolt] is effective against metal armor while natural electricity isn't."

    Holy shit, I completely forgot about Faraday cages. Metal armor should protect against electricity except for burns due to heat, the way I use my bolt it flies through the body of my target completely unimpeded. Electricity wasn't my forte anyway.

    "It's all about the 'abstract concept'. Magic has two ways to work, the first is 'copying', it's when we try to copy a phenomenon, like say, a lightning strike. We try to copy all the conditions necessary for the phenomenon and supplant whatever we don't know how it works or can't recreate with our own pure mana, creating things out of nothing by sheer 'Willpower'.

    "The second way is the 'concept'. We copy characteristics of phenomenons and use them to create a spell that ignores the laws of our realm, we make it work in much more complex ways than a simple bolt of lighting.

    "[Lightning Bolt] copies the physical part of a real lightning strike but it ignores certain properties, in fact it completely inverses a property. [Lightning Bolt] 'copies' the affinity electricity has for metals and also uses it as 'concept' so it can ignore the individual differences in resistance, making the spell behave the same way regardless of the metal it touches.

    "It also uses a 'concept' of 'path' where charging the atmosphere with particles with opposite potential will 'ease' any sort of traversal. This is how you 'target' someone or 'guide' the bolt towards the body of the target.

    "[Rush] works on the same 'concept' of the 'path', it just takes it much, much further and has it affect yourself instead of a bolt of electricity.

    "So understanding these 'concepts' is what allows you to improve your magic and create more complex and frightening spells. Whenever you are training in a school of magic keep in mind these 'concepts' and you will increase the level of your skills with much ease."

    Lyle stares at his hero with a mouth hanging open, I believe he just got his mind blown.

    The professor takes us to the training range again so we can try out our new found inspiration. I mostly focus on [Rush], if I can couple this spell with [Telekinesis] my fighting style could become really ridiculous.

    Lyle became the class... "clown"? Everyone is eager to see what is he gonna do this time, whenever we have a proper increase in our skill levels Lyle tries something ridiculous. This time he's trying to use [Rush] as a way to increase the speed of his punches and kicks. Apparently he didn't see my [Rush]-powered facepalm, needing Hatara to heal him after he hit his shin at the training dummy with such force it gave me a chill.


    By the break Lyle calms down and we can have a proper conversation with him.

    "Hey, Wolf. I couldn't say this last time but our families took us to a dungeon so we could increase our levels. This time though, father made us fight together against a few Samu Stalkers, some wolves that live in the cold."

    "How did it go?" I ask.

    Garanae smiles.

    "Fur burns very well," he says.

    "Though the smell was horrible. I just wish I had more attack magic, staying behind like this isn't that pleasant," Hatara says, her green eyes look gloomy as she stares at her half empty tea cup.

    Garanae rubs her hand, bringing her back to her now usual gracious demeanor.

    "It's best that you don't have to work," he says with an unusual gentleness on his voice.

    "Stil doesn't help with the boredom," he answers with a bitter smile.

    "Anyway, now that father is giving us more freedom I wanted to explore a dungeon called Wisps of the Proud," Lyle says.

    Both Hatara and Garanae look away with a slight cringe. Lina reacts the opposite, her little mouth hangs open.

    "What's..." I pause to observe Lina's cute frozen expression for a moment, "So special about that dungeon?"

    "It's supposedly a burial site for a king of the dragonoid race."

    "Wait, dragonoid?"

    Lina's Trivia, part one: Dragonoids are more dragon than human while dragonkin are more human than dragon. The dragonoids that I saw in books have a dragon body full of scales but they are at most 3-meters tall and their bodies have skeletons similar to humans. They have long necks, long dragonic faces with thick horns, wide leathery wings, a thin but strong tail as long as their bodies, good affinity for magic, very muscular arms and legs that end in claws, and enough dexterity to rival humanoids.

    Lina's Trivia, part two: Most types of dragonoids are extremely brutal, they have a tendency to eat those who they fight and rape the survivors amidst all the blood and carnage, no matter if they are alive or not. Their extremely bestial behavior makes them very dangerous and I made sure to avoid dungeons with them.

    "It's suspected that this was a race that live in the Sea of Trees but got extinct before they ever made contact with anybody. The Sea of Trees is surrounded by mountains, it was rather difficult to get out of it until the empire carved an entrance with the forts Erda and Reita. The existence of the dragonoids would explain why the Sea of Trees has so many monsters of the dragon type.

    "And you wanna go there? A dungeon crawling with barbaric dragonoids?"

    "No no, Wo-... ,aster," Lina answers me, her bangs shake with her head, "These dragonoids are very subdued, they are more like emotionless guardians than the standard barbaric dragonoid."

    "Hmm... Then it's not a very popular dungeon if I never heard of it before."

    "Indeed, it's also not very hard to enter, but there's not much there. It's mostly an investigation site but not many people have interest on it because no one knows how to go deeper into the tomb."

    Lina's Trivia: Dungeoneering is exactly what the name implies, dungeon engineering. Seeing how the formation of a dungeon is a natural phenomenon, researchers found ways to manipulate how a dungeon is formed and even how to induce an artificial mana storm. Kings of old have created many tombs for them and their families using mana storms, the robustness of a dungeon as a tomb is unparalleled to anything even the empire of today can build.

    The most common signs of a dungeon-tomb is when the dungeon doesn't grow and when there is no reasonable way of getting deeper to reach the core.

    "So I have a proposal for you Wolf, how I about I hire you to escort us there?" Lyle asks.

    Lina barely contains her excitement.

    "I will have to talk to my wives but it's likely we will accept."

    Hardly anyone will have the heart to go against Lina's cuteness.

    "Wonderful!"

    "Are you two coming too?" I ask to the inseparable couple near us.

    "Archaeology is something we do not really know much about, you see," Garanae tries to excuse himself.

    Lyle rolls his eyes.

    "These two are like newly-weds, they completely abandoned me during the half-cycle break," Lyle gives a mock disdainful look to them.

    "We kinda are..." Hatara mutters with a blush.

    "You should enjoy your youth Lyle," Garanae says barely keeping a smile as his face distorts in embarrassment.

    "I am! You know that we have slower aging due to our Levels, I'm taking my time building my base until I have enough power to enjoy myself," Lyle turns his nose in a snobbish manner but still blushes.

    Lyle is level 28, Garanae is level 26, Hatara is level 19. Nobles normally have their children create parties with servants wearing the Ring of the Servant, then they kill monsters for them, power-leveling their children.

    "We do not need to tease you all anymore, you embarrass yourselves without our help," Alissa says with smug smile.

    They do not have a comeback, they all look away and try to hide their faces.

    Conversation goes back to normal after a while, Lina and Lyle start discussing where we are going to go. I talk to Lina at night about what she reads but I'm not such a history buff like Lyle is, I feel like he is her first friend ever since she joined us.

    I do feel irrational amounts of jealousy towards Lina, I just have such a protective feeling over her it's making me anxious. It's wonderful she's talking with someone but she's mine, she's my little thing, I just wanna hug her and kiss her and pet her and fuck her brains out.

    I unconsciously grab Alissa's hand and squeeze it. I only notice it when she's rubbing my hand with her other hand, this calms me greatly. I'm being irrational, gotta calm my heart, too much love will wilt our relationship.


    Back at home a single look at Lina and everyone agreed to Lyle's proposal. I discussed it with him quickly and we agreed in 1 gold per person escorted. We will meet on the eastern end of The Smirk at the 11th.

    At night I give Ciel some of the attention she was craving, I put on [Massage]. I start with cuddling and some light flirting, then I slowly massage her neck and give it some kisses. I pull her shirt up spilling those huge marshmallows but I focus on her back, I have her lay down on the sofa while I knead on her spine, giving more kisses and a few licks.

    Her cheeks flush and I see she's starting to get wet already. I move to her lower back and massage that huge perfect round ass, I'm not an ass guy but damn, girl. I have to summon all my willpower to not finger her right now.

    I move towards her thighs and spread oil on them. I give it a few bites along with kisses and licks. We are both breathing heavily, this woman is too much for me to keep my calm.

    I move to her calves and Alissa is already masturbating, she just stares at the tent in my pants and bites her lips sensually.

    I'm starting to lose my composure so I just move to her feet, Ciel moans with every press. I have her turn around, the view of her delicious nipples nearly pushes me over the edge. Her expression is of some heavily contained expectations, she's staring deeply into me just waiting for what I'm going to do next.

    I suck on her toe, she shivers and her brown face turns deep red.

    "W-what..." That's all she can muster, she's completely flustered.

    I keep sucking and licking while I massage her cute feet. She squirms but still doesn't take her feet away, she actually pushes them to me. She moans louder and I see that she got even wetter.

    I can't control myself anymore and I just pull my dick out and use her feet to get me off. The corners of her mouth twitch into a smug smile and she breathes heavier in anticipation.

    It doesn't take long and I cum all over her feet and legs, at the last moment Alissa puts a towel beneath her legs so the droplets that missed doesn't stain the sofa. CIel looks supremely satisfied.

    "We found your fetish, Ciel," Roxanne says with a grin.

    "N-n-no! It, it just felt good, this is not a fetish," he desperately looks at the others for reassurance.

    "Uh huh," Roxanne gives a sassy look.

    Ciel just purses her lips and tries to not look even more embarrassed.

    Hana, our dedicated cum-cleaner, cleans my dick with her mouth, making me flinch due to my sensitivity. Once she's done she licks Ciel's legs and clean them from all the cum, then she sucks on Ciel's feet just like I did. Ciel shivers wildly but she doesn't move, once Hana is done with one feet I help her and suck on the one she just cleaned, I don't want to taste my own cum.

    After a few minutes Ciel is breathing so heavily I would bet she would easily have an orgasm. She suddenly pulls her feet away and brings me forward, she kisses like she never did before. Then she pulls my waist and directs my dick inside her.

    She's so wet her panties are almost dripping, I slide in easily and focus on speed. She stops kissing me and just grabs my face, staring deep into my eyes. Her mouth hangs open and she barely moans, she's completely entranced. I grab her large nipples and play with them like I always do, making her mouth open even wider.

    Barely a few minutes of hard pounding go and I feel her insides tighten so much she's getting close to Roxanne's level of pressure. Her whole body trembles and her back arches, she just had a massive orgasm.

    All the wind goes out of her and she collapses on the sofa, her eyes lose focus. Roxanne claps her hands in excitement at such sight, Hana grabs Roxanne by the legs and starts licking her feet just like I did.

    Alissa pushes me out of Ciel and mounts me, she's just as wet as Ciel. I see Lina is now the one masturbating wildly, I call her over and finger her with a spare hand.

    Alissa soon orgasms on top of me but keeps going. I finger Lina so hard she yells but she never pulls away. Roxanne doesn't last long and both are already on a 69, biting and sucking on each others clits.

    The whole room smells like sex and the only one not doing anything is Aoi, soundly sleeping near the fireplace she herself lit. Ciel is just casually rubbing herself with her eyes closed and a very pleased expression.

    I cum inside Alissa so hard that after she gets off me she's dripping. This time Lina rushes over and cleans her dripping pussy with a few licks. Alissa completely freezes until Lina is done.

    I almost chastise Lina for this but Alissa pushes her hand as deep as she can inside herself and brings out more cum. Then she pushes her hand inside Lina's mouth, having her lick her fingers clean. This repeats a few more times until Alissa is satisfied with her "cleaning".

    I have to admit, I have a huge lesbianism fetish, just this sight got me hard again. This time Lina mounts me and with the help of Alissa they slap her thin waist into mine. Roxanne is fisting Hana, who screams in pleasure and pain, the entirety of Roxanne's hand is inside Hana.

    While Lina rides me I suck on her cute little toes and massage her cute little feet.

    "Yes, master, it feels... Good. Yes!"

    Lina stops talking and just yells again. I don't last long and finish inside her, then she cleans herself and drinks it again.

    By now I'm tired too tired to continue. Hana wants to fist Roxanne but it hurts her too much so she just contends with fingering her with all her speed, making her scream.

    We watch for a few more minutes until Roxanne begs to stop and Hana finally listens. We all collapse on the sofas, our bodies drenched with fluids and sweat, the room warm with the fire and our breaths, the air smells absolutely wonderful.

    "Good thinking on putting those towels around, Alissa, can't get those sofas stained," I say.

    "Uh? What...? Oh! Yes, we certainly made a mess," Ciel wakes up from her trance and looks around to the aftermath with embarrassment.

    Alissa giggles and pushes her tongue on my mouth. We spend a few more minutes just kissing until we all decide to sleep.

    Holy shit, now that was an orgy.


    Today is the 4th.

    Alissa wakes me up and I barely feel drained, [Enhanced Semen Recharge] doing its work.

    I gained [Fire Magic] with 1 point, I increased my [Electric Magic] by 2 (now 9+11), my MP by 30 (now 740) and my "Magic Power" by 10 (now 280).

    Alissa learned [Illusion Magic] with 2 points in it, she increased her [Mana Control] by 2 (now 3). Now she can properly mold her spell not to affect us. Her MP Increased by 110 (now 235) and her "Magic Power" by 41 (now 65).


    At breakfast Roxanne comes out looking haggard.

    "You didn't sleep well?"Ciel asks.

    Hana snorts.

    "She decided to spend more time working on those potions instead of coming to bed," he says.

    "I'm getting close to having a breakthrough on a poison, I just need a little more time, the training is taking too much of my time," Roxanne says, her mouth curves into a slightly evil smile.

    "Don't start overworking again, Roxanne," I say.

    "It had seemed she changed since the time she spent on the temple hospital, but I guess it didn't last long," Ciel says.

    Roxanne pouts in response.

    This morning I have to spend at the Dungeoneering Guild taking a look at information about the Wisps of the Proud. Alissa accompanies me, she takes her time analyzing the anatomy of the dragonoids. Interestingly they do not have nipples or breasts and have little sexual dimorphism. Thankfully these guardians of the dungeon aren't similar to the monster types, their never berserk like the monsters do.

    We have to buy some mountaineering equipment, we are going to have to scale some large walls and cross some big gaps, the terrain is not friendly there, specially if we cannot fly. I have to get Ciel to teach me [Wind Magic] so we can use [Fly]. We could use the dinghy but I'm afraid of the wind there, without protection from it like [Fly] does we risk getting swept into a wall or something, that dinghy is not very strong.

    Ciel visits Arantos, she had been visiting him regularly during the afternoons, this time she wants to have a word with him about Logan.


    Alissa got some nuts and not-olive oil that came from the empire Mainland. With this I show them "pesto alla genovese". Alissa thinks she heard about a similar dish, it might actually be a thing on the Mainland.

    TIme for Blessing class. After a long time chanting I manage to cast [Rainbow Shield], with this I raise my [Blessing Magic] by 1 (now 0+15) immediately.

    "Wonderful, wonderful," Professor Alciel claps her hand in excitement, "You are a natural at this type of magic, your chanting is not the best and your voice needs some adjustment but you have some inherent ease to learn magic that's envious."

    She unconsciously summons her angel wings, which quickly flap about in excitement.

    Well, I'm just a cheater.

    I wonder how much more powerful Roxanne can get if I use [Rainbow Crystal] on her. The problem with these spells is that they cost shit tons of mana, specially when I want everyone to have them, it takes quite a while to have everyone properly buffed.


    "Where's Miss Lina?" Lyle asks.

    "She's back at home practicing her combat techniques, she's going to fight on the front lines so she has to be in top shape."

    "Oh..." Lyle looks a bit disappointed.

    "Don't worry, you will have a long time to talk to her during our trip," Alissa says with a mischievous smile.

    Lyle looks away in embarrassment and changes the topic.

    I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. It's okay to be a bit jealous, she's just his friend, that's right, just friends, friends are good, she needs friends, just friends. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine...


    I make sure to give Lina (and Ciel after she gets a pang of jealousy) lots of love during bath, Roxanne and Hana are sleeping on my bed tonight so I have to do it before both of them drain me.


    Today is the 5th.

    Roxanne succeeds in making me cum before I wake up, though she has to use her inside muscles for it.

    "That was cheating," Hana says with a frown.

    "None of us can do something like this," Alissa says, also frowning.

    "Hihihih," she grabs Hana's head and uses her to clean herself.

    "Do you, admit, defeat, in front, of the, superior, succubus, race?" She says amid moans.

    Hana takes offense on her cheekiness and uses her for a while to punish her.

    Once we are almost finishing breakfast a very tired Roxanne comes out of our room.

    "You look well," Ciel says, knitting her eyebrows.

    "She's learning what being cheeky gets her," Hana says, folding her arms.

    "I don't really... regret it," Roxanne says with a stupid smile.

    "You want more?" Hana growls to her.

    "N-no! I'm fine! I'm sorry! Hahahahah..." She laughs awkwardly.

    Ciel and Lina blush until it's time for them to go to Bombur's.


    This morning I spend training my mana using [Wind Magic]. I wish I could focus on [Golemancy], I really want to give Ted and Suzy better voices and more physical strength. My morning gets interrupted when I feel my pocket get very warm.

    I take out Vanea's lithograph. The black liquid slowly forms words.

    "Tomorrow, 10PM, Baalfire's Tavern".

    Shit, already?

    Lunch is very tense. The expertly seasoned bacon, beans and cornmeal that Alissa and Ciel made with so much love tasted like sand to me.

    "How's Lina's training?" I ask Hana.

    "She's ready to fight grunts toe-to-toe but anything else she will get suppressed. I focused on teaching her how to defend properly first so she won't die easily," Hana taps Lina's shoulder with pride.

    Lina herself gives me a confident smile and a nod.

    "She and Hana also have enough mana and power for a proper chantless [Earth Bullet], it will certainly catch whoever fights them unaware," Roxanne says with another proud smile.

    "Remember it's only as a trump card, don't tell them of our skills," Ciel says.

    With Alissa's [Illusion Magic] ready, [Ghost Lights] makes it very difficult to dodge her arrows, if you look at her you could get nearly blinded by lights.

    "I will keep out my 3 Shad's and Holly, I still don't have much mana for anything else so depending on the terrain I will be on the back line. The Shad's will cover me, Alissa, and Roxanne. I will focus on scouting with Holly."

    I learned that summons know everything I know so I can use English with them to give them secret commands. Yelling your commands to your summons will ruin certain strategies since the enemy will know.

    Lina increased her "Strength", [Hammer Use], [Parry], [Dodge], [Muscle Explosion], [Shield Bash], [Battlefield Perception], [Dwarven Pride Style], [Mana Control] and [General Enchanting] by 1, her [Earth Magic] by 2, her MP by 70, her "Magic Power" by 35.

    Hana learned [Earth Magic] with 1 point, she increased her MP by 95 (now 220), her "Magic Power" by 36 (now 60), and her "Intelligence" and "Wisdom" by 1 (now 9 and 10).

    Roxanne increased her MP by 100 (now 1205) and her "Magic Power" by 21 (now 380).

    Ciel increased her "Willpower" by 1 (now 13), her MP by 80 (now 885) and her "Magic Power" by 20 (now 270).


    Info
    Name:AlissaAge:16RaceFox-Type Wereanimal
    HP:100MP:235Magic Power:65
    Level:29Experience:100/8000
    Stats
    Strength:11Endurance:18Dexterity:22
    Speed:20Intelligence:11Wisdom:12
    Willpower:16Charisma:10Piety:15
    Perception:17Sanity:15
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:Blessing from the Goddess of Love, Blinding Arrows
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Blood Slave (Owner: Wolf Ryder), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Roxanne Succubus, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina
    Crimes:NONE
    AlissaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use9Bow Use26Parry4
    Dodge2Sense Presence6Hide Presence4
    Enhanced Olfact5Enhanced Hearing3Hawk Eyes3
    Muscle Explosion1Quiet Steps3Quiet Action2
    Enhanced Stamina1Tracking2
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control3Fire magic1
    Light Magic1Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1
    Illusion Magic2Fox Transformation (innate)5
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Housework3Cooking4Cleaning2
    Washing 5Riding2Oral Technique4
    Pain Resistance2Hand Technique2
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)



    Info
    Name:Roxanne SuccubsAge:21RaceSuccubus-Type Demon
    HP:100MP:1205Magic Power:380
    Level:33Experience:6022/10000
    Stats
    Strength:8Endurance:9Dexterity:11
    Speed:8Intelligence:18Wisdom:17
    Willpower:14Charisma:15Piety:10
    Perception:10Sanity:12
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Helios (Fellowship), Wolf Ryder (Fiance)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina
    Crimes:NONE




    Roxanne SuccubusSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Dagger Use2
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana3Mana Control24Reduced Mana Cost3
    Mana Efficiency9Fire Magic22Water Magic23
    Ligh Magic1Space Magic8Conjuring Magic5
    Alchemy3Potion Brewing11Poison Brewing2
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Housework1Cooking1Cleaning1
    Washing1Riding1
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)

    Info
    Name:HanafuriaAge:23RaceFire-Type Dragonkin
    HP:150MP:220Magic Power:60
    Level:36Experience:11050/12000
    Stats
    Strength:19Endurance:24Dexterity:10
    Speed:13Intelligence:9Wisdom:10
    Willpower:19Charisma:16Piety:11
    Perception:9Sanity:17
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Blood Slave (Owner: Wolf Ryder), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina
    Crimes:NONE
    HanafuriaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use20Spear Use14Bow Use9
    Two-Handed Sword Use9Pole Arm Use6Dagger Use4
    Shield Bash6Block8Parry6
    Dodge4Tatesomu Style4Muscle Explosion4
    Battlefield Perception2Taunt3Intimidate2
    Enhanced Reflexes2Enhanced Stamina4Enhanced Strength2
    Enhanced Endurance4
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control1Fire magic1
    Earth Magic1Light Magic1Space Magic1
    Conjuring Magic1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel
    Housework 2Cooking 1Cleaning1
    Washing1Riding3Massage1
    Dismantling4Oral Technique1Pain Conversion1
    Fire Breath (innate)5Summon Wings (innate)2
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)



    Info
    Name:CielAge:21RaceHuman
    HP:100MP:885Magic Power:270
    Level:31Experience:3500/9500
    Stats
    Strength:14Endurance:13Dexterity:17
    Speed:18Intelligence:15Wisdom:18
    Willpower:13Charisma:17Piety:21
    Perception:12Sanity:19
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Helios (Fellowship), Templar Knights (Honorary Member), Temple Priestess (Former Member)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Lina
    Crimes:NONE

    CielSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Glaive Use15Sword Use5Parry8
    Dodge6Block4Imperial Hasterrum Style2
    Muscle Explosion2Battlefield Perception1
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana2Mana Control6Reduced Mana Cost1
    Mana Efficiency4Wind Magic15Fire Magic1
    Light Magic24Space Magic3Conjuring Magic1
    Diagnosis7
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    First-Aid3Housework3Cooking2
    Cleaning1Washing1Riding1
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)



    Info
    Name:LinaAge:15RaceDwarf
    HP:100MP:270Magic Power:140
    Level:21Experience:1240/7000
    Stats
    Strength:8Endurance:8Dexterity:12
    Speed:11Intelligence:16Wisdom:11
    Willpower:17Charisma:10Piety:10
    Perception:14Sanity:11
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (master), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel
    Crimes:NONE

    LinaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Hammer Use5+9Parry1+4Dodge0+4
    Block0+6Muscle Explosion1+1Shield Bash0+1
    Battlefield Perception1+1Dwarven Pride Style1+1Enhanced Speed2+0
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control4Mana Efficiency1
    Fire Magic1Earth Magic3+2Light Magic1
    Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1General Enchanting8
    Magic Tool Carving1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    General Blacksmith4Sewing4Housework1
    Cleaning2Washing1Math4
    Riding2Stonebody (innate)3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)


    We have to level Roxanne and Ciel so they can learn more advanced spells, Hana is also suffering from only having 2 skill points left.

    We tried to formulate a plan but aside from brushing up on our team tactics there's not much else to do, we don't know who and where we are fighting.

    Due to the tenseness of the atmosphere I summoned a corgi for the girls.

    "Roxaaanne, It's my turn now," Ciel cries.

    "Nuh-uh you spent 15 minutes with it last time, I'm not even 10 yet," Roxanne answers, keeping the corgi away from her reach.

    "We didn't even get a chance to cuddle with it yet," Alissa says, her fox ears drop.

    I massage my eyes and try not to laugh at them.

    "How about this, we cycle the corgi, Ted, Suzy, and Aoi. Ten minutes and then you girls change the one you are cuddling with," I say.

    Aoi raises her head, just waking up from her nap on Hana's shoulder. Hana looks at me as if I was stealing Aoi.

    "Let's all share the things we love, we are all mature enough for that, right?" I say, the two girls look guiltily at each other, "Just like how you all share me we should share other things, right?"

    They nod. I look at Hana, she purses her lips and then nods.

    I'm glad I did this. Lina and Alissa monopolize everything until it's time for my classes. I certainly did not expect a teddy bear riding a corgi having a mock battle with a cloth doll riding a small dragon.


    I try to focus on my mana cost class, I feel it's related to how mana in general works. It's essentially the same thing as "Magic Power", you do more with less, it's just that it's something deliberate. With the skill you learn how to do it while "Magic Power" it's your body that increases its "affinity" with mana.

    The professor is telling us to focus on the unit of mana, the smallest amount of mana you can invoke and turn into a spell, to focus on this and repeatedly try to increase the power of the spell while maintaining the same mana cost.

    Normally this is impossible, mana cost equals power used but he's trying to have us disassociate these two concepts. Mana equals power but the conversion isn't static, it's dynamic, it depends on our "Intelligence" to learn more about mana, our "Wisdom" to refer back to what we already know and our "Willpower" to force the world to bend to our will. In the case of [Light Magic] our connection to the gods helps us change the world in accordance to their will, we understand more of it and allow them to help us channel magic through our bodies.

    I feel like I understand it, somewhat. The focus on the unit of mana is helping me, it's like it's on the tip of my tongue. It's dangerously close to direct mana manipulation, or rather, it's nearly the same thing, we are manipulating how the mana is used for our spells. We are rejecting the reality of how mana works and replacing it with our own.

    I feel refreshed and excited, this is kind of a mindfuck for me but I feel like I grasped something significant over this lesson.

    "It's all on the unit of mana, that's the secret," I say.

    "Hoh, for me it's more on the 'building' aspect of the spells, I feel like there's redundancy," Toroo says.

    "What do you mean?"

    "Well, I have been observing how mana flows through me and I see that every spell has many similar aspects, the gathering, the conversion, the building, the expulsion, and the trigger. The 'building' part seems very similar, like a 'stack of boxes', just that they are not all boxes and instead they have many shapes and forms. I have been trying to see how they can fit better together, the more 'snug' this building is the more stable the spell is, requiring less mana."

    Interesting. I haven't been looking very closely to how exactly the mana transforms into a spell, my concern was more philosophical, I guess.

    "That's a completely different view from what I have. I guess mine is about rejecting the way magic is formed and creating your own in a more efficient or rather, personal way."

    "That! That's what I was thinking about!" Lyle exclaims.

    Hatara and Lyle are leaning more to my side, Garanae is leaning to Toroo's side. Well it's not really a "side", more like a perspective. I can focus on training on my perspective but when I reach a wall I can switch to Toroo's perspective to continue leveling the skill.

    Alissa and Lina pay a lot of attention to our discussion, both are wanting to get more involved in magic so it will be useful for them in the future.


    Back at home I spend all my free time giving attention to each of them. Except for when we leave for a dungeon we always get very tense and sex help us all relax, though I feel drained again, 6 times on a single night, Hana wanted seconds.

    Tonight is Ciel and Lina on our bed. I crawl inside and nearly collapse, life's good.

    Ciel comes behind me and squishes my head in her bare breasts, it's her turn to cuddle with me. I grab Alissa and hug her from behind, Lina is then hugged by Alissa. It's going to be warm but I can deal with it, I'm already used to sleeping like this.

    "Say, Wolfy. What is sex to you?" Ciel asks.

    "The ultimate show of affection to your partner, that's the common interpretation on my world. Why do you ask?"

    "Well, your world is different so I wanted to know if we thought things similarly."

    "In comparison to my world, people in here have sex much more easily. The most unusual thing I see is prostitution being so accepted, religion in my world is not very fond of casual sex."

    "So 'love' is the only accepted reason for having sex?"

    "Kinda, the idea of having sex only for pleasure is accepted up to a certain point but it's complicated. The idea of selling your body is definitely not accepted in a large part of the world, even on the parts that are accepted it's not a respected profession. Also, people would definitely be disgusted to what I did to Alissa, Hana, and Lina."

    Now Alissa and Lina turn their heads towards me.

    "What do you mean?" Alissa asks.

    "Slavery is not accepted, in my world you are basically sex slaves, I have absolute power over you. Even if you consent to having sex with me your decision would be considered biased, tainted by the fact that I can punish you in any way I want if you deny me. Even if I treat you like an equal you are still subservient to me, you are not able to give me proper consent to me, so in a way, I am raping you."

    Alissa grimaces.

    "The Gods say it isn't so, I do not care what your world is like, I am yours and you are mine," her voice is tinged by anger.

    Hearing her say these words brings me peace.

    "When in Rome, do as the Romans do, that's a saying in my world. I'm trying my best to adapt to this world, I do not care what others would think of me back at the home I abandoned. I already made my decision to live here as Wolf Ryder."

    Alissa kisses my lips lightly, Ciel kisses the back of my neck. I extend my hand to Lina and instead of coming to me she kisses it, that's not what I wanted but whatever.

    "In this world sex has more uses," Ciel says, "It can be a way to give comfort to loved ones or help ease their pain, even if that person is merely a friend or family."

    "Wait what, incest is a thing?"

    "Incest?" Alissa asks.

    "Parents having sex with children or siblings having sex with each other."

    "Yes, as long as you don't procreate," Ciel continues, "Keep in mind the Sin of rape, family rapists suffer in hell for much longer."

    "Is there an afterlife? Like, when you die your soul goes to suffer in hell or have pleasure in heaven?"

    "Heaven?"

    "Paradise."

    "Yes, there is. Sinners suffer in hell in proportion to their sins, some necromancers try to trap their souls eternally or simply break their spirits making them dissipate into nothing so they don't have to go through hell, no one knows if that works," he shrugs, "Others try to become undead, but that is another thing completely. Paradise is a place for family to reunite one last time, it's also for heroes that did not get to live long enough to enjoy their rewards. Anyways, we are digressing, you said that prostitution is not accepted?"

    "Yes, selling your body is not accepted."

    "So who heals the broken and the lonely?"

    "Therapists, I guess. These problems of the mind are given much less attention than the ones of the body. Things were improving on that area, though. Do prostitutes do that?"

    "Prostitutes are trained by priests in how to help the lonely or those with a broken heart or mind. During sex people bare their hearts to each other, it's in this most vulnerable state that we can truly see inside someone's mind and give them the proper help they need."

    Sex as comfort and healing, seems progressive.

    "Seeing how prostitutes might be the most common client for priests it makes sense they help each other."

    "Indeed. Surprises me it isn't like this in your world, you said they had more evolved knowledge of the non-magical sciences."

    "Things are more complicated than that, the morality of my world is different. Over here people are pragmatic and hierarchical, in my world people are very individualistic. It's a very heterogeneous world, I think that the lack of the Gods made people go their own ways, only in science can we find the most things in common that we agree upon."

    And even in science there's a lot to disagree on.

    "So the world is in the Age of Discord," Lina says.

    "A proper comparison, but my world is much, much less deadly."

    The conversation dies down on this point. Prostitutes with a degree in psychology, incest, and sex for comfort. This world never stops to surprise me.


    Today is the 6th.

    Alissa wakes me up, she was so delicate I dreamed we were floating in the sky as she gave me head. When I woke up I was a little confused whether or not that dream was real.

    I pull her close to me and hug her tight. The shrieks of the dying space mage woman replay in my head every time I think about tonight.

    "What are you feeling?" Alissa asks.

    "... Scared…"

    "So am I…"

    There's no more words that need to be said.

    I pull strands of her hair from blocking her beautiful orange eyes, which then look deeply into mine.

    I grab one of her ears and just massage it, she lets out a sound that was almost a purr.

    She runs her hand through my hair and we give each other a massage until Ciel and Lina properly wake up.

    I increased my MP by 20 (now 760) and my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 285), it seems I couldn't focus much on training yesterday due to Vanea's message. I learned [Wind Magic] with 1 point and surprisingly I learned [Reduced Mana Cost] with 2 points.


    The gloomy mood spreads and we eat breakfast in silence.

    "Let's just relax this morning, we already trained all we could and it's best that we don't go into battle too tense," Alissa says.

    There are no arguments against this. We spend this chilly morning in front of the fireplace, we bring blankets and pull the table away so we can all cuddle in front of it. I spend my time brushing Alissa's tail and hair, I just love to touch this fluffiness, it's not the fluffiness itself that makes me happy but it's the person it's attached to.

    After a while I just hug her from behind and rest my chin on her shoulders. Lina is sleeping on Ciel's lap, which in turn is playing with Lina's silky hair. Roxanne is taking care of Hana's hair, she grumbles whenever she finds a matted patch, she first brushes it then she passes some oily hair product so it won't mat anymore, Hana is just obediently sitting still. Ted and Suzy are awkwardly dancing with each other in front of the fireplace, something Roxanne taught them.

    Aoi is on Alissa's lap, she traces her fingers lightly over Aoi's scales. Aoi raises her head and looks at me.

    "Saa?" She asks.

    I feel she wants to know why we are all so sad.

    "We are not sad, we are tense, we will have to fight."

    "Faig, fuun," he strains herself to talk.

    She thinks fighting is fun. It might be if we are on a dungeon and we know what's coming.

    "We are fighting other people again, it's not fun for us to fight other humanoids."

    She looks confused and tilts her head, imitating Alissa. Cute.

    "For us, fighting other humanoids there's no glory, it's... Almost like fighting a friend," Alissa says.

    "Freen?"

    Aoi is starting to understand what the other girls talk, but they don't fully understand her yet.

    "Almost a friend," I say.

    "Udeer-tan…"

    I reach over and rub her slick head.


    In space class the professor made the students demonstrate [Item Box], then he held a discussion about how the skill feels and how it could be modified. Not that many space mages actually reach level 20 on this magic school, those who are dedicated enough can improve the amount they can carry without increasing the level of the skill. I didn't participate much and thankfully the professor didn't mind.

    Listening to Lyle and Lina helped me clear my mind, even though jealousy burned in my heart.


    I cast on everyone [Wind Armor], [Sharp Blades], [Swift Foot], [Rainbow Shield], and [Rainbow Crystal]. The last spell creates a faint rainbow diamond on the back of our hands, it's certainly more visible than the other spells.

    We make a simple dinner and by 9:30PM we leave towards Baalfire's.
     
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2020
  10. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    We all wear simple weapons at our sides but we don't wear our armor, it would be too conspicuous.

    The tavern is on the main road near the castle so it's a rather well made building. It's a brown and grey brick building squashed between two other bigger food shops. The tavern has no windows and a very heavy metal door, it reminds me of the "secret club" type of pubs where it was mostly a discreet and quiet place for higher class men to share a few smokes and drinks.

    Once we enter my suspicions are confirmed, the ambient is filled with murmuring, the occasional laughs and smoke of whatever thing they use to smoke around here. Everyone is dressed in rather conservative velvet clothing but of high quality, there's very few women in here. Seems like a gathering point for official servants of the town.

    Our eyes adjust to the low-light environment as the murmuring reduces and I hear the music being played.

    "♪ He saw no way around. The monster made him pause. His companion was about to fall down. So he jumped into those claws! ♪" The singer makes exaggerated movements as he sings.

    As we walk the stares increase. Alissa motions to us and we quickly sit down on a table, it's very snug and comfortable, the low hanging light on the table makes our faces less recognizable.

    "♪ Like a hero from legend. He used [Shocking Touch]. He paralyzed the wretched. And bet it all on a clutch! ♪" The singer quietens as the instruments start a crescendo.

    A proto-waiter appears before us.

    "Good evening grand patrons. Would you like to go to our exclusive room? We can give you more personalized service worthy of someone of your position," his voice rings in our ears but his unnatural emphasis makes it obvious to us what he wants.

    "Sure, lead the way," I say.

    "♪ The monster was a fearsome foe. No one would dare get so close! He attacked but his heart was filled with woe. Until his companion made the monster explooode! ♪"

    The lyrics makes me uncomfortable but the instruments are being played well, with a little tuning it could be an epic song.

    We move deeper into the tavern and enter a corridor. The proto-waiter stops and looks around, there's no one here besides us, then he opens a side door leading downstairs and motions for us to go.

    "The bottom door," he says and leaves.

    The stairs go down for what seems to be a few floors underground, we go deep below the city. There are a few heavy doors flanking us but we continue. We finally reach the end of the stairs and open the last heavy door.

    On a very wide and unremarkable grey room Vanea and Haaran are hunched over a table with a few papers and drawings. Surrounding them are men and women in fully plate armor, a few have leather or robes.

    Once we enter all heads turns to us and Vanea gives me a wide and genuine smile. Aside from a few people most knights give us looks of annoyance. Alissa and Lina return the stares, they seem unmoved at the attention. Hana is completely unfazed. Ciel and Roxanne shiver as they get the full brunt of both the siblings soul-piercing stare for the first time.

    Haaran rolls his eyes and puts a sack of what could be coins, due to the sound they make, on the table. A devil-type knight besides him snickers and puts the sack on his [Item Box].

    "What a pleasure to know you are here, Mr. Ryder," Haaran greets me with a bitter smile.

    The gazes of the siblings penetrate my [Mental Resistance] and give me a shiver.

    "I'm merely fulfilling my part of the deal," I force a smile with a small bow.

    "I told you it was a stupid bet," Vanea says with a smug smile towards her brother.

    Haaran's face scrunches up for a moment.

    "Sir Haaran bet we wouldn't fulfill our word?" Alissa raises an eyebrow in annoyance.

    "Not... Exactl-..."

    "He bet you would come in all scared and skittish," says the devil-type man.

    "Marduk…" Haaran says in a low growl.

    The man bites his lips to suppress a smile. This exchange amuses Alissa and Hana, but it only makes Lina angry.

    "Anyway, let's continue with our business at hand," Haaran says through gritted teeth and a forced smile.

    His embarrassed face makes him look like another person, he looks almost... Normal.

    "Come around, everyone, it's time for a briefing," Vanea says and everyone bunches up around the table.

    There's a large diagram with what seems to be a map of part of the town. There are a few simple carved wooden soldiers surrounding a specific building. One has a golden dot on the top of its head, another has a silver dot, a third has a red dot, and the others have numbers.

    "First of all, context," Vanea starts, her face becomes neutral again, "We are dealing with an information leak, there's a spy in the castle that's hampering our efforts. This is the only information everyone is allowed to share, anything else is on a need-to-know basis. Do not share this information with anyone else besides your superiors."

    "For this operation I assembled this team. First is my brother, who will be leading gold squad. His second-in-command is Sir Marduk."

    The devil-type man waves. His skin is red as blood and his eyes are black. His features are thin and a bit effeminate. He barely looks like a proper knight with his smirk crooked smile and casual posture.

    "For leader of silver squad will be Dame Larana, her second-in-command is Sir Tarano."

    A petite werecat woman waves. She reminds me of a Maine coon, grey skin and white hair with black stripes. Small snout, whiskers, yellow cat eyes, and cat ears. Her eyes are sharp and her face is bony and imponent, she looks calm and cold.

    A small incubus-type man clenches his fist over his chest. He's similar to Sonny, pale white skin and hair, but red eyes instead of yellow. Small spiral horns on the temples and a dagger-like tail floating besides him. He has a bit of a ratty face with a long nose, thin chin and a suspicious smile.

    "And this is the fellowship Helios, they will be red squad. Mr. Wolf and Misses Alissa, Roxanne, Hana, Ciel, and Lina. None of you except for Haaran has fought with him yet but I won't hear a single complaint," her gaze washes over every knight, "I have no time to deal with inflated pride, this operation is too sensitive to let petty feelings get in the way of the results. If any of you have any doubts remember this fellowship killed the Symbol of Hate and fought side-by-side with Haaran during the goblin village extermination."

    The mood of the knights turn into surprise and they murmur between each other. A little bit of fear enters their hearts and the annoyance they have with us slowly disappears, no one seems stupid enough to go against her.

    "Quiet. Now, for the operation. Two days ago one of our sniffers found a trail of Farana Uiara's scent while she was buying simple groceries on a shop, she was being escorted by two men. We got our stalkers after her and we tracked her going inside this mansion," Vanea points to a large rectangle on the map, "She hasn't come out yet but we had a tracker sense her presence in there."

    "We have detected twenty people plus Farana in there. We do not know about their equipment but there hasn't been much movement inside, we think these are well trained guards since they don't go outside. Farana herself is restricting her own movements a lot, she believes she's in danger but she doesn't know just how..." Her face twitches as she forces herself not to swear, " much danger she is in."

    "There's movement on the buildings surrounding the mansion. One of my spies confirmed these to be simple guards who rotate their deployment and think they are just protecting the daughter of a merchant."

    "A few of the knights will have to deploy around the mansion to hold these guards, we are certainly going to have to fight so I would rather fight with less men than risk being flanked by random confused grunts," Haaran says.

    Vanea places around 6 numbered soldier carvings on the buildings surrounding the mansion.

    "You all know where the buildings you are assigned are and how to get to them. Any questions?" She looks to the knights in question.

    6 plated knights hit their chests with a closed fist and shake their heads.

    "No, my dame," says one of them.

    "Continuing. The rest of the numbered knights will surround the mansion and guard the exits. If someone tries to run use your signal bombs and try to delay with the rest of your tools, but don't try to fight if you are outnumbered."

    7 carvings are positioned around roads leading to the mansion.

    "Silver squad will go through the back first and carefully enter the mansion. Two minutes after we will get gold squad and red squad to storm the front. Both gold and silver will use the scrubbers to prevent escape once the assault truly begins. Only Farana gets to live, everyone else don't bother leaving alive," her voice turns cold.

    "What if they surrender?" Ciel asks.

    "Cut their legs and heal them, then go back to the fight. You shouldn't have a problem with this, right, priestess?" Vanea glares at Ciel.

    Ciel sustains her gaze and glares back.

    "No, as long as we do not kill with reckless abandon."

    "For me the most important thing is that none of my men dies. I don't know how much loyalty these mercenaries have but none of them is worthy of risking one of these knights," Vanea shows a disturbing smile.

    A few of the younger knights straighten up in pride, for as much they fear her they still greatly respect her. Haaran raises his hand to call attention to him.

    "Anyway, we have to move in the dark like this otherwise she might use a rogue space mage to escape. We know they had contact with one, this means they know where to go for such services so if we try to scout more we risk her escaping. This is an important woman, lover of a very important enemy to Rabanara, she's the key to catching this spy," he says.

    "This is it, any questions?" Vanea asks.

    All knights hit their chests with a closed fist and repeat in unison.

    "No, my dame."

    "I would like to speak with Dame Vanea in private," I say to Vanea.

    I feel that if I said "you" one of the knights would slap me.

    "You are all dismissed!" She waves at the knights.

    The knights straighten up and everyone moves towards the exit. The room empties as Haaran is the last one out.

    "We have to decide upon a reward," I say.

    "Ten gold for each of you," she answers immediately, "Also, thirty more gold coins as the bounty for those kidnappers you killed."

    We are taken aback in surprise. I look at Lina and she nods to me. Vanea chuckles.

    "Five gold would be the standard for an inexperienced group of mercenaries. But we have no reason even try to rip you off, we treat and pay those who work for us very well," she smiles innocently.

    "I would prefer the better treatment than the better pay."

    "You don't have to worry, I will value your help greatly. You can even keep the money as a gift of goodwill."

    I give her a thankful nod.

    "Well then, can you watch over my dragon until we come back? She's not combat-ready for this type of battle.

    Aoi looks at me with biggest puppy eyes she can muster, when I show no reaction she looks for support on the other girls. None of them flinch, Hana gives her a kiss on the top of her head and pats her.

    "You will be ready in a few years, perhaps," she says.

    Vanea raises an eyebrow.

    "Sure, I will be waiting in the [Gate] room so she can just stay there. If she stays in the corner of the room nobody will bother her."

    "Understood, that is all."

    "Come to the first room to the right."

    As Vanea leaves I relay the message to Aoi and I feel the same coldness and loneliness of when we first met. Being left alone in the corner with nobody giving attention to her is exactly what her parents did ever since she was born.

    "We will not be able to always stay by your side, my little dragon," Hana says with a softness that could even soothe us, "But you have to trust us, we will come back, we are not abandoning you."

    "Wolf will never abandon us, we will never abandon him, and we will never abandon you," Lina says.

    "Thruus-t..." Aoi forces out.

    "Yes trust us as we trust you," I say.

    She sadly nods and hangs her head low.

    We pull out our recently padded armor. All our chest pieces now have a small white gem near the neck, we just send a small amount of mana to the gem and it will cast [Breeze] depending on the amount of mana, this will keep us from overheating in this amount of fur. Some silver lines circle around the inside of our armor and even go down towards our pants.

    We had the two-handed emellanat sword reforged into a smaller bastard sword that Hana can use, the remaining metal of the reforged sword got added to Ciel's shield. I'm using the one-handed emellanat sword. The other shield with emellanat we had it removed and added to Lina's shield. Our front line is nearly spell-immune, emellanat can only absorb a limited amount of "Magic Power" after all.

    "How are you feeling, Wolfy?" Alissa asks.

    "I'm fine."

    She grabs my hand, I notice I'm shaking.

    "Well I guess I'm very anxious. What about Lina?"

    She looks at us, she's frowning but she's not shaking.

    "I guess better than me," I laugh, then I turn to Ciel, "What do the Gods say about killing?"

    "A life without conflict goes against the teachings of the God of Change, but we need a very good reason for this conflict. No life shall be wasted."

    "Senseless murder", so there are reasons for it to be accepted.

    "Are you ready to fight, not for yourself, but for us?" Alissa asks.

    That surprises me a little.

    "I fought for you when we were attacked by the Red Smile," I say.

    "But you lost yourself, you weren't ready."

    "I admit I'm fearing this a little…"

    "We all are," Hana interrupts.

    "Yes, we all are. But right now I am ready, as ready as I'll ever be."

    She smiles then gives me a peck on the lips.

    I silence the shrieking woman in my head. There's no time for fear, there's only time for being resolute. I need to strike true and with decisiveness, hesitation will get you killed. I will deal with my PTSD some other time.

    Fortune favors the bold. Fear is the mind-killer. Hesitation is the kiss of death. Fortune favors the bold. Fear is the mind-killer. Hesitation is the kiss of death. Fortune favors the bold. Fear is the mind-killer. Hesitation is the kiss of death...


    We enter the room Vanea talked about, it's another unremarkable room. The knights are all forming lines in front of robed men and women I haven't seen before. Vanea points to us to a robed man with no one in front.

    "Form a line here, this space mage will send you to your destination. Haaran's squad will appear near you, just remember to follow him and everything will be fine. Here," Vanea motions and a servant besides her opens a box for us.

    "Grab one of these necklaces, they have been blessed by the Goddess of Will and will give you some [Mental Resistance], it should be enough to resist against [Illusion Magic]. This is a gift so don't even think about losing or selling it," she gives me a stern look coupled with a sweet smile.

    It's similar to Roxanne's, a simple necklace with a metal medallion, a pair of closed eyes is drawn on relief.

    We give our thanks as we take the necklaces.

    "Everyone ready...? Good. Now... GO!" Vanea orders.

    A black circle appears in front of us, we give one last look to Aoi, depressingly curled on the corner of the room and one by one we enter it.

    I am ready.


    We appear in an alley, it ends in a road and on the other side of this road there's another alley. Shining in the moonlight a group of plated knights comes out of it, Haaran in the lead. He waves us over.

    My skills are like this:

    Wolf RyderSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use10+8Dodge5+5Parry5+5
    Block2+8Shield Bash0+1Battlefield Perception1+1
    Muscle Explosion1+1
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana3+6Mana Control0+9Mana Recovery9+0
    Mana Efficiency4+5Reduced Mana Cost7+2Mana Overuse Resistance0+3
    Fire Magic0+1Earth Magic0+3Wind Magic0+1
    Electric Magic9+11Light Magic4+6Space Magic11+19
    Summoning Magic13+17Blessing Magic5+15Nature Magic0+15
    Illusion Magic0+2Golemancy0+2Redirect Mana (creator)3
    Sense Soul (creator)3
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Andraste Language6+4Dismantling0+3Massage0+1
    Enhanced Semen Recharge0+4
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)
    I discreetly summon Holly behind us and whisper her to fly around the mansion.

    We huddle near a corner on the road, if we take that corner the mansion is straight two blocks down. Haaran looks at a clock in his hand, when it turns into exactly 10:10PM a ring on his other hand turns green. Through Holly I see a group of 6 people sneaking towards the back of the mansion, they are completely covered by the darkness so only with night vision they could be seen. Now we wait, two minutes.

    Haaran's sword and shield are different. The sword has gems on the handle, his shield also has a few on its back. Makes sense to put those things where people can't really see, enchantments must be hidden from the enemy to catch them unaware. I feel a hint of mana coming from them, definitely powerful enchantments.


    Not even a minute goes by and the ring turns red.

    "They got spotted, charge!" Haaran orders and we rush down the corner.

    I feel mana gathering besides us, a mage from Haaran's squad is casting something. Another mage is fiddling with a small black gem, it's the scrubber. In a moment I'm attacked by the discomfort of having my [Gate] blocked.

    "[Fireball]!"

    The spell flies forward and hits the gate, it burst open the same moment the double doors of the mansion are violently open.

    10 men and women pour out of the doors, one familiar cloaked woman is behind them. Everyone looks a bit "odd", it's just slightly straining to keep an eye on them. The necklace is working, they are all using [Ignorance] but its effect was greatly reduced.

    4 men step forward with shields, 2 have spears, 2 have bows and 2 have staffs. The shield users have some very thick textile armor, either brigandines or fur-padded chest pieces. Haaran has 2 shield users plus himself, 2 spears, 1 archer and 1 mage. The enemies are level 30-40, the knights are level 40-50, Haaran is level 56.

    "She's at the back!" Alissa yells.

    All the men and women in front of us looked very wary and angry, after Alissa yell a little bit of fear enters their expressions, they now look desperate and desperate warriors are the most dangerous.

    They quickly form a line in front of us, too quickly. They are all completely dressed and armed, this wasn't a complete surprise for them. Worst of all, the shield users bring out war hammers, they were prepared to face the knights.

    Now comes an important part, the mages try casting area spells on each other.

    "I'll interrupt!" Roxanne yells.

    "I'll cast!" Ciel yells.

    "I'll cast!" Yells the other mage.

    "I'll interrupt" Yells one of the spear users.

    I feel a large amount of mana moving wildly around us. Feels like a storm, but this is only a small battle, a real fight between armies could cause a real mana storm to form and consequently, a dungeon.

    I feel like there are two black holes near us, creating a swirl of mana and absorbing it when it gets too close, those are area spells being cast directly in the middle of us. One of their spearmen is chanting something, another half-mage like Ciel.

    Just like how you control mana at range to cast a spell like [Firestorm], others can also control that mana and interrupt your spells. This phase of the battle is a dick measurement battle, the one with the biggest amount of control wins, but that rarely happens, you need a huge amount of [Mana Control] to finish a spell while being interrupted.

    "I'll interrupt!" I yell.

    I focus on one of the black holes, controlling mana is like trying to hold on multiple balls at the same time, you eventually learn how to juggle but it's always a large effort. Interrupting a juggle is much easier than juggling yourself, I "grab" the "event horizon" of the spell and pull it apart, it stretches a little and I see the spearman wince.

    The other spell gets broken and the black hole disperses. I feel more "hands" grabbing this spell, with all this power the spearman doesn't hold and the spell is pulled apart. The mana is released and the storm recedes, only ripples of this storm remain on the atmosphere. Ciel and the allied mage's spell are broken too.

    The front lines are understandably anxiously staring at each other. If one of the spells went off then chaos would have happened without them being able to do a thing.

    I cast [Lighting Bolt], the shield guy that receives it didn't even flinch.

    "EMELLANAT!" I yell.

    Even Hana's [Fire Breath] won't have much effect on the front line.

    "ATTACK!" Haaran commands.

    Something on his voice lifts our spirits and clears our minds. Did he learn [Godly Language]? Such magic is restricted to high lords and royalty.

    No time for this, the front line moves forward and the back line runs for cover. The enemy archers hide behind two trees, they are flanking the small road towards the gate. The front line meets each other at the gate and a tense battle starts.

    The enemy's pole arms stay behind the shield users, spears won't do much good to a knight unless they hit a vulnerable spot, which there aren't many. It's best to leave the war hammers in front. Haaran and us assume a similar tactic, better to have more swords in front than poke each other at distance with spears, we have the numeric advantage, we have to use it.

    The mansion is encircled with a metal fence, allowing for arrows to fly through. But the gate is not large enough for our front line to use their numerical advantage to full effect, we can't surround them. Hana is also constrained as her wings would get in the way of others, dragonkin do not fight well on a shield line.

    In the middle of the street I pull out a barricade made of logs and crouch behind it. Roxanne hides behind the arch of a house to our right. Alissa is behind a porch of the same house as Roxanne's, there's a chest high wall she can hide behind.

    Haaran's mage is on the left behind another archway of a house to our left. The archer is behind a pillar of the veranda of that house.

    A [Wind Blade] hits my barricade and splinters fly, it can take about 6 more of these hits, this mage is not particularly strong. But the fight won't last as long.

    At this position I don't have much I can do, I can't spam spells like [Discharge] because I don't have much mana due to the summons, there's also a large difficulty in not causing friendly-fire.

    Alissa and the allied archer trade arrows with the enemy archer and try to flank the shield wall. But there's no angle to fire that won't let them exposed to counter-fire.

    Roxanne chucks spells towards the mansion's doors, where the mages are covering themselves. She has the power to destroy the mansion, but I don't want her to waste mana so she's holding herself back.

    Good thing Vanea surrounded this area with knights, the explosions definitely woke up the neighborhood.

    I need to do something, the battle is on a stalemate right now, they are only giving each other light wounds. The ferocity of the knights is being matched by the resilience of the mercenaries which are like a cornered animal. No one on the shield line is exposing themselves, they need a distraction.

    Hana gets impatient pushes a bit forward, she bashes the shield of the swordsman she's fighting and deflects the counter from the spearman. Ciel tries to snag his spear with the hook in her glaive but the man is experienced enough to not fall for it.

    The swordsman Hana is fighting regains his composure and bashes her shield. Another swordsman and a spearman on his side help by attacking her in sync, she's too forward and exposed to more attacks.

    The attacks have effect and Hana nearly loses her balance. The attacks continue and Ciel supports her back so she doesn't fall. A sword flashes towards Hana's neck.

    Hana played them perfectly, she steadies her feet and with incredible speed she hunches over, the sword hits the side of her barbute right where her cheek scales are and crack them along with bending the metal of her barbute. She grabs the hand of the swordsman with her shield hand and blocks the other two fighters, her sword flashes forward.

    Ciel manages to get a slash into the shoulder of the second swordsman, it didn't pierce his padded leather but he received a good bruise, his shield arm is going to lose some power. Hana's sword enters the throat of the swordsman in front of her, she twists the sword and the man jumps backwards, escaping her grip.

    The spearman immediately drags back the hurt man and starts chanting. That's it, an opening! I should just throw a dog on their back line and they will quickly dissolve!

    Mine and Roxanne's Shad's detect mana coming from behind us, it's on the form of a capsule. It turns into a person instantly, there's someone right behind us!

    "Invi-...!

    "Behi-...!

    "UAAAAAH!"

    "GAAAAH!"

    Alissa and the allied mage's warnings gets drowned by blood curdling screams coming from behind us, the battlefield nearly stops to a standstill. I look back and there's someone kneeling that can only be described as a ninja. Textile body-conforming clothes, balaclava, very light shoes, all black, and a dagger on hand. Multiple ethereal tentacles coming out of my shadow are passing through his body, one is directly on his forehead.

    I slash with my sword and his head falls from his shoulders. Roxanne points her staff and fires a chantless [Ice Lance] directly on the head of the assassin behind her, causing it to nearly explode. I feel Alissa get hurt.

    "ASSASSINS! STAND YOUR GROUND!" Haaran roars, his words gives my body new vigor.

    I look at Alissa, an arrow entered her left cheek and exited through her jaw hinge on the right side, she's nearly tumbling over. I feel the most amount of fear I have ever felt, my legs are frozen. She snaps her head back in place and recovers her posture, with blinding speed she draws her bow and fires an arrow behind where we are.

    The arrow flies and suddenly stops in the middle of the air, blood pours from nowhere.

    A glowing flask is thrown towards the floating arrow and it breaks on the floor. Hundreds of fireflies pour out in anger. In a second most of them congregate into 3 humanoid shapes. The [Invisibility] wears off and we see 3 assassins, two are archers, one of those has an arrow on his chest, the last one has no weapons and turns to run.

    I cast [Lighting Bolt] on the one running, he trips and falls on the floor. Arrows, spells and another chantless [Ice Lance] pepper the surviving archers. A spear knight runs towards the assassin who fell on the ground.

    The allied mage has an arrow coming out of his neck, Marduk breaks the arrow and pulls it out. He grabs an ethereal dagger and plunges into the heart of the mage. This is [Martyrism], demon-race magic. He will "absorb" the wound into his soul and "heal" his own soul.

    I look at Alissa, she breaks the shaft of the arrow and pulls out the rest from the right side. She looks at me, I see a hint of smugness. My legs that had been like jelly suddenly get a burst of strength when I see blood pouring out of her wounds. I rush towards her.

    I immediately cast two strong [Heals], the wound closes up entirely. She pinches my cheek.

    "Don't waste so much mana! I can handle a little pain, remember I have [Pain Resistance]!" She chastises me.

    "I.. I'm sorry. D-drink some anti-venom, just in case."

    "Alright, now go back to the fight, we are back to a stalemate until the knights are back in shape," she leans into the wall and drinks a general anti-venom from a metal flask.

    That's right! The dog! I cast [Summon Dog] and grab the light ball.

    "Tackle one of them, do as much damage as you can," I tell the ball, in English.

    With a shamefully awkward throw the ball lands into garden behind the fence. A German Shepherd comes out and lunges towards the mage hiding behind the doors just as the enemy spearman finishes chanting a heal to the injured swordsman.

    "AAAH! HELP ME!" Screams a mage in high-pitched desperation.

    Ciel jumps back and mock-chants a [Windstorm] into the archers behind two not-apple trees. They scatter and the enemy spearman tries to interrupt, the last unharmed mage is trying to help his partner mage and can't help interrupt.

    Alissa jumps out of hiding and sends an arrow in the chest of the spearman mage. He falls into the ground and stops interrupting the spell.

    Ciel casts the storm and moves it after one of the archers. It slashes him in the back and he falls into the ground, the wind digs into his flesh, opening up multiple deep cuts.

    The other archer tries to hit Alissa but she casts [Ghost Lights] chantless and he gets blinded for a moment, she turns into a fox and runs back to cover. The archer flips a table and hides behind it. Roxanne fires a [Fireball] into it and the table partially explodes, leaving the archer exposed again. Alissa fires an arrow and the archer protects her face with her arm.

    This is my cue, no more archers that can stop me, I cast [Rush]. I concentrate all I can in retaining control. I run towards the fence and jump towards a concrete pillar.

    I pull myself up with ease as I cast a short [Telekinesis] on myself and I swing over the other side of the fence. One spearman tries to break from the line and engage me. He's too slow, I rush towards the double doors.

    My dog finally dies and I see a mage with a completely shredded arm and partially burned clothes. Embers and the smell of burnt fur fill the air. I'm sorry you died so horribly, doggy.

    The last mage is on the middle of the main hall, he sees me and starts chanting, it's a simple [Fireball]. It's not fast enough.

    I slide and cut off his left leg right on the knee. He falls sideways and shrieks. I grip my sword backwards and stab him in the back of his head. He gargles, he's going to die in a few seconds.

    The enemy spearman is almost catching up to me. Hana finally breaks through the shield line and with her wings she charges towards the spearman. He didn't even see her coming and his head fell from his shoulder.

    The last mage lifts his hand towards me. I cast [Earth Bullet] into his face, he starts bleeding profusely from a wound in his forehead. Hana lands in front of me with a smile and turns around, she sees the last mage and sends her own chantless [Earth Bullet], a rock stake pierces his forehead and he stops moving.

    I hear footsteps behind us. The door behind us opens and 1 men and two women appear. One woman is an archer, the other is a mage and the man is a spearman. They are winded and wounded, fleeing from their battle with the silver squad. Their faces pale as they see us.

    Hana rushes the spearman, he meekly raises his spear only to have it break on her shield. She slashes downwards, he tries to defend with his shield but he gets sprawled on the ground.

    I cast [Rush] and dash towards the archer, she quickly abandons trying to pull an arrow and draws her sword just in time to defend my blow. I feint a thrust and slash downwards with a little help of [Telekinesis], she can't handle the surprise weight and loses her sword.

    I slash at her wrist and her left hand falls off, she quits trying to draw her dagger from her back and falls on her knees.

    "I YIELD!" The archer screams.

    The mage girls is shaking and drops her staff.

    "I-I y-yield!" The mage is terrified.

    I hear footsteps upstairs, must be Farana.

    With a broken shield line and no support, multiple weapons fall down on the floor as the remaining mercenaries surrender. Haaran bursts into the hall.

    "Where is she!?" He asks in desperation.

    His armor is still pristine, only tainted by a few drops of the blood of our enemies.

    "Upstairs! I think she's running!" I answer.

    "I'll handle them, go!" Hana yells.

    I dash through the left stairs while Haaran dash towards the right. I hear the mage woman scream, Hana must have cut her hands so she can't cast spells. Brutal, but necessary.

    I cast [Rush] and [Spirit Light] and my head starts hurting. I'm on my last legs here, hopefully she won't fight.

    "Hold her in place," I tell my Shad in English, I only feel a sense of someone telling me "yes".

    Holly is flying around the mansion, Farana won't escape.

    I hear a door bursting open at the far end of the corridor. Gotcha.

    I can't even admire the luxury of this mansion, I get over the end of the corridor so fast I almost crash into the wall, [Rush] is still dangerous if I lose concentration for even a second.

    I hear Haaran's plate cacophony coming closer. I'm on the entrance of a huge room full of furniture covered by dust, Farana is hiding here somewhere.

    "Find her."

    I pull my shield up and wait. I get a single glance at a shadowy figure and I sense "death" coming, I pull my shield up just as a dagger clanks against it. Farana tries to run towards the window.

    A huge shadow emerges from the ground and covers her. She falls down on the ground, her screams muffled by the Shad.

    I walk towards her and remove the 3 other daggers and the shortsword I can see on her waist. I put my sword on her neck and my foot on her back.

    "That's enough, back to protecting me."

    Farana stops screaming. I see her eyes are vacant, she's stunned by the pain. Slowly as her eyes gain focus she tries to raise herself, only for me to force her back down. Realization of her situation quickly washes over her face.

    She's really cute and small. Braided brown hair to the side and a pale freckled face. Her larger than average ass is visible even for me.

    A large orange fox and a pristine knight burst into the room. Alissa turns back and aims her drawn bow at Farana. Haaran stops to catch his breath and sighs in relief.

    Haaran brings out manacles and quickly restrains Farana, two other knights appear and start patting her down. I move back towards Alissa and relax.

    We are sweaty but I don't care, I just hug her and inspect where her wound was.

    "It's fine, didn't even leave a scar," she slaps my exploring hands with a smile.

    Good.

    "What now?" I ask Haaran.

    "Return to your fellowship and watch over the prisoners, we will find silver squad."

    We quickly walk back to where we came. There's only 7 prisoners there, including the 3 that surrendered to me, the rest haven't surrendered fast enough and were cut down. Once a shield line breaks and people get surrounded things turn bad quickly.

    I see Ciel is healing the stumps of the crying mage girl. She might get her hands back later, though I don't know what exactly is going to happen to them, they should be simple mercenaries.

    "Wound report," I tell the girls.

    "Nothing," says Roxanne.

    "Nothing," says Ciel.

    "My shield hand hurts a lot," Lina says.

    "Just a small bruise and this," Hana says, tapping her crushed scales.

    "How do I heal those scales?" I ask.

    Some of them are missing parts, things like these don't heal without the level 80 [Regrowth] spell from [Light Magic] or a very long use of [Regeneration].

    "Let me find the broken parts and it should heal normally, if not then in about a day-cycle or so they should grow back to normal."

    Me, Lina, and Ciel surround the prisoners as Roxanne and Hana search for pieces of her scales.

    Hana finds them and lays down on the ground, she puts the broken pieces on her face where they should fit.

    "That's it, now just do it."

    I signal Ciel with my eyes. Can't tell the prisoners I'm low on mana. She chants quickly and heals her.

    "Alright, feels a bit off, some didn't get fully healed but this will go back to normal in a day or two," Hana says.

    "Hana, can you bring me the corpses of the assassins? They might have valuable things on them, three of them are our kills so I won't let Vanea have them. Even the one who tried to run could be considered my kill but I will let her have two."

    "What spell was that?" Ciel asks.

    "[Invisibility], it's level 50, this illusion mage is no joke," I answer.

    It's from [Illusion Magic]. The interesting thing about it is that you can't see anything when you use it, light curves around you, which means that light also never enters your eyes. You have to use other means to see where you are going.

    Not even Holly can see them if they are using this spell, her vision depends on some sort of particle for vision, somehow, we owe our lives to the Shad's mana vision. The allied mage survived an arrow to the throat but if these assassin had reached us we could have died instantly.

    Hana easily drags them, they are all rather small and thin, one is a werecat. The archer's armor is nearly ruined.

    We wait nearly 20 minutes until Haaran comes back with Farana and the silver squad, they look beaten and bloodied. Larana looks tired, Tarano is limping and holding his ribs, and there's 2 dead knights with them. Haaran looks very bitter.

    "Everyone here...? Good, calling back our way out," he says.

    Haaran fiddles with a small gem on his hand. In a minute a group of space mages and a two knights come out of an alley and rush towards the gate.

    "You two," Haaran points at the knights, "Find knight number 1, he must have been killed by the assassins. Then get the town guards and scour this area, I want every single hired guard around this mansion under arrest, someone was working with the spy."

    "Yes, sir!" They answer in unison.

    The space mages open the [Gate] and we are back in the room we came from. A few robed men and women come take a look at the wounded silver squad. Vanea is waiting for us in the middle of the room, her face is stern.

    Aoi comes running towards us and tackles my stomach.

    "You little... Careful, this hurts."

    "Kweh!" She says, she's not sorry.

    Aoi tries to lick my mouth but only reaches my chin. Then she jumps off and claws up everyone else, giving them a lick too.

    Vanea comes towards us and Haaran. The other knights wordlessly move out of the room, dragging the crying mercenaries and slowly the room clears.

    "Report," she says, subduing her anger.

    "A spy among the outer guards sent an early warning, silver squad got ambushed and lost two but managed to kill nearly everyone else. There were also invisible assassins, fortunately no one died to them," he sends us a look mixed with concern and confusion, "We can assume that the knight responsible for our flank is dead."

    Vanea visibly grinds her teeth, knights are very valuable to a Lord, the only death you want to give them is of old age.

    Farana is thrown on Vanea's feet.

    "You better be worth this or I will make it worth it," she growls towards Farana, the fury in her words barely masked by a cold expression.

    Farana is completely quiet, her face shows pure terror, she barely had the strength to walk as one of the knights had to nearly drag her.

    "We didn't find the illusion mage, he could have been entering and leaving the mansion by [Gate]," Haaran continues.

    "Then he still has a rogue space mage and a very powerful illusion mage," Vanea says, then she looks at us.

    "Our deal was to get Farana," I respond immediately, I let some bitterness in my voice, "Not only that but you greatly underestimated him, my fellowship killed three of the assassins, no thanks to your help."

    I'm really bitter about those assassins, if it weren't for the Shads, me and Roxanne would likely be dead and Alissa would be vulnerable and wounded.

    She looks at Haaran, he comes towards her and they hurriedly whisper.

    "How did you survive?" She asks after a few seconds of whispering.

    "I will not answer this."

    "If you really want to end this once and for all you will come to fight for us again. You have better chances to survive this than even my own brother."

    Both of them stare at us, this time though their eyes show a hint of pleading. My light headache from overuse just intensified.

    Lina comes to my side.

    "Let's just leave this for later," she whispers.

    I agree.

    "We will continue this later, we are too tired for such a thing."

    "As you wish..." Vanea says with a hint of annoyance.

    She might have been trying to force this out of us since we are tired and more vulnerable.

    "Here's you rewards. You can also keep the bodies of those assassins you killed."

    I just nod in answer, then a proto-butler comes forward and hands me a sack of coins. I put it into my "Items".

    She turns to Farana and smiles wickedly. Haaran frowns and moves out of the room, now there's only us, Vanea, her follower, and Farana.

    "Careful with her, dame," Ciel says, with a small respectful bow.

    "Do not worry, priestess. I will allow you to cast [Detect Evil] on me anytime you wish, I will not throw away all I conquered just for this..." She seems unsure which swear is more appropriate for Farana.

    Farana curls up on the ground, one eye staring at Vanea with pure fear.

    "I will not go so far, but I must tell you the temple will be keeping an eye on you."

    "They already are. I'm well acquainted with the Three Sins, I know very well what 'sadistic torture' means and I assure you my 'Piety' is higher than 10."

    Ciel and Vanea start a staring contest.

    "That is all that I have for you," Vanea says to us and waves her hand dismissively.

    I would like to say that Ciel won the contest.

    We give a small bow and take our leave, we take off our armor and leave the tavern. The patrons are all too drunk to even notice us.

    On the trip home I use [Regeneration] on Hana's scales to get them back to normal. Once we are home we all go immediately to sleep.


    Today is the 7th.

    I woke up first instead of Alissa. She seems to sleep heavily when she's exhausted. I wanted to give her a surprise and kiss her but this time Roxanne is cuddling with me, her tail is curled up my leg and also curled up on my penis, she's slowly rubbing it with every breath. Ticklish, not stimulating. Her horns go floppy when she sleeps so they look like they are made of rubber and jiggle as her chest inflates with every breath.

    The air coming out of her nose tickles my face. I see Hana slept with a hand fondling one of Roxanne's breasts. We all sleep naked now, Ciel sleeps in her panties but we her convinced to sleep without her breast sash, it was an amazing view to see Lina's head buried in the hopes and dreams of men.

    I use [Clean] on my mouth and give Roxanne a kiss on the nose. She twitches her nose cutely. I press her nose and she starts to squirm and let out soft cute groans.

    "Unyaa~..."

    I feel movement on my other side. Alissa is stretching her arms.

    "Not fair, you woke up first," she pouts.

    "Everyone was too tired, it seems," I say.

    She casts [Clean] on her mouth and gives me a kiss. I don't let her go and kiss her as deeply and passionately as I can. Yesterday was close, too close, too damn close!

    "You worry too much," she says after I finally release her, she read my heart.

    "Yes and I don't plan on changing that."

    She smiles and rests her head on my chest, I play with her silky hair. Whatever Roxanne has bought is doing wonders to the hair of the girls, they all feel and smells so good. Alissa's smells like oranges, Hana's smells like strawberries, Roxanne's smells like some flower, I guess it's lavender? Lina's is very, very sweet, and Ciel's reminds me of chocolate.

    "How did you notice the assassins?" I ask.

    "One of them passed close to me to reach Roxanne. I managed smell him, they stank of a sweat I never smelled before."

    Who knows what that arrow would have done if Alissa hadn't moved her head at that time.

    Roxanne's tickling turns into tugging that turns into stroking. I look at my side and Roxanne is smiling at me mischievously. I give her a morning kiss too, her mouth is already clean. When we are done Hana gives her morning kiss to my dick as I burst into her mouth.

    This time she swallows everything. She cleans her mouth and gives her morning kiss to Roxanne and then to me.

    It's already 10AM. I want my arms to turn into noodles or tentacles just so I can tie them all down in bed and spend all day like this. Not that I'm thinking of anything else.

    My "Dexterity" increased by 1 (now 10). I guess the focus required to use [Rush] pushed me to increase this stat.

    Hana leveled up to 37. She didn't increased any skill so she has some free skill points for me to manipulate.


    Breakfast is light. The griffin clawed the window of the kitchen until we gave it some piece of raw meat. Then it happily ran off with the meat hanging from its mouth.

    "How you all holding up?" I ask.

    "What?" Alissa tilts her head.

    "I mean, how are you all feeling?"

    I guess we should do this often.

    "I'm fine," Alissa answers immediately.

    "I'm fine..." Roxanne answers, her shoulders are slumped.

    "Barely fought, it was quite fast," Hana says with a shrug.

    "Same," Ciel says.

    "I just defended..." Lina says.

    "Kweh," Aoi was lonely.

    Ciel looks at me, prodding me to talk. I sigh. It's actually quite hard to talk about your feelings.

    "Yesterday scared the shit out of me but when I remember [Godly Language]... What you girls think of me asking for Haaran to teach me [Godly Language] in return for us helping them again?" I ask.

    Lina's Trivia: [Godly Language] is a magic school where your voice carries power and other humanoids are compelled to obey, the higher the "Piety" the more effect it has. You can even make these humanoids accomplish things impossible for them, it's almost like bending reality with only your voice. I didn't train this school because you can easily kill yourself if you screw up, it's one where you really need a proper teacher for it.

    Lina frowns.

    "Was that really [Godly Language]?" Ciel asks.

    "Seems like it, just by words he filled us with vigor, I didn't even sense mana or a chant from a spell. Unless it's a unique support spell that he can cast chantless like I can then it's [Godly Language]."

    "This might be one of the reasons the capital hates Rabanara, learning this magic school is a privilege only reserved for those of high prestige or direct descendants from the emperor," Alissa says.

    "Vanea did mention she wanted to bring [Cursing Magic] school to Rabanara against the wishes of the chairmen of the university. They might be so starved for power to control the Shore of Leaves it must be hurting their reputation," Lina says.

    "She also the mentioned blocking soul manipulator necromancers from coming into Rabanara. She might be acquainted with the 'husk' manipulators," Alissa adds.

    Lina's Trivia: Necromancy does not create undead, they reanimate flesh and bodies without the need for a soul. These reanimated dead are called "husks". They are not explicitly illegal, you can get a permit to use it but hardly anybody wants smelly, rotting, pestilent zombies walking around. The part of necromancy that deals with forcing a soul back into a body is the one that's illegal. The real "undead" is something else entirely.

    "Rabanara got destroyed a few times before the Anara family took control, perhaps this is how they did it, they accepted anything that's not explicitly illegal. They are known to be pragmatics after all," Ciel says.

    "So, I assume they might not have qualms with teaching [Godly Language] to a commoner?" I ask.

    "Seems so. If Vanea truly is in need of allies then we can squeeze this out of her. But this might be the limit, anymore and we might get her ire," Lina says, her tone seems cold.

    "Do any of you girls also want to learn it?" I ask.

    "I don't think me and Ciel have enough 'Willpower' for it," Roxanne says.

    "It also needs a lot of 'Intelligence'..." Alissa says sadly and looks at Hana.

    Both aren't really qualified for this.

    "Can't I compensate this with pure 'Willpower'?" Hana asks.

    "Perhaps, but it will be difficult," Roxanne answers.

    "If she's willing to train for a long time I can teach her after I learn myself," I say.

    "I'm fine with this," Hana says.

    "So that only leaves you and Lina," Roxanne says.

    "I'm... Okay with this, though I might not have enough time until we finish enchanting lessons, no?" Lina says.

    "If I learn I can just train you alongside Hana," I say.

    "Sounds good," she gives me an adorable smile.

    "Anyway, do you all agree in fighting for Vanea one more time in exchange for [Godly Language]?"

    "I'm getting anxious about it... Last time was too close," Roxanne says, her posture shrinks.

    "I agree. It feels tempting though, [Godly Language] will help against any other humanoid we fight but at what cost," Ciel says, she's concerned but also tempted.

    "We could ask for the right to refuse if she's being too reckless," I say.

    "That would be nice but Vanea does not seem to be the type to throw lives away," Lina says, "she needs allies and if we can end our relationship on a good note it would be beneficial for her in the future. She knows we want to conquer a dungeon, after all."

    "Next time we can properly scout with the Shad's since Wolfy doesn't have to hide his ability anymore, right?" Hana asks.

    "Yes, [Invisibility] won't be a problem, I'm scared of what else is gonna be thrown at us," Roxanne says, "Darean is getting put into a corner, what's he gonna do when he's desperate?"

    That put us into thought. What else is Darean's backer capable of throwing at us? If he has a mage that can cast [Invisibility] then he certainly has someone powerful behind him, someone not even Vanea might know who it is.

    "I think it's worth to risk it," Hana says.

    "Me too," Alissa says.

    Lina, Ciel, and me are in doubt. I'm leaning towards fighting.

    "I think we should," Lina says meekly.

    "Why?" I ask.

    "We will never get another chance at this."

    Roxanne sinks further. We could use a vote but it might not be the best choice, how would she feel if we just ignore her concerns?

    "Roxanne... We will be fine, my love," Hana grabs Roxanne by the waist and buries her head on Hana's breasts.

    Roxanne closes her eyes. Ciel's head is hanging low but she's staring at Roxanne. I move towards her and do the same as Hana.

    "We will be fine, my love," I repeat.

    I'm rewarded with a chuckle from Ciel.

    "There's also the need to fully end this. If we help deal a strong blow to Darean, Vanea can finish him off without our help," Alissa says.

    Roxanne looks at Ciel for help but Ciel answers with a small apologetic smile.

    "Alright…"

    Hana hugs her tighter.


    I pull out the 3 corpses of the assassins inside our basement. They have simple black clothes created in a way they are soundless instead of offering any sort of protection. Their daggers are nondescript. The only thing worthy of notice was that they had some paralysis venom, it was the right idea to have Alissa drink a general anti"venom. Roxanne got interested in this venom that she never saw before, even though it isn't particularly strong.

    [Invisibility] makes you blind, so how did they find us and even coordinate to attack us? There must have been something else there to aid them that we missed. Could it have been [Sense Presence]? It still wouldn't help them avoiding any sort of obstacle while they walk, they would easily trip on anything. Probably some sort of Unique Spell that faded when they died, all assassins are dead so we can't even ask them.

    They even did something to their souls, I can't find their souls using [Soul Touch]. It's possibly what Ciel said where wicked people destroy their souls upon death to escape hell.


    At nature class the professor tries to teach us [Manasynthesis]. It's a very useful spell for mages since it increases the recovery rate of mana, I would bet most students are here just for this spell. It goes as well as expected since it's a level 30 spell, it will take a few more classes for the students to learn it.

    At the break I bring Lina and Alissa with me for support. We knock on Vanea's office door.

    "Come in," she says, "Ah, Mr. Ryder. A pleasure to see you so soon."

    Vanea has an uncharacteristic pure smile, her hair tied to a ponytail gives her a very refreshing expression.

    "Hello, Miss Anara. You seem very happy."

    "Yes, I'm taking my time teaching the little bird how to sing," her smile grows wider.

    If one didn't knew what she was talking about one would assume she's a pure person teaching a real bird how to sing. The lack of evilness in her smile just makes me worried, I wish I didn't ask.

    "Anyway, we are here to talk about your deal to fight again."

    "Sure, sit down, please."

    This time we sit at her cushy sofas. Alissa brings out tea and cookies for us, Vanea grabs one cup with a kind smile. With this attitude and her ponytail Vanea feels like a sister to Silvane.

    "We will only accept with one condition," -Vanea lifts her eyes to me- "if you teach me [Godly Language]."

    Vanea continues sipping from her tea and eats a cookie. She calmly reclines on the sofa and looks at the ceiling, thinking. Then she turns her head to me.

    "Why would you want to learn this?" Her voice tells she's asking a genuine question.

    Truth be told, [Godly Language] is known to be very difficult to learn, but I have the aid of the skill system. Learning anything is much easier for me since I can instantly learn about half of what's necessary to gain any skill.

    "Power is power. I also believe I will have an easier time to learn it than the normal."

    Vanea looks very amused. She stares at us with a smile while slowly stirring her teacup.

    "You don't have any qualms about teaching me this?"

    "No..." She shakes her head, her ponytail cutely bounces, "The pompous bastards at the capital be damned. I would rather not announce to the world that I'm teaching you this but I really do not care. If it weren't for the royalty having a near monopoly on this I would have fought for it to be taught at Rabanara instead of [Cursing Magic]."

    I felt like asking for [Cursing Magic] instead but [Godly Language] is much more rare and interesting. She sips at her tea again.

    "What did you put on this tea? Tonsel? It tastes wonderfully," Silva-, I mean, Vanea asks.

    "Yes, it is Tonsel, but I think it tastes better cold and with much more sugar."

    "I will try that later," she adorably smiles, "Anyway, I will only teach you this if you agree to hunt down that illusion mage. Your monster summoning is too good and a proper counter for illusions. Not only that but Haaran is sure some of your women cast a chantless spell. As far as we know they have no idea of your skills, we can catch them all by surprise."

    Not like last "surprise" worked well for us. But the fact she knows I can use [Summon Monster] is worrying. I don't think she's going to exploit us, our relationship is balanced for now but this will be the last time we make a deal, [Godly Language] seems too good to pass up.

    "Hm... I will reserve a right to refuse to participate if I feel you are sending us to our deaths. I won't risk so much again, Alissa got an arrow to the face."

    She stares at Alissa for a few moments. The arrow thankfully didn't leave a scar due to my powerful [Heals] but still, the mental scarring of seeing her like that won't disappear so soon.

    "Fine."

    "Then I accept the deal."

    "Now I will be the one to ask for your word, Wolf Ryder, Blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge."

    I kinda expected this.

    "I, Wolf Ryder, leader of Helios, Blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge, give you my word. Let the Gods observe me and judge me for my actions."

    I feel a small constriction on my heart, it's not painful, it's only a bit uncomfortable. It's the Gods answer to me, they are telling me they heard my oath.

    "You have a Symbol of Darkness, right? Do you have a Beholder?"

    "Yes to both of these."

    "Do you also have a Dream Eater?"

    "No, we only went to the 13th floor of the Roulette of the Morning Dew."

    "You should get yourself one, they are going to be even more useful than a Symbol of Darkness."

    Ciel might really dislike this, she could even be traumatized by them, I really do not want to get her to suffer through this.

    "Maybe... I'm very busy this class break, I might not be able to go to that dungeon again."

    I also do not want to touch the 14th floor.

    "I will get Haaran to capture one. After the end of the coming class break come see me and it should be ready by then. We will start training you in [Godly Language] then."

    Can't really go against it when she's just giving me in a platter.

    "Understood."

    "Then that is all."

    "I'll return to you the bodies of the assassins. They didn't really have anything of value in the end."

    "Sure, just put them at the empty office just like last time."

    I bow and we take our leave, Vanea was much more pleasant this time. Perhaps she wasn't such a fearsome figure until she started to get cornered.


    "So it's confirmed we are fighting again?" Hana asks.

    She's not fearful of Vanea, our dealings with her are going much better than what she was used to with the other nobles. When you are not at each other's throats or competing for the same resources a more pleasant relationship is possible.

    "Yes, she knows I can summon monsters, she will give us a Dream Eater so we might end up with a more passive role this time."

    Ciel shudders, it really was a good idea not to go to the 14th floor. I grab Roxanne's hand.

    "One last fight, so we can end this once and for all."

    She looks anxious but she gives me a nod in agreement. We will see this until the end, together.


    Intermission 7

    Everyone is dead or surrendered. My friends, the people I got to know so well, the people who put so much to help me, to keep me safe, they all failed. Everything seems to be falling apart as if a knife is slowly being thrust in my heart. I don't even know where I am anymore.

    But that's not the worst.

    I hear footsteps coming down towards my filthy hole, there's only one person who would visit me, there's only one thing that that person might want from me.

    She stops in front of my hole and stares down into it. With her came the only light I can see, the sphere of light floats behind her head, shadowing her face. Even though I can't see her expression her eyes pierce me like a monster's fang pierces the flesh of its prey.

    Just through the eyes I can see all the pain, hatred, fury... And carnage, that those eyes spell. I know it because part of it was caused specifically by me, I'm one of her worst enemies and now all she has to do is close her jaws. I'm scared, I'm so scared.

    I feel the floor get wet and warm. Darean, help me..
     
  11. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 8th.

    Lina wakes me up. She's getting nearly there, though it's still very tiring for her jaw. She watches Alissa finish me with an innocent smile. Ciel awakes and I see her get fidgety, I will have her participate soon enough.

    Even though I trained with [Manasynthesis] my skill didn't level. I feel like I'm reaching a "wall" in my growth. Perhaps the bonus from Earth knowledge is running out and now I need to improve my knowledge through practice.

    This morning I practice [Water Magic]. Hopefully Bombur won't be mad Lina skipped two of his lessons, we were so tense we forgot to warn him.

    Roxanne seems to be straining. She grunts and squirms until finally she opens her eyes and jumps into a pose with her hands on her hips.

    "I did it! I redirected mana to myself!"

    We all clap as she smugly looks towards the sky.

    "And that's all for me. I'm back to my potions for a while!" And she runs off towards her room.

    Nothing needs to be said, we just sigh and shrug. I go back to my meditation to refill my mana.


    I felt as if warm rushing water suddenly touched by leg. I immediately open my eyes in surprise only to see the spirit griffin has laid his head on my lap. His kind yellow eyes locked to mine.

    Holy fucking shit, the spirit touched me. It's such a weird feeling, it feels like there's a storm passing through my leg, it's pleasant, but the lack of visible movement makes me uneasy. It's like feeling the world spin and yet your eyes tell you that you are standing still.

    Trembling, I pass my hand through it's feathery head, the spirit closes its eye and chirps happily. Ah, my heart.

    "I shall name thee Gify."

    "Gi" from "gift" and "fy" from "finish".

    Gify chirps happily again and closes his(?) eyes.

    Ciel has her mouth hanging open. Hana runs off to get Roxanne. Alissa and Aoi stalk closer, as if they afraid of scaring him off. I feel bad for Lina, she missed this historic moment.

    With a nearly trembling hand Alissa is the second one to touch it. Aoi watches every second like a hawk. Alissa runs her hand through Gify's white plumage and rolls her eyes in pleasure.

    "Aren't you enjoying this a tad too much?" I ask, eyebrows knit in worry.

    "The Misty Fox clan lives among the forest, we see these spirits day in day out. Having one accompany you is a symbol of status, of being in sync with nature. Being this close to one has always been my dream," Alissa says, she closes her eyes and enjoys the feeling.

    I swear Gify looks smug.

    Ciel comes forward and Roxanne appears just as Aoi gathers courage and lays down besides Gify with her head also on my lap. Aoi closes her eyes and I see the corner of her long mouth turn into a small smile.

    Ciel starts shaking Alissa, wanting her turn. The shaking gradually gets stronger until Alissa groans and lets Ciel have her turn.

    "This feels amazing…"

    That's all Ciel manages to say for the whole 2 minutes she was allowed to pet Gify.

    Roxanne gets her turn and Gify decides to show us his tummy. Ciel pukes rainbows and the other girls almost need a [Heal] to keep their hearts from stopping.

    The spirit is slowly giving me profound calmness. I feel the leaves from the tree in the front yard falling. I hear the stove slowly cooking the minotaur meat, I can feel the steam slowly leaving the pot, twirling, and cooling in the air and then seeping out from the kitchen window.

    Nature is all about "connections", one living being connected to another, they consume each other in a cycle that maintains nature stable. A nature's spirit is the personification of that, Gify slowly "connects" my mind and that of the girls to the environment and to each other.

    I can feel happiness radiating from Alissa, all of that is aimed towards me, her mind is in perfect order except for her jealousy from not being in touch with the spirit. There's a single blurry spot inside the sun that is her love, a single curious spot. I can hear the people moving about their business on another calm morning.

    I can feel Ciel restraining her heart from tackling Gify, she has an immense love for all things fluffy and cute. Apparently I'm included in those feelings. Her feelings for me are mixed with Gify's in a whirlwind. I can feel the warm sun slowly permeating my heart and taking away the humidity of the morning.

    I can feel Roxanne's bliss, the crushing loneliness like a storm in the distance moving away. I can feel the breeze blowing far above us, taking the humidity that's fleeing the sun and sending it to the farms around Rabanara.

    I can feel Hana's warm gaze, her desire to protect is unnecessary right now so her awereness relaxes and satisfaction clouds her blood thirst. The excitement and anxiety of battle is slowly fading away. I feel a tickle as the grass is gently caressed by the wind.

    I can feel Aoi's sea of calmness and comfort, a sunny island in the middle of it showing her eagerness to fight. I feel like an ant in this world, just another small force trying it's best at living life.

    In a way, Gify's power is just like my spirit extension, only that it's a lot more directed. My "soul sensing" is all about raw information, Gify filters all that information through the consciousness of the spirit and connects us all. I finally understand why nature spirits are so respected.

    I'm pretty sure my feelings are being transmitted to the girls. They all look at each other with shy smiles then they look at me.

    "Nature spirits are also called 'a lover's best friend'. Because they allow us to know what we feel about each other, but only if the feeling is strong enough," Ciel says.

    She scooches over to my side and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

    The overwhelming amount of feelings is making me emotional, I have to clean the corners of my eyes. I don't even know how to respond, I don't think I even need to respond, they are all looking right inside my heart.

    I spent some time already in this position for my training, I have to stretch my legs. Hana's turn is about to end anyway.

    "My legs are hurting a bit…"

    I make a move to change from my cross-legged position but two iron grips make me stop. Hana and Ciel's murderous intent is made clear through their eyes and the spirit connection, we are not perturbing Gify right now. After I stop resisting they return to fawning over Gify.

    We stay like this for a long time until Gify awakens and flies towards the kitchen. Alissa and Ciel hurry after him, both because they want to spend more time with him and also because they forgot to check the stove. Luckly nothing burned.

    When I try to move my legs I feel they completely fell asleep. I manually straighten them and they crack loudly.


    Lunch has 3 selections of peppers. One like bell pepper, one that reminds me of jalapeño with very mild heat, and another that reminds me of cayenne and it's used as seasoning in fried chicken meat. It's pepper season in Maoka so the peppers are flooding Rabanara as we are very close to that continent.

    Ciel brings Lina back just as we are about to have lunch. When Lina notices Gify sitting on top of my usual chair she freezes.

    "Touch it," I say, smiling widely.

    She does not move, like always she's too shy to act. I roll my eyes and grab her by the hand and lead it to touch Gify.

    "His name is Gify. All the other girls already touched him so you get extra time because you weren't there during the first time."

    As our hand approaches Gify, Lina starts trembling.

    "Are you scared?" I ask.

    "No..." She lies.

    "She's scared of showing you her feelings," Alissa says with a smug smile.

    Lina blushes and her trembling increases, her hand tries to escape mine but I just grip her harder. I force her forward, you are going to show me your feelings and I'm going to show you mine!

    When my hand touches Gify an explosion of feelings enters my mind. The girls quickly come around and Gify opens all our hearts again.

    I drop down on my knees and hug Lina.

    "I never told you this, but I love you, I really do. You shouldn't hold it back, you are precious to me," I say.

    Lina hardly talks about her feelings. The turmoil of happiness, lust, anxiety, and self"doubt have been eating her from the inside. The fear of death has been mounting but it got beaten by her desire to destroy my enemies. Not her enemies, my enemies. She adores me, I don't deserve such dedication but I should at least make sure she's as happy as I can make her.

    A teary-eyed Alissa hugs Lina from behind, she gives Lina a kiss on the cheek and together we crush Lina's ribs.

    "I love you..." She whispers, "I love you... I love you. I love you!" Her faint voice gathers courage and turns into a yell.

    She finally hugs me back and her noodle arms try to crush me, good thing she's not using [Stonebody]. She doesn't cry but I feel the wavering of her legs.

    Gify stands in my head and chirps repeatedly at Lina. Oddly, I don't understand what it's talking about.

    "You understand him?" I ask.

    "I don't... I don't understand how but. I think he told me to stop hiding'."

    "Hiding your feelings. You were always serious, except when talking about books," Ciel says with the sweetest tone, "Remember to not keep it bottled up, we are here for you so you should share more."

    I think I just understood something.

    "You shouldn't let your feelings take charge of your decisions but you must take your feelings in consideration when making a decision,"I say.

    The fear of Vanea and fighting Darean must have been like a storm in her heart. Her other feelings were bottled up and safe inside a bunker but the damage of the storm keeps mounting. She wants to do the "right thing" so much it's hurting her.

    "Okay... I will, I will try my best!" She says with a conviction unheard of her.

    "It's not about trying your best, it's about working towards what makes you happy."

    She keeps quiet for a while but I feel her nod. I break the hug and clean the corners of her eyes. Now understand why Lina is so quiet, she's shy but she is also really insecure, so insecure she hardly shows her feelings.

    "Let's eat, the food will get cold," Ciel says.

    Gify slowly stops sharing our feelings and we return to our normal, except I'm feeling reinvigorated. I see Lina's usual expressionless face slowly turn into a more relaxed and happy one. She's avoiding looking at my eyes, though. As we eat her expression then slowly changes into a frown.

    "Is there something on your mind?" I ask.

    "Well, there's always something on my mind. I'm always thinking, after all," she smirks.

    "You cheeky little... I meant, is there something bothering you?"

    She smiles shyly.

    "Well... Mr. Bombur was mad, he kept repeating a few phrases about 'responsibility' and 'dedication'."

    "I'm sorry Lina, you got chastised because of us," Alissa said.

    "You don't have to apologize, it wasn't problem, I know it wasn't your fault and I don't regret missing those days."

    "But yet you still frown. Remember what we said about 'hiding'?" I say.

    Lina looks at me surprised. She never complained about anything, It is simply unnatural for her to be like this.

    "I... Okay... I was angry, it was unfair, I never did anything wrong," she looks down.

    "Go on…" Ciel urges.

    "And you all owe me for this," she gives an impish smile and immediately blushes in embarrassment.

    "We'll get you something sweet from the buffet at the university as an apology," Alissa says.

    Lina blushes harder and tries to hide her face but I see the beginnings of a smile on the corner of her mouth.


    Gify seems to like to ride my head. The feeling of moving water dies down and only reappears when I focus on it, the "connection" we share also only reappears if Gify feels like it. This is a good thing otherwise it would be too stimulating for all of us to keep our hearts open all the time. But his claws from his bird front legs and lion hind legs do not hurt, in fact he has no bones, his entire form is spongy yet the texture of his body feels real.

    "Gify, you are tousling his hair," Lina says.

    "Gih!" He chirps indignation, he believes my haircut looks better with him on my head.

    "I have to agree with Lina, please, he has to keep a tidy outlook to maintain his reputation," Alissa says, her fox mouth unmoving.

    "Gih…"

    *Pop*, *pop*. Gify disappears and suddenly reappears in my shoulder.

    "Thank you," Lina says and combs my hair.

    I say nothing, there's no greater joy than being pampered.


    As I enter the class I feel my entire body shiver. Flashbacks that I thought I had buried long, long ago resurfaces as the entire class looks at me and murmurs. Gify on my shoulder just increases my fame, luckily my reputation is that I'm rather unapproachable, this keeps the class from swarming me.

    Unfortunately that does not apply to Lyle as him and his friends swarm my table. Fortunately Gify seems to have an impact on Garanae, making him mellow out a bit more.

    "C-can I touch it?!" Asks Lyle.

    "I don't know, Gify, can Lyle touch you?" I ask.

    Gify looks up to him, his beady little eyes measuring him up and down.

    "Gih."

    "That's a yes, but only the head and be quick about it."

    Lyle wastes no time and pets his head, he shudders at the stimulating feeling that the spirit provokes in him, I feel thankful Gify didn't open my heart to Lyle. Gify feels slightly sickened, though.

    "Gih!" He says after a minute and moves his head away.

    "Alright, that's enough."

    "Awn... But still, it felt awesome," Lyle smiles brightly while staring at his hand.

    Garanae twiddles his thumbs.

    "Gih, geh, gih."

    "You can go too, Garanae, but Hatara comes first."

    Her green eyes look like a hunter who found its prey. Gify looks at her lecherously for a moment, disarming her.

    "Was that…"

    "Gih!"

    "Don't waste more time, the professor is coming," I say.

    She recomposes herself and pets Gify. I feel he wants to open my heart to Hatara, the little shit is already trying to cause trouble. He feels my annoyance and hums happily, its lion tail swaying about.

    Two minutes goes by and he moves his head away.

    "Gih."

    "That's you, Garanae."

    The most fearful of the trio, his hand trembles as he pets Gify. He shows us an uncharacteristic face of unbridled happiness, Garanae really is a pet person.

    When his time reaches exactly 1 minute the bell chimes. Garanae straightens up, he kisses Hatara on the lips and runs away, red faced. Instead of also blushing, Hatara smugly looks at a corner of the room where a few girls give her mean looks. Whodathunk.

    In this class I don't concentrate much, I can easily cast [Discharge] so the professor leaves me alone. I can't concentrate because I keep reminiscing of the feelings of the girls.

    At the break Lina eats her large piece of not-strawberry cake absentmindedly while the discussion revolves around a very smug looking Gify. Today she was supposed to train with Hana but we let her skip it.

    "How did you get him to follow you?" Lyle asks.

    "He appeared on my backyard when I learned [Nature Magic]. After that I kept giving him food until he decided to touch me," I respond.

    "That's surprising," Hatara says wide eyed.

    "Why?"

    "A lot of them are quite whimsical, I read it being compared to a commoner trying to swoon a noblewoman."

    "Maybe our personalities are compatible," I shrug.

    "Maybe there's something special about you," Hatara says, she narrows her eyes and smiles slightly.

    Alissa looks at me with a very smug "I told you so" expression. Garanae's jealousy explodes and he gives me a stink eye.

    I don't want anymore attention so I return the conversation to stories about other nature spirits.


    I'm still moved by the exchange this morning so tonight I show my women the meaning of my feelings.

    Fortunately Gify is only mirroring my preferences in not wanting to be touched by men. If he really was a "male" then I would have to force him to go away when it was time for skinship, no man shall ever lay his eyes upon the heavenly naked bodies of my women. He cuddles with Aoi when we begin our session.


    Today is the 9th.

    Alissa wakes me up, she didn't let Hana because she wouldn't be delicate enough with my prized member. She knows how tired and sensitive it currently is. Thank you my love.

    My [Enhanced Semen Recharge] increased by 1 (now 0+5), my hips are sore and I had to cast [Heal] on my dick due to the prolonged friction that made the skin extremely sensitive, I believe that if we continued it would have started to peel. I also gained [Water Magic] with 1 point in it.

    Roxanne gained [Redirect Mana] with 1 point. I can increase it for her up until level 3, the same as mine.


    This morning I spend my time training [Conjuring Magic]. [Torrent] could also be used to conjure water but it comes with such a force it causes blunt trauma, it's not the best choice to use it to clean your private parts.

    Gify appears whenever he pleases, the house was filled with the sounds of him popping everywhere as he explored every room. It seems he created a "connection" to me somehow, I can wish for him and he appears on my head, to the dismay of Alissa, Ciel, and Lina.


    Blessing class was the same as always, calming as everyone lowly chants their spells and the professor walks by us, correcting our singing whenever she finds a mistake. I noticed that Hatara has been singing with more motivation, her voice is quite lovely, too.

    At the break she goes to wherever Garanae is so it's only me, Alissa, and Lina.

    "Excited for our expedition?" Alissa asks Lina.

    "A bit..." She shrinks her posture.

    "Is that all?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at her.

    "Well, okay, I'm very happy," she smiles shyly.

    "The books at the dungeoneering guild tell of a lost language of the dragonoids. It's interesting that it does not exist on the skill system," I say.

    Other races like goblins and orcs also have their own language but nobody is interested in learning it.

    "Yes, it's because our knowledge of it is incomplete. There's no one alive anymore who can speak it so the skill disappeared from the system," Lina says.

    "Couldn't it become a new skill then?" I ask.

    "You would need a lot of people speaking it fluently for it to become a skill."

    "Hm... But the skills that I created are different, I can give them to any of you ever since I created them and I'm the only one in the world who has [Sense Soul]."

    "Perhaps language skills are different?" Alissa asks.

    "Or perhaps no one wants to waste skill points on an incomplete or dead language," Lina says.

    "Or is there not enough knowledge for it to turn into a skill?" I ask.

    "Why not all of them?" Lina asks.

    Our speculation gets stuck on this point.


    Today is the 10th.

    Lina succeeds in waking me up with her lower lips.

    "You must be the heaviest sleeper I have ever seen, Wolfy," Ciel says.

    "It's better this way," Alissa says and smiles.

    "Don't you wanna try it too?" I ask Ciel.

    She immediately turns around and leaves, I see a hint of a blush on her.

    "Just give her some time," Alissa says, her smile turns devious.

    I increased my [Blessing Magic] by 1 (now 4+16), my MP by 10 (now 770) and my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 290). I finally gained [Conjuring Magic] with 1 point.


    For breakfast a gloomy-looking Roxanne comes out alongside an annoyed Hana.

    "Overworking again?" Ciel asks.

    "Yes…" Hana answers and sends a glare to Roxanne, "she doesn't overwork when we are sleeping with Wolfy."

    "Oh please, Hana, I'm working to help us, at least I'm not getting fat from meditating all day and only riding dick as an exercise," she spews her mind.

    The table turns silent and I bite my lips to contain a smile. Hana's expression slowly turns into one of pain.

    "I'm not getting fat!" Hana cries.

    "Roxanne!" Ciel chastises.

    Lina frowns and looks down. Alissa massages her eyes.

    "Roxanne... You should always have a good night's sleep, it's making you too irritable," I say.

    Roxanne opens her mouth to speak.

    "We understand you want to help," Ciel interrupts, "But you don't need to go so hard on it. You also didn't need to hurt Hana."

    Roxanne looks up to Hana and frowns.

    "I'm sorry..." She mutters.

    "Just come to bed earlier, ok? I don't like sleeping alone," Hana says in a soft voice.

    "Okay…"

    "And I am not getting fat."

    "You are not getting fat…"


    This morning I spend casting random spells to increase my mana. Even with [Increase Growth] I believe I haven't been making much progress, everything has been slowing down.

    At [Reduced Mana Cost] class our group has a small discussion while practicing spells. It seems me, Tooru, and Bombur where the first to acquire the skill, probably because of our mindset is more developed than that of the teenagers.

    At the break I approach Bombur.

    "Hello, Mr. Bombur. Would you like to join us on the buffet?" I ask.

    "Gimbo is fine. But sure," he responds in a tired tone.

    I awkwardly lead him to our usual seats.

    "Everyone, this is Gimbo Bombur. He's teaching Lina enchanting."

    Everyone gives him a respectful bow and introduce themselves. Garanae seems very happy to meet another noble.

    Just as we finish Gify decides to pop on my shoulder.

    "Hoh! So you have a new follower then," Toroo says, she gets up and gets closer to Gify, her big eyes examine every inch of him.

    "Gih-gih!"

    "My, thank you, it makes me very happy to hear this," her cheeks swell with a smile.

    "What did he say?" I ask.

    "Something about the most beautiful bird he has ever seen," she chuckles with her hand over her mouth.

    You... She's married, stop with it.

    "Anyway," I try to gloss over as Toroo retakes her seat, "How did you acquire the skill, Gimbo? What angle did you take?"

    He was stunned at Gify's sudden appearance but quickly recollects himself.

    "Spells are very similar to runes, they follow a 'pattern'. I spent time learning these patterns and recognized a few redundant ones, fortunately this redundancy applied to all spells so I managed to earn 1 point in [Reduced Mana Cost]."

    Lina's Trivia: Dwarves created [Runic Enchanting], which are tattoos painted on their bodies that activate spells when mana is sent. The late Aremut kingdom created [Runic Warding], which is similar to enchanting but made on consumable paper. The painting requires crushed mana crystals attuned to a spell or magic school.

    "Hoh. Yet another different angle to magic."

    The group starts to discuss his angle but Gimbo quickly fades out of the discussion.

    "How is Lina doing on her training?" Alissa asks Gimbo.

    "She is wonderful, a natural. You should keep her coming every day, you must not let her disrupt her own learning," he gives Alissa a sharp gaze, "Enchanting is no simple skill, it will take a lot of dedication for her to learn it. Doubly so since we do not have a lot of time."

    Gimbo is a man of few words, Alissa quickly learns he does not have much else to talk about Lina so he returns to merely observing our discussions.


    Back at home Roxanne is a bit fidgety and Hana is quieter than usual. Each one sits on one of my sides during bath. Ciel is across me while I massage her feet.

    "You two didn't make up yet?" I ask.

    They look away from each other. I offer one of Ciels feet to Hana, who promptly takes it up one her mouth to suck on her toes. Ciel melts in happiness as Roxanne pouts.

    "Is something bothering you? You know you could just ask what you want," Alissa says.

    Roxanne pouts a bit harder. I roll my eyes and grab one of Roxanne's feet.

    "Yah! Geh...!"

    She tries to run but ends up swallowing water.

    I shove Roxanne's foot up Hana's mouth. She glares at me but quickly starts to suck on her toes and licking in between them. Roxanne shudders and then closes her eyes when Hana starts to massage her.

    I sneak away and continue my session with Ciel.

    "Help me out, Lina?" I ask and offer Ciel's free foot.

    She hesitates a little but then shyly starts to imitate me.

    By the Gods I wanna see Lina and Ciel having sex with each other. If only Alissa were bisexual too...

    I feel mana gathering and suddenly a very familiar mouth starts sucking me off. Roxanne cast [Water Breathing] on herself and decided to relieve me. Alissa is just blissfully masturbating, as always.

    I end up cumming twice on Roxanne's mouth, the first time she swallows the second time she surfaces and goes to kiss Hana.

    They kiss for a minute then Hana pulls her off. She stares deeply into Roxanne's eyes, I see lust, guilt, and love in them.

    Hana pulls out scented oil, she grabs Roxanne's tail and rubs it.

    Immediately me and Alissa pull Lina and Ciel out of the bath.

    "W-what's going on? They did in front of us many times already, what's the problem?" Ciel asks.

    "Hana rubbed Roxanne's tail, if you don't want to be dragged in a wild lesbian orgy then you should stay away," I say.

    Ciel and Lina look at each other in disbelief but start drying themselves just as Roxanne violently pushes her fist inside Hana. They quickly learn no mortal woman would leave this bath unscathed.

    Aoi receives a wave of bath water on her face and wakes up.

    "Gueh..! Wha? Oh..." She quickly swims to the edge and jumps out. Ciel grabs a towel and helps Aoi dry up.

    "What about you? Wouldn't that be perfect for you?" Ciel asks with a smug smirk.

    "If I join my dick might fall off, after yesterday I'm not ready yet for more."

    Ciel chuckles.

    "Dry below your scales," Alissa says.

    "Muuuh," Aoi groans.

    Aoi slips out of Ciel's grasp and darts to the door. Alissa is just out of reach, he hand brushes Aoi's wing. I smile at the familiar scene and try block her with my body but she barrel rolls to the side and slips through with a jump.

    Lina shows her combat reflexes by grabbing Aoi mid-jump, mana courses through her body and the battering ram is held firm.

    "Nooo…" Aoi cries.

    "I'll dry her," Lina says.

    Roxanne suddenly screams as Hana brings her to orgasm with her tongue. Lina jumps in place and loosens her grip. Aoi takes the chance and jumps out of her grasp again and runs downstairs.

    "Or not..." She mutters and her face reddens.

    Alissa and Ciel put their underwear on and hurry out of the bath. Lina hears another moan and hurries out too. A last look and I see two sweaty beauties mid"tribadism, their foreheads touching and hungry eyes try to devour each other.

    "Got you!" Alissa pulls up her prey by the neck, her eyes remind me of the hunting gaze of Hana.

    "Muuh!"

    "Ow! Don't harder your scales!" Alissa grits her teeth but don't release the little blue weasel.

    "Aoi! That's enough! We are doing this for you," I chastise her. I grab her little snout and force her to look at me, this way [Animal Language] will make sure she fully understands my meaning.

    Her claws retract and her wings flop down. She averts her eyes and looks away.

    "So, y," she forces out an apology.

    Lina receives Aoi and Alissa rubs her hand, a large cut on the palm bleeding slightly. Ciel grabs her hand and heals her.

    "Thank you," Alissa smiles to Ciel.

    Ciel turns around, gushing. I smirk at her and she immediately controls her expression.

    Lina dries up Aoi and I give her a head pat. Her scales now dry tinkle loudly when my hand runs through her spine. Her mood lifts and she huffs a bit of smoke.

    "See? Your scales ring more when dry, can't let them get moldy or filled with grime," Lina says.

    "Kaay."

    As we make dinner we hear both of them screaming even through the sound-proofed walls. I think we should buy some monster dildos for them, if they exist. Lina slightly blushes until the screaming stops.

    After that both were too exhausted for anything else so I only paid attention to Lina and Ciel.


    Today is the 11th.

    Alissa wakes me up early, then she wakes up Roxanne by sucking on her toe once. I look at Alissa with surprise on my face and she gives me a mischievous smile. Hana sees Alissa's smile and does the same thing.

    Roxanne shivers and jolts awake, she and Hana share a long morning kiss and they nearly start having sex again. That puts me in the mood again so I abuse Alissa.

    I hold her from behind and mount her. One hand holds the base of her tail, the other holds her on a choke hold. I press her down on the bed and bite on her ear, making her yelp.

    I breathe down her neck and see her hair rise.

    "I love you," I whisper on her ear.

    She shivers and in a few seconds I feel her cum. I pull it out of her and finish all over her ass. I leave her to deal with the aftermath.

    I increased [Reduced Mana Cost] by 1 (now 6+3), my MP by 10 (now 780), my "Magic Power" by 5 (now 295).


    We leave by dinghy through the eastern gate and move towards the end of The Smirk. Lyle and his friends each have a different way of traveling so we decided to meet at the entrance of the Sea of Trees, with this we can all leave at our own pace.

    We reach our destination just before lunch. The Sea of Trees to our right disappears and after a stretch of tree stumps a normal forest starts. The farms to our left end abruptly as the cliff of The Smirk appears, after that the terrain slowly decreases in a ramp, soon the Sea of Trees of The Smirk starts.

    On the edge of the cliff a small watchtower with a few guards keep whatever appears out of the Sea of Trees away from the farms, but beyond that and until we reach fort Reita we would be on our own. Very far on the distance we can see a crack in the blue-gray mountain range, that's where the fort Reita resides.

    As we approach the guards nod to us, this is a popular spot for adventurers to pass by. We sit off the road near the watchtower and have our lunch, mushroom and pepper soup with bread and a thick slab of minotaur thighs. A group of adventurers passes us by and enters the Sea of Trees, they stare at our food like hungry wolves.

    Roxane and Hana are extra cuddly towards each other, last night savage sex reigniting their passion. The few male guards get very interested in them and this time even I can't fault them as even I am getting jealous.

    Ciel hugs me from behind and two balloons filled with love and happiness are crushed behind my back.

    "You know, what I felt from you that Gify shared with me was that you were really containing yourself. You don't really have to be so reserved, sending me more love will only make me fall in love with you even harder," I say.

    She hugs me harder and I feel her cheeks get warmer.

    "I just... I feel a bit scared sometimes..." She whispers.

    "Scared of what?"

    "Of... Screwing up and pushing you away."

    I'm not sure how to help her on this part, I'm much more determined and casualist.

    "I think that sometimes I exaggerate on the way I drown in pleasures…"

    "Yeah you do," she quips.

    I feel no shame, I only smile at her frankness.

    "But perhaps you are the contrary, you reserve yourself too much from pleasure."

    "Hm…"

    She goes quiet after that and hugs me harder.

    Just as our filled stomachs make us feel groggy I see a conspicuous covered wagon and carriage duo coming towards us. The driver of the wagon is visibly armed and armored, not a common sight unless it's part of a caravan, but then there would be guards surrounding it. The carriage is simple but the materials that make it are visibly strong.

    The duo stops in front of us. Out of the wagon comes out Lyle, his disheveled hair as disheveled as ever. Behind him comes a tall and lanky green-eyed ginger boy, his well-groomed, wavy hair makes me jealous. At his side there's what seems to be his twin sister with equally glorious auburn wavy hair. Behind them come two nondescript human space mage servants.

    Out of the carriage comes out a well dressed, tall, delicate, and older looking boy. He has long dark hair tied in a loose bun and dark eyes. His clothes are similar to the others but he shows a bit more wealth in them with an embroidered jacket, he could be richer than Lyle. He is followed by a matching well dressed knight in well maintained plate-and-mail. I was not expecting this knight, he's a last minute addition.

    "Hello, Wolf."

    "Hello, Lyle."

    We share a handshake. For the first time I see Lyle with casual clothes, they are really casual, though, he's not ready for combat. He and the twins still show some wealth in their clothes and they fit them perfectly, they are paradoxically well-dressed in casual travel gear. A nice, comfortably looking black fur cloak, a thick brown leather jacket, possibly enchanted like ours, a white shirt, tough looking black pants and some good brown boots.

    "This is Delwyn Griffiths and his twin sister Gwinevere. They came from the Maplethorne Dominion."

    Maplethorne is in English, could they have maple syrup there!? It's been quite a while, now I want some waffles, cream, and blueberries. How far are they? I really have to tell Lina to find me a proper map of the continent. Wait, now's not the time.

    "This is Ankara Gartania and his knight Sir Tankar."

    He points to the stoic black-haired boy. Even though the knight's sallet is raised I can barely see his face, I can only see a black beard and small eyes.

    "I'm Wolf Ryder and this is Helios, my fellowship."

    I introduce each of the girls. Lyle seems quite content in meeting the rest of them and gives them a respectful bow. The twins look at each other and then at Lyle in surprise. Ankara seems uninterested.

    "You are the Wolf Ryder?" Asks Delwyn.

    "Well, I think there's only one person with this name here, so yes?" I answer.

    "Who?" Ankara seems to finally focus on us.

    "How do you not…" Delwyn loses his train of thought.

    "Know who he is?" Gwinevere continues where Delwyn left, "The one who got the Symbol of Hate, participated in the extermination of the goblin village, famous for being a summoner who can invoke elementals, position 3 on the last wyvern attack."

    Ciel holds back a snort. Hana and Roxanne's face twitch from holding back a smile. Alissa and Lina beam with pride. I feel my ears burn, it's embarrassing having your "accomplishments" being listed this way.

    Only when position 3 was mentioned that Ankara decides to take a good look at me. He raises an eyebrow and look at the girls at my side. Gify takes this moment to pop on my shoulder, surprising our employers. Gwinevere seems to turn from happy to overly excited in an instant.

    "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lyle talked so much about you…" Gwinevere grabs my hand.

    "Gwin...!" Lyle whispers in embarrassment.

    "You are a rising star in Rabanara, your fellowship is becoming quite famous, you even have a little dragon!" She shakes my hand vigorously, her gaze passes from me, to a concerned Aoi, to a smug Gify, and finally to Roxanne, "Specially certain aspects of it."

    She forgets to release my hand while she stares at Roxanne like someone admires a painting.

    [Battlefield Perception] triggers, two of the girls are getting ready to kill me and another wants to hurt Gwinevere. Roxanne sweats cold, unused to this kind of attention.

    "Stop wasting time and let us move," Ankara says and moves off towards the Sea of Trees.

    Gwinevere snaps back to reality and straightens up, releasing my hand. Delwyn rolls his eyes and drags her away.

    The wagon and the carriage turn around and leave. The space mages give us a respectful nod and follow Lyle, they seem to be holding back a smile, they know all about the personalities of their masters.

    I shouldn't be surprised Lyle's friends are eccentrics as well. Me, Gify, and the girls all share a silent look, I should have asked who was coming with Lyle. But right now I gotta take the lead, Ankara is going in the front like a fool.

    "Alissa, begin scouting, I will have Holly follow you quietly and give you a Shad. The other Shad will remain with Roxanne and the last with me," I quietly tell her.

    She nods and changes into a fox, running ahead of everyone. Unfortunately I can't let Alissa rest, Lyle and the others do not know I can use Holly for scouting. Staying away from Alissa dampens my mood, I'm grateful for the effects of her blessing but these mood swings are stressful.

    We hurry up ahead of Ankara.

    "Excuse me, follow us, please."

    "You know the way?" Ankara asks.

    "Yes...? My task is to escort you all, I'm supposed to guide you."

    "Fine…"

    I do not know what is more worrisome, the 3 eccentrics or the unreadable youth and his silent knight.

    Lyle quickly starts a discussion about the language of the dragonoids and disputed translations. I look at Lina and she gives me a quick puppy-eyed glance.

    "Remember, stop hiding," I say.

    "Hm... C-can I join them?" She whispers.

    "Yes, make sure they don't speak too loudly."

    She nearly claps in happiness like Roxanne does and slows down until she's walking besides Lyle. The twins look at her oddly, her status as a slave is very obvious so they feel awkward to talk normally to one. Lyle's indifference sets the tone, so the twins shrug and continue their discussion.

    As the grass gets substituted by the moss, entangled roots, and small bushes, the forest quickly turns dark so we all cast our own [Spirit Lights].

    Barely 30 minutes later and Alissa already comes back to us with a dead Rabid Rabbit on her fox mouth. I quickly store it.

    "Holly pointed him out to me before it even got in range of my senses," she whispers, gushing with happiness and then runs off in front again.


    The journey is uneventful, everyone is using a proper anti"scent so no monsters can detect us easily. The Smirk is also rather safe during the day, it's the night that the more dangerous types of monsters come out to hunt. Also there was a purge just yesterday, the worse roaming monsters are all dead.

    Lina's enchantment shows its usefulness, [Breeze] consumes an insignificant amount of mana and completely prevents us from sweating. Feels like I'm wearing nothing at all while a small breeze tickles my entire body.

    We reach the northern part of the valley deep inside The Smirk by 6PM. Blue"grey rock with yellowish cracks make up the wall in front of us. A large crack on the wall is our entrance.

    "Wolfy, they look rather tired," Ciel whispers.

    Ankara and Delwyn look sullen, they walk hunched over and slightly out of breath.

    "Oops," I whisper back.

    I almost fail to contain a smile. I look at Tankar, I can't tell his expression but he's not very happy. I would have cast [Swift Foot] on them but the awkward introductions made me feel petty. I'm actually surprised Lyle and Gwinevere are fine, they are looking excitedly at the entrance. No word on the space mages, they are professionals.

    "Let's take a rest at the entrance. We will walk some more and camp inside," I say.

    Tankar immediately pulls out a small cushioned stool for Ankara to fall on top of.

    "Whaat... Damnit Lyle, you didn't tell us how far we would have to walk," Delwyn complains.

    "Oh yes, I didn't expect you to have such girly feet they can't deal with a stroll on a little grove," he responds.

    "You shut your gay mouth, you spent a whole day-cycle telling me how fun it would be and how much we could unearth. Did you ever think about why scholars don't come here? Because it's too far!" Delwyn gestures with his closed fist as he talks, "Scholars aren't made for traveling and you know I'm a scholar too!"

    I have to contain my expression, professionalism tells me I shouldn't acknowledge such bickering between nobles.

    "If I didn't rope you in like this you would never grab your pompous sorry little ass out of that library. Don't you have any excitement out of learning something new? This dungeon isn't even fully explored yet! We could be discovering new history just by reaching a new place. Don't any of you feel excitement over this?" He looks around, a wild smile on his face.

    Even I admit adventuring is nice, I want to explore the world. Even though I don't like killing monsters or the gore I won't change my way of life, I'm not so naive to think that I can live in this world without killing. Besides, I have to keep increasing my level, whatever the God that threw me here has planned for me won't be fulfilled if I remain passive and weak.

    "I... I think this is exciting," Lina says, shyly.

    "You don't count, you are an adventurer!" Delwyn shakes his fist at her.

    Lina drops her shoulders in dejection.

    "Come now, my frail and younger little brother, adventure and discovery awaits," Gwinevere taps him on the back and pushes him forward.

    "You are only older by a second!"

    "Yet I am still older," she chuckles and moves after him.

    Lyle watches them go inside and then turns to Ankara.

    "How are you doing? Regretting coming?"

    "I am fine..." He smiles bitterly, first real expression he shows, "I am the one who had the original idea, you do not have to worry about me."

    "But I'm the organizer, you should come to me for any trouble," Lyle looks at him with concern.

    Alissa is waiting for us inside. I go check on her to make sure the twins aren't causing trouble.

    "Wait, where's the ruins?" Delwyn asks.

    "You dunce, there's a long way inside this cave until we reach the entrance to the dungeon," Gwinevere responds.

    Delwyn groans. Alissa is looking like a statue while the twins examine the cave wall besides her. As I approach her Ankara comes inside.

    "Mr. Ryder, why don't we camp outside already?" He asks, a little annoyed.

    "You like arthropods?" I ask.

    "What...?"

    "Spiders, centipedes, beetles."

    "They are fine...?" He narrows his eyes.

    "What about giant ones?"

    He shows only a hint of disgust. Gwinevere on the other hand shows pure panic and grabs Ankara's arm.

    "I don't care what you feel like Anky, we are not sleeping outside."

    "F-fine..." He pushes her away.


    We take a 10 minutes break, once I see Delwyn and Ankara's faces relax I tell them to move. Delwyn groans as he rises and Ankara frowns deeply.

    This cave is a crack on the mountain, the ground is very broken and difficult to walk. I'm tempted on taking out our mountaineering equipment because our little charges are very bad at balancing themselves.

    Lina's Trivia: This cave was created by an earthquake, such earthquakes are common occurrence when an underground mana storm happens. Mana storms are the most destructive natural event possible, the immense amount of mana circulating literally rips people apart.

    "Maybe we should have Hana carry someone," Ciel whispers.

    "The privilege of being carried by Hana is reserved for only us," I whisper back.

    "You... What...?"

    "You should try it sometime, I feel so safe and fragile at the same time when Hana carries me."

    "You are irredeemable."

    "But you like me this way."

    She doesn't answer and moves forward. I hurry in front of her and catch a glimpse of her smile.

    "Maybe you would like to carry me instead."

    "Fine, I will do it in front of Lyle and the others," she turns to me and glares.

    Are we playing chicken now?

    "I would like that, go on, show them I'm your man, show them who rides on top of who."

    You have chosen the wrong opponent.

    Ciel stares at me and I stare back, smugly. Slowly her cheeks redden and she finally averts her eyes. She tries to leave but I grab her arm.

    "Remember, you are mine," I whisper in her ear.

    She shivers and I release her arm.

    "Hey, those are my vows, not hers," Alissa joins, she heard everything with her enhanced hearing.

    "Yes, but she can be mine too. "

    Alissa purses her lips in thought. She comes closer and whisper in my ear.

    "She can be yours but you are only mine."

    Now I'm the one shivering, in happiness.

    Alissa continues forward, her orange tail swaying widely.


    A few Skritters are casually dispatched by the girls, Aoi on the other hand is taking it very seriously.

    "You are doing a very good job," Hana says and pats Aoi, who is on her shoulder.

    "Kweh! Rit... Boom...!"

    Aoi's fireball is improving, she's copying Roxanne's own [Fireball]. Roxanne has enough control over [Fire Magic] that she can make her [Fireball] explode or burn. This is something that I don't have, I can't mold my spells to take different effects, at least not yet.

    Lyle jumps over a small crack on the ground and stumbles forward.

    "Your little dragon is impressive, Miss Hana," he says after regaining balance.

    "That she is."

    Aoi rubs her head on Hana's cheeks affectionately, the scales of both of them clink as they touch each other.

    "My heart…" Gwinevere mutters.

    "Keep moving, we are almost there," Ciel says, breaking the trance of our little slowpokes, even Ankara was staring.

    A few minutes later the crack that we are moving through opens into a tall rectangular tunnel, the ground suddenly turns level, and imposing double doors blocks our path. The doors are made of amber, it feels like it waves as our [Spirit Lights] approach. I see multiple carvings of snakes and curiously there's two ouroboros on each side of the door, each ouroboros has 8 snakes, each snake is made of a different material.

    "Moonstone, onyx, aquamarine, ruby, emerald, amethyst, gold and silver. Each represents a magic power of the dragonoids," Lyle says.

    He walks up to the double doors and touches the ouroboros, he barely reaches it, it's too tall and Lyle is only slightly taller than me. He sighs and stops admiring it.

    "Dragonoids are known to be tall," he smiles painfully.

    Ankara moves besides him, as he's taller he can observe the ouroboros better.

    "We can rest on the other side," I say.

    Immediately both stop their observation and push the doors, they slide open with ease.

    "I assume this dungeon is a mana solidification, right? Otherwise these gems would have been stolen a long time ago," Gwinevere asks.

    "Yes, it's also why scholars aren't eager to come, there's nothing to salvage here, unlike real tombs. So it's quite possible this dungeon is only a sliver of the dying consciousness of the supposed dragonoid race," Lina answers.

    As the doors open we are greeted with a huge hall, so big our light doesn't reach the end or the ceiling. There's not even a pillar in sight.

    "Certainly resembles the main hall of Hombombein, if it were completely devoid of life, that is," Lina says.

    "I heard the capital has a hall like this inside the castle. It's a marketplace where only certain stalls are allowed, like perfumes, spices, and gems," Hana says.

    "Certainly fits that nobility would enjoy grandiose architecture," Alissa says.

    We all enter the hall and slowly the double doors silently close.

    "Let's just make camp here, no point in going any further," I say.


    The space mages immediately pull out tents and a cooking set. In a minute there's a pot of water boiling and a slab of Great Boar being roasted in a flame-less magic tool fire pit.

    Space mages can be hired from multiple mercenary guilds, they come in all flavors, fighters, mages, cooks, maids, butlers, prostitutes, bards, dancers, and many others. These are two simple looking men who have a very quiet demeanor, popular among nobility.

    I dismiss the Shads, they won't be useful here. Nononya's notes talked about chanting so I fake a short summoning chant and invoke a fire and an earth elemental. To summon elementals the chant has to be adapted to the element it represents. [Fire Magic] chanting has a very aggressive tone with a few screams, put some metal song behind it and it won't be out of place. [Earth Magic] reminds me of opera, you have to hold the notes for a few seconds and add tremolo to the voice, making it a bit annoying to chant.

    While the earth elemental draws raised eyebrows the fire elemental draws the stares of the men and boys. Hana was always wearing armor so none of our escortees knows what's below, the elemental is basically wearing nothing, showing the full glory of her sculpted body.

    "I ordered the elemental to singe whoever stares for too long," I announce.

    A chuckle and a slowly increasing flame floating in front of the elemental wards off the stares.

    I pull out our tent and the bath partition, with the elementals and a hidden Holly nothing should approach us. Delwyn knows water and fire magic so he prepares the bath for the others, the knight and the space mages have to take a towel bath, though.

    During bath I play with Alissa's little bean, I mix rubbing, licks, sucking, and nibbling that culminates in a high pitched moan that makes her gag almost fall off. I nearly rip the gag off and make her scream, as much as I want to make a power move my rationality still exists so I retain my composure.

    After the bath I see Gwinevere, Delwyn, and Ankara are avoiding looking us in the eye, Lyle on the other hand has mastered the art of not giving a shit.

    "Wolf, come eat with us, these space mages have enough food to last us quite some time," Lyle says.

    "You sure? I brought my own."

    "Yes, I am sure, now sit," he motions us to a wooden bench.

    I have a cushioned one but I have to contain myself, can't show the furniture shop I have inside my "Items".

    "I'm a better cook," Alissa whispers to the girls with pride, she's glaring at the oblivious space mage cook.

    "I know it," I rub her ears with a smile on my face, her tail sways at a mere compliment.

    Seriously, that mage is over seasoning the meat. Seasoning is an art form and you have to take extreme care to reach the point of perfection.

    The diet of wild animals changes how the meat tastes, this change is said to be how "gamey" the meat taste. It's interesting how in this world the meat from hunted animals doesn't have a strong gamey taste, from what I have seen they use [Purify Body] on the corpse and it reduces the gamey taste a significant amount. Also, most of the more commonly hunted monsters don't live enough to acquire this strong taste so they taste much better than most wild animals.

    The meat is accompanied by a hearty soup, something similar to arracacha gives it a distinct taste and a thick consistency. It's a nice soup but we can do better. It's an annoying situation that I can't really show how much food we brought, no adventurer brings such a large amount or variety of ingredients like we do, most simply use [Conjure Bland Meal] and eat whatever they hunt while on an expedition. Lyle bringing simple soups and meat is already a display of wealth.

    Roxanne brings out Ted and Suzy, she starts humming a waltz and the golems start dancing. I don't understand the lyrics, it's on her native tongue.

    "What are those things?" Delwyn asks.

    "Golems, it's part of my research, I'm researching [Golemancy]," I answer.

    "Impressive, they have such natural movements."

    "They have actual souls, but they are closer to elementals than real people."

    Ankara leaves his seat and hurriedly circles the table towards us. He stops near Roxanne and leans over, he studies Ted and Suzy with a perplexed look.

    "How much gold do you want for either of them?" He says, still staring at the golems.

    "Not for sale," Roxanne replies immediately.

    "One rose coin."

    "No."

    "Two rose coins."

    "Mr. Gartania, we are not selling these golems," I interject.

    Ankara's eyes turns to me, his gaze seems to measure my resolve. He finally turns silently and goes into his tent, Tankar follows.

    "Just what's with him, he's always so... cold," I say.

    "I'm sorry, Wolf, Anky is not a bad person, he has some... Issues and he acts a bit odd once in a while," Lyle says, smiling apologetically.

    A bit.

    The twins shrug.

    We just talk for a little longer and retire to our tents. We huddle up and I start to polish Hana's scales, we have a small, circular whetstone that I use to sharpen the edge of the scales. Hana absolutely loves it and slowly her warm eyes turn hungry.

    "So, what do you gals think about our employers?" I ask.

    "That girl ain't right," Roxanne says while shaking her head.

    "I know, right. I feel she's dangerous," Hana says.

    "I think Gartania is trouble," Ciel says.

    "I agree with Ciel," Alissa says and frowns, "He's too... Different, you don't know what to expect out of him."

    "I like the twins, I don't like Gartania," Lina says.

    She huddles up near me and wraps both her arms around my waist.

    "Lina should be in charge of keeping an eye on the twins then," Alissa says.

    "Since I'm likely to stay back I'll try to keep an eye on the one with the crazy eyes," Roxanne says.

    "I will keep an eye on Gartania," Ciel says.

    "What is his problem? Does he have a Plom up his ass or something?" Hana says.

    "His sudden interest on Ted and Suzy was incredibly weird," Ciel says, she hugs Ted and he disappears on her large bosom.

    Suzy tries to pull Ted away from the death by breasts, they seem to think they require to breathe to live.

    "It is an interesting magic school that was basically abandoned a long time ago but what would he want to do with them?" I question rhetorically.

    Ciel suffocates Suzy too, misunderstanding her pleading for a need for affection.

    "Seeing how he casually displays his wealth I thought he would try to buy Aoi instead," I say.

    "Keh!" Aoi coughs in disgust.

    She tackles me and tries to lick my mouth. She's 100 years too early for this, countless years avoiding french-kissing my lick-happy dogs gave me perfect evasion. All she accomplishes is to lick my chin because I allow it.

    Hana waves her fingers towards Aoi, who switches targets and tackles Hana. Aoi is not that enthused about licking her, perhaps because I deny her she feels like I'm a challenge.

    "I wouldn't be surprised if we find bandits waiting for us when we leave this place," Hana says.

    I cringe at this thought.

    "The Gartania family are Lords of Fort Erda, his face could be known, he was being careless in coming in a carriage," Alissa says.

    "Or he's overconfident," Ciel says.

    "I would bet on careless. He's fixated with something else, he's too distracted."

    Lina's hand slowly caress my body from below my shirt. Ciel drops both golems, they pat their own bodies, checking for damage.

    "Alissa, finish this for me please, I gotta help out a lonely little girl," I say, handing her the whetstone.

    I turn around and pounce Lina. Her silky black hair sprawls over the bed, her gloomy eyes spell innocence, but as my hand explores her body her smile slowly turns impish. I kiss those small lips and she eagerly pushes her tongue, she seeks my tongue and sucks on it.

    "I'll give you something to suck, alright."

    Hana looks like a chained animal, she has to wait Alissa to finish before she can take me. I make sure she sees very well every thrust on Lina, I spread her legs wide while I play with her little bean.

    "I love you my little thing."

    "I... Love you... Masterr~..." Her voice trails off as she loses her capability to speak.

    Then I put her on reverse cowgirl, sprawling Lina wide just for Hana. Lina's cute little ass are cupped by my hands as I help her move her hips up and down. Roxanne makes sure to stay away from Hana, she wants to tease Hana to the maximum.

    I start playing with Lina's clit again, I'm slowly learning the favorite way that each of the girls likes to be stimulated. Lina is very sensitive to pinching, a few pinches at the right moment and she orgasms on top of me.

    I pull it out of her and a hungry monster immediately pounces on my dick, Hana is incredibly wet. I have to hold on to the storm until Hana's lust passes, sometimes the wild dragon has to be let to rampage for a while.

    "I love... Your dick..." She grunts amid attempts at self-impalement.

    "Just... My dick...?"

    "Everything... I love... Everything…"

    I am finished by Lina's mouth who did not mind the amount of juices from Hana that covered my member.

    Ciel stares, burning with jealousy, but tonight I will neglect her, I want her to take the initiative. Just to tease her further I sleep while hugging her, one of my hands cupping her breast the other hand on her thigh.

    "Irredeemable…"
     
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2019
  12. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 12th.

    I feel warm, very warm and wet. I feel Ciel moving.

    I cup her breast harder and she moans. My member is between her legs, touching the gate to heaven, she's wet and using me to get herself off. I move my hand that was on her thigh and use it to angle my dick, I thrust forward and enter her. She gasps and wakes Lina, who was smothered by her breasts.

    Alissa kisses my neck and gets up. I start thrusting harder and soon Hana and Roxanne are also awoken by us. I play with Ciel's clit and pinch her nipples, I make a hickey on her neck and suck on her earlobes.

    "Wolfyy~...," her voice is very high pitched, "I love you~..."

    "I love you too, you are my delicious piece of chocolate."

    She chuckles amid moans and soon she orgasms. I slow down and take it off from her. She turns around and kisses me while Roxanne comes to finish me off.

    "I'm getting the hang of this," Roxanne says after swallowing.

    I pull my tongue off Ciel's mouth and kiss Roxanne on the forehead.

    "That you are, my love."


    We go outside to have a quick breakfast. When we are finishing, Lyle and the others come out. The space mages barely retain their professionalism, Tankar glares at us with even more intensity, the nobles maintain their dignity.

    I feel like I'm getting kinkier by the day, I barely made efforts to make the sound of our beds creaking less obvious. I'm starting to have some exhibitionism fantasies, I have to contain those, they are starting to go too far. I do have a dream of having sex while using [Fly], though.

    While they have their breakfast Alissa goes out scouting ahead while we stay behind stretching and warming up. I decide to focus on casting [Swift Foot] for everybody on the camp.

    Stretching the effect of the spell so much makes it start to go unstable, this could be dangerous. Molding spells away from their standard use is the mark of a proper mage and it is something that I lack since I learned everything by cheating.

    I take my time, chanting and re-chanting, slowly inching forward the area of effect. I have experience with it since it's the same thing as my soul "expansion" but it feels like holding multiple balls with your hands and I haven't properly learned how to juggle yet.

    It took me 10 minutes of lowly chanting but I did it.

    "Boy, you knew this spell from the beginning?" Tarkan asks with irritation, his voice has a strong low bass that makes the earth tremble.

    First time I hear him talk, this shocks me for a second. The entire camp goes silent to hear us.

    "Yes, I knew it."

    "Then why did you make master Gartania suffer by not giving him the spell?"

    "I wanted to gauge the physical conditions of everyone. I don't know how much strength you or the space mages have but at least now I know the strength of our employers," I graciously gesture to the young nobles.

    "That was highly unnecessary," he growls at me.

    "You would do well not to coddle them, this isn't a vacation, this is a dangerous expedition."

    "Unnecessary hardship to fulfill your fantasies of taking your anger of impotence on your betters," he quickly retorts.

    "That was oddly specific, but no, I do not have such fantasies."

    I didn't lie, I just didn't tell I was being a bit petty.

    Lyle comes forward.

    "Please. This argument is unnecessary," he shows us the palm of his hand, gesturing us to stop, " Wolf's method is valid and now we are not going to suffer the same thing again

    Tarkan turns around in a huff and goes back to his tent.

    "Boo... baad," Aoi mumbles her displeasure.

    Gify pops into my shoulder.

    "Gih!"

    Yep, that duo means trouble.


    Alissa comes back, the hall is completely empty. We tear down our tents and start to move. It's a rather long walk, around 30 minutes just to reach the end of the hall, at the end a much larger, but broken, double door can be seen.

    When our light reaches beyond the door we see the ruins of a town. Rubble upon piles of rubble, the few buildings still standing are partially swallowed by the low ceiling. It's like this town was transported inside a small cave. We smell dust and the air is stuffy. Just by staring at these ruins I'm starting to feel gloomy, the name of this dungeon is rather fitting.

    The dragonoids create their buildings by using their own version of [Transformation Magic], they raise the earth and transform it into pure stone. You can see little "veins" from where the ground was "sucked up", they almost look like roots, making the buildings look like they grew from the ground like a tree.

    Lina's Trivia: [Transformation Magic] exists on the system, but it's extremely dangerous to use. It's similar to raw mana manipulation but it's based on the will of the user. It's the only magic that can cure birth defects, it can even change the soul and mind of people. But you must have the mind of a monk to use it safely, a single stray thought while using it is enough to transform a person into a pile of shredded meat and broken bones.

    The remaining buildings all have odd shapes, they might have come from a workshop of abstract sculpting than something an architect would ever dream of creating. Many of these do not even have walls, telling of the dragonoids complete lack of shame and their collectivist society.

    Lyle and Delwyn look around, hungry for details. But this place is completely explored, there's no new detail here for them, only refreshers for their memories.

    "Make sure they don't stumble into something, we do not want to make much noise here," I whisper to Lina.

    She nods and slows down until she's behind our careless employers, keeping an eye on them while occasionally looking around, herself. Soon enough she guides Lyle from tripping on a ruined round shield on the ground.

    "You can see how the marks on the ground are made by their claws, they are digitigrade and leave small punctures on the stone wherever they step on," Lyle says.

    "Please speak lower, Mr. Rizek," Lina says.

    Lyle winces and makes an apologetic expression.

    "Lyle is fine," he responds in a lower tone.


    Our peaceful trek through the ruin is cut short as Alissa detect something.

    "You can't see in the dark, right?" I ask her.

    "No. There must be a Unique Spell that does it, though."

    "Then we have to go after it all together, it's impossible to sneak up on them since we can't see in the dark.

    "It's likely a guard. They are not particularly strong but remember that all dragonoids know magic," Lina says.

    "It's time for the emellanat, then," Hana says.

    She is very fond of that ominous looking bastard sword. As we bring out our swords Gwinevere's eyes open wide.

    "Where did you get these swords? Emellanat is very rare around here," she asks.

    "Secret," Hana answers with a grin.

    She looks at me but I just shrug. Gwinevere frowns but lets it go.

    "You all stay here with the elementals while we fight, if any problem appears then come to us and we will handle it," I say.

    Gify suddenly pops into my shoulder.

    "Gih, gih."

    "So it really is a guard then. How do you know? Can you go invisible?" Iask.

    "Guh, gah, gih."

    "From what I understood he has something similar to Alissa's [Sense Presence]. Though it seems it's not instantaneous like the skill."

    "Gih!"

    And with a pop he disappears again, he does not like dungeons.

    "I wish he would stay longer," Ciel says with slumped shoulders and a hint of sadness on her voice.

    "Yeah, he could cuddle with us when we sleep," Alissa says, mirroring her demeanor.

    Both of them pout for a few seconds.

    "Back to the fight, you two," Hana says and rolls her eyes.

    Alissa blushes at her own distraction.

    "Anyway, the guard is over the corner?" Iask.

    Alissa closes her eyes and focus a bit.

    "Yes, he's kneeling and looking down, apparently," she says.

    "Weird."

    "They use some sort of spell that preserves themselves, they don't move or eat for a long time," Lina says.

    Weird.

    We go forward until the end of the block, we turn right and move forward. Before we our light even reaches the monster we hear the characteristic tinkling of chain mail. I feel mana gathering in front of us.

    The town turns bright as a thunder roars and hits Hana's sword. For a split second we see our target, grey scales, golden lines wave wildy all over its body and shine lightly, long neck, dragonic face, short black hair spiking backwards, claws on hands and feet, and compact folded wings. Two thick and long whiskers coming out of the top of it's snout like a chinese dragon and a very long and thin tail stands straight upwards, those are the signs of a male. He has a round metal shield, a spear, chain mail on the chest, and a thick cloth covering both the chest and the legs.

    Alissa lets out a bodkin arrow and it pierces the shield of the dragonoid, getting stuck on it.

    "Just our luck, the first one is attuned to thunder," I say.

    "[Fire Arrow]! More experience, then," Roxanne says.

    The magical arrow pierces the shield, lighting the position of the dragonoid. He charges forward.

    "I'll keep an eye on our flanks," Alissa says.

    "[Wind Hammer]!"

    The dragonoid charge gets stopped when the spell hits him square on the shield. Hana takes the opportunity and charges using her wings.

    A clang echoes as Hana hits the dragonoid's shield, I feel mana gathering on the dragonoid. Her sword slides off downwards and she swings again, making a cut on the leg armor of the dragonoid. Suddenly the dragonoid glows very bright and lightning crackles.

    Hana covers her eyes and jumps backwards, just barely deflecting a spear thrust with her shield. A thin tail wraps up on her left leg and pulls her forward. She tumbles and uses her wings to move backwards.

    Ciel and Lina arrive at the same time and strike towards the dragonoid. His lizard eyes don't even look at them. He deflects Ciel's thrust with the shield and gets his right foot crushed by Lina.

    He jumps backwards and Ciel's hook on her glaive snags a scale on his throat, ripping it off. The dragonoid spreads his wings and hovers over the ground, completely motionless. His foot and the place missing a scale bleeds.

    The dragonoid defends against another arrow. A chantless [Fire Whip] snags his right leg. He gets pulled forward and the girls take their chance. Lina misses, Hana pierces the abdomen slightly and Ciel creates a large wound on his neck.

    The dragonoid pulls back immediately. Roxanne learned her lesson and lets the whip go, she doesn't have the strength to hold him in place.

    "Move back, you are too far!" Iyell.

    The girls cautiously retreat. The monster starts regenerating. His mana is not endless, he's not a transformation type so he won't be able to regenerate for long.

    The dragonoid flies higher and points his spear towards me. Another thunder cracks and nothing happens, I only feel that my sword gets hot. This is why I'm besides the back line, I don't have much mana with 3 summons out so I'm taking it easy, Lina would do better in the front than me.

    An arrow, a fireball from Aoi, a [Fire Arrow] and a [Wind Hammer] hit his shield. It's starting to get bent and ruined, soon enough he will be an easy target for us.

    He lowers down. His wings don't flap, only slightly move, telling us of his fine control over flight.

    The dragonoid charges again, this time towards Lina. She steels herself and deflects the spear, a thin tail moves towards her face like a whip. With incredible speed she moves her upper body sideways and the tail leaves a scratch in her helmet, that tail is sharp.

    Hana counters with a savage downwards strike, the shield of the dragonoid gets bent in half.

    "[Wind Blade]!"

    The cut on his neck opens again. He flies backwards as a [Torrent] hits his chest immediately afterwards. Another arrow pierces his shield, this time blood drips from his arm as the arrow hit exactly where his arm is strapped on.

    It immediately charges again towards Lina but gets stopped by [Wind Hammer].

    "Stubborn like an assfolk," Hana says.

    "Don't say that, it's offensive," Ciel chastises.

    Donkey beastfolk are known to be loud and foulmouthed, though they are unlikely to really take offense on that.

    "Hit me, you limp dicked goblin!" Hana taunts.

    I'm not sure the taunt worked on him.

    The dragonoid receives another normal arrow and a [Fire Arrow] where his arm should be holding the shield. He grabs the [Fire Arrow] and pulls it out. The advantage of that spell is that it continually burns for quite some time, requiring immediate attention.

    Hana charges the occupied dragonoid, forcing him to hurriedly defend with his spear. Hana was expecting that, she supports the spear with her shield and strikes the shaft with her sword, cutting it in two. The dragonoid immediately abandons the spear and counters with his claws and a tail whip.

    The claws chip a scale from Hana's shield but the tail does nothing as it hits Hana's tassets that protects her thighs.

    "Behind!" Alissa yells.

    Ah, shite. I turn around and stand in front of the girls, waiting for the charge of whatever is coming.

    "I will help!" Ciel yells.

    A fireball lights the town far away from where I am. I raise my shield and point my sword forwards. When the fireball nears all I feel is a light hot breeze as the fireball dissipates, my sword gets slightly hotter. These are heavy spells if they can make such noticeable changes in my sword.

    Immediately after the fireball dissipates a white dragonoid with glowing red lines thrusts his spear towards me, another male. I struggle to push the spear away but I manage to deflect the blow, the dragonoids put their entire weight on their charges. Truly fearsome lancers.

    With my shield hand I cast [Lighting Bolt] and make sure the path goes towards his heart. Unfortunately emellanat impedes me from casting with my right hand.

    The bolt hits him on the shield and I feel it going past it, hitting the target just as I wanted. The white dragonoid loses much of his strength and almost collapses on top of me.

    A [Water Blade], a fireball, and an arrow hits him straight in the chest. He fails to dodge Ciel, she gives him a cut on his right flank, metal rings fly about as his flimsy chain mail gets shredded. Ciel flips her glaive again and rips flesh as the hook gets stuck on his wound.

    Over all this pain the dragonoids are eerily quiet.

    "We will finish the first one!" Alissa yells.

    She and Roxanne turn around and I feel their happiness as the other dragonoid gets wounded again.

    The white dragonoid looks towards Ciel and charges her. Both thrust their polearms and both attacks get deflected at the same time.

    I cast [Rush] and I nearly instantly appear besides the dragonoid. He flies upwards, limiting my reach but I manage to slice his tail and right foot off with a single slash.

    I hear Hana's wings beat as she flies upwards.

    The white dragonoid immediately flies away from me, for the first time he shows some emotion as he looks at me in surprise. Even monsters have a cast time on their spells.

    I hear the sound of something hitting the ground.

    The monster decides I'm a mortal threat and charges me. Ciel slashes at him and makes him veer off course a small amount.

    He thrusts at my shield with all his strength, the spear breaks and I nearly fall backwards. I cast a desperate [Earth Bullet] and the dragonoid is caught unaware again, the spell hits the corner of his shield and bends it, the stone ends up hitting his right shoulder. He spins and crashes on the ground to my side.

    I hear the fleshy sound of meat and bones getting crushed behind us.

    As I regain my balance Ciel dashes past me, I can't chase since I have to stay near the girls in case a spell gets thrown towards them.

    Ciel plunges her glaive in the back of the white dragonoid. He thrashes about, trying to take flight only to get wounded deeper. Ciel removes her glaive and nearly cuts off one of the wings as a bonus.

    "RAAH!" Hana yells.

    "Another!" Alissa yells.

    Bunch of nibbling Skritters. This is about to get out of hand. Through Holly I can see where the next one is coming from.

    "Ciel, you are on your own!" Iyell.

    "Yes!" She answers.

    I stand in front of where Alissa is looking, a sky blue dragonoid with long flowing white hair appears from atop the ruins to our left. It has very small and thin whiskers, its tail waves about as it flies, the signs of a female. This one has horns, she is old and more powerful. She has a more red lines than the others, they wave wildly over her body and glow with more intensity.

    A fireball is hurled towards us and I dissipate it again, my sword gets quite hot. This one doesn't charge immediately and observes the battlefield. The red lines on her body calm and lose its glow, those lines are a visual representation of her mana.

    Hana twists her sword in the chest of the struggling dragonoid, she seems to like to stand on top of her enemies... And lovers.

    Lina strikes the base of the neck of the dragonoid, his lower body goes limp but his head still flails about. He tries to bite Hana but she's too far away, he then bites her sword and tries to pull it out of him, but Hana is stronger.

    His eyes turn gold as he tries to cast a bolt towards Lina, but nothing happens as her shield absorbs it. Hana takes the opportunity finishes him off by decapitating him. All of the equipment of the dragonoid turns to mush and dissolves.

    I feel a storm of mana right on top of me, me and Roxanne effortlessly interrupt the attempt of the female dragonoid of casting a spell on top of us. It's a bit frightening the dragonoid is capable of that.

    The white dragonoid is struggling to take flight, he decides to fight Ciel on the ground even though he's limping due to the lack of a foot. His claws extend to the size of a long dagger. He suffers against her range advantage.

    The blue dragonoid charges towards me, I steel myself and concentrate. She dodges a [Torrent] with incredible agility, she receives an arrow that pierces her shield arm but doesn't slow down.

    It's difficult but I can do it for a single moment and a moment is all I need, I cast [Telekinesis] on the tip her spear. Her spear tips downwards and with a bit of help of my shield it gets stuck on the ground and snaps.

    I thrust my sword at the same time but I get parried by her shield. I feel the immense strength on her shield arm and I'm glad I didn't take the spear directly.

    Before she has the opportunity to continue her charge towards the back line, a chantless [Earth Bullet] from Lina hits her on the flank sending her far away from us.

    Ciel jumps back to catch her breath, one"on"one a dragonoid is a tough fight. The white dragonoid stops for regeneration but gets interrupted as Hana charges him, forcing him to defend himself with his claws.

    I can see with the vision from the elementals that the blue dragonoid fell backwards so far that she appeared on the corner of the road. Thankfully she didn't notice the group of wary humans staring at her and charged back towards us.

    "Fire at the same time as me!" Itell the girls and they nod towards me.

    I charge my mana to the maximum.

    "[Lighting Bolt]!"

    "[Torrent]!"

    An arrow and a fireball flies.

    The blue dragonoid gets hit by the bolt, with her muscles stiffened for a second she couldn't dodge the attacks. She receives the spell square on the shield and starts spinning, the arrow hits her right shoulder and the fireball hits the back. She crashes on the ground and rolls, kicking up dust.

    Lina arrives besides Hana, who breaks away and rushes towards the blue dragonoid that's getting up. An arrow towards the white dragonoid forces him to defend himself with the shield, allowing Ciel to make a quick move and snag the rest of the dragonoids mail with her hook. She pulls her glaive and the hole on the frail hauberk opens wider.

    Hana attacks the raising blue dragonoid, forcing her to defend with her shield. Then Hana bashes her shield, forcing her into an awkward angle. Hana follows with a savage slash on the now exposed legs, cutting deep into the left thigh through the armor.

    Lina manages to smash the remaining foot of the dragonoid. He tumbles and falls on his ass, the lack of a good part of his tail does not help with his balance. Ciel stabs the groin, angling it towards his right leg, she twists the blade and pulls it out. This dragonoid is nearly completely disabled.

    The blue dragonoid does not let Hana regain the advantage, she swipes savagely at Hana. Even with a range advantage Hana is not keen on exposing herself yet to this enemy, she can just wait for backup. She blocks, deflects and feints to keep the dragonoid from pressing her too hard.

    The white dragonoid has to use two hands to defend itself from Lina's pounding with her war hammer. His shield bends more and more with each attack. Ciel circles around him and slashes half his throat off. The dragonoid tries to lash and bite at Ciel, he even tries to bite at the blade, to try and pry it off of her.

    Hana steps sideways, giving a small opening for us to attack the berserking blue dragonoid.

    "[Water Blade]!" Me and Roxanne cast at the same time.

    Both our spells aimed for the head and the blue dragonoid defended from both with her right arm. Roxanne's spell clearly made a much deeper cut. Now the dragonoid's attacking arm is completely disabled, allowing Hana to push back with ease.

    The white dragonoid arms break and his shield presses on his own body. He tries to move with hiss regenerating right leg but he has no power to stand up. Ciel slashes again at the throat and creates another deep wound, the dragonoid is bleeding profusely.

    The white dragonoid opens his mouth and looks at Lina, the depths of his throat start glowing. On the moment his head stops moving an arrow pierces his right eye and buries itself deep, the tip appears on the back of the skull. His body goes limp, he's dead.

    The blue dragonoid senses her impending doom and throws her shield at Hana. She uses her only good arm to try to at least kill her. She swings wildly at spits fireballs at Hana, the dragonkin answers with a smile on her face as she deflects the attacks and slashes the fireballs into nothing with her sword.

    Suddenly Hana stops and bashes the dragonoid followed by a thrust. The bash leaves the dragonoid exposed, allowing the sword to pierce the throat with ease. Hana twists her sword, opening a large wound on the dragonoid and immediately pulls back, allowing the dragonoid to restart her rampage.

    Ciel appears on the right side of Hana and with a swing her glaive slashes off the left hand of the dragonoid. That was the strong hand the dragonoid was using to attack. Lina appears on the left side of Hana and strikes the right knee of the dragonoid, making the leg bend backwards, forcing the dragonoid to use her wings to stay upright.

    The dragonoid swings weakly with her slowly regenerating arm but it does not even scratch the shields of the girls. She loses a part of her tail when she tries to whip it at Ciel. Her claws on her feet get destroyed by Lina. Her chain mail gets snagged and ripped by the hooks. The cloth armor slowly falls apart with slash upon slash.

    Hana takes flight again and sends an [Earth Bullet] downwards, hitting the dragonoid on the chest and forcing her to kneel. Lina smashes at the right knee, breaking the entire leg. Ciel slashes at the exposed chest, creating a deep gash that bleeds profusely.

    The entire chest of the dragonoid turns red. She tries to take flight and charge Hana but gets sent down again with a savage overhead slash that carries the entire weight of Hana. The dragonoid falls on the ground and Ciel thrusts at her, forcing her to the ground.

    Lina smashes the left shoulder, rendering the remaining arm useless. Hana slashes the neck of the pinned dragonoid and her head falls on the ground.

    Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. Roxanne holds her head in pain.

    "Too many spells in too little time. It's hard not to overuse when you don't have to chant anymore," she says.

    "Now you understand how I feel," I say.

    She chuckles.

    We spend a few minutes still tense, waiting for any other dragonoid guard to appear. Meanwhile we recover the blue dragonoid parts and I store it in my "Items", we collect the pair of whiskers from the other 2, that's the proof of subjugation.

    Aoi hops down from Roxanne's shoulder, she rips the scales easily and starts eating the white dragonoid's flesh.

    "Don't you want us to roast it first, little one?" Hana asks.

    "No~!" Aoi responds and continues eating.

    "Dragonoids have lots of mana, perhaps roasting would reduce the amount of mana on the meat," Lina says.

    "Yeesh~" Aoi mumbles with her mouth full.

    "Don't talk with your mouth full, you are a monster but you are still a woman," Alissa scolds.

    Look who's talking.

    Roxanne chugs a small MP potion and sits down with her back on a small wall. She doesn't have [Mana Recovery] so she uses her own potions to recover mana. She has specialized small potions that heal mana slowly and have a low toxicity. In this world the old adage "the dose makes the poison" is still true.

    I push her so I can sit behind her and pull her into my arms. [Breeze] is doing its work, she doesn't smell of sweat, only of the sweet fragrance of lavender.

    She leans her staff on the wall and scootches closer to me to get more comfortable.

    "If we stay like this I'm going to fall asleep," she says.

    "Then do, I will protect you and wake you up when it's time," I answer.

    She gives me a long kiss on the lips and takes off her pointy hat, coif, and glasses. No need to go so far and untie her hair so she just drops her head into my chest and closes her eyes. She looks sexy even while sleeping.

    Ciel brings Lyle and the others towards us. They look a bit wary at the amount of blood around, except Gwinevere, she seems indifferent. Hana and Ciel then spend some time cleaning their clothes of the stray drops of blood that splashed on them.

    "You guys okay?" Lyle asks with furrowed eyebrows.

    The amount of blood around and Roxanne sleeping in my arms does make a slightly worrying scene.

    "Yes, just tired, she overused her mana a bit so we are going to rest," Alissa says in a lower voice.

    "We saw a blue one, where is the body?" Lyle asks, nearly whispering.

    "Wolf stored it in his [Item Box]. It was bigger so it could be valuable."

    "I see... Well, you are all quite powerful, the size of these monsters is frightening."

    "Hopefully it will be enough to impress Mr. Garanae."

    I can't see her face but I can tell Alissa is smirking.

    "Perhaps. I assume it was you who influenced Hatara, both of them changed in impressive ways."

    "It was, I believe my blessing from the Goddess of Love wasn't wasted on me."

    Oh yeah, I can feel the smugness on her voice.

    "Well, nothing bad came out of their relationship, it's actually rather refreshing how soft Gara has become. To think all he needed was a girlfriend…"

    "Everyone needs some love, nobody is perfect. We all need people who complete us, after all. But what about you, Mr. Lyle, you said you are focusing on power but is it truly so? Can't you spare a bit of your time so you can spend it with a loved one?"

    The smugness levels are off the charts.

    "T-that's not... I don't have, I don't have time, really," Lyle turns his face away and cleans his throat.

    "Reeeaally...?"

    Now she's sassy.

    "Y-yes... Ah, Gwin, h-how are the dragonoids?"

    He waves to Gwinevere and moves away from Alissa. It seems Lyle can still be teased when the heat is on him.

    "Dead...?" She looks at him confused.

    "That's not…" He shakes his head, "Did you identify anything from their clothes and armor?"

    I play with Roxanne's hair while she sleeps. The quartet of scholars examine the grey dragonoid, they seem to be avoiding Aoi, who's still eating the white dragonoid. The space mages lowly discuss how to cook dragonoid meat, apparently it's very hard to prepare properly, it's very tough and tastes very gamey. The diet of animals and monsters define how strong the meat tastes, monsters that use lots of mana are known to taste slightly better. The dragonoids guards don't seem to eat a lot because of their self-preservation mode, but such spells are known to ruin meat. In the end they decided to take the body.

    After 30 minutes I wake Roxanne up. She yawns and gives me a peck on the lips. Then she frowns as she puts the coif back on.

    "Feeling better?" Iask.

    "Yep, time to move."

    "It's impressive how easily you fell asleep in this uncomfortable stone."

    "That's because I felt safe in your arms," she winks at me.

    Awn, my heart...


    We continue moving through town. The sound of thunder traveled far as we don't meet another guard.

    We reach a main road, it's larger and has details on the sidewalk, simple tribal geometric carvings. We manage to get glimpses of our target, a large tower, the scholars believe it is a primeval temple.

    "Even though they could fly they still required proper roads and sidewalks for they had servants of some kind. Not much is known about who these servants were," Lyle says.

    "Could it be another extinct race?" Lina asks.

    "Could be."

    As we near the tower Alissa stops us.

    "Another guard. Big like the blue one."

    There's a building near us that's still standing, it surprisingly has some walls in the first floor.

    "Hide there," I point to the building, "We will deal with the guard like last time"

    We might need to have them always hide when we fight, those are not easy fights, we have to go all out. Having them see so many chantless spells would attract too much attention, I specifically don't want Ankara to see us fight.

    We move towards the guard and suddenly the ground starts to get muddy, there was no cast time and a spell instantly started having effect. Me, Ciel, and Roxanne interrupt the spell immediately, a few seconds more and our feet would have sank on the ground.

    "Transformation!" Lina yells.

    He's gonna be annoying.

    Alissa lets out an arrow, I hear it clang on metal. A second later a black dragonoid appears, the white lines on its scales glow. It's a male with two long and forward"facing straight horns, they look dangerously sharp. He charges towards Hana.

    She takes the charge and immediately counters. The dragonoid fails to defend itself from the attack, his belly gets pierced by Hana, his neck is wounded by Ciel and his leg is hit by Lina. He spins from Lina's attack and flies backwards. His wounds instantly close, not a single drop of blood hits the ground.

    Transformation types have extra regeneration capabilities.

    The dragonoid receives a [Torrent] on his shield followed by a fireball and an arrow. Already his shield is bending. He charges Lina.

    She steels herself and stands like a statue. When the tip of the spear approaches Lina moves with incredible speed, her shield hits the spear perfectly on the middle. The tip of the spear gets stuck on the shield and the shaft breaks.

    "Come at me you squishy gecko!" Hana taunts.

    She slashes at the thigh of the dragonoid, it cuts through the cloth armor and inflicts a light wound that closes immediately. When the dragonoid retreats Ciel unleashes a [Wind Blade] that gets blocked by his shield.

    "I will cut your wings and turn you into my slave!" She taunts again.

    The dragonoid spares her no mind and charges Ciel. Without his spear her reach prevents him from hurting her. He impales himself on her glaive and swipes at her shield, his claws get stuck midway on her wooden shield.

    With his claws stuck and his belly pierced, he takes an extra second to retreat. Hana slashes down with her sword and cuts his right hand off while he retreats.

    He blocks an arrow and dodges a [Fire Arrow]. He lowers himself and touch the ground, limiting the aim of Alissa and Roxanne. I see something is coming out of his stump, his bones are already regrowing. Stupid transformation types.

    He charges towards Hana, Alissa is on a line behind her. She takes the opportunity, she casts [Ghost Lights] and releases an arrow at the same time. The dragonoid blocks his face with his shield and the arrow hits exactly where his eyes would be. Hana takes the chance and slashes at his exposed thighs again, this time the wound is much deeper and blood seeps from the wound.

    This is why a kite shield is better, his legs would be less exposed this way.

    He retreats again, meat and bones grow out of his stump in real time in a disgusting manner. Suddenly the ground becomes wet and slippery, his body glows brightly.

    He charges towards Lina again. Hana flies to intercept, her sword hits his shield and bends it in half. He veers off course but manages to spin and kick Lina, she remains like a statue and slides through the floor.

    I use [Telekinesis] on her, she slows down and slides until she nearly touches me. Roxanne casts a chantless [Ice Lance], it pierces through the shield and nearly wounds his chest lightly.

    "[Wind Blade]!"

    The spell flies towards his flank, his tail is sliced off cleanly at the base. Hana strikes him again with all her power and he crashes on the ground. I cast [Entangling Vines], his arms and legs get pulled to the ground. He tries to liquefy my vines but I keep casting the spell continuously.

    Hana hacks at him wildly, he lifts his arms to defend himself and they get chopped off. Bones and scales grow wildly out of his stumps only to get hacked again.

    "[Wind Blade]!"

    "[Water Blade]!"

    The two spells are cast with a lot of mana and with a completely vulnerable target both legs get sliced off. Hana continues to hack, more and more blood and gore spills from the butchering.

    Eventually his regeneration slows down and Hana sinks her blade on his head, splitting his skull in two. He flails for a few seconds and finally stops. Hana steps away from him, she's drenched in blood and pieces of meat and bone. I'm starting to feel sick so I wobble away from that scene.

    Roxanne spends nearly a minute manipulating water to clean the floor of the oil.

    "Hana, you are having a bath," I say.

    "Eh, it's only blood," she answers with a shrug.

    "I agree with Wolfy, it's worth spending some time to clean you," Alissa says.

    "I agree," Ciel says.

    "I also agree. You gotta take better care of yourself, my love," Roxanne says, tapping Hana's back, one of the few places untainted by blood.

    Lina simply avoids eye contact with Hana.

    "Fine…" She shrugs again.

    "I will wash you," I say.

    Now Hana smiles.

    "Wolfy, no sex," Alissa says with a serious tone.

    "Shouldn't you be saying that to Hana?"

    "Yes, but she has Roxanne, tonight you are mine," she looks like a predator about to pounce on her prey.

    Wow, where is that possessiveness coming from?

    We go behind a still standing wall and I pull out the bath requirements, Roxanne comes to help wash Hana's clothes while I carefully wash her body and scales. I take my time feeling up her abs, her biceps, her thighs, her calves, her very cute feet, and her two beautiful and perfect breasts.

    "If you continue we will have to apologize to Alissa," she says.

    "Wha...?"

    "I'm about to pounce on you."

    Alright then. I change to her scales, impressive how the blood seeped so deep in her, I carefully look below each to find any drop of blood that I could have missed.

    "You know I'm not made of glass, you can be rougher with me," she says, one eyebrow raised.

    "Sometimes I just feel like pampering you, why be rough when I can be delicate?"

    "Please stop talking, I'm seriously about to pounce on you," her face shows some anxiety.

    I just smile and finish up.

    We store everything and bring Lyle.

    "Dwarven beard, you did this?" Delwyn asks, he looks away sickly.

    Idioms are starting to turn into their localized versions instead of being translated into their Earth equivalent. "Dwarven beard" means something impressive. Earlier I thought "nibbling Skritters", it means "annoying little shits".

    "Well, yes," I answer, "Actually no, that was Hana."

    "There's no way around it, transformation types have ridiculous regeneration," Lina says.

    Delwyn groans and shudders.

    "It's not that bad little brother, it's just some blood and meat. The real dragonoids would do much worse if they caught one of us," Gwinevere rubs his shoulder.

    "You are not helping," he answers flatly.

    "As a noble you should have a stronger spirit, Delwyn," Ankara says, he shakes his head in disapprovement, "How are we supposed to lead the commoners if you get sick at looking at the mere results of a fight?"

    "I'm not a fighter and I will never be, there's no need for me to have to stomach this."

    "Then you shouldn't..." Ankara stops himself.

    Him and Delwyn glare at each other. I'm sure Ankara would have said that he "shouldn't be a noble then". Tankar seems to be looking at Delwyn with pity.

    "Keep moving, we don't have time for this," Lyle says in a commanding voice.


    We reach the entrance to the temple, a row of steps flanked by 14 pedestals. Only one of the pedestals has a statue on it, the others are all partially destroyed without any hint of what their statues might be. The only statue is of a naked dragonoid, not that they regularly wear clothes.

    "Some say these status represent the other humanoid races," Lyle says.

    We enter the temple. It's completely hollow, not even the floor remains, it turns into the jagged floor of the cave. The middle of the tower has an out of control enchantment, a chaotic wind runs through the entire height, it's almost a visible tornado.

    We take a quick lunch break. "Items"-ready meal for us and the remains of yesterday's meal for the others.

    "So, I will summon another earth elemental and me and Hana will climb to the top. In there we will fix a pulley so the rest can be brought up by a suspended scaffold, then I will use a wind elemental to secure the scaffold for you guys."

    Alissa seems anxious, she will be the first to come up, though.

    I unsummon Holly and I fake a chant, I summon an earth elemental and a wind elemental. Then I bring out the small scaffold and leather harnesses we prepared.

    We have a 4 pulleys system for raising the scaffold, 2 pulleys bellow, two on top. I grab the top pulley and hook it to the elemental. Good for us that someone measured the height of his tower, 164 meters, because of this we can bring the proper amount of rope. In this world "meters" is called "metris".

    "Your [Item Box] is quite big, Wolf," Lyle says.

    It's not funny when a man says it. I force a smile.

    "You know I'm good with [Space Magic]."

    "So it seems," he looks at me with curiosity.

    Me and Hana put on our harnesses and tie ourselves to each earth elemental. We climb on their backs and the elementals move towards the walls. They touch the wall and their hands fuse with the stone, then they pull themselves upwards and do the same for their feet. They unfuse their hands and fuse again higher up. This cycle repeats and we slowly climb up the tower.

    The wind blows hard and we have to cling to the elementals or we would flap about wildly. It's difficult to breathe and the dust is irritating my nose. The wind is cold and soon I'm chilled to the bone, even with the fur padding of my armor.

    After an eternity that lasted 20 minutes we reach the top. The tower suddenly opens into the cave environment again. This time it's full of stalagmites and stalactites, water drips constantly and rills flow towards a large crack in the ground about 100 meters from us. The wind is strong here too.

    I have one of the elementals fuse with the ground and hold the pulley for us, the other will pull the rope while we secure the area. I turn my Emergency Ring red then green then off. The signal that we are ready.

    A few seconds later my ring turns red then green then off. I signal the elemental and it starts pulling. 5 minutes later the scaffold appears with Alissa, Lyle and the fire elemental. The wind elemental floats above the scaffold. The fire elemental lights up our surroundings and we see a dance of small lights reflected on the wet ground of the cave.

    We lower the scaffold and the wind elemental floats down.

    "How was it?" Iask.

    "A bit cold, barely any swaying, though I don't recommend looking down," Lyle says.

    "Better than our trip up. Heat me up," I tell the fire elemental.

    The flames of the elemental spring to life and she blows a kiss to me.

    "They are getting personalities now," Alissa mutters.

    Hana looks very satisfied.

    Next comes Tankar, Ankara, and one of the space mages. Ankara seems to heavily dislike the wet environment, he maintains close to the elemental but keep his eyes away from her two large traps.

    Next comes the twins and the other space mage.

    "Ooh~..." Gwinevere looks around in wonder.

    "Yeah, kinda nice," Delwyn talks absentmindedly.

    "Nicer than just those ruins you and Lyle love so much. Do either of you play with yourselves while thinking about those ruins?"

    If one were to ignore the context you would only hear an innocent maiden talking.

    "I'm gonna tell mom" -Delwyn narrows his eyes and glares at his sister- "she's gonna have you pass those etiquette classes all over again."

    "Ahahahah..."She laughs awkwardly and looks away, "What are you talking about, little brother, it was just a joke, a mere joke. N-no need to get so offended. Ahahah…"

    "Something is coming!" Alissa yells.

    This jolts us back to reality.

    "Stay with the elemental and move to the back of the cave!" Iyell and wave them to move away.

    The earth elemental is pulling Roxanne, Ciel, and Lina. They will be here soon, we only have to hold on if whatever is coming is too much for us.

    We hear the clanking of metal before we see what it is. It shines in the reflected lights of the cave with such intensity I thought Haaran was coming towards us. It is an old male dragonoid, he has one horn, long silver hair and a few spikes on his spine. Once he got close we realized his shine is waving by itself, it is the visible mana of the dragonoid, it is silver.

    "Metal type! Cook him alive! Fire elemental, come to us!" Iyell

    I hear the sound of air being inhaled. *FOOOOM* Hana spews out fire.

    "[Fireball]!"

    "[Fireball]!"

    Me and Alissa fire our spells. The silver-surfer-looking dragonoid gets swallowed by flames. I see Alissa draw an arrow and fire it into the flames but more to our right. Hana follows the arrow and I fire another [Fireball] too.

    The fire elemental arrives and just as Hana's fire runs out the elemental starts her own fire-breath. Alissa fires another arrow towards the right and me and Hana throw a [Fireball] there, the elemental turns her flamethrower to follow.

    Eventually the fire elemental runs out of gas too and stops the fire breath. We see a red-hot dragonoid, his silver light is running wildly through his body, it's keeping the metal armor from burning him or melting off. I see two burned arrow stumps on his chest.

    Hana inhales again and lets out more fire-breath along with a [Fireball]. We let out more spells and arrows. Hot blasts of wind make the cave become even more windy. I smell burnt meat.

    "It's charging!"

    Hana stops her fire and lifts her shield just in time to receive a claw from a half burned dragonoid. His metal armor melted off nearly completely.

    He jumps back and turns the remaining metal on his body into a red-hot spear and a round shield. Now he's completely naked, fortunately a dragonoid's penis is retracted inside his body. He charges again at Hana, but this time she's even more ready. She trades blows with him as I charge towards her left side.

    I strike down with my sword and he lowers his spear, letting Hana get into his guard and lightly pierce his right shoulder. His spear doesn't rise again, allowing us to keep the pressure on.

    Alissa doesn't dare leave the side of the elemental, they are too nimble and would overpower her easily.

    I strike again and open a wound on his right leg. He counters by using his tail to pierce me, I dodge backwards and he only weakly hits my belly. It didn't penetrate the leather and the impact got softened by the fur padding.

    Hana bashes his shield and strikes down at the same time. The dragonoid's posture doesn't crumble but his shield gets nearly cut in half as Hana's sword gets stuck midway into the shield.

    He's not powerful enough to pull Hana back. His shield turns into liquid, allowing Hana's sword to slide out, she forces the sword down again and slices his arm to the bone. At this moment the rest of the girls arrive.

    "Lina! With me!" Alissa orders.

    With this they run sideways to the flanks, Alissa fires an arrow that pierces the right shoulder of the dragonoid.

    He lifts his spear, his shoulder healed and he charges Alissa. Hana goes flying behind him. Lina gets into position.

    "[Wind Blade]!"

    The spell goes off and it hits his spear arm, blood flies but the wound is not deep. Alissa casts a silent [Ghost Lights]. He strikes at Lina, he is blinded so she deflects it easily and counters with her hammer. I hear bones crunching as he defends with his shield, it bent backwards, his forearm is broken.

    He flies backwards for a second and receives Hana's strike with his spear. The spear shines lightly and doesn't break. But Hana feinted, she uses her momentum to spin and kicks the dragonoid away.

    He flies back a few meters and immediately charges again. An arrow pierces his throat.

    "[Fire Wall]!"

    The smell of burnt meat grows stronger, he is trapped inside for a few seconds. Then the wall recedes.

    "[Wind Blade]!"

    His shield is dripping away, his spear is thin, one of his eyes is cooked. He charges again and it gets stopped by the spell that hits his chest, followed Hana's sword that cuts down his shoulder down to his heart.

    He struggles for a second then goes limp. Hana lands on the ground and kicks him to dislodge him off her sword.

    "Ah, a tooth broke off," she says with sadness, she passes her fingers on a spot of metal where a very sharp teeth should be.

    "Bound to happen, these swords aren't that resistant," Lina says.

    The wary escort NPC's come to us.

    "Oh, it seems you are all competent mages," Lyle says.

    "Eh," Hana shrugs, "Only a thing or two that helps us in situations like these."

    We rest for a few minutes here.

    "Aside from the smell of burnt meat this is a really nice place," Ciel says.

    "The sound of the dropping water is relaxing," I say.

    "Exactly. I would love to spend a night here."

    "I will put a [Gate] 'coordinate' here then," I whisper.

    She gives me a peck on the lips.


    The crack near us is the only way forward, there's a way down but our target is not there so we are going over it.

    We put our harnesses on again. This time I unsummon the fire elemental and summon another earth elemental. One elemental will stay here and hold the bottom pulley, two will ferry me and Hana across the crack through the wall. Then we will have an elemental hold the top pulley and the other will pull the scaffold.

    The trip through the crack is short, it's barely more than 50 meters wide, the out of control wind enchantment is also much more subdued here. At the bottom we see faint glowing spots, there are more dragonoid guards down there, tough those are active.

    We ferry everyone and cross safely without any other fights. Our path narrows and small ruined steps appear embedded in the rock once in a while. Fortunately this part isn't wet otherwise the risk of falling would be high.

    The tunnel slowly opens up, weak mana crystals appear embedded in the walls, giving us the first natural light of the dungeon that we have seen.

    Long minutes pass and we finally approach the limits of explored territory as we reach a cobble wall with only a small arch as an opening. Below the arch the skeleton of a halfling on the ground is the evidence of the result of the last expedition here, one of them died and the rest ran away. This place is a pain to get to, add that to the dragonoid family of 5 members that guards this place and nobody else felt like bothering coming here.

    The sloths stay behind as we approach the arch.

    "Last report said there should be a family of dragonoids guarding this place," I whisper.

    "I sense nothing, dragonoids shouldn't have skills that hide their presence, right?" Alissa whispers.

    "Correct," Lina whispers.

    "Curious how the skeleton is still here, I guess these dragonoids do not eat their victims?" Roxanne asks.

    "They are different from the normal ones anyway," Lina says.

    "Let's gather the bones and give it a proper cremation," Ciel says.

    Nobody buries their dead, graveyards attract monsters and necromancers.

    "First let's make sure the area is safe, eyes peeled in all directions," I say.

    We approach the arch we see it has a raised metal gate, it's a gatehouse not a simple stone arch. Past it we see buildings raised by the dragonoids, but instead of being attempts at abstract architecture they are much more similar to the engraved buildings of the temple. They are all engraved with tribal or flowery patterns.

    There's only one road and the buildings end into the cave wall halfway, there's not much to explore and no way to miss any monster that could be hiding. Either they have some sort of [Hide Presence] or [Invisibility], or there's simply nothing here.

    After a long hour of cautiously walking we find another gatehouse.

    "Let's just get Lyle and we see how far he wants to explore," I say.

    We double back and reach the first gatehouse. We pile the bones of dead halfling on a corner and Roxanne casts a small [Firestorm]. He had some ruined textile and chain armor that burned and melted, only a small lump of ashes and metal remains.

    "Gods, let his connection to this world end and the cycle of his soul be allowed to continue," Ciel prays.

    We quietly repeat her prayer and move on. We bring Lyle through the small remains of the town.

    "What is this architecture!" Lyle exclaims as he sees the engraved buildings.

    "Please keep your voice down," Lina pleads.

    Lyle winces again.

    "Sorry, sorry," he whispers.

    Delwyn has to be herded by Lina as he lost his voice and part of his capability of walking. Ankara is very fidgety and only Gwinevere retains her composure as she only occasionally look around with curiosity.

    We reach the second gatehouse and cross it. We enter what seems to be a large garden, except it's dead and smell like it's rotting. It's actually a bit unpleasant, I fear a trap as I can sense something wrong with this place.

    "This must be the entrance to a castle. But why is everything so dead?" Lyle questions.

    "There's something wrong here," Roxanne says.

    "I agree," Ciel says.

    I nod.

    The other 3 look at us puzzled.

    "Doesn't make much sense for it to be rotting like this," Gwinevere says, she holds her chin in thought. "This dungeon is a solidification of mana, it can recreate any sort of matter it want, it could easily recreate perfectly healthy green grass even if it were in complete darkness."

    "Maybe it rotted on the original castle this was based on," Lyle says.

    Delwyn snaps from his trance. "Assuming this dungeon was based on a real location. It could simply be a thematic shift, there could be something bad inside this castle," he says.

    We continue forward with renewed alertness. The rotting grass reminds me of a swamp, the claustrophobic environment and the stuffy air does not help stave off our disgust.

    Eventually the tunnel splits into two, one goes to our right and deeper into the garden, the other way goes into the entrance of what could be a castle. The imponent stairs up into the building certainly signal this to be an important building.

    "Castle," Lyle says the moment we stop.

    We enter the castle into a large hall similar to the first room of the dungeon, except the low ceiling of the cave is visible. We reach the end and Lyle gets disappointed as the stairs to the second floor get cut halfway.

    To the sides of the hall there's doors leading to corridors. One side has skeletons, ruined armor suits, rusted weapons, some rotting clothes, and broken furniture. The quartet of scholars seem ecstatic, there are remains of heraldry and designs never seen before. The skeletons are clearly dragonoid and their weapons are similar to ancient Greece of Earth, this means they are from a time period far from current days.

    We nearly had to drag them away from there as we still have the right side to explore. When we got there they nearly shat themselves, there's a small library with readable books.
     
  13. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    "Diamond dragon scales!" Lyle exclaims, he furiously flips through one of the books, "The books are written in the dragonoid language! We stumbled on something amazing! Mr. 'Good Luck' I'm gonna kiss ya, your nickname is a perfect fit!"

    "Please don't."

    The book crumbles on his careless touch and he yelps, all heads turn towards him in surprise.

    "Lyle... It's okay, the book will regenerate," Lina says in a soft voice.

    "Oh, yes, right," he laughs at himself.

    The book turns to dust that quickly disappears into nothing. A few seconds later a black goo appears on the shelf, it slowly reforms into the shape of a book. Eventually it regains color and texture, finishing its regeneration.

    Ciel motions for us to assemble.

    "The rotten grass, I'm almost sure it's undead corruption," she says.

    "You are not sure?" Alissa asks.

    "No, I only crossed some small corruption a long time ago, we were passing through the remains of a nest of a White Arachne. These arachnes are quite weak so I never really had the opportunity to fight one, the adventurers would always kill them before the temple found one."

    Lina's Trivia: Monsters mutate quite often, ironically the God of Destruction uses evolution, i.e. gradual change, as a way to bolster his forces. One of the rare mutations is the monsters acquiring the knowledge to become "undead". They find a way to dissociate their soul and body from the influence of all Gods, they become something "unnatural" to our reality, detached from the cycle of mana. They can absorb any matter to survive, live forever, disrupt life and matter just by existing, and need to be completely annihilated to truly die.

    "That is actually worrying, if the family of dragonoids that guarded the gatehouse became undead then they would be very difficult to deal with. No, they would be impossible to deal with," I say.

    "Indeed," Ciel says.

    "Yeah, I agree, you shouldn't underestimate those dragonoids," Hana says.

    "I will scout ahead, we need to know what exactly is out there," Alissa says.

    I take a moment to think about her words.

    "I will go with you," I say.

    We stare at each other. She doesn't want to risk me and I don't want to risk her.

    "We are stronger together," I say with more resolution in my tone.

    Her stare slowly turns into a smile.

    "Together then," she grabs my hand and kisses it, then I kiss her hand back.

    "Tell the others what we just discussed," I say to Ciel.

    "Make sure to come back before dinner, whatever is out there you can properly scout tomorrow," Ciel says, her tone leaves no room for questioning.

    "Yes, mom," I mutter and walk away.

    "I heard that!"

    I walk away faster.



    I left a single earth elemental to guard the entrance to the castle, for us I summoned a Shad and Holly to help us with vision. I will ride Alissa during the trip.

    "This is nostalgic, just the two of us," I whisper.

    "Not really a pleasant memory, you were too close to danger before Hana," she whispers back.

    I can fell her pout even though her fox mouth doesn't move. I just smile and hug her fluffiness harder, I love this fox form of her so much.

    Before meeting her I was scared out of my mind, I was lost and incredibly lonely. I threw myself at her and she opened her heart to me. She's my anchor and I'm her light, we will live together and die together, that I am sure.

    "Hey..." A very peculiar thought occurred to me, "Can you feel pleasure in your fox form?"

    Alissa stops, her fox face looks at me, slowly the corner of her lips rise into a frightening smile full of pointy fangs.

    "Yes," she answers calmly.

    "Ok... Let's keep moving."

    I will continue that train of thought another time.



    The smell of rot gets stronger, the cave opens up and we enter a dead orchard. I summon another Holly and tell it to fly about, if she finds another living being she must return to us immediately.

    With the second Holly's vision I can see how big the cave has become, the orchard turns into a hedge maze that we contour. When the second Holly starts to fly over the maze a stone statue of a dragonoid archer releases its arrow towards Holly.

    She immediately doubles back towards us. The arrow misses narrowly and with the corner of Holly's vision I can see the statue drawing another arrow.

    "Stop! Go back to the entrance!" I tell Alissa.

    "Ok, what's going on?"

    "Holly got attacked by a statue."

    Her fox eyes spell confusion.

    Holly leaves the maze just as another arrow flies past her, her small size is a real advantage against projectiles. I see the statue returns to its normal position, with a drawn bow pointing upwards.

    "A trap to prevent other dragonoids from flying above. This maze has anti-air statues, they take life and shoot arrows at flying targets," I say.

    "Why would they do something like that? You don't put defenses like these unless you are guarding something valuable."

    "Indeed, but dragonoids have a rather ruthless society, perhaps it's a prank, perhaps it's a test. If it's not related to their culture it could be something a dungeon rarely creates."

    "A treasure chest!" Alissa seems ecstatic.

    "Wanna bet Ciel is gonna side with Lyle when we tell them this?"

    She snorts.

    "No, that would be a dumb bet."

    "Heh. Anyway, let's go around this maze and continue scouting."

    I tell second Holly to circle around the maze on the opposite direction of us. The maze is quite wide so we reach the border of the cave while running around it. Aside from the inside of the maze we scouted every single inch of this cave, then we meet up on the other end of the maze.

    We continue forward and pass a creepy statue garden, it has all sorts of statues of dragonoids. There are butchers, robed cultists, soldiers, actors, bone armored robed cultists, alchemists, mages, robed cultists stabbing themselves, merchants, nobles, executioners cutting heads off, cultists sacrificing other dragonoids, farmers, scholars, cultists eating other dragonoids, cultists raping other dragonoids, tall piles of dragonoid skulls, and a very large and mean looking dragonoid.

    We do not talk about the statues, the increasing creepiness makes us not want think any more than necessary about this place. The only thing we paid mind is the corruption, the smell of rot was gone but a very faint smell of acetone fills the air.

    After the statues we reach a water park. It literally has water slides, they look incredibly fun except for the black and bubbling slimy water. The air is filled with suspended particles that sparkle when our light touches them.

    Alissa takes great care to avoid the deadly water. The smell of rot returns faintly and the smell of acetone increases. It also starts to slightly burn our lungs, it's damaging us. After 10 minutes smelling this "acetone" I see it reduced my HP by 1 point.

    After the ridiculously large water park comes a grassland followed by a grove. At the border of the grove I tell Alissa to stop.

    "What is it now?" She asks.

    "Holly found something, seems to be a dragonoid. Her vision is being disrupted greatly, I think it could be the undead."

    "Her vision is supposedly very sensitive, makes sense for it to be disrupted by the corruption of the undead."

    "Yes."

    "Where is the undead and where is it going?"

    "It's deeper into the grove a long way to our left, it's moving away from us. I couldn't see anything else since Holly turned back as soon as she sensed it. I believe that one had a green glow, wind type."

    As Holly moves towards us her vision quickly improves. It was like an analog TV having interference, the image distorted and got grainy. Holly even suffered some damage just by getting close to it. We are much tougher than her so we wouldn't take instantaneous corruption damage just by meeting an undead, but it would be detrimental to our health if we fought it.

    "Let's return," Alissa says.

    "Yes, Ciel would kill us if we went deeper."

    "With the way Lina is changing she would join Ciel."

    This time I'm the one who snorts.



    "Undead, huh..." Lyle is in deep thought.

    "It's dangerous to stay here," I say.

    "It would be very tough to kill a single undead dragonoid," Hana says.

    "Even worse is that out there is probably a family of undead dragonoids that were supposed to be protecting the entrance to this place," Alissa says.

    Lyle purses his lips.

    "We are not leaving," Ankara says with decisiveness.

    "Why?" I ask.

    "This place is too valuable, we have to stay here and compile the books in this small library," he says.

    "Let a Glutton eat your words, you can come back here later," Hana says.

    Lina's Trivia: Gluton is a slime-type monster that eats anything related to plants or animals (including humanoids). Hana's expression means "screw that".

    Ankara narrows his eyes in annoyance.

    "We are staying here, if we come back later this place will be filled with other scholars and soldiers to subjugate those undead dragonoids," he says.

    "Oh, so that is what you are worried about, that someone would steal all your glory," I say.

    His composed face breaks and he glares at me with anger.

    "You should know your place, boy, show some respect," Tankar says through gritted teeth.

    "What are you on about?"

    "It is Mr. Gartania and Sir Tankar, not 'you'," he spews.

    I can barely discern his expression, he never takes off that helmet.

    "I, do, not, care, I'm not your fucking squire," I look at him with disdain.

    Tankar clenches his mailed fist in anger.

    "That's enough! Both of you!" Lyle yells and hits his fist on the table.

    Ah shit, I gotta calm down. I'm not used to dealing with this amount of self-importance.

    "The undead are very far away, we can keep an eye on them, can't we?" Lyle says and looks at me.

    "The corruption is too strong and damages us. I will not let any of my women stand guard in the middle of that nasty air, I will use summons and let them at the border of the corrupted air. This should give us 30 minutes of early warning if the dragonoids come to us."

    "Then that's enough, there's no need to run away now."

    I'm conflicted, the maze, or safety, the maze, or safety. I look at Ciel, her eyes show a hint of excitement ever since we mentioned the maze. Ah, fuck it, we will stay.

    "Keep in mind the price of your glory," Hana says to Ankara, she shares my disdain.

    I let a sigh escape.

    "I will agree to stay but only if I get whatever is inside that maze, no questions asked," I say.

    "I wish to explore that maze," Lyle says earnestly, eager to change the topic.

    "Now that's pushing it," Hana says.

    Lyle drops his shoulders.

    "I will stay with the books, that maze smells like a treasure chest," Ankara says.

    "Me too," Delwyn says.

    "I would like to go to the maze," Gwinevere says.

    "We could split, no problem," Lyle says innocently.

    "Bad idea," Ciel says.

    Alissa nods in agreement. Lyle looks like a dejected puppy.

    "Look, we are not taking any of you, it's too dangerous," I say.

    Lyle seems hurt but without him we can use [Gate] to return instantly if something goes bad.

    "I'm sorry but I'm not taking any chances, we will explore that place but only if we are alone. That way we can easily run away if danger comes either to us or to you."

    Tankar scoffs.

    "I'm more than enough to keep the undead away if you decide to prance about that maze," he says.

    Death-flag.

    "Suit yourself," I wave my hand at him, "We will leave two elementals here anyway to help."

    "Then you are going tomorrow?" Lyle asks.

    "Yes, tomorrow morning."



    Ankara spoiled the mood again so we end up eating dinner separately. After that I immediately bring Alissa to bed and seek her tongue, her tail ruffles the sheets as it wags below her.

    I will never get tired of this, of her taste, of her feeling. I easily get hard and I slide my hand past her bush, she immediately opens her legs and receives my finger with a moan. I play with her until I feel her little bean grow on my hand, I pull her pants halfway and penetrate her.

    She breaks the kiss as she cannot contain her moans anymore. I shove the gag on her mouth, this time it's one of her sexier lacy panties, such an erotic sight. Her orange eyes lock into mine and the sounds of the world drowns.

    She takes off the gag and whispers something in my ears. I stop for a few seconds to process what she wants.

    "You sure?" I ask.

    She nods.

    "I trust you," she says, her smile is adorable.

    I pull out of her and pull out two leather belts, I tie one to her arms and the other to her legs. Then I stare again into her eyes and smile, I wrap my hands on her throat and choke her.

    She struggles and tries to break free, those leather belts were made for Hana, she's not getting away. She eventually kicks me with both her feet and I fall from the bed, my ass hurts.

    This woman is gonna be my wife, I love her and she loves me.

    "You bitch, you are gonna pay," I growl at her.

    Her eyes turn into fear and she tries to crawl away from me.

    "P-please, no, Wolfy, no…"

    "Quiet."

    I grab the gag and straddle her, I shove it deep into her mouth. She chokes and tries to spit it out but I pull out another belt and tie it around her mouth.

    She has accepted that she is not a slave anymore, she's free but she willingly binds herself to me.

    "A breeding sow does not need to talk," I spit at her.

    She struggles again and tries to break free. I put points into [Enhanced Strength]. This time her kick misses and I pull a rope and tie it around her folded legs. Alissa is not that strong, she focus on being fast and precise, it's rather easy to overpower her.

    Now she can't struggle anymore, she's completely immobile. She whimpers behind her gag.

    There's still something on her that wants to submit, though, she wants to be forced by me. She desires so much to serve me she wishes she didn't have free will.

    I turn the squirming whore around, her ass and pussy are completely exposed to me. She jerks her head and manages to see me pulling my cock out with the corner of her eyes.

    "No..." I can hear she mutter from behind her gag.

    She wants to feel helpless before me. She wants to be raped by me.

    I penetrate her, her dripping pussy betrays her acting. Hana might be depraved but Alissa might be the bigger degenerate. This is the small, blurry, curious spot in her heart, she fantasizes on me cheating on her and then raping her. Perhaps I am the biggest degenerate since I am thoroughly enjoying this?

    I don't hold back. All I want is to inflict as much pain as possible, I want to make her suffer and crumble beneath me. I choke her and she moans in pleasure and cries in pain.

    That's not enough. I pull out of her and bring out our scented lube. I push a finger inside her asshole and cast the strongest [Clean] I can muster, her whole body shivers in response. I spread a generous amount of lube on my cock, then I aim it at her second entrance.

    She jerks her body again to look at me, now there it is, genuine fear.

    "This is your lesson, you whore."

    I push my big fat cock inside her small virgin asshole. She screams in pain, blood drips out her and a towel appears below us to catch the drops of blood. I pull it out, I cast [Heal] on her ass, [Clean] on my dick and apply more lube. She's not bleeding anymore but it doesn't mean she's not in pain. I penetrate her again.

    She whimpers with every thrust. I feel her asshole tighten and pulse with every heartbeat, this amount of tight puts Lina to shame. I steel myself and pound her harder, her cute small ass turns red as her ass cheeks clap on my thighs.

    I choke her harder and I see her struggle to breathe, I leave just a bit of room so she doesn't pass out. I bite her shoulder and with my free hand I pinch her clit, I pull on it hard and she yells in pain, the sound passing through the gag. Tears roll through her face.

    I cum inside her in a way I never came before, it fills her insides and overflows. I stay like this for a while, her ass drips with my cum and her pussy drips with her wetness. Slowly I break my hold and she gasps for air. I remove her gag and she coughs.

    I lay on top of her and hug her, my dick still inside her.

    I look to the side and Hana is on her fours being fisted by Roxanne, looking at us with begging eyes, she wants to be next. Ciel and Lina are frozen in confusion, disgust, fear, and extreme arousement.

    I pull out of Alissa and push it inside Hana's mouth for her to clean. Then I move behind Hana and Roxanne leaves. I clean Hana's asshole while she tongues Alissa's, trying to take out any remaining cum.

    "Fucking whores, the both of you."

    I penetrate Hana, for her I put less lube. She yelps in pain and holds her mouth. Every thrust she cries, she cries while smiling, her tears wet the sheets. I don't heal Hana so the smell of blood starts to enter my nose.

    Instead of feeling disgust I feel pleasure at the smell of blood, I will make Hana bleed and cry. I increase my speed and her asshole tightens so much I need more lube. I clean most of the blood and apply a generous amount of lube.

    Roxanne is fingering Hana while they kiss. Every few seconds Hana moans and cries, breaking their kiss. During these moments Roxanne smiles like a maniac while she appreciates the show.

    I grow tired and stop holding myself, I feel it come and Hana tightens purposefully. I cum a huge amount again and a mix of blood and cum overflows out of her.

    I pull it out and flop down on our huge bed.

    "Uh... The taste of blood ruins it," Hana says, a little apologetic.

    Alright then. I cast [Clean] on myself.

    I look at Alissa, her face is back to normal but it's wet with tears. I untie her and she immediately pushes me down, her mouth devours my dick.

    With lots of enthusiasm but still with delicacy she stimulates me perfectly, she pays proper attention to that special spot, the frenulum. A small strip of flesh that's especially delicate and sensitive, she applies special attention to it.

    Her words ring in my head "I am your whore, your cock-sleeve, your sex toy. Hurt me, rape me, show who owns me". I let it repeat in my head, the perfect sexy whisper on my ears turned on the beast in me. I close my eyes and cum on her mouth, she doesn't slow down her movements and not a single white drop can be seen, she swallowed it all.

    "Thank you for the meal, master," she says with an innocent smile.

    She casts [Clean] on her mouth and lays down besides me.

    "Wow..." That's all I can say.

    "Yes," she says.

    Hana is sprawled on the bed while Roxanne plays with her hair.

    "That was amazing to watch," Roxanne says.

    Lina and Ciel are naked, they are wet and their breaths are haggard, their hands glisten in their own juices. They just finished furiously masturbating.

    "I'm not complaining but what's gotten into you?" I ask Alissa.

    "I wanted to push things a little further because of what Gify showed us..." She starts.

    Gify pops into the bed.

    "Gih!"

    "Yes, you. Gify showed us your heart and I have been thinking what it meant."

    "What exactly did you see?"

    "Two seas divided by a wall, one is stormy and the other is paradise. Slowly the wall crumbles while storm recedes at the same speed. I want to make sure the storm is gone before the wall falls apart entirely. That storm, what is bothering you?"

    For now there's only one thing that keeps popping in my mind every once in a while, something I push away immediately.

    "Hmm... Whenever I think about fighting other people I hear the space mage we killed shrieking…"

    The girls quickly recover from their stupor after my words.

    "We all have painful memories, they eventually fade if we don't feed them," Alissa says.

    "I keep remembering Wolfy on top of the body of that woman with his hand missing," Lina says, she frowns and looks down.

    Ciel pulls Lina on a hug and smothers her on her breasts. Sha pats Lina and the face of the little dwarf melts on a smile.

    "What do these memories make you two feel?" Ciel asks.

    "Fear, fear of hearing any of you scream like her," I say.

    "Fear that I will one day find Wolfy looking worse than that," Lina says.

    I free Lina of her pillows and pull her into a hug. I feel her softness as our naked and sweaty bodies touch each other. My limp penis touches her ass and I feel her shiver, Lina's ass is certainly gonna be tighter than Alissa's.

    "I think we all fear the same as Lina, it's just that we don't let those thoughts influence our mood," Ciel says.

    "We have to deal with problems as they come, to dwell on fear will only hold you back," Hana says.

    "But fear is what keeps us from doing stupid things," Roxanne says.

    "I know... I just need to get used to controlling it," I say.

    "Self-control is the thing you lack, we talked about this after you fought the Red Smile," Ciel says.

    "I have been getting better," I smile wryly.

    "Yes you have. There was one last thing, something unpleasant buried deep inside you," Alissa says.

    I know myself well, there's only one thing I'm trying to bury, to forget.

    "Must be about home... Or rather, my former home."

    I grit my teeth, I do not want to be reminded of Earth again. Alissa grabs my face and looks into my eyes.

    "If you ever need to get something out of you, we are here to listen to you," she says.

    I smile again at her earnest concern. I know talking helps but I don't want to talk about it now.

    "I will be here to do the same," I say and I kiss her lips lightly.

    "And you too," she kisses Lina's forehead, making her smile shyly.

    "Anyway, what did you girls feel from Gify?" I ask.

    "The same as Alissa, except 'paradise' was the warmth of the sun," Hana says.

    "Yeah, I felt incredible sweetness," Roxanne says.

    "I felt like I was being hugged really tight," Ciel says.

    "I felt safe and comfortable," Lina says.

    "Kweh!" Aoi felt big and strong.

    "Did he show the feelings you have to each other?" I ask.

    "He showed ours," Hana says with a beaming smile, she pulls Roxanne into a hug," I felt something clinging on my back very hard.

    "I... Felt like a warm and comfy blanket was all over me," Roxanne says with a blush, she averts her eyes.

    The other girls just shake their heads.

    I get erect between Lina's ass cheeks. She's spent for now so I grab Roxanne, who didn't get enough love today.

    I cover her body with kisses while I caress it and apply some [Massage] to her.

    "I will show you my sweetness, then," I say.

    I think about touching those horns and that tail again but I think twice. I need energy for tomorrow and she's gonna suck my lifespan if I go with the first idea.

    She's already wet from playing with Hana so I immediately enter her. With every thrust I apply the smallest amount of force, sliding in and out with the utmost of gentleness. I oil her nipples and rub them with just enough strength so it would feel good and not tickle.

    I kiss her lips and suck on her tongue, I guide it around and stimulate every part equally. I [Massage] her mouth with my tongue. I explore her mouth and made sure she was breathless before I broke the kiss and moved down to play with her nipples with my mouth.

    Every thrust elicits a long and soft moan, slowly growing into intensity, her voice is pure sexyness. She syncs her body with mine, every shiver, every movement is filled with her sensuality. She's impossibly intoxicating.

    With my free hand I find her clit and caress it, making her gasp and moan harder. As her body approached climax her back arched, her legs quiver and her insides tightened like no other can, squeezing another shot from me. I feel my mind clear, her hold over me wanes.

    I leave the clean up to Hana, who picks up where I left off and gently makes Roxanne climax again. Now I'm finally spent.



    I help Lina replace the broken tooth on Hana's sword with the use of [Manipulate Metal]. I think that soon Lina will learn this spell.

    "Say, Hana, didn't you deal with snotty nobles like Ankara on your travels?" Roxanne asks.

    "Yeah," she stops massaging Roxanne's head, "Well, most of the annoying ones wanted to dangle their little cocks in front of me to suck so the reasons I dislike them are different than why I dislike Ankara."

    Alissa lifts her eyes from her book.

    "You swear too much, Hana, you should change this behavior," she says with a slight disapproving tone.

    "Hmm... That would be hard..." Hana turns her head away, "After I learned [Taunt] these things became ingrained in my mind."

    Alissa rolls her eyes.

    "But how did you deal with the nobles?" Roxanne asks.

    "Mostly ignoring, if they try to brag you act dumb and uninterested, that squashes their motivation to talk to you."

    "Not like you had to try hard to act dumb."

    Hana flickers her forehead.

    "Ow..." Roxanne rubs the reddening skin.

    "You deserved it" Hana looks at her with cold eyes.

    "I did," Roxanne smiles, unrepentant.

    "Anyway," her warmth comes back, "Others try to buy you, there's no way than just flat out denying them, if you leave any detail uncertain they will come back and keep insisting."

    "The only one you would sell yourself to is Wolfy," she taps Hana's scales on her cheek.

    "Don't even need to sell, I would have stolen him for myself if I wasn't a Blood Slave," her man-eating gaze strikes me, giving me a chill. "Ankara is the last kind, he's a little bitch, you gotta walk carefully with him. You must always keep your distance, you can't give him a reason to talk to you, you have to appear as unapproachable as possible, then he will leave you alone. Problem is, you can't really offend him, that just makes the stubborn idiot to come after you harder."

    "That's going to be difficult," I say.

    "Ankara would use whatever he has to get what he wants, I bet he's a schemer like Vanea," anger flickers on her voice, "The best way to avoid fighting him is keeping away from him."

    The best way to play a rigged game is to not play.

    "You don't have to swallow your pride, Wolfy," Ciel says, "You just have to make sure you deny him without offending him."

    "Alright, I get it. I guess it's not really a good thing to have the group leader be hot-headed."

    Lina hugs me and smiles. From the few expressions she shows I know this one means pride.

    "Better you than me, I would have blown off on him already," Hana says, then she smiles bitterly, "Father would always deal with these types when they started to get too annoying, I was never good at being delicate with the nobles."

    "I have a feeling that none of us is particularly experienced or comfortable in dealing with these kinds of nobles," Alissa says, she looks to the girls and their expressions tell they agree with Alissa, although they do not express it openly.

    "I guess this is just one of the jobs of a leader, no job is perfect," I shrug.

    Alissa gives me a sympathetic look, not even she wants to save me from this.

    I heal Hana before we sleep. Alissa snatched Gify and curled around him. I don't think that nature spirits sleep but he started snoring in a cute high pitched voice a minute after that.

    Tonight Roxanne clung to me with a silly smile, her tail caressing any part of my body it could reach.



    Today is the 13th.

    Roxanne wakes me up. When I open my eyes I see that her face and glasses are plastered with my semen, her expression is frozen in surprise as she couldn't predict when I would climax. I feel like I found my next fetish to indulge in.

    My [Blessing Magic] and [Mana Control] increased by 1 (now 4+17 and 0+10). Yesterday's large area casting helped.



    Alissa groans as she sits on the chair, I cast [Heal] on her.

    "It wasn't like that yesterday," she says.

    Lina seems to be looking at Alissa with a lot of worry.

    "Don't worry, little Lina," Roxanne says with an evil grin, "You will definitely survive when Wolfy's fat cock rips your asshole open."

    Lina fidgets, her mouth moves but no word comes out. Ciel massages her eyes as she chews her food.

    "I don't even feel disgusted. We are definitely not a normal family," she says.

    "Slowly we all sink into depravity," I smile, I'm imagining we all having an orgy while we eat lunch. Hana would definitely season her food with man sauce.

    Fortunately for us we chose a room far away from the others so they didn't hear a thing from us. We finish our breakfast and go find Lyle, his groups is finishing theirs.

    "We will leave an earth elemental and a fire elemental, they will stay at the door so don't go out. I allowed you to command them during battle but the first order is to avoid it. I can see and hear through the earth elemental so if something bad happens I will know," I say.

    Lyle sighs and nods.

    "Shame we couldn't see you guys fighting," Gwinevere pouts.

    I'm seriously unsure if she's a lesbian or if she simply enjoys carnage, maybe a bit of both.

    "Then we will be off."

    They wave to us and we leave.

    "You okay with leaving, Lina?" I ask.

    She raises her head to me and her gloomy eyes brighten with a small smile.

    "It's okay, I'm not letting you fight without me."

    Oof, my heart.



    We walk fast and reach the hedge maze entrance. I summon two Holly's, they will go deeper to each side of the maze, then they will stay at the corners and follow whatever appears.

    I leave a [Gate] "coordinate" at the entrance of the maze. I do not want to directly teleport in front of the castle or anywhere in possible view of Ankara.

    The Holly's can fly high and look over the maze, but oddly the more they look the less I see, I can't make a mental map of what I see, it seems to be illusion magic. Unfortunately I can't give [Mental Resistance] to my summons. This damn place is enchanted to hell and back.

    As we enter the maze I summon a spirit elemental.

    "Explore the area," I order.

    It crosses the hedge and immediately dies.

    "What the…"

    "What?" Alissa asks.

    I touch the dead hedge row. The leaves crumble to the touch but they immediately reform in a black sludge. I approach my face to the hedge, I feel a very faint amount of mana emitting from it. I push my hand into deeper only to feel it touch something solid. I dig out the surrounding leaves and branches, I see a pure black wall, this is what's emitting trace amounts of mana.

    "This destroyed my spirit elemental," I say.

    "No cheating for you then," Ciel says with a smile.

    "That's just more work for us…"

    "Cheater no cheating," she puts her hands on her hips.

    I shrug with a smile and we continue.

    Roxanne's distance approximations for spells and Lina's inherent architecture affinity give them both a good sense of distance so they are responsible for mapping. Hana and Ciel's senses are better for shorter distances. Alissa has the best sense of distance but she's at the front, behind Hana, she's going be sniffing for traps.

    On a particularly long corridor huge bardiches suddenly materialize in the air. A second later they start swinging, it's the cliche trap of swinging weapons.

    "That's exactly the same as the symbol on the dungeoneering guild," I say.

    "It's not a symbol by mere coincidence," Roxanne says.

    "Still, I'm not sure how I feel," I say, "A mix of disappointed and amused. I feel like I'm back into one of my VR games."

    "'VR'?" Lina asks.

    "Er, I'll explain later."

    "I feel like I'm into one of my books," Alissa says with a smile.

    Hana frowns.

    "You guys are getting way too distracted," she says.

    "Hahah...," I laugh awkwardly, "Anyway, no need for all of us to risk crossing. I will go with Hana and open a [Gate] for you all."

    I feel a slight displeasure from Alissa but she's learning to trust me more.

    Hana keeps one hand over my shoulder and we both keep our shields raised. It's one thing to do this inside of a game, it's another to do it in real life where you can hear and feel the breeze caused by the bardiches cutting the air.

    One by one we slowly pass by them. At the end there's no room to wait between each bardiche.

    "We gotta run the last stretch," I say.

    "Let me carry you, I'll definitely survive a hit from one of these, no big deal."

    "The casual way you put yourself in harms way concerns me."

    "I swore to myself I would go through the depths of hell to save you, " she hits her chest with her fist.

    "T-that does not mean you gotta hurt yourself so casually!"

    Her resolve moves me a little.

    "You got a better solution?" She looks into my eyes and raises an eyebrow.

    Well...

    "No…"

    She grins. She stores her shield and sword in her [Item Box], then she picks me up princess-style. I store my sword inside my "Items".

    "You actually do like when I carry you like this?"

    "Yes, I have no shame."

    She laughs, then she breathes twice. The bardiches open up, she runs. Hana is capable of moving faster than me, her longer legs give her even more of an advantage.

    The sound of bardiches cutting through the air gives me chills, stale air blows in my face. She stomps the ground loudly and the sound of air being cut increases, the bardiches are cutting closer, she's not fast enough.

    A blade appears on her side, I cast [Telekinesis] and hold the blade in place for a second. Another blade appears, I can't cast it again fast enough. Hana hunches over and jumps.

    I fall on the ground and roll, I regain my balance and land on my knees. I skid and scrape my gloved hand on the ground. I look back and Hana is sprawled on the ground.

    She lifts her head up with a shit-eating grin that makes me mad as hell. Her brigandine has a huge gash on the back, I see a glimmer of the metal plates below the cloth.

    "You okay?" I ask.

    "Yep, the fur padding absorbed most of the shock."

    I breathe in relief. I open a [Gate] for the girls. For this small distance this spell uses very little mana.

    "You got hit," Ciel says.

    Roxanne runs her fingers through Hana's armor and frowns.

    "It's fine," Hana says, she pats Roxanne's cheeks.

    Roxanne lightly punches her, not that she could have felt it due to the armor. Lina pulls out a sewing kit and does emergency repairs on the cloth.



    We enter another particularly long corridor, a few steps in Alissa stops. She looks down and stomps her foot in the ground.

    "It's hollow," she says.

    I have to strain myself to notice the difference, the concrete slabs that make up the floor must be quite thick.

    "Well, prepare to run at any moment," I say.

    "I will keep an eye on the back, it could be another challenge like the bardiches," Ciel says.

    "True."

    "Hana, I will have to go in the front, there's a big chance that there's a button or wire somewhere," Alissa says.

    Hana nods and we slowly move forward.

    Half way in Ciel's idea was proven correct, the first hollow slab we stepped on suddenly disappears into darkness.

    "RUN!" She yells.

    I realize I should have let them wait and use [Gate] like last time...

    The slabs fall with a noise of stone scraping on stone, a few seconds later we hear a muffled sound of stone breaking.

    Half way along the corridor the slabs stop falling. We stop for a second to understand what happened. Alissa taps the slabs again.

    "These ones are hollow! Don't stop!" She yells.

    The moment we start running again the slabs just behind us start falling. It was a trap in a trap, made for us to waste time looking back.

    I lift Lina by the armpits and start running faster. Roxanne slows down, Aoi jumps from Roxanne's shoulder to my back and curls around my neck, she gives a small lick on my cheek.

    "I will just float, damn stupid traps," Roxanne mumbles.

    Her bat wings materialize, then she crosses her legs and slowly floats after us. With our two snails neutralized we manage to pick up speed and run faster than the falling slabs.

    Alissa slows down near the end of the corridor and stomps the slabs again.

    "Those are fine."

    I slow down and catch my breath. I kiss the forehead of the cute small animal cuddling on my chest and let her down. A minute later Roxanne lands behind us. Aoi gives me another lick then runs back to Roxanne's shoulder and gives her a small lick, eliciting a smile from Roxanne.

    "Weren't you supposed to be training your body?" Ciel asks with a bit of sass.

    "Ye-yeah..." Roxanne purses her lips, trying to remain expressionless.

    "The only way to get that one to exercise is by rubbing her tail," Hana says.

    "But if we had to do that regularly either you or Wolfy would die," Alissa says.

    Roxanne pulls down the brim of her hat in embarrassment.

    "Stop picking on me," she says, muffled by her hat.

    "We are just giving your jokes back," Alissa says with a smug smile.

    "So it's revenge then," Roxanne narrows her eyes.

    Lina nods vigorously.

    "At this point it's a cycle, a never ending cycle of teasing," I say.

    My words ring true as no one argues against it.



    We turn a corner and see a creepy stone dragonoid head standing still mid-air. His long mouth is open and his stone teeth look menacing.

    "I don't like that," Alissa says.

    She slows down and hides behind Hana.

    We approach the statue cautiously, when we are two meters from it its eyes glow green. We immediately hide behind our shields, Ciel covers Roxanne and I feel she's gathering mana.

    A voice comes out of the statue. It has two tones, one is a low rumbling that reverberates in our ears and the other is a deep male voice.

    "Dwie kaczki przed dwiema kaczkami, dwie kaczki za dwiema kaczkami i dwie kaczki obok dwóch kaczek. Ile jest kaczek?" The voice says, the only thing I understand is the intonation at the end makes me believe it is a question.

    "What in the...," I mutter.

    "It's talking in the dragonoid language!" Lina exclaims.

    "Can you understand?" Ciel asks.

    Lina shakes her head behind her shield, her bangs flail wildly.

    "We only know about written language, we have little idea to how it's pronounced. The only hint is when wild dragonoids sometimes exclaim things, most likely expletives…"

    "I have a hunch this is a riddle," I say.

    "Theeen... We are screwed?" Roxanne asks.

    "I think so…"

    Lina nods in agreement.

    "Czas minął, giń!"

    We snap our heads forward, the statue's eyes glow red and its open mouth glows. A fireball is spit out towards Hana, she puts her sword in front and the fireball dissipates. Before we can even talk another fireball flies, then another, and another, and another.

    "[Firewall]!"

    The fireballs stop flying and get absorbed by the literal wall of fire, strengthening the wall but consuming more mana. We see only small bulges where the fireballs try to pass through.

    "I have an idea, get down on the ground, now!" I yell.

    Awkwardly we lay our bellies down and put our shields above us, I try to cover me and Alissa with mine.

    "My mana won't last long like this!" Roxanne yells.

    I wait and see the bulges on the wall lower. I hear a sound of stone hitting stone and the fireballs stop a good 60 centimeters above us.

    "We can crawl through this! Just keep your heads down!" Hana yells.

    "Stop the wall!" I yell.

    Roxanne ends the spell and a stream of fireballs flies through our heads, they continue until they hit the end of the corridor, burning the hedge but doing nothing to the black magical wall.

    Slowly and with a bit of difficulty we crawl forward and move past the dragonoid's statue. When the last of us crosses, the statue stops spewing fireballs and floats back to its original height.

    "That was interesting..." Ciel says, she looks at the statue with a bit of amusement.

    "Should we destroy it?" I ask.

    "No!" Lina yells, then she drops her head and her cheeks turn red.

    "Okay," I smile to her cuteness.

    "We could learn a lot about the dragonoid language if we listen to it," Lina says meekly.

    Roxanne looks over the corner.

    "Well, I think it might be a bit difficult to find it again, mostly because this maze makes zero sense," she says.

    "What do you mean?" I ask.

    "Lina, come here and check with me, we didn't make a mistake right?" Lina scurries over to Roxanne and they look over the map they were drawing. "If this is right then it makes no sense, this corridor goes way past a path we already passed through. Either the maze changed or the dimensions of our map are completely off. This maze barely looks like a maze too, look at this."

    The paths we are taking look more like a root system than a neatly packed maze where every single meter is either an explorable corridor or a wall. The path we took clearly looks like there's a single correct way while every other branch ends into a dead end sooner or later. I have been paying attention to the vision of the summons so I haven't been paying attention to the path we took.

    "I will put a 'coordinate' here," I say, "Let's go back and double check the map."

    We prepare ourselves and run past the dragonoid head. Fireballs follow after us but Roxanne casts another [Firewall].

    We go back to the place where Roxanne thinks the paths intersect and there's nothing wrong there. Now even I can see the maze really isn't warped.

    I open a [Gate] back to our previous position and a negligible amount of mana is used. That's odd. I get an Idea

    "There's a spell in [Space Magic] called [Warp Space], you can create a house that on the inside is bigger than on the outside," I say.

    The girls look confused but Roxanne seems to have an idea of what I'm talking.

    "In my world we call it non-euclidean space. Going into a direction doesn't have the same cost as going in another direction.

    "Ah, I remember, it's called warped-distances space," Roxanne says, "An example, you could say that going north for 5 minutes at a constant speed would make you walk 10 meters, then you walk south for 5 minutes and you end up walking 20 meters."

    "That's incredible, I never heard of a dungeon doing something like this," Ciel asks.

    "That's because it's commonly used in gauntlet type dungeons where they try to challenge the perception of the adventurer," I say, "These types of dungeons are sets of challenges. They are extremely rare because at the end of the dungeon there's a reward, once the reward is taken normally the dungeon collapses."

    "This also kind of confirms there's a treasure chest at the end of this maze," Roxanne says, "Though I'm not sure why the maze is using warped-distances space, so far it has only made mapping the maze more confusing."

    We get the answer to our question at the next corner.

    "That's an [Eternal Gate]," Roxanne says.

    It's a spell from [Space Magic]. I can only feel trace amounts of mana coming out of it, it's a very well done spell. It's a retangular portal covered by a very thin see-through white cloth, we see the maze on the other side. If it weren't for the "cloth" the portal would be nearly imperceptible.

    With zero resistance we pass through the white "cloth" and the maze gets more annoying, behind us there's no way back, this is a one-way portal.

    A small light shines through the cracks on the ground.

    "Faza druga," a dragonoid voice whispers around us.

    We warily wait for a few minutes but nothing else happens so we continue our exploration.



    "This looks familiar," Roxanne says.

    "Yes, the portal could have sent us back," Lina says.

    A few minutes later we reach a corridor of swinging bardiches. I still have the "coordinate" of the first bardiche corridor. I open the [Gate] and I'm taken to the other side of this corridor, we really did get sent back.

    "Cheat," Ciel mutters after she crosses the [Gate].

    We enter a corridor and see another portal on it.

    "This is different, there was only a dead-end here last time," Roxanne says.

    "I guess we gotta map it exhaustively, then," I say.

    We enter the portal and slowly the lights of our [Spirit Lights] dim until there's nothing.

    "Hold each other!" I yell.

    I grab Hana and Lina.

    "Role call!" I order.

    "Here," Alissa says.

    "Here," Hana says.

    "Here," Lina says.

    "Here," Roxanne says.

    "Kweh!" Aoi yells.

    "Here," Ciel says.

    "Gih!" Gify pops into my shoulder and chirps.

    I breathe in relief. Everyone tries to cast [Spirit Light] again but nothing happens, Hana breathes fire and I hear small fireballs being cast but neither produces any light.

    Suddenly our [Spirit Lights] suddenly produce light again and I nearly jump back in surprise.

    The hedges were substituted by mirrors. Our reflections are repeated endlessly all around us, we look pale from the recent fear of darkness. Now there's a ceiling covering us and square arches hold each mirror in place.

    "Creepy as hell," Roxanne says.

    "Eh, kinda beautiful," Ciel says.

    Roxanne looks at her with a crooked smile.

    "You know, your sense of beauty is kinda skewed. You enjoy the dungeons way too much."

    In other words, Ciel is kind of an adrenaline junkie.

    "What?" Ciel shrugs, "I just like seeing new things, things that impress me."

    "Yeah, dangerous things, you are addicted to having your heart beat fast."

    "I agree with Ciel, dungeons can give us some very interesting experiences," Alissa says.

    "You are both weird," Roxanne shakes her head.

    "Look who's talking," Ciel says with a hint of sass.

    "Ei, I'm a fun person."

    "Better being like this than being a blood lusting weirdo," Alissa says.

    Now Hana pouts.

    "I don't think she was referencing you," I say to Hana.

    "Oh..." Hana looks away with embarrassment.

    The fact that Hana assumed she was being talked about tells us all we need about how Hana sees herself.

    "Just admit you are all weirdos, I'm a weirdo and so is Lina too," I say, Lina looks down in sadness, "It doesn't matter, you are all good people and I love you all."

    Though Hana and Alissa are more on the depraved side than on the weird side. Ciel rolls her eyes and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

    "You and your honeyed words," she says.

    "Well then...?" I look at the others.

    After a row of kisses, a lick, and a head rub from Gify we move on. Or try to move on, Alissa gets highly disoriented in this maze.

    "Too much movement, it's making me dizzy," she says.

    Perhaps her eyes see too much detail. Dozens of our reflections plus our [Spirit Lights] must be too much information for her.

    "Focus on the ground, keep looking at the corner between the wall and where the ground should be," I say.

    Looking forward disorients yourself too much.

    In the end all this one does is make us waste time, we finally reach another portal and we are taken back into a familiar hedge corridor. We take our time there and have our lunch.

    We pass through the falling slabs again, I put a "coordinate" and run along with only Hana, then I teleport the girls. After that we reach again the floating stone dragonoid head, it immediately starts spewing fireballs. This time with a [Firewall] placed right on its face we crawl past it faster.



    We enter another portal and I feel trace amounts of mana behind us. Me, Roxanne, and Ciel look up, there's a large and perfectly round boulder floating above us.

    "This is bad, RUN!" I yell.

    I saw that movie, I saw how this goes.

    We start running and the sound of stone scraping on stone can be heard behind us. The hedges aren't 90º degrees corners anymore, they curve smoothly, allowing the large boulder to continue forward without losing much momentum.

    After a minute of running Alissa yells.

    "The boulder is not getting faster or slower, this is weird!"

    "Everyone stop and fire a single spell at it on my signal then run!" I yell.

    I keep running for a few seconds longer, then we reach a straight corridor.

    "Now!"

    We turn around and multiple [Earth Bullets], a [Torrent] a [Wind Hammer] and Aoi's fireball are sent towards the boulder. Cool guys don't look at explosions so we start running again.

    We hear the sound of glass cracking and the sound of the boulder stops. We finally look back to see a large amount of glass chunks spread all over the corridor. The boulder only had a small crust made of stone. In the middle a small green gem can be seen, this is what was moving the boulder.

    In the next few seconds the chunks turn grey and melt, slowly they evaporate into nothing.

    "You know, this place is kinda crazy," I say.

    "Agreed," Roxanne says.

    "Eh, it's fun," Hana says.

    Alissa and Ciel nod in agreement.

    "Why do we have to run so much..." Lina says and pouts.

    I pat her head. I actually like running, but I understand the short legs of a dwarf make this more tiring for her than for us.



    On the last corridor that we explore we see a portal.

    "It should be ending soon," Ciel says.

    "Good, my feet are tired," Roxanne says.

    I feel a sudden burst of mana in front of us, the world loses color, I look forward and Alissa is not there anymore. I look at the ground and a small circular formation is glowing and slowly fading. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

    "Teleport trap!" Roxanne yells.

    I focus on my connection with Alissa. I can still sense it but I can't discern the distance or the direction. No no no no.

    I drop a "coordinate" and jump into the glowing circle.

    Nothing happens.

    FUCKING FUCK FUCK TITS FUCK CUM PUS FUCK!

    Wait! this maze didn't have a single real enemy, she's not in immediate danger. It's okay, she's fine, she's gonna be fine. We have time to find her, lots of time, I can still go back to Lyle, teleport them all on the outskirts of Rabanara and spend however long here to find her. Consequences be damned, I will hide behind Vanea's oath to escape the empire if the fact that I can use [Gate] becomes known.

    I look at my Emergency Ring, it glows green. She's fine, everything is fine, we will find her, this is just a prank/hahah funny/you got trolled type of dungeon. Fuck whoever thought random teleportation traps were a good idea, I hope you are burning in hell.

    I turn my Emergency Ring green, I'm fine, everything is fine. Wait, fuck, I'm dumb, I'm so fucking dumb, I'm so massively fucking dumb. MORSE CODE, I COULD HAVE TAUGHT HER MORSE CODE SO WE COULD TALK IF SOMETHING EXACTLY LIKE THIS EVER HAPPENED.

    I hit my head with my palm. Someone hugs me from behind.

    "Wolfy, calm down," Ciel whispers into my ears.

    Roxanne, Hana, and Lina surround me. I'm really thankful I have them around to keep me straight.

    "I-I'm calm, I just remembered something I could have taught her so we could communicate through the Emergency Rings," I say.

    Ciel looks at me puzzled, I think she has an idea of what I'm talking about.

    "Maybe we should have bought that lithograph you once talked about," Hana says.

    "Yeah, maybe, but we have to focus on the now," Ciel says.

    "We are going back and scouring through what we already explored," I say.

    The girls nod and we quickly move on. I still have my "coordinates" so the journey will be much faster.



    She's not there, we wasted a whole hour searching for nothing. I have us quickly go back to the last portal, I hit myself for not leaving a "coordinate" there.

    We return and cross the last portal, while the maze so far was rather straightforward, this part is a complete mess. Corridors that bend smoothly, circles and circles upon circles, corridors that go endlessly only to end up looping on itself. Even the square slabs that were being used to help with measuring distance now are a complete patchwork. Roxanne and Lina have to stress themselves to measure distances and during all this time my anxiety increases.

    "We have to move faster," I say.

    "We don't know if there would be other traps," Hana says, her eyebrows scrunch up in concern.

    I grit my teeth, I'm not the kind to be reckless but the anxiety is pushing me towards that way.

    I put down a "coordinate" every minute or so. I only have 7 slots and 5 of them are being used for other places. I step on every slab and walk sideways so I step on every part of the corridor just so I can make sure no one else falls to these traps.

    I end up falling to 3 teleportation traps, vindicating my behavior. I yell Alissa's name every so often and also whenever I fall into a trap, but I hear nothing in return.

    I return from the fourth trap, I'm getting a headache. This is the 77th coordinate I have put down and no sign of Alissa.

    I feel a pain in one of my fingers, I look at it and my Emergency Ring is glowing red. I feel Alissa is on the move, though I still can't feel her direction or distance.

    "FUCK! We have to move faster!" I yell.

    The girls frown but Roxanne nods.

    "Lina, we have to deal with only making a rough sketch, pay attention to the map and nothing else," Roxanne says.

    Lina nods and we start jogging.

    More curves, more weird bends, more loops, more crossroads. Fuck this place.



    "Czas minął, giń!" Whispers a dragonoid voice.

    I feel mana gathering behind us. We all turn and ready our shields, a stone dragonoid head appears from behind a corner, his eyes are red and his mouth is glowing.

    We instantly chuck multiple spells at it, making it blow into multiple pieces.

    "Well, that's a waste," Ciel says.

    The pieces start to float again and in a few seconds the dragonoid face is reconstructed.

    "Ah fucking hell, run!" I yell.

    We turn the corner as a fireball flies pasts us and burns part of the hedge.

    We keep running, the map be damned, we are relying on pure memory now. The only good thing being that the stone head doesn't fly fast, Lina isn't going to get tired from running so soon.

    I have to do something, I have to find a way to get back to Alissa, some way, somehow. My "Companion" connection with her is useless I have to do something else, the Holly's can't see movement inside the maze, whatever space warp is used here is very strong.

    I look at my Emergency Ring, there must be a way that information is transferred between them, it works even in a spatial distortion, there must be something special with it.

    "Hold the stone head for me for a second," I say and stop.

    I turn my Emergency Ring green and "extend" my soul over it. I feel something and then it's gone. I turn it off then on again. Same thing, there's really something going on. It uses a single point of my mana to work, it's sending that mana somewhere.

    I focus all my attention on that ring and turn it. I felt something, it went north-west.

    "Done! Move!"

    I see that the stone head is decreasing its regeneration time, soon enough it might be unstoppable.

    We run more and I stop again, still north-west.

    I fell on a teleportation trap, I immediately come back.

    We run and stop again, west.

    We run and stop again, west.

    We run and stop again, north-west.

    We run and stop again, north.

    I fell on another teleportation trap, I come back with the stone head almost on top of me. My sword eats the fireballs as I catch up with the girls. The fireballs are quite powerful, I think I can only eat about 5 of them before the emellanat melts.

    We run and stop again, north.

    "ALISSA!" I yell.

    We run and stop again, north.

    We run and stop again, north.

    "ALISSA!"

    "WOLF!"

    FUCKING FINALLY.

    Alissa appears on a corner, color comes back to my world. I run up to her and fall on another teleportation trap. FUCK YOU MAZE!

    I come back to a deathly pale Alissa, she immediately runs up to me. I hug her tight, the sweet smell of her hair fills my nose. Stupid fucking dungeon.

    "We have to go!" Hana yells.

    I look away from the face of my love to see that we are cornered by the stone heads on both sides.

    "Move forward!" I yell and release Alissa.

    Alissa's stalker must still be weaker than ours. We blow it up and run past it.

    Alissa guides us through the path she didn't take, her memory is quite good. We loop a few times back into already explored territory but we slowly map out this last part of the maze.

    Lina and Roxanne tire out again, me and Hana have to carry them.

    A few minutes after I notice the heads are not following us anymore. We continue exploring and meet up face-to-face with one of the heads, we run away and the stone head stops at a certain point.

    "What the hell?" I mutter.

    This happens twice, there's a small area that it seems the heads do not move past.

    "The end must be around here!" Roxanne exclaims.

    Shit, that's true.



    We slow down and carefully map the area. Ciel carries Lina when my arms get tired. After a spiral we reach a portal.

    Beyond the portal is a very long wooden chest, it's gilded with gold and silver, a golden dragonoid face is gilded on the front.

    "Finally..." I mutter.

    We release our breaths and nearly collapse, the tension of the chase slips away.

    We slowly walk up to the chest. Alissa fires an arrow on it and we stand ready.

    Nothing happens.

    "Good, no mimic," Ciel says.

    I approach the chest and put a hand on the handle.

    "Together now," I say.

    We all lift up the chest lid.

    There's a beautiful spear inside it. The shaft is made of a piece of brown wood with multiple tin black circles on it. There's a single gem above the area where normally one would grip it one handed. The shape of the tip is simple, it is made of glossy grey wood. There's an intricate wavy pattern carved all over it and filled with silver.

    "An elven spear," Alissa says.

    Roxanne nods in agreement.

    "From the High Forest, specifically," she says.

    The elves from the High Forest use wood on their weapons. They can harden it and enchant it to have similar strength and edge to steel.

    "I guess this means this dungeon is just a fragment of dragonoid culture instead of being a proper tomb," Lina says with a hint of disappointment,"No way a high elven spear would be found inside it otherwise."

    I put points on [Wood Appraisal].

    "The shaft is made of high quality heartwood from the Hearthtree while the tip is made from the bark of the Tree of the Stalwart."

    "No idea what this means but I assume it is good," Hana says, her eyes glued to the spear.

    "Same," I shrug.

    Ciel looks enviously at Hana, her glaive is more versatile but it seems this spear is enchanted. Hana picks the spear and pours mana in it, it's 2 meters tall and in a second it stretches to 2.5 meters tall.

    "Now that's amazing," Hana says, nearly drooling.

    "Hopefully it won't break," Roxanne says.

    "If a high elven spear breaks easily I will stab the nearest golden elf with it," Hana says and chuckles.

    We hear a hiss going upwards and an explosion, we look up and fireworks fill the sky. Multiple colors and shapes, explosion upon explosion upon explosion fills the cave with light and a rainbow of sparkles.

    "Gratulacje, wygrywasz!" A very loud dragonoid voice yells, it shakes our bones and nearly hurts our ears.

    The cave turns silent and a chill runs trough my back.

    "We have to go," I say.

    I open a [Gate] back to the outside of the maze.



    The elementals at the entrance to the castle saw and heard the fireworks, a space mage popped his head out of the castle for a second to see what was happening. There is no doubt in my mind that the undead inside that forest have seen or heard this, we have to run away.

    We reach the castle and everyone is on the entrance waiting for us.

    I stop in my tracks and nearly trip. One of the Holly's see 6 shadows moving towards her at incredible speed, 5 shadows run past her while one takes flight. It's a white scaled dragonoid with a black glow, destruction types are very sensitive to spells. It charges Holly with a spear and before it strikes I dismiss both Hollys.

    "The undead are coming towards us! Run!" I yell.

    Everyone's faces pale and Tankar grips his sword.

    "Ciel, make sure no one falls behind!" I order.

    Her face shows fear for a second, perhaps she thought she could be left behind? Right now she's the best for this. I keep my gaze stern and color returns to her face, she makes up her resolve and nods to me.

    "Move!"



    I summon a small bird, I tell it to hide and observe at the first gatehouse. We are reaching the second gatehouse when the bird spots the dragonoid undead. I can feel the bird's life slipping away as the undead approach, I dismiss it and form a plan.

    We reach the tunnel and I stop.

    "Alissa, Ciel, Lina, you three go with Lyle and escort them to the bottom of the tower. Once there you turn the Emergency Ring green. Me, Roxanne, and Hana will hold this tunnel until then."

    I dismiss the fire elemental and summon two earth elementals and a wind elemental.

    "What!? No!" Alissa yells.

    "No time to argue! The undead are almost on top of us! Overload the scaffold and it should be fast!" I pull Alissa close and whisper in her ear, "I can use [Gate] to reach the cave, I need Lyle away so we can fight at full power."

    She grits her teeth and clenches her fist. She gives me an angry kiss on the cheek and they run away, I see Lina is extremely anxious. She leaves with 2 earth elementals and the wind elemental. I'm left with the last earth elemental.

    Hana pulls out her new spear. She and Roxanne are very tense. Aoi is quiet and focused, her monster nature makes her a natural for combat.

    "Let's see how well this holds out," Hana says and smiles fearsomely.

    I take away 2 points from [Mana Recovery] and add them to [Earth Magic], making it 2+3, now I can use [Earth Wall].

    "We'll be fine, drink an elixir and we can keep them away," I say.

    I drink one too and smile to Roxanne. Gify pops into my shoulder.

    "Gih, giih, gih!"

    Roxanne chuckles.

    "What did he say?" I ask.

    "Something about lizard barbecue, he wants me to give him a piece of those dragonoids."

    I'm unsure how a nature spirit would react to eating undead but whatever, he helped Roxanne relax.

    With Hana at the middle and me and the elemental flanking her, the tunnel gets a bit cramped. But that's enough to hold back the undead.



    Two minutes later 6 shadowy figures appear. They hide behind their round shields like a phalanx, except there's 3 on top, making it a vertical wall of shields.

    I feel my lungs get filled with the smell of acetone, it burns my insides and my eyes water. I feel shivers run through my entire body, my bones instinctively tell me to run, that this presence is wrong. Small particles of dust slowly stop moving and get suspended in the air, another sign of reality bending to the presence of the undead.

    The calming feeling of water running through my shoulder clears my head. For a second Gify links our minds, our fears turn into one but so does our courage. We stand our ground united, we are in sync.

    They all charge at the same time, a wall of spears thrust into us. They are not using pikes, with this Hana's spear is longer. Her spear bends one of the shields and penetrates it slightly. The elemental takes a spear on the arm, it barely scratches him. Roxanne lets out a [Ice Lance] in the middle, helping Hana hold them back. I cast [Earth Wall] on the ceiling, the top 3 spears get stuck into the wall I made.

    I feel mana gathering. Two breaths of fire slip through the shield gaps and get dissipated by mine and Hana's swords. Hana is holding her sword with her shield hand just for the spell"absorbing effect.

    "[EXPLOSION]!"

    Blood and small pieces of meat fly through the gaps, all shields retreat except the one on the middle which falls down on the ground. A pool of meat and blood is all that remains, I see the 5 dragonoid eyes peek around their shields. They look at their fallen brethren.

    "Spirits!" I order.

    We all cast another [Spirit Light] and throw the balls towards them. The undead retreat even more.

    "Humanoids, surrender. None of you will escape us," I hear an ethereal dragonoid voice, it's raspy and shaky.

    There's no reason to provoke them, we keep our mouths shut.

    I feel the blood drops that spilled on my face suddenly move, I get frightened and nearly smack myself. The blood drop escapes through my hand and floats back to where the undead exploded.

    His body slowly pieces together and a few minutes later he's standing again, it's the destruction type dragonoid. He has white scales, black lines that wave and glow, two long spiral horns that circle many times over his temples, and a pair of penetrating eyes.

    "Humanoid, we will turn you into servants. Surrender now and you will suffer no torture" His voice is not ethereal anymore, it's only slightly raspy and deep toned.

    Yeah, no.

    He looks at us for a few seconds, then he grabs his shield and returns to the shield wall.

    "So be it then, you made your choice," the raspiness of his voice is gone.

    The more time they take the better for us. The shield wall reforms and move forward, they strike the [Spirit Lights] and they disappear in a flash. I see their spears tremble, it takes them a minute return to normal.

    Wind picks up dust and nearly blinds us. I feel a lump of mana is coming, I lift my shield and a blunt strike of compacted air hits me. I look forward and the tip of a spear is coming towards me, I parry with ease, the elixir is doing its job.

    Small lumps of earth fall in front of us. My [Earth Wall] is being dismantled by the destruction type.

    They strike again and again and again, merely trying to overpower us. It's good for us that their mana powers are low, their breaths and wind strikes are weak. They lost some of their affinity to their mana once they turned undead.

    We are slowly pushed back into the tunnel, better for us as it got cramped. Suddenly 2 of them break off and stay behind, I get a bad feeling from this. I retreat from the line and stay in front of Roxanne.

    The undead try to trample us over, they try a suicide charge. I cast [Earth Wall] twice and close the tunnel, trapping 2 of them in the middle of my walls. Their bodies are crushed and nearly split into two. One of them dies and Hana cuts down the other, slowly their bodies turns into grey mush and seep back behind the wall.

    I put down my wooden log barricade and fuse it with the [Earth Wall].

    My wall and the logs are slowly chipped away by the fire and wind types. Once a hole is opened I get a feeling of "death". To my side a rumbling sound comes out and the wall crumbles, the falling stone simply disappears. A spinning metal drill pops out followed by the metal and destruction type dragonoids.

    Fuck.

    "HANA!" I yell.

    The drill turns into a spear and is thrown towards Hana. She looks behind and barely avoids getting skewered. The metal dragonoid charges her while the destruction dragonoid comes to me.

    His claws strikes my shield, scales fly and a large scratch appears on it. I can't take a full hit from those claws, undead corruption is stacking with his destruction magic, scary.

    An [Ice Lance] hits him in the chest and I cast a [Earth Bullet] on top of it. He's sent flying back into his hole.

    "HUMAAAAAN!" He bellows.

    The destruction dragonoid is pinned to the wall deep into the tunnel.

    Hana abandons the front line and charges the metal dragonoid, who's generating a new spear on his hand. The earth elemental walks forward and holds the dragonoids as their claws rip it to shreds. Hana casts [Earth Bullet] into the spear shoulder of the dragonoid, having his strike veer off course and allowing her to pierce his throat with her spear.

    I cast [Earth Wall] twice and close again the tunnel. My head explodes in pain, overuse.

    "[EXPLOSION]!"

    The destruction dragonoid has his body turn into very small giblets as the tunnel trembles with her spell.

    Hana pushes the metal dragonoid into the wall and pins her spear into the stone. This is an incredibly sharp spear.

    I cast [Entangling Vines] in the metal dragonoid, he gets bound to the wall. Hana struggles for a second but she manages to pull out the spear.

    "RUN!" I yell.

    I throw an Escape Bomb behind us. It shouldn't make them run but it should at least annoy the shit out of them and slow down their advance for a moment longer.

    The tunnel is quite long, we have lots of room for another ambush. I drink an MP potion and pray my overuse doesn't stack too much. We all drink an HP potion, the corruption of the undead already took a few points from us, it's doing more damage than the elixir can heal.

    I get a whiff of the Escape Bomb and my stomach churns. That thing smells like what I believe rotten goblin ass sweat would smell like, it provokes an instinctual need to puke.

    The earth elemental is killed, I stop and cast a small [Earth Wall] and narrow down the tunnel. [Earth Wall] is easier to destroy than a normal wall, so I make it seem similar to the tunnel stone, this way they might not realize it's a spell.

    Hana switches her spear for her sword. We wait a good 10 minutes, they are taking their time regenerating.

    I hear the sounds of claws hitting stone. It grows louder and louder.

    The first ones to come are two dragonoids glowing green.

    "[FIRESTORM]!"

    They burn greatly before the fire dragonoids can interrupt the storm. I see Roxanne grimace and lean on her staff, she's suffering from overuse too. Hana hacks at the burned wind dragonoids and decapitate them, immediately their bodies start to slowly reconstruct.

    The next one that comes forward is the metal dragonoid, his body is covered in metal and he looks like the Silver Surfer. Hana fires her breath while me, Roxanne, and Aoi chucks fireballs. Aoi seems to be unloading all of her power on this attack.

    The dragonoid tries to move forward but it is using all its power and concentration to keep his metal from burning him.

    The moment Hana's fire breath runs out I pounce forward and slash at the dragonoid. He's slightly burned and receives a large gash on his chest, he staggers backwards and Hana decapitates him. The wind dragonoids are also partially burned by the fire and get their revival delayed.

    The next to come are the fire dragonoids, they come full force trying to overpower Hana.

    "[Water Wall]!"

    Both are caught into the wall and struggle to get out, their mana refuses to leave their bodies. Roxanne holds her head in pain, her breath is ragged.

    Hana slashes at the water and it turns red with blood. Suddenly it dies out, Roxanne didn't dispell it, the destruction dragonoid came.

    "You shall pay for this!" The white dragonoid yells.

    He flies towards us. I feel a lot of mana coming from him, his claws pierce Hana's shield and vambraces, it enters her arm. I believe this is enough to poison her, we have to get back to Ciel.

    I cast another [Earth Wall] and my head spins.

    The dragonoid is squished into the wall, allowing Hana to get herself free from its claws and to slash his arm off. She grimaces in pain and she's one who's used to dealing with pain.

    I slash at the legs of the dragonoid, I cut a foot off. Aoi chucks fireballs at the easy target, his eyes get burned.

    "Resistance is futile, you will serve me!" The dragonoid yells.

    "Run!" I yell.

    "I WILL FIND YOOOOO-...!" He screams, his voice booms and reverberates. Then Aoi chucks more fireballs and his scream is cut off.

    This time we don't stop, the fear of that voice gives us a final boost in speed, but my lungs burns so much I'm getting out of breath. Roxanne is the one who stops first.

    "I'm sorry... I can't... run... anymore," she nearly whispers.

    "It's okay…"

    Hana's arm is necrotic, half her forearm is blackened and she's sweating cold, this is the danger of the undead. We get another minute to rest and the ring turns green.

    "That's our cue."

    I open the [Gate].

    "Gih!"

    Gify says a quick goodbye and pops out of existence, our connection wears off and I suddenly feel much more tired.

    "Thanks, Gify."

    We enter the wet cave, it's quite dusty here and there's mana in the air. I look around and see the corpse of a dragonoid, an arrow pierced one of his his eyes. His glow is no more but I can assume it was a wind-type.

    "Hana, I don't think we have time to lower down through the scaffold," I say.

    "What are you planning?"

    "Hold us and use your winds to keep us from hitting the walls. I will dismiss the elementals and use the last burst of mana on [Telekinesis] to keep us from splatting on the ground."

    Hana laughs and sighs.

    "Fine," she says.

    Aoi curls herself on Hana. Hana grabs Roxanne with one hand and holds me with the weakened arm. Roxanne looks pale.

    "Hana... I love you," Roxanne says.

    "I love you too," Hana smiles and gives her a peck on the lips, "But we are not gonna die, at worst we will get broken legs."

    Roxanne grimaces and her legs shake. I dismiss the elementals and the pulley the earth elemental in front of us is holding falls down.

    "I love both of you and we are not going to die, not until old age," I say.

    "Kweh!"

    She loves us all.

    Hana jumps without another word and I regret everything.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Roxanne shrieks.

    Hana's wings wrap around us. Aoi seems to be laughing inside her mind, the feeling of flight something she desires greatly. We sway around and Hana's wings scrape on the walls. I feel my body turns cold as the light below us rapidly approaches.

    I wished I paid more attention to the physics of Kerbal Space Program, perhaps they could help in calculating the optimal distance for the landing burn.

    I let my regrets behind and focus on gathering all my mana, no time to be conservative. I cast [Telekinesis] on me and Hana. I feel the deceleration and get nauseous, my consciousness nearly slips away.

    We are too fast, the wind enchantments is making things harder, I have to use it all. My head explodes, my vision and hearing goes away, I only guide myself by the feeling of the wind.

    My mana drains like water. Even through blindness I can still see my menu until my mana dips to minus 100, then I blackout.
     
  14. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    I open my eyes and the first thing I see are the orange eyes that I love so much.

    "Hello, my love," I say.

    She smiles but then pouts.

    "Hello, my stupid husband."

    "Ouch."

    "You..." she frowns in anger and then her expression lightens, "There really wasn't a better way?"

    "I don't think so, couldn't risk having the undead reach us. Talking about it, where are we and where's the undead?"

    We are in a bed, it's not my tent or bed. Roxanne is sleeping besides us in another bed.

    "I found us a safe place. Enough cover for us to hide in a basement or cellar or whatever. I was outside a while ago, the undead spread out but didn't find us."

    "Good. Whose tent is this?"

    "The twins, these are their beds."

    "For some reason I would prefer to get up immediately," I smile wryly, she shakes her head and smiles too, "How long was I out?"

    "Two hours."

    I give her a kiss on the nose, she brightens up a little.

    "Did anyone get hurt?"

    "Hana hurt her legs, Ciel already healed her and the corruption. Roxanne scraped on the walls but she ended up floating down safely, though she was very dizzy and tired. Hana held you and Aoi without problems. If you give a point to Ciel in [Light Magic] she can use [Refresh] on Roxanne and we should be fine."

    "Can you call her? My body is still heavy."

    She nods and reluctantly parts with my body. A minute later I hear the light jingling of scale armor, Alissa came back with Ciel in tow. Ciel is still armored and the shield strapped to her arm is damaged, it was a disposable shield anyways.

    "Good to see you up, old man," she smiles at me.

    Not really up yet but whatever. I smile and nod back.

    "[Refresh]."

    Roxanne shivers and stretches herself, she yawns and rubs her eyes. "That felt soo goood," she says.

    "How's Hana's arm?" I ask.

    "Healed, but it's sensitive," Ciel says, "Her scales will need some [Regeneration], though. Lina is fixing her shield but she needs you to fix the hole in the metal."

    "Can we stay the night here? I don't think it's a good idea to walk back yet."

    "I think so," Alissa says, "There's space for all tents but they will need to be next to each other."

    "We can just use the gag."

    Ciel rolls her eyes.

    I stand up slowly and Alissa supports me. My body hurts, some vitality was definitely used when my MP reached the negatives.

    "[Refresh]."

    My bones creak and I feel like stretching myself.

    "Oh yeah, that felt really good," I say.

    I'm still feeling very tired though, mentally tired.

    I put Ciel's extra points back to [Wind Magic].

    I go outside the tent and pull ours. The faint sweet perfume of the girls is much better than the smell of leather of the tent of the twins.

    This basement is basically a cellar full of broken barrels and broken glass bottles, this once housed dragonoid alcohol. Another tent right next to the one of the twins opens up and the quartet comes out.

    "Wolf! Good to see you up again," Lyle says.

    "Yeah, that was a close one," I smile bitterly, "Thanks for lending the tent."

    Gwinevere grins.

    "No problem," says Delwyn and waves his hand dismissively.

    I know exactly why they lent it to us.

    "Let's stay here tonight, I will summon a few dogs to stay around, they can't see in the absolute darkness but they will be able to hear things."

    It seems these undead can perceive the environment through something else other than their eyes.

    "Understood. I sincerely thank you for your effort, I realize how close you were to danger," Lyle says and bows.

    The twins bow more conservatively and Ankara simply nods. Oh well, progress.

    "Don't need to bow, I only did the necessary" -I wave my hand and they straighten up- "We are not completely safe yet."

    "Then simply accept my gratitude," he smiles.

    "That I will. Now I gotta get the girls on the top back and position some dogs. I'm still tired so after that I will retire to my tent."

    "Understood. We already ate dinner, we could share some meat with you if you wish."

    "No need, I have my own."

    We nod to each other and I turn around, I see the pulley and scaffold are on the ground. I guess the space mages have brought it for me, I put them back into my "Items" and go upstairs.

    The upper floor has plenty of chairs and tables, there's a long counter where Tankar and the space mages are staying. Hana, Lina, and Aoi are anxiously looking out through the windows.

    I pop my head up and Lina comes running to me as quietly as she can. Her head hits my chest as she hugs me.

    "Sorry I got you worried," I say.

    Lina shakes her head, rubbing it on my chest.

    "I understand what you did and why you did it. But that doesn't change the fact that I was worried," she says, her voice muffled as she buries her head on my chest.

    "That's way better than a certain someone."

    "I can still hear you!" I hear Alissa say loud just enough that it carries up to our floor.

    I smile wryly. Then I pat Lina and kiss the top of her head, she tightens the hug.

    I summon 3 Labradors, from what I remember their hearing is excellent. I discreetly also summon a Holly.

    "Hana, come down, let's grow your scales and then we fix your armor," I say.

    "Sure."

    I break the hug and we move to our tent. I spend 30 minutes being hugged by Hana while I use [Regeneration] on her. Her breast pillows are the best, Ciel's are just as comfy but her breasts are more sensitive to prolonged use.

    Hana's scales were only a very small stump. As I healed them they visually grew until they were back to her former glory, though they look blunted, now we have to sharpen them again.

    "Even the irritation went away. Thanks, Wolfy," she tests her scales by raising and lowering them.

    She hugs me and I get a head massage by her breasts and a brain massage by her hands as a reward.

    After that we eat dinner, a simple hot sandwich with bean paste and ground meat.

    I use [Manipulate Metal] to heat up our damaged metal equipment. The spell also allows me to slowly mold it without the need for a hammer, unfortunately this reduces the quality of the tempering so it's not a perfect fix.

    With the repairing done I release the stress of Alissa and Lina with a skillful use of the gag, I'm not feeling as depraved as I was when we first entered this dungeon.



    Today is the 14th.

    Lina wakes me up, she still can't finish before I'm awake.

    "It's too thick," she says.

    "You can say that again."



    We have a quiet breakfast, no cooking so no smell escapes this basement.

    After that we move out, we only use a single [Spirit Light] in low power. I thank the Gods Holly exists, she scans the area and makes sure we are in the clear.

    I deliberate if I should cast [Rainbow Shield] on us. With emellanat we haven't even taken a proper spell for it to help. It doesn't activate unless it reaches my skin so my shield prevents it from showing its usefulness.

    Eh, I will cast it, better safe than sorry.

    "The dogs heard some movement yesterday so make sure to keep noise to a minimum," I say.

    The quartet looks apprehensive but nod in understanding,

    We slowly move through the middle of the road to avoid tripping over the debris. Huddling up together we sneak by the ruins.

    Holly sees movement in the distance, I extinguish our light.

    "Lay down!" I whisper anxiously.

    The floor is dusty and nearly makes me sneeze.

    We spend tense minutes like this. The nearly imperceptible figure moves about the ruins without a set goal, it meanders through the streets. When it comes closer my heart beats faster, then it moves away and I relax. Then it comes back and the mood swings stress me out.

    Eventually it moves away completely.

    "Ok, let's go."

    I'm extremely scared of being ambushed at the exit. My only comfort is that it is possible that the undead do not know where the exit is, monsters are born in a dungeon without knowledge of its layout. There are quite a few paths that take us to other places so if they don't know where the exit is they would need to guard every door.



    Alissa's ears twitch and turn to our left.

    "I hear metal hitting metal," Alissa says.

    "The undead must be fighting guards," Hana says.

    "The undead are not considered monsters of the dungeon anymore so it's possible the guards recognize them as intruders. That or the undead are simply trying to gather more followers," Ciel says.

    "That destruction undead seems smarter than the average," I say, "It is possible only he has a power similar to the [Create Undead] skill. He said 'followers', this means they are bound to him, somehow. Which means there might be a limit to how many souls he can bind."

    This is nearly the limit of my knowledge on the undead. There's not much information on that skill, possibly to prevent other people from trying to acquire it.

    "Yes, there should be a limit or he would have turned the entire dungeon into an undead army," Ciel says.

    We are casually chatting about this because Holly gives me confidence no undead is nearby, but the quartet and even Tankar seem to grow even more tense as time passes. I see one of the space mages reciting a silent prayer.

    Our way is clear of guards, allowing us to progress quite fast.

    "I smell corruption," Alissa says, "They must have spent some time here... I smell blood too, I guess they fought a guard."

    "Well, they cleared a path for us, so we gotta thank these orc-brains," Hana says.

    A minute later everyone notices the brutalized and rotting corpse of a dragonoid. Lyle shivers and even Gwinevere seems pale.

    "You fought something that did this?" Lyle points to the corpse.

    "You saw Hana's arm yesterday?" I ask back.

    "I didn't, her wound was hidden by her vambraces."

    "Yeah well, a single attack pierced her shield and rotted half her forearm."

    Lyle frowns and looks sickened at the corpse.

    "I sincerely underestimated their power," he says.

    "Not just you..." I whisper.

    I take a look at Ankara and he's gritting his teeth. Tankar looks pensive, perhaps he's remembering his stupid words of fighting the undead by himself.

    "That wound was the most painful and horrible thing I have ever felt, and I'm a masochist," Hana says.

    Delwyn massages his eyes but his expression quickly turns serious.

    "These undead must be quite the danger to adventurers then," he says.

    "Yes, which is why killing undead is very profitable," Ciel says.

    "You didn't learn any spells against the undead, Miss Ciel?"

    "No, I was simply a warrior priestess and then a healer when I was working for the temple."

    If I had more spells unlocked I could possibly teach her. The higher levels spells at [Light Magic] school are one of the few ways to permanently deal with the undead. Fucking terminators, that's what these goblin dicks are.



    We finally reach the long hall without any more encounters. It should be noon already but no one wants to stop. Alissa runs ahead with Holly and then comes back half an hour later.

    "It's clear," she says.

    "Alright, let's run from this place," I say.

    Lyle and Delwyn break into a full blown sprint as we all run towards safety. With relieved breaths we reach the large double doors.

    "Honestly we shouldn't stop," Alissa says "Let's keep this pace as long as we can. The sooner we leave The Smirk, the better."

    The 4 turtles look at me concerned.

    "Just because we left the dungeon doesn't mean they won't keep following us, they are not bound to the dungeon," I say.

    The 4 make pained faces but even Tankar won't help them on this matter.

    "Let's just eat a snack first," Lyle says.

    "Alright."

    On the other side of the double doors we stuff our faces with sandwiches and drink water as fast as we can.

    "Don't eat too much or you will puke," Hana says.

    Lyle looks at his massive sandwich with puppy eyes and returns half of it to the space mage.

    We can't run on the difficult ground of the cave but we maintain a quick pace. After a long march and a few blown Skritters we finally we reach the comforting and oppressive darkness of The Smirk. Halfway there.

    We keep our hurried pace, it's been so long since I last saw the sun even I am getting anxious.

    Alissa suddenly comes back from scouting.

    "I saw lots of tracks," she whispers.

    "Any idea on the number of people?" I ask.

    "Seems most are two-man groups, standard scouting parties."

    "Keep close to us, don't scout too far and make sure our rear is safe too."

    "Understood."

    I signal the girls to gather and spread them around us. Hana front, me right, Lina left, Ciel back, and Roxanne middle. I summon a Shad and a bird at the same time to cover my spell casting.

    Lyle comes towards me.

    "Wolf, is something wrong?" He asks.

    "There are too many scouting parties on this forest. Something is going on, alert the others."

    Lyle pales and tenses up, he quickly marches back and spreads the news. This has been a bad day so far.



    Gify pops into my shoulder.

    "Gih…"

    Danger is coming. Godsdammit. I turn my emergency ring green.

    "Girls!" I wave my hand and they come to me, " Gify says danger is coming, we are going to wait and prepare for an attack."

    "We shouldn't show our emellanat. If they are thieves they will be very enticed in stealing it," Hana says.

    Lina and Ciel are the only ones with protection from spells now.

    "Agreed, prepare for battle," I say, then I point to Lyle, "Hide behind a tree, this could turn ugly.

    The quartet pales and moves. The girls faces harden but Lina seems angry.

    "Are you okay?" I ask.

    "I am ready, I will do it," she answers, resolute.

    "We will do it," I say.

    She nods to me and looks towards the woods, waiting.

    A minute later Alissa comes running back.

    "What is it?" She asks.

    "Gify said danger is coming."

    She stares at him and nods. She nocks an arrow on her bow. Just another minute and Alissa turns back to me again.

    "Twenty people are running towards us," she says.

    Aaaaah, shiiiite.

    "We are going to assume they aren't good news, we must not get surrounded so I will use warning shots," I summon two wind elementals, "Pay attention to my signal."

    They nod and Alissa holds my hand, I'm trembling again.

    "We did this already, we will be fine," she says.

    "Gih!"

    Yes, Gify is here too to keep me straight. He shares Alissa's feelings and a wave of bravery, anxiety, and anger washes over me. In the end this helps keep me focused. The flood of emotions stuns us for a moment.

    "Your fear is a bit overwhelming," Alissa says, her breath is haggard.

    "Your anger too," I say and kiss her hand.

    I can feel an incredible need to strangle the men coming towards us. Regardless of their intentions they are causing us grief. They dare act so aggressively, they strut towards us as if they are immune from harm!

    Alissa steels herself and nods to me. I see the fire in my eyes mirrored in hers, for now we are in sync.

    Gify pops out of existence.

    The wicked shall be slain by my hand!



    We spread in our usual battle formation and draw our weapons. I take my time to look at our situation.

    Alissa is stoic but I know the angry storm inside her heart. A broadhead arrow nocked into her enchanted warbow, she keeps both types of arrows on the quiver hanging from her waist. She looks almost like a statue, ready to react to any movement.

    Roxanne looks sharp and confident, the spherical gem on her black metal staff changes from red to blue and back with simplistic beauty. Anyone who looks at her would know she's dangerous, a clear contrast to her air-headed nature. She grips the staff harder and the gem pulses with a faint light.

    Hana shows a mix of anger and excitement. Certainly not the face you want to see when a tall dragonkin charges towards you with its wings spread and sword held high. She stands straight and tall, her spear and shield pointing forward and ready. None shall pass through her guard.

    Ciel shows a very serious look, it does not fit her kind and adventurous mood. It gives me even more motivation to fight hard so I can see her smile again. Her green glaive stands upright, threatening with a chop anyone who dare come close. Her face may be cute and round but her eyes show the calmness of experience, it would be a mistake to underestimate her.

    Lina shows a dark look, anger is clear on her face and I fear she might turn too reckless. The quiet little girl should not be forced into a situation like this, I pray she retains her "Sanity". Her hammer and heater shield do not combine with her slim arms and cute face, but it's her expression that will make others wary. She has the eyes of someone who will crush anything.

    The quartet of cowering little animals hides behind a tree alongside the praying space mages. Lyle anxiously grips a simple simple metal staff with a gem that flashes with faint light every few seconds. Delwyn keeps his eyes closed as he mutters a silent prayer. Gwinevere holds a red wand with black vein-like carvings, her eyes race about as if she's lost on what to do. Ankara looks pale and his hands tremble as he holds a beautiful and ornate long sword, it almost looks ceremonial. Tankar stands in front to protect them with a plain but well maintained long sword. His expression is completely emotionless and he breathes deeply to keep his emotions in check.

    From the way we just came I hear lots of footsteps slowly increasing in volume. Small lights come out of the trees and quickly approach us. A large group of men wearing reliable"looking padded leather armor appears. Their most expensive equipment seems to be their metal plus grey scale kite shields. There are 7 spearmen with shields, 5 long swordsmen, 5 archers and 3 robed mages. The mages use simple wooden staffs with no gems.

    They quickly move into a line and start to spread around us.

    "[Lighting Bolt]!"

    I cast it towards the front of the man at the flank and everyone stops on their tracks.

    "You will not surround us," I say, mustering all my austerity.

    "Easy the're, mate. We a're not he're fo'r a fight," A scarred dark-skinned man approaches.

    He's the tallest of them all, he has an enviable black beard. He pronounces his "r" with a retroflex flap instead of the american way.

    "Then for what reasons would you try to surround us without a single word?" I ask.

    "Just making su're we a're all on a nice, comfo'rtable position to talk," he spreads his arms and grins, his round face gets rounder. I only see mischief in his eyes.

    "Yes, talk, what reason do you have to follow us?" Hana says.

    His beady eyes scan over everyone, he spends a moment longer at Hana's spear, then stops at me. He narrows his eyes, his face turns into one of deep thought.

    "Well. We a're he're to make a simple t'ransaction," his face softens and he smiles.

    "Not interested, go away," I say.

    "Not that simple" -he shakes his head- "We simply need the fou'r lit'tle noble kids behind you and nobody gets hu'rt. No need to fight, we a're not wicked."

    Good, it's not related to Darean.

    "Impossible!" Tankar barks.

    "Not fo'r you to decide, I'm af'raid," the man lowers his head in mocking apology.

    "What are you going to do with them?" I ask.

    "Simple. We need money, ransoming nobles give loads of money," he grins, his teeth are shining white.

    I look at Tankar. His expression shows so much anger in those eyes that I believe that if I decided to sell them he would cut me down immediately.

    "Perhaps we could make a different trade, we have some very valuable things with us," I say.

    "Oh, it would be ha'rd to offe'r me something mo're valuable than those lit'tle nobles," he looks at me dubiously.

    The men around him tense up, they are about to strike, maybe I have a bit more time.

    "Lina, turn around your shield for a second."

    She scores her shield on the ground and turns it.

    "Emellanat!" One of the men exclaims.

    "We have more," I say.

    The men relaxes, greed is like a drug for them.

    The leader pauses for a second. He scans our equipment, he spends a bit of time looking at the transparent, yet still very visible, crystal at Roxanne's ungloved hand. It's my [Rainbow Crystal] spell.

    "How much?"

    "One single handed sword, one bastard sword, another small shield, one glaive, and one war hammer. You see we aren't showing these weapons since they could attract... Unwanted attention."

    The leader scans me again, he must be evaluating if I'm lying or not.

    "We are going to need more," he finally says, then he points to Aoi, "And the d'ragon too."

    Greedy fucking bastards!

    I look at the girls, they all keep a poker face, even Aoi. She should understand the words by now but the only expression on her dragonic face is that of hunger.

    "I carry a lot of money with me, 90 gold coins. I'm sure the little nobles must carry some more with them," I say.

    "Why would you car'ry so much?" The leader asks.

    "I don't trust banks and I'm a well-paid adventurer. I wouldn't be escorting four nobles if I were cheap."

    Now he stares at the two wind elementals. Judging your chance of survival?

    "Throw us the weapons, now."

    Too bad it is zero percent.

    "Okay," I look at the girls and switch to English, "Attack, don't hold back."

    The advantage of secret signals.

    "What did you say...?" The leader asks.

    Roxanne's clothes suddenly ruffle wildly.

    *Bloosh!* An instantaneous burst of mana and the head of a mage explodes with a watery sound. [Rainbow Crystal] shows its power.

    The bandits look back and freeze at the gory scene behind them. The ones hit by the blood seem to be pale, one man pukes.

    Fucking thieves are gonna get what they deserve.

    "[Discharge]!" I cast.

    "[Firestorm]!"

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    An arrow and a fireball flies.

    "AAAAAAAH!"

    "GAAH!"

    "HEEEEL-..."

    3 Spearmen get incinerated by Roxanne, 3 long swordsmen get cut down by Ciel, 1 mage is killed by Alissa, 3 archers get wounded by Hana, Lina, and Aoi's spells. The survivors are being shocked by me. The last enemy mage interrupts the area spells. Tankar sprints. Hana draws her breath.

    "You are now level 22."

    *FOOM!* Hana spews fire. With my spell stunning them they can barely raise their shields to defend themselves, 3 spearmen get badly burnt.

    "UAAAAH!"

    "HELP ME, HELP ME!"

    "Hold the leader," I order Shad.

    I stop my spell. Hana flies towards the last unharmed spearman and skewers him instantly with her spear. Lina charges a long swordsman. Another arrow flies and enters the eye of an archer. Ciel charges forward and defends herself from an arrow with her shield. An [Ice Lance] explodes the head of the last mage.

    I cast [Rush] and charge past the front line towards the archers. Arrows fly past me and get stopped by the wind elementals. I approach one archer and slash at his arm, my blade feels resistance before it even touched him, it's [Wind Armor]. But it was weak, his arm is cut off regardless, then he falls back and draws his dagger.

    "GUAA-...!" The screams of the leader gets muffled by a shadow that covers his entire body. He swings his long sword in desperation but it's useless now that he's covered.

    I slash downwards, I cast [Telekinesis] and his measly weapon can't parry my attack. My sword gets buried in his head and I have to cast [Telekinesis] again to take it out.

    Lina fights the last long swordsman with ferocity. His morale is broken and his attacks are desperate. Lina enters his range, his sword slides past her neck, [Wind Armor] slows the blade, leaving only a shallow wound. On the way back the sword scrapes her helmet as Lina pushes the sword away with her shield. She swings her hammer and smashes him on the knees.

    Hana's leaves her spear inside the dying man, she draws her sword and flies to the nearest burned spearman. His face is partially burned and his shield is still on fire. He weakly raises his shield to parry and gets cut in the shoulder for his lack of strength.

    Ciel reaches a burned spearman and quickly slices his armor. [Sharp Blades] makes quick work of the padding once she opens up the leather with her stabs. To make things worse for him his shield is on fire and his leather armor on both arms is so hot it's burning his skin.

    Tankar reaches the last burned spearman. His spear arm is burned so even with his reach he has trouble keeping Tankar away, who starts to add more wounds to his damaged arm.

    Another archer receives and arrow to the eye and dies. I use [Rush] to reach an archer with a broken hand from Lina's [Earth Bullet]. He parries my sword and displays some modicum of skill, he's desperately trying to keep me away.

    A screaming archer that had his face burned by Aoi has half his head explode as another fireball from her hits him.

    A [Torrent] hits the face of the long swordsman fighting Lina and he falls backwards. Lina activates [Spirit of Gaia] and strikes down his chest with her hammer. It caves in exactly where his heart should be.

    Hana swipes away the spear of her opponent and locks her shield with his. She swipes his foot and he falls on the ground. She steps on him and stabs him in the face.

    Ciel's opponent quickly loses strength. A [Wind Hammer] at point blank range crumbles his posture, allowing Ciel to stab him in the lungs. She quickly pulls back the blade and stabs him in the heart.

    Tankar cuts off the arm of the spearman and jabs his sword into the collarbone. The spearman staggers in pain and gets his throat cut.

    The last man standing desperately tries to keep his life. The attack was so fast no one had the opportunity to register the carnage and to surrender. My opponent glances at the corpses of his friend and his movements dull.

    I use [Telekinesis] to swipe his sword away and bash him in the gut with the brim of my shield. His [Wind Armor] saves him from puking, so I cast [Lightning Bolt] to stun him. I finish him with a slash and a stab to the neck. He falls backwards and chokes on his blood.

    He's going to die in a few seconds. I stop and take a moment to look at the aftermath. Gods, what have I done. This scene is carnage.

    The victims of Ciel's [Wind Storm] are still bleeding from uncountable wounds, they are unconscious from blood loss. One victim from Roxanne's [Firestorm] is crawling away, barely conscious, his entire body a black char. Those with their throats cut struggle and squirm as their consciousness fades away. The leader passed out from the pain, Shad still covers his entire body. Aoi glides down from Roxanne's shoulder, she stops by a half burnt corpse and starts to eat it.

    I feel sick, I drop my sword and shield and find a corner without blood to lay down. Hana and Alissa are finishing off the ones still suffering, Ciel is reciting a prayer.

    "Another conflict between humanoids has finished. I apologize to the Gods for the wasted lives, we failed in maintaining unity," she closes her eyes, "Please guide their souls to a better place were they could be useful to civilization again."

    "Let your next life be on a better place for this one was wasted here," I mutter my prayer.

    We could have let them surrender. We killed everyone except one. We should have let them surrender. Fuck...



    Roxanne sits down next to me with a painful expression. She lays down her staff on her lap

    "Overuse again?" I ask.

    "Yep... What about you?"

    "I'm fine... I'm just feeling sick."

    Roxanne's furrows her eyebrows.

    "Are you really fine?"

    "Well... Couldn't we have asked them to surrender?"

    "Yeah, but. It would be very inconvenient and even dangerous to let some alive, they could try to run, they could be an assassin in disguise and try a suicide attack, they could bear a grudge and use their connections to get to us."

    "When people start to kill each other it's best to end it permanently instead of letting things go," Ciel says, she comes closer and whispers "Not everyone can do this, not everyone has to do this but we are in a rather difficult position. There was no good way out of that situation."

    Make sure you do all you can to preserve life, but when you can't, make sure you do all you can to end it with certainty. This world and its brutal philosophy.

    "We couldn't really know if they would really let us go without a fight or even if the four they were after would survive," Alissa says, she plops down besides me and rubs my shoulder.

    Gify shared Alissa's bloodlust with me, it helped me do what I needed but was it really the best choice?

    "It's fine, it's done so let's get the hell away from this place," I say.

    I will deal with this later.

    Alissa hands me my weapons.

    "Wait, Lina! How are you feeling?" I ask as I search for her.

    Lina's cut in the neck was healed by Ciel, now she's taking a look at her hammer and cleaning the blood from it.

    "I'm fine, I'm happy, I did it, I didn't fail," she smiles, but her eyes look vacant and without focus.

    I hug her and she shivers, her expression turns vacant and she drops her weapons. Slowly her breathing becomes erratic and her expression turns into confusion.

    I kneel and hold her head on my shoulder, a few silent tears run through her face. A few minutes pass and she slowly returns to normal, her shivering stops, her breath regains rhythm, and her eyes regain focus.

    She looks at me and breaks the hug.

    "We have to move," she says.

    I nod and look at our employers. Delwyn puked and is now being consoled by Gwinevere. Ankara is frozen with a vacant look, he holds his long sword close to his chest. The space mages are sitting on ground desperately muttering prayers. My eyes cross with Lyle's, he stores his metal staff on his [Item Box] and decides to approach us.

    "Wolf, what was that?" He asks, his face is pale and he's sweating cold.

    "What do you mean?"

    "You, them, none of you chant. All those spells, how do you do this?"

    "We are all just good magicians?" I try to keep a poker face.

    "No way," he shakes his head and his mouth hangs open in disbelief, "You were struggling to chant during classes, I know it. Now not just you but even the others who shouldn't know magic are chucking spells left and right! Is that a Symbol of Darkness? Can you even summon monsters now!?"

    Eh, was worth a try.

    "I have a Gift, it relates to magic and extends to my women."

    Now everyone looks at me. The space mages are whispering and Ankara is trying to bore a hole through my skull with his gaze.

    "Listen to this and listen well, I'm being protected. If you try to spread this or control me there will be consequences," I stare back at Ankara "I saved all of your lives, the least you could do is keep my secret."

    The twins share a look.

    "We swear we will not say a thing, we do not want to be involved in such matters," Delwyn says and bows.

    "Wolf, you are my friend, I will never say anything. The space mages are under my employ, they will never mutter a word if they want to live," Lyle bows too, the space mages pale.

    I maintain an unwavering gaze towards Ankara.

    "I will not say a thing," he finally bows.

    Tankar takes his place besides Ankara, his expression is indecipherable and he's avoiding looking at me.

    Hana comes back with numerous bounty plates.

    "They are all thieves and a few are kidnappers," Hana says and taps the pile of plates, "They are wanted in Sommerland, the Mainland, and Goldcross. If they kidnap nobles they need to keep on the move if they don't want to be killed."

    So that accent was from Sommerland.

    I look at the last survivor, he's still passed out. I dismiss the wind elementals and summon an earth elemental.

    "We gotta tie him to the elemental and send him to the guards," I say.

    "Yeah, someone tipped them about these four," Hana nods to the nobles.

    Lyle grimaces.



    The weapons have been collected and stored, now we have a few spare spears and shields. Unfortunately no one uses long swords, the archery and magic equipment was inferior to ours so it will get sold. We are not into stripping them naked so their armor will stay. We leave their bodies like they are, the monsters will eat them during the night.

    I decide to keep Shad on the last bandit, he will make sure the bandit does not wake up.

    The nobles walk wobbling a little but eventually regain their composure. The need to get away from this place is very clear to them so they keep up a fast pace.

    On the way we get attacked by 2 Rabid Rabbits, 3 naked goblins and 5 Mossy Fangpines. We spent quite some time near the carnage so it's not surprising the number of monsters that found us.

    We reach the border of the forest by sunset. I dismiss Shad and the bandit shivers but does not waken.

    "Finally, God of the Sun, how I missed you!" Delwyn exclaims.

    "Four days in darkness was a bit too much," Lyle says.

    "And you wanted to stay a fifth," I say.

    Lyle scratches his cheek awkwardly.

    "I overestimated a lot of things on this trip," he says.

    He does not know how lucky he is I'm this powerful.

    The guards at the watchtower come out to see the strange sight of the elemental carrying a tied person. I see the wagon and the carriage waiting for us.

    Two well armed men run out of the wagon and the carriage to meet us.

    "Master Lyle! Why did you call us earlier, did something happen?" The man of the wagon comes to us, his face is young and his gait is strong, he's a well-trained bodyguard.

    "Hello Sebastian. Yes, we met undead dragonoids and then we were attacked by kidnappers" -he points to the tied man- "He's the last survivor. We have to hand him to the guards."

    I think this is the same butler that was helping Lyle's grandfather during the Symbol of Hate auction.

    "Master Ankara. Is this true?" Asks the second man, he seems to be more delicate and thinner than Sebastian.

    "Yes. I am very tired now, I want to go home. Ryder, I assume you will deal with this?" He turns to me, his eyes are droopy, his hair bun is nearly undone and his dignified expression is crumbling.

    "It's fine, we will deal with the guards," I nod to him.

    "Then I'm taking my leave. Goobye Lyle, Gwin, Delwyn," he nods to them and moves towards his carriage.

    Tankar looks at me and gives a subtle nod. Maybe this is the maximum of respect I will ever get out of him.

    One of the guards come towards us, he's wearing a golden armband on his right arm.

    "Wait, you said undead and bandits?" He asks.

    Hana produces the pile of bounty plates and gives to him. His eyes open wide when he looks at the one on the top.

    "There's six undead dragonoids inside the dungeon Wisp of the Proud. I will report to the guild their location and affinities," I say.

    "U-understood," the guard mutters as he puts the pile down and examines one by one.

    "This man" -I point to the waking bandit- "Is the leader of the bandits, can you take him and interrogate him for us? Someone tipped him about four nobles leaving towards The Smirk and we want to know who."

    The guard straightens up and looks at me in the eyes.

    "I am Lyle Rizek, grandson of Werner Rizek, court high mage," he puts his right hand over his chest. The guard shivers at his words. "These are Delwyn Griffiths and his sister Gwinevere. The one who left was Ankara Gartania, son of Tarian Gartanaia, Lord of Fort Erda."

    The guard pales and his mouth hangs open, I think that Werner and Tarian must be famous.

    "We-we-we will c-call the captain right away. Please wait a moment, a space mage will bring him to us."

    He immediately turns around and trots towards the tower. The other guards are frozen in fear and keep their positions.

    The bandit groggily turns his head around, his eyes slowly regain focus.

    A minute later around 5 well armed guards come out of the tower. Their mail jingles and shines in the light of dusk, their tabards look new and unblemished. Leading them is a plated guard with two golden armbands on each arm and a black one on his right.

    "Captain Ansara, ready to serve," he puts his right hand over his chest and bows towards Lyle, the other guards follow suit.

    "Please rise," Lyle says and they obey.

    Ansara removes his helmet. He's a rather handsome man with brown hair cut on a buzz cut and a chin so sharp he could cut open a can.

    "The lieutenant reported undead and bandits. Can you explain to me in more detail?" He asks.

    I move forward and explain. This way I can keep the details of our chantless casting a secret for now.

    "There's one last thing I have to tell you."

    I approach him and whisper.

    "I ask you to give him directly to Vanea Anara" -his eyes widen- "This bandit has information that should not escape this place."

    He looks at me for a few seconds.

    "I killed twenty men with only six people, you can also see I'm a summoner, I am not a normal person. I will meet with Dame Vanea tomorrow, I will ask her what you did to the bandit."

    He sighs.

    "If Dame Anara deems so you will be punished for wasting her time, do you understand?" He speaks to me in a stern tone.

    "Yes," I answer immediately.

    He spends a few more uncomfortable seconds staring at my face.

    "Forgive me, but have we met? Your face is familiar," he asks.

    "Uh... I haven't met many guards; I don't even talk to them since I have a pass that allows me to bypass customs."

    "Customs... Are you the noble that came out of the Sea of Trees alone some months ago?"

    Wow, he remembers me? Wait, was he the guard who processed my entry?

    "Uh... Yes? Wait, I'm not a noble."

    "Oh, is that so?" He chuckles, "I thought you were a runaway by the weird skills you had and the perfect way you talked. There's plenty of runaway nobles here in Rabanara but I remembered you because I thought you would try to sting my ass since I made fun of you."

    By his behavior I can see why he thought that.

    "Well I... Would not do that, I'm not that petty."

    "This works for me," he shrugs "Anyway, we will be taking him, then. Report the undead to the guild too, please."

    "I will."

    He nods and points to the bandit.

    "Take him off and send him to jail, don't let anyone else talk to him besides me."

    The guards surround the elemental and untie the bandit. He seems to regain lucidity and starts to struggle.

    "No! Help me! I'm innocent, wait, no, I'm not a mu'rde're'r! Have me'rcy!" He cries as he is dragged away into the tower.

    Indeed, none of them were branded as wicked, but they are still career thieves. They are not even the poor and downtrodden who switch to banditry to survive, they did it as a job.

    "Take the bounty plates with you. You can get your rewards when you want to," he says.

    Hana gathers the plates on the ground and stores them.

    The bandit is sent into the tower and suddenly his cries are muted. I dismiss the elemental and Ansara turns to us.

    "Is there anything else I can help you with, grand nobles?" He asks and lowers his eyes.

    Lyle looks at me and I shake my head.

    "That is all, thank you for your help," Lyle says.

    "May I offer you to use our [Gate] to get back into town? If you return by wagon you might reach Rabanara well into the night," Ansara says.

    "That would be wonderful. Sebastian, take the wagon back."

    "Yes, master," Sebastian bows and hops into the wagon.

    "Please follow me, then," Ansara lifts his eyes and looks to me, "You too, please."

    I nod and follow him. Ankara got shafted.

    Inside the tower there's the familiar black circle. Once we cross it we are sent into a barracks. This seems to be the main floor, there's a variety of benches and tables with tea and snacks. Other well armed guards laze around the floor. I believe this is some sort of fast-response team.

    "Welcome back to Rabanara, you can leave through this way, "Ansara points towards the door and bows.

    A few gazes follow the women but they are very contained. We leave the building and I recognize we are near the castle in the middle of the town. Makes sense to have the [Gate]-bound soldiers in the most central location for efficiency.

    "Well then, Wolf. Thanks for all the help, I am in your debt," Lyle says, he stretches his hand for a handshake.

    "Only doing my job, and because you are also a friend," I say and shake his hand.

    "It's a shame we have to part but I would like to meet you again," Gwinevere says to Roxanne.

    Roxanne forces a smile. "P-perhaps fate would have us meet again," she says.

    They share a delicate and feminine handshake. I can feel Hana get very fidgety.

    "It was good to know you Ryder, your fellowship is certainly very dependable," Delwyn says with a nod. "But I would rather not have to go somewhere where I have to hire someone like you."

    "You will get over it," Gwinevere says and slaps her brother's back, "One day you will be craving to explore a dungeon again"

    "Let a Glutton eat your words," he quips back.

    Lyle rolls his eyes.

    "See you soon Miss Lina, Miss Alissa," Lyle nods to them.

    "Until then," Lina shyly responds and Alissa nods back with a smile.

    They go away towards the Nobles Quarters while we go towards the Hunter's Guild.



    A sigh escapes my lips.

    "Hectic days," Alissa says.

    I entwine my arms with Alissa and Roxanne's. I'm gonna need lots of cuddling to forget that carnage. The worst parts is the screams, I still can't even forget the shrieking female space mage I killed.

    Gify pops into my head this time, he seems more comfortable inside towns. He starts chirping a familiar tune, attracting even more attention to our already eye"catching group. Why is it that everything I do just attracts more attention!?

    Alissa grabs Gify and forcefully puts him in my shoulder.

    "Gih!" He snaps his beak at her.

    "I told you already, don't tousle his hair!"

    Gify's eyes sharpen and his beak bends into a pout. Slowly he returns to normal and continues his chirping.



    We reach the guild and the sounds of raucous laughter, drinking, and average"to"bad music reaches our ears. Outside of the guild there's a new giant skull biting into the building. It's long and light blue, there's two horns protruding backwards, it's rather familiar.

    "Kweh!"

    "Yep, it's that one, the ancient dragon we encountered," I say.

    Lina purses her lips and clenches her fist.

    "It got what it deserved," she mutters.

    "Geheh!" Gify chirps a laugh.

    Ciel pats Lina's head and she calms down.

    "Okay, just me and Alissa will do, the rest of you would attract too much attention, specially Aoi," I say.

    You never know when someone might actually be dumb enough to try to steal her. Young tamable dragons are quite valuable.

    Hana nods in agreement and scratches Aoi below her mouth. Whenever we are not in immediate danger it's mostly Hana's shoulders that Aoi likes to stay on.

    We go inside and reach the nearest attendant. The guards of the guild have a mix of stern gazes to keep the most violent drunks in check or friendly smiles as they skirt their job by talking to adventurers.

    "Oh, Mr. Ryder, hello," says the usual brunette attendant. She has short black hair, small eyes, and a very kind and round face. She shows signs of age yet retains an air of sensuality.

    "I would like to report an undead sighting," I say.

    Her eyebrows knit and her mouth turns into an asterisk.

    "Oh my, would you follow me to a meeting room?" Her expression immediately changes into a smile.

    We sit down and I see a glint in Alissa's eyes. I retell our encounter and escape from the undead.

    "We will send an urgent request for the temple to deal with the undead. We will also put on a request to confirm the library you mentioned. You will be rewarded after confirmation," she finishes writing down her report and turns to us with a bright smile.

    "But Mr. Ryder, I didn't knew you were so strong!" she covers her mouth with the tip of her hand.

    "We did defeat the Symbol of Hate," I say.

    "Though your bravery was commendable, wasn't it the mage who blew it up?"

    I smile wryly, talking about the Symbol never goes the way I want.

    "Yes it was."

    "Oh, but the monster did give you some scars did you not? I see you have quite a few already," she looks at my throat and cheek, "The claws of that monster must have pierced your chest, did it not?"

    "Yes... They left some scars, a memento of my battles."

    "Oh, how interesting. Could you show them to me?"

    The smile on the attendant's face is as pure as they come. She leans forward and her arms squeeze those shapely breasts. I can hear Alissa's tail swaying rapidly in excitement.

    "Perhaps, uh, another time. I have more business to take care of," I remember a very sharp gaze of a certain someone that keeps my minds straight.

    "I will be waiting for your next visit then," the attendant smiles and waves.

    I hurry away from that trap.

    "You don't like older women, Wolfy?" Alissa asks.

    "I do, I like them a bit too much. Which is why we have to stay away from that trap."

    "Awn..." Her ears drop cutely.

    "Don't 'awn' me, Ciel would strangle me if I were caught flirting."

    She giggles.

    "I'm sure Lina would too were she not a slave. Roxanne would likely singe your cute butt."

    I gotta smile at that. if I were a woman I believe I would be very proud of my ass, it really is very cute and round.

    "Lina too? Well, what about Hana?"

    "She would likely want to tame that woman for herself."

    Oof, my fetishes. I gotta stop thinking about this or else I'm gonna turn just like Alissa.

    We go outside and find the girls through the party connection. They are in front of a stall drooling over some good smelling boar proto-shish-kebab.

    "Ah, finally. I was about to eat without you guys," Hana asks.

    "Rude. We were caught up because Wolfy was flirting with a mature beauty," Alissa says with a smug smile.

    Multiple sharp gazes pierces my heart.

    "Alissa, that's mean! I did nothing!" I protest.

    "All you did was show your manly scars in your chest."

    I look at Alissa with hurt, her betrayal is unexpected.

    "Are you taking it out on me because I ran from her?"

    She merely smiles with even more smugness.

    Ciel sighs, she hugs me and I take this opportunity to squish her softness with my body. The lack of armor is the best part of being home.

    "Of all fetishes why did you have to have this one, Alissa?" Ciel asks.

    "I feel no shame over my desires," Alissa says, "I trust Wolfy that he wouldn't allow himself to fall in love with a stranger or abandon any of us for someone else."

    Ciel pouts over the implication she doesn't trust me. I lift my head from the two sources of love.

    "We don't have to go with her every wish, she will do fine with me only having you girls," I say.

    "I will do fine, I'm only teasing you," Alissa says and pats my head.

    "See? This is why I do it, it feels really good," Roxanne says.

    "You tease a bit too much," Hana says.

    Lina nods.

    "It's just banter..." Roxanne mutters.

    "Anyway, let's eat dinner here, this place smells amazing," Hana says.

    "Hun-gry!" Aoi pleads.

    After a long day I just want to eat something good and relax. Some pieces of meat had a mustard and honey sauce, quite delicious. From what I understood the mustard taste came from harpy fat.

    We take the dinghy out and fly back home. I can finally re-summon the 3 Shads and Holly, the safety these summons give us allows me to relax once more.



    During bath I have my fun with Ciel, she's slightly more aggressive and chipper, for all the stress of this trip it still did wonders to her heart. With a slap on her ass we disconnect from each other and Alissa emerges from underwater, she swallows and smiles.

    I recline back on my red"haired breast pillow and melt on the water. Lina gets smothered by Ciel's breasts and I feel it rising again.

    Lina's slave collar jingles in a nearly imperceptibly low sound. Can't have that necklace make much sound during sneaking so her tag locks very tightly on the collar.

    Lina's collar is actually just a status symbol, a hold over from when slaves were treated as sub-human. Today the only ones who need tight collars to attach chains are the criminal slaves.

    It is common for wealthy masters to decorate the collars of good slaves to show how important the slaves are. Some even have detachable collars, turning it into merely a piece of fashion, others use necklaces or chokers to hold their tags. For the law, the tag being visible is the only important thing.

    "Lina, do you want to have that collar removed?" I ask.

    She looks at me with uncertainty and fear, she's still way too insecure of her position.

    "It is merely decoration, you certainly do not need it. Even if you needed you could break it easily with your [Spirit of Gaia] or even a small [Earth Bullet]."

    She grasps the collar and thinks, at least she isn't irrationally afraid anymore.

    "I... Had this collar ever since I met Hilde, I just. I don't mind showing I'm a slave, I actually want everyone to know I'm your slave!" she looks at me with wide eyes and a smile.

    On the thing that I do not want is the one she shows the most emotion...

    "Then let me turn this collar into a mere necklace then. The law tells that you need to show your tag but you don't need it to have it attached to a collar. Even a bracelet would be fine."

    "It has to be something detachable, a bracelet would snag on her armor," Hana says.

    "See? Nobody is going to mind you wearing something more practical or comfortable," I say.

    Heads nod in agreement.

    "Wear it with pride. A chain necklace would show how much Wolf trusts you," Ciel says. She kisses Lina in the cheek, making her blush.

    Please kiss her on the mouth.

    Calm down, lower me.

    "Okay. Then..." she lifts her head, her gloominess is changed into excitement. "Can I decorate it?

    I nod.

    "You can even enchant it," I say.

    Her fingers trace the collar on her neck as her eyes go out of focus, a silly smile on her mouth.

    Oof, round 2 please.



    Today is the 15th.

    I wake up to a beautiful sight. Hana purposely copied Roxanne, giving herself a facial. Sometimes I don't even have to ask, these girls fulfill my fantasies at their own will.

    Lina leveled to 22, her [Hammer Use] and [Parry] increased by 1 (now 4+10 and 0+5). She has 7 Skill Points unused.



    First thing in the morning me and Alissa visit Gordon. I don't feel like training today.

    The guild is noisy, there's plenty of gossiping, fellowships being formed and breaking up, hunters discussing bounties and requests. Yet in comparison to yesterday it is very calm.

    I look at some of the bounties, there's already a call for an undead subjugation group posted by the temple. They will pay 2 gold to each person joining in. Quite high, but you have to keep in mind that the temple is gonna make sure that the gold is deserved.

    The bounty on harpies has increased, it possibly means that their numbers are dangerously high. From what I understand the Lord subsidizes the rewards for bounties, this is the best way to attract freelancing hunters.

    There's also a request to exterminate an Oodogloo. Whackers indeed, the monsters keep reappearing. Right now this bounty is below our pay grade, if it doesn't pay in gold it isn't worth the effort.

    "Oh hello, Carmen," Alissa says.

    A shiver runs up my spine. The brunette milf from yesterday comes towards us.

    "Hello Miss Alissa, Mr. Ryder," she nods at me with a sensual smile, I nod back.

    Her high heels clack and her slender legs peek out from her short skirt. She stops by very close to me, her large breasts, nearly bursting from the tight uniform, stand exactly on my eye level. Her perfume fills my nose and suddenly all I want is to be stepped on by her.

    "A pleasure to see you back so soon," Carmen says.

    "We are here in passing only. We are going to deliver some proofs of subjugation and a corpse to Gordon," Alissa says.

    "Oh is that so? How did you manage to fight those dragonoids? All I hear is..." She shudders and I feel the urge to hug her and make her feel safe, "how they rape their victims as soon as battle ends, alive or not."

    I try my best to turn and focus on the request board again. She either has stupid "Charisma" or she's a siren in disguise. I don't know what would happen if I didn't have Vanea's necklace.

    They talk for a few minutes.

    "I have to get back to work," Carmen finally says, "Come see me again."

    "I will. Until later, Miss Carmen."

    "Until then, Miss Alissa," Carmen winks and walks away. Damn those legs.

    Even more gazes are on me, a mix of envy and anger. I just wanna curl in corner and disappear.

    "Gih."

    "Quiet you... Alissa lets go see Gordon."



    "Hello there, Mr. Ryder."

    He stares at Gify, his mouth hangs open in surprise but recovers and smiles again.

    "Hello Mr. Gordon. The surprise this time is that there is no surprise."

    Gordon snorts and shakes his head.

    "Good, don't even think about one-upping yourself. Though that nature spirit is a surprise in itself."

    "Anyway, here," I pull out the corpse of the horned sky blue female dragonoid and the proofs of subjugation. Gordon gasps. "We didn't kill many monsters. Had to kill some bandits, though."

    "Oh?" His face instantly turns to me, "I heard some nobles got attacked by kidnappers, was that you?"

    "Yeah we were escorting them to Wisps of the Proud."

    "Ah... I see, you certainly had me surprised for a second. Thought you were hunting wild dragonoids."

    "No, no, I would rather never have my women fight rapists like those."

    "That would hardly be the worst part about them," Alissa says, she raises one eyebrow towards me.

    "For me it is, I have confidence in our skills but some things you just don't mess with."

    She rolls her eyes and pats my head. Gordon shrugs.

    "I kinda get that," he says, "Ah yes, I heard the university is mounting an emergency expedition to that dungeon."

    "We found a library there," I say, "It was just on the border of undead territory so I guess they don't want the undead to corrupt the books."

    "A library on a dungeon?" His grin disappears and an uncharacteristic pensive frowns paints his face. "That's new. Why didn't you bring all the books with you?"

    "The dungeon is all a mana solidification, can't bring anything out of it."

    "What a bother."

    "I know, right? The nobles I was escorting spent a day copying the books and didn't even copy half of them."

    "There was a maze near that dungeon though," Alissa says, "We found a treasure chest with a high elven spear."

    "Now that is a surprise, guess your nickname rings true again," he goes back to smirking.

    I shrug and slump back on Alissa's lap.

    In the end we only got a single gold coin from the corpse and proofs. Not worth the danger.



    We meet back with the girls at the Bazaar. Hana had delivered the bounty plates and got our reward. Average of 95 silver for each head, 2 gold for the leader, 1 gold bonus for bringing him alive. Lina helped Hana in selling the excess equipment we got.

    They were low-lives that lived by ransoming lower nobles. Why they chose to kidnap Lyle or Ankara, which had the money to pay for a proper escort like ours, is a mystery. The person who tipped them was incompetent or wanted them dead.

    Alissa found some steel-coated bodkin arrows, even more penetrative power for her, something she lacks. The focus of her archery is pinpoint accuracy at close and up to middle range, this is why she didn't develop strong muscles for using stronger bows. An arrow through the eye is an arrow through the eye.

    We enter the Bear Hug, it's a shop that was clearly cut in half horizontally by something very sharp. The beams were joined together by [Nature Magic], you can see a small amount of bark growing where the two architecture styles meet. The lower part is rustic and whimsical, the upper part is more modern and minimalist.

    "Welcome!" The gruff bear waves towards us, "Miss Hana, good to see you again. Coming back from another job?"

    He simply nods at me and I move deeper into the monster fang swords section. The shop is quite long and filled with racks upon racks of all kinds of weapons.

    "Good day, Wick," she smiles and they crack each others hands on a crushing handshake.

    "Kweh! Good, day!" Aoi says.

    Wick chuckles and looks at Aoi warmly.

    "Good day to you too, little one," he says.

    "We came yesterday from an escort in the Wisps of the Proud," Hana says.

    His beary face turns soft as he seems confused.

    "Wisps of the Proud? Never heard of that one," he says.

    "Barely anybody does. It's a very bleak and dark dungeon filled with dragonoids."

    His mouth hangs open, creating folds on his neck.

    "Yeah, everybody reacts like that," she laughs, "But it's not like you imagine, these dragonoids are actually creepy in the way they don't show emotion. My [Taunt] did nothing to them, they must have tons of 'Willpower'. I think they don't even eat their kills."

    "Oh that makes it better," he breathes out, "Still, the job must have paid well, right? You can't make too much money with them."

    Their meat is difficult to use, the scales aren't as tough as real dragons, there are better components for alchemical use. Overall they really aren't that good for selling.

    "Yeah, but we got this beauty out of it." With a *poof* she pulls out the high elven spear.

    "My, oh, my. A treasure chest?" He glances at Hana and she nods, "It's enchanted too!"

    He pours some mana into it and the spear elongates.

    "You know a nature mage?" He asks.

    Hana points to me. Gify pops into my head.

    "Wow!" He looks at Gify with curiosity, "You certainly got the talent. Learn how the elves maintain their weapons so you don't lose this beauty so easily."

    I nod back emphatically. I have an idea of how to do it but I will need Lina's help to complete my knowledge.

    "Say, I got a new item that I think would be excellent for that young lass over there," he points to Lina, she's bent over looking at some javelins.

    She suddenly stiffens her back and look at us with surprise. Wick laughs and goes deeper inside the shop. He comes back with an engraved steel axe, it has a spike on the back. There are two small transparent gems at the handle. The engravings reminds me of circuits.

    Lina opens her eyes wide when she sees it. Wick hands her the axe and she stands still, unsure what to do.

    "Go on, activate them."

    Lina pours a small amount of mana on both gems. Suddenly the axe head melts and in two seconds it hardens, its shape changed into an engraved hammer, its shaft elongated a good half meter.

    "A switch-axe," Lina mutters.

    "Exactly, I got this directly from Mountainhome. There's rarely any dwarves around here and curiously those who do are mostly mages, for some reason. You, young warrior, would make a good use out of it."

    "How much?" I ask. Lina looks at me in surprise.

    "Two rose coins."

    "Oi, that's a bit much," Hana says.

    "It's doubly enchanted, you know," he purses his lips and crosses his arms in sass.

    "Yeah but this ain't Mountainhome. You said it yourself, you will have some difficulty selling this here."

    "Fine, fine. One rose coin and 70 gold."

    We have that money but it will be tight. The [Extend] enchantment on that switch-axe is perfect for her. If she learns how to improve that enchantment then we can transform that switch-axe into a pole-axe, fixing her main weakness, reach.

    I discreetly look at Hana and wink.

    "You know, the [Switch] enchantment is good and all but that [Extend] is a bit lacking," Hana grabs the axe and flicks it about, "I mean, barely half a meter? Her war hammer is just a tad longer than this axe at its longest! This is not a pure dwarven weapon, their weapons are normally longer than a human's to make up for their smaller frame."

    Wick cringes and scratches his cheek. Did he get swindled?

    "One rose coin and 50 gold," he says.

    "Nah, one rose coin," Hana says.

    "One rose coin and 40 gold."

    She hands over the switch-axe.

    "Thirty gold," he seems a bit strained.

    "Ten gold," she says.

    "Too little profit for me," he shakes his head, "Twenty gold."

    She narrows her eyes and thinks for a moment. "Deal."

    Lina grabs some heavy and cheap javelins.

    "These too, they can be useful for disabling shields," she says.

    Hm... If I give her [Throw] this could work.

    Ciel and Alissa come back to us.

    "Nothing?" I ask.

    "Yeah," Ciel drops her shoulders, "There's no crystal alloy weapons anymore. Without Aremut the number of crystals is too low."

    Lina's Trivia: Aremut was a kingdom that exported huge amounts of attuned crystals. Their mines were abandoned after the kingdom fell to the undead. You can grind these attuned crystals to dust and use them to coat weapons, helping in casting spells. Ciel had one such glaive once when she was a Warrior Priestess.

    I produce the money and hand it over to Wick. Lina receives the axe and squeezes it hard at her almost non-existent chest. She walks with a spring on her step, but that's not all she's getting.

    Roxanne takes us to a jewelry shop. She was thoughtful enough to bring us to a middle"range shop. I can see the subtle changes in architecture, this shop seems to have been destroyed 3 times.

    The items on display are mostly polished simple metal bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. None of the girls wear earrings, they seem interested in it, though, even Hana.

    "I think for you we need something simple and smaller. Perhaps like a choker," I say.

    "Choker?" Lina innocently asks, tilting her head.

    I beckon the saleswoman and asks her to show us the chokers. She brings to the counter a large drawer full of small chokers.

    "Look at the leather ones, they are more comfortable. It also needs a bit of resistance so no cloth or thin metals," I say.

    She suddenly turns into a very pensive expression. Her eyes move wildly through the multiple choices, scanning each of them.

    "Don't tell her the price," I whisper to the saleswoman.

    She smiles kindly and nods.

    I walk back and check on the other girls. Roxanne is the most obviously excited one, she seems to be enjoying dragging Hana around, showing her all the different jewelry. Alissa is more contained but her swaying tail betrays her expression, her ears perk at each new thing Roxanne shows to Hana. Ciel is the most calm, priesthood gives few material benefits and she seems accustomed to it.

    "See something you like?" I ask Ciel.

    "Yes, but I have seen them so many times just seeing isn't exciting anymore," she smiles bitterly.

    "Sorry. With the money short we should keep upgrading our equipment," I say to her, also smiling with some bitterness.

    I want to pamper them more, so much more.

    "If you did waste money on jewelry I would force you to return it," she sends me a sharp gaze that quickly dissolves, "But I would forgive you for good intentions."

    I see a small smile on the corner of her lips.

    I move towards Alissa.

    "Choose one, we will come back here one day," I whisper to her.

    Her expression doesn't change but her tail sways faster.

    I go after Roxanne and smoothly get her to release Hana and use myself as sacrifice. With a silent thank you, Hana goes back to looking a things on her own pace, she seems to be fond of earrings. Aoi surprisingly showed some interest in earrings too, perhaps she would like a piercing one day.

    I get on Roxanne's rhythm and engage with her enthusiasm. I'm used to doing this with a certain someone so I have experience on this area. It's enjoyable seeing her trying out the jewelry and showing the ones she finds beautiful. Some women want to be pretty only for themselves, for their own ego, but if you convince them to also dress themselves for you then things get much more interesting, and sensual.

    When Roxanne's energy dips a little I interrupt her.

    "Let's go see Lina, she might need help choosing."

    "Oh, right. Knowing her shyness she will never choose something for herself," Roxanne says.

    We go back to her and she seems torn between two. Both are brown simple leather chokers, but one has white geometrical embroidery while the other has pink heart-shaped embroidery.

    "Pink," Roxanne says.

    "White," I say.

    Lina turns to us and her eyes spell desperation, they quickly switch between each of us, uncertain in who to choose. The saleswoman gushes at her cuteness.

    I lean over her and whisper.

    "In the end, you should trust your feelings and go with it."

    She twiddles her thumbs and taps the glass in anxiety. Then she suddenly picks the white one.

    "Victory!" I celebrate with a raised clenched fist.

    Roxanne winces and hunches over. I rub her hand and she slowly recuperates. Lina has her head hung low in embarrassment, her cheeks dyed red.

    There's a square metal plate in the middle of choker, she could fit a gem there for enchanting.

    I use a small key and open up her collar. With it open it's easy to remove the small tag, a yellow metal plate with her info carved on it. I hand the tag to the saleswoman and she deftly puts it on her choker.

    Roxanne lifts Lina's hair while I put her new choker. I give her a peck on the cheek.

    "You look much cuter," I whisper.

    She blushes again.

    I pay the saleswoman and we go home. Lina is fidgety, her body barely containing her happiness. I feel like we have to be careful with Lina, everyone wants to pamper her, there's nobody to rein us in when we go too far.



    When we reach home a messenger was waiting for us in front of the house. Vanea sent the message, she wants to meet us at 2PM on her office at the university. I was planning to meet her tomorrow but I believe what the bandit leader told her must have piqued her interest.

    The university is so empty, so quiet. It's quite creepy since I only come here when classes are on and there's hundreds of students about.

    I'm not really nervous about it due to our oaths so I just take my time and calmly knock on the door to her office at the exact time she wanted.

    "Come in," she says.

    I enter her office and immediately see something is wrong. Her chair is at her side, I can't see what she's sitting on.

    "Hello, Mr. Ryder. It seems you had quite the eventful break, didn't you?" She asks, a hint of warmth on her voice."

    "Y-yes. Just a simple job became so much more in an instant," I smile and bow slightly.

    "A nature spirit, undead, and bandits, what a combination. You sure you aren't a hero?" She asks.

    Oddly Gify does not respond at his mention, he's simply curled and "sleeping" on my shoulder.

    I walk closer and sit on a chair, Alissa does the same. I got a glimpse of something very weird and my brain can't process it yet.

    "I am sure. Even though I have a Gift, I have no such lofty ambitions."

    There's no need to hide it from her. Her oath is the most valuable thing I have right now.

    She stares at me and taps the table, judging my words.

    I'm sweating cold but not because of our talk.

    "Who knows about your Gift?" She asks.

    "Lyle Rizek, Delwyn and Gwinevere Griffiths, Ankara Gartania, Ankara's knight Sir Tankar, a duo of space mages serving Lyle, and the bandit leader."

    "Remove the leader from that list. He's already dead, too much of a liability."

    I frown, my mind taken off from what I saw. I wanted Lina here, I want to hug her and feel her little ass rub on my crotch like she always does.

    "Well then, this already solves another curious thing I had to stop," I raise my eyes to her, puzzled, "Likely Ankara Gartania was snooping around, looking for information on you."

    He didn't waste a second, it seems.

    "Not unexpected," Alissa says. Her voice is calm but she's sweating cold too.

    "He promised me he wouldn't do anything, if he continues I will pay him a visit secretly," I say.

    I won't let him jeopardize my life here.

    "I already dealt with it. That stupid family," she rolls her eyes, "You better stay away from the Gartanias, they are glory hounds. They passed too many generations without a True Noble so they are looking for any opportunity to rise in prestige. It seems that horrible nature has stuck hard on their youngest son, too."

    "Oh? I had no idea. I have no plans to work with him again so it wouldn't be an issue anyway."

    "They are worse than mercenaries, at least hired swords are predictable, you never know who the Gartanias have sold their loyalty to. Unless you are the emperor don't rely on them. Also, it's extremely likely Ankara was the target of the kidnapping."

    "I thank you for your advice," I bow slightly.

    She smiles smugly at me. Now that her own necklace she gave to us is having a good effect on her eyes I can see how beautiful and refined her face really is, a delicate and sensual rose. Yet full of disgusting and dangerous spines. I will never touch her, I will never feel attracted to her, specially because of what she's actually sitting on.

    "Excuse me, but what is that?" I point to her "chair".

    Vanea stands up with a maniacal smile and looks down.

    "Smegma, get up."

    I use my [Sense Soul] and shivers run through my entire body.

    Soul Info
    Name:SmegmaRace:HumanLevel:37
    That's Farana Uiara, Darean's lover. She's wearing a blindfold, a ball gag, a lacy black bra (first time I saw a proper bra on this world), very small sexy lacy panties, long black silky gloves and thigh highs. Her hair is glossy and shiny, almost as good as Alissa's. There's a round cylinder protruding out of the middle of her legs, its contour can be seen pressed on her panties. A clear white liquid drips out of the middle of her legs.

    Alissa lifts her nose and sniffs at the air, then she recoils and pales.

    "You should know her, you captured her for me," she undoes Smegma's bra, small pink nipples are shown, "This is Smegma, my newest assistant. I have been training her very well, Haaran and his knights assure me her ass is incredibly tight. Would you like to have go at her? I would like to watch."

    She pulls down Smegma's panties and I can clearly see two very wet dildos are shoved inside her, one on each entrance. Vanea grabs one and pumps it. Smegma moans loudly and a long trickle of liquid drips down.

    Vanea licks her wet hand and caresses Smegma's head with the other. Then she sits down at her real chair.

    "Was that all you had for me?" I ask.

    "In the empty office there's a space mage waiting for you, he will take you to the Dream Eater we got for you. Tomorrow morning a messenger will come, invite him inside and tell him of a spot where he can drop a 'coordinate' for [Gate]. He will take you to your teacher of [Godly Language], you should discuss with the teacher how your classes are going to be like."

    "Understood. Then excuse us, please."

    "Awn, that's a shame. In case you want to have a taste of her she will always be by my side."

    We hurriedly bow and leave the office.



    "What the fuck," I whisper.

    I actually wanted to talk to her about the emellanat the mercenaries had but fuck getting inside that place again.

    "What. What did she do to her?" Alissa whispers back.

    "I don't know and I don't want to know."

    Gify finally stirs awake and opens his eyes.

    "Gih!"

    "I agree, I will never touch her while I'm still sane."

    Alissa nods.

    "Wait, why did you ignore us when we entered that place? You could have helped us absorb the shock, you know."

    "Gih, guh... Gih!"

    Coward, you were as useful as goblin jizz.

    We are both shocked so we take a few minutes outside recovering until we have courage again to enter the empty office. There's only a bored man sitting on a chair.

    "Mr. Ryder?" Asks the man.

    "Yes, that's me."

    "Please use this portal."

    A familiar black circle opens, the man immediately crosses it and we follow behind. I just want to get this day over with.

    We are brought into a very large room, it's made of blue slabs, there are no windows, and only crystals for light. I think we are below the castle. There's 7 familiar knights here.

    "Good day, Mr. Ryder. Oh, a nature spirit," Marduk says, he gives me his characteristic crooked smile.

    "Good day, Sir Marduk. This little one decided to attach itself to me."

    "Gih."

    "I see, you are certainly an interesting one," he says.

    Who? Me or Gify?

    The red skinned man turns and bows to Alissa, surprising her a little.

    "Good day, Dame Alissa."

    "T-that's not necessary, I'm a Blood Slave," she hurriedly shows him her mark on her wrist.

    He straightens up and finally forms a full smile.

    "It is necessary. Your archery and keen senses were a great help during our capture of the little spy and we owe you an apology as we nearly allowed you to die to the invisible assassins," he says earnestfully.

    I force a smile because I want to forget of what I have done. Alissa seems the same.

    "I... I will accept it, then," she shyly adds.

    Something very, very angry is about to be unleashed. No one is allowed to make her like this. Uuuugh, let's get this day over with, already!

    "The Dream Eater is ready?" I ask, trying to hurry things up.

    "Yes, it is over there," he points to a half-meter tall airtight metal box, "Give us a signal and we will unleash it. We will stay back to make sure you can absorb all of its soul, is that okay?"

    "It is. I will kill it with magic only. The people inside this room, are they trustworthy?"

    Marduk's face twitches for a moment.

    "Yes, they are all loyal knights of Vanea and Haaran."

    "Good. Open it up, please."

    Marduk nods and waves at one of the knights.

    "Open up and scatter!" He barks an order.

    "Yes, sir!" He clenches his fist over his chest.

    I guess this is the standard salute.

    The knight moves to the box while everyone else moves to the corners of the room.

    "Do it!" I yell.

    I focus and summon a 3 meters tall earth elemental and a normal wind elemental. The young knight pulls a lever and one of the sides of the box falls, then he runs to his friends.

    Out of the box a dark grey smoke comes out, it forms a fuzzy shape equal to a Shadow Satyr. It's a smoky human with horse ears, horse legs, completely black skin and a straight, featureless face. It wields a very curved scimitar, almost a crescent.

    Then a long oval wooden mask covers the face of the satyr, it has a round sleeping face carved into it. There are rectangular slits on the eyes and mouth, the hole of the slits are white and glow when the monster casts spells. This is a Dream Eater, quite creepy.

    It charges towards us.

    "Wind elemental, hold it in place. Earth elemental, kill it," I order.

    I cast [Gravity Crush] on the mask.

    The wind elemental spins, twirls, and dances, a small tornado starts around the Dream Eater, causing its smoke body to dissipate. It tries to gather its smoke but the wind is too strong, it tries to inch its mask forward but my spell holds it in place.

    The earth elemental is big and heavy enough to just ignore everything. It slams its fist down on the ground and the mask shatters in hundreds of pieces. It's dead. I dismiss the elementals.

    Marduk walks towards us, his mouth hangs open.

    "You, uh, y-you didn't chant?" He asks.

    "No. I have a Gift, talk to Vanea and make sure this never leaves this room," I say in a monotone.

    He reflexively salutes, his red skin glistens with cold sweat.

    "Yes, sir! Uh..." He realizes he called me "sir", "Mr. Ryder... Anyway, did it work?"

    I summon a Dream Eater, exactly the same as the one we just killed. The knights freeze in their steps and murmur between each other.

    Having one spell being chantless is one thing, having multiple is another, being a Gifted person that can cast spells chantless is mind blowing. I can see a mix of respect and fear on their eyes.

    "Then I would like to return, please," I say.

    "Yes. Artan, open the portal."

    "Yes, sir!"

    The black circle appears.

    "See you soon, Sir Marduk," I say and give him a short bow.

    "Huh? Ah, yes yes. Until our next battle together," he gives a short bow.

    Alissa bows as well.

    I enter the circle and hurry back home.



    I spend the rest of my day at our balcony, having tea and cookies with the girls. I think I need a vacation.

    Watching the hustle and bustle of the streets is quite relaxing. So many people have to work hard and here I am, sipping tea with more flowers than I have hands to hold.

    Today's bath time was monopolized by Lina. All she wants is to show her gratitude to me by having her vagina fuse with my dick. Now that is something she's not shy about expressing.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2020
  15. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 16th.

    This time is Alissa's turn to glaze her own face. If I ever paint them, it will be like this. Ciel stared at Alissa for a suspicious amount of time, I have to continue influencing Ciel into enjoying my taste.

    I unglue Lina out of me and we have our breakfast.

    There's barely a minute after I finish my breakfast when someone knocks on the door.

    "Good morning, Mr. Ryder. I am Artan, I have been sent by Dame Vanea," a young man says and bows.

    "Oh yes, I remember you from yesterday. Come in, we are going to the basement."

    The only ones downstairs are Hana, who's slowly sipping her tea, Aoi, who's sleeping on the table, and Alissa, who's washing the dishes. They turn their heads and nod to him. The young man shivers at Hana's gaze, he's quite slim and he's only slightly taller than me. Just her passive man-eating gaze must be enough to threaten men like him.

    I lead him downstairs to the unused basement.

    "Ok, open the portal here. Next time when you call for me don't ever leave the basement. Come up only in case I don't answer. I value my privacy greatly," I say to him.

    He straightens and salutes.

    "Understood, Sir."

    "Alright, now open up."

    He chants and in 10 seconds the black circle opens. Gify decides to not make an appearance.

    We step inside and the world loses color. I'm taken to a windowless room made of blue-grey bricks. The ceiling is rather uncomfortably low.

    "Greetings, Mr. Ryder," says an old man.

    There's a long table with a few very comfortable chairs around it. On the other side of the table there's an old man with olive skin looking at me. He has a puffy white goatee with brown and white sweptback hair. His small blue eyes stare at me with reserved interest.

    "Greetings. Forgive me but I was not given your name," I say with a respectful nod.

    "Oh. I am Kyros, your teacher for [Godly Language]."

    Artan bows to Kyros and leaves the room. The door is heavy and produces a loud "pomf" when closed. I think the walls and the doors are padded, sound proofing must be important for when I mess up.

    "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Kyros."

    "Likewise. Please sit," he motions to the chair, "Now, how are we going to go about this? From what I understand you have classes in the afternoon?"

    I take a seat and my ass cheeks scream in happiness, I have to ask Vanea what these chairs are made off.

    "Yes. My mornings are free."

    "Then every morning until noon we should practice, how about this?"

    "I would prefer if it would be every other day. There are still other things I want to train during my mornings."

    "Fair enough. Then let's begin, I will introduce you to the language."

    Good, no need for chit-chat.

    "Do you know how [Godly Language] works?" He asks.

    "Very little, all I know is it is an evolved form of chanting. While chanting aids a spell in altering reality, [Godly Language] alters reality directly with each word."

    "Good. How are your 'Willpower', 'Intelligence', 'Charisma', and 'Piety' stats?"

    "Sixteen, twenty one, twelve, and fourteen. Respectively."

    "Ah, that's impressive," he smiles faintly, "You certainly have enough stats, your 'Charisma' is the only one that leaves to be desired. It really makes things much easier the more you have."

    "I didn't know that 'Charisma' was that important."

    "You could say you are literally 'charming' the soul of your target to obey your wishes. It obviously makes it easier when you are well-liked."

    That's interesting. It affects the soul but I never heard of any mention on it on my cursory look at [Spirit Magic].

    "But you have a good set of stats, that's enough to start," he flicks his wrist to grab back my attention, "Moving on, do you know how to circulate your mana inside you?"

    "Not really. I know how control and modify spells a small amount, like casting it in area, but I can only manipulate mana during chanting."

    "What's the level of your [Mana Control]?"

    "Ten."

    "Good enough. You should have already started understanding this part."

    I learned [Mana Control] by brute-forcing, so I'm not a standard student.

    "I learned it by repetition, I don't really know much else."

    His face remains still as he evaluates my words. Am I really that unusual? He finally sighs and continues, "Well then, I will have to start at the beginning. When you cast a spell, what do you feel?"

    "I..." I stop myself to think. With system-aided spells I don't feel anything, really. Only when I chant is that I feel something. "I feel an 'emotion', or a 'form'. I try to force myself to copy that feeling when I'm learning a new spell."

    "Right," he crosses his arms and nods, "This is the correct path, the 'emotion' or 'form' is a rather abstract 'construct' of mana. Spells manipulate mana on a pattern, they follow five phases. Gathering, conversion, building, expulsion, and trigger."

    Oh yeah, Toroo talked about this.

    "Mana is spread throughout the body, so the first phase is gathering it inside you. The place that it most easily gathers is the heart. Your brain also contains lots of mana but it's a bad place to cast a spell from, you will get some headaches if you try to do it from there. Some spells have the mana gather on specific places, like [Illusion Magic] most often gathers mana on the eyes."

    "The second phase is conversion, you convert mana into something else. [Fireball] converts mana into a fuel, oxygen, and heat. You don't convert the fire directly into your heart, you convert mana into a "frozen" version of the materials required for the spell. Like when cooking, you first pull out all ingredients necessary for the recipe before putting them into the pot.

    "The building phase is when you 'organize' the materials in a way that makes them ready for use. In [Illusion Magic] the building phase is the most important as the conversion phase is nearly non-existent. This phase is where you create the scenario that's going to replay on the mind of your target. While with a spell like [Fireball] the mix of the ingredients is what defines your flame so the building phase is where you fine-tune the parameters of the spell.

    "The expulsion phase is where you hold the spell outside of your body. It's when you construct and maintain the flame on your hand. This is important for spells like [Fireball] because you are directly interfering with the world. Spells like [Lighting Bolt] use this phase to manipulate the world and improve the 'path' to the target. I assume you know of the abstract concepts of [Electric Magic], correct?"

    "Yes," I answer, "I have enough knowledge in [Electric Magic] to understand this part."

    "Alright. Then comes the trigger part. This is where you add the last stabilizers, finish conditions and release the spell. With spells like [Earth Bullet], this is where you add the propulsion that will launch the spell, how long it will last and how strong it will be. With [Illusion Magic] it is where you add how long the spell will affect the target and how strong is the interference on his brain-soul connection."

    Wow, this is surprisingly close to programming. This is what true direct mana manipulation is all about.

    "This is only a standardized way of teaching how to manipulate spells. You can try to create a spell on your own in any way you want, it's just that you have a bigger chance of materializing the spell inside yourself if you don't follow the standard way. Imagine materializing [Fireball] inside yourself, you can explode your heart in an instant."

    Ooooh. This is how Roxanne create [Explosion], I could recreate this spell myself one day. I guess the real difficulty of creating [Explosion] is doing it on a safe way.

    "So we are going to practice the gathering phase. Instead of gathering inside your heart we will keep moving the gathering point around your body, effectively 'circulating' your mana. This is also the beginning of a proper way to increase your MP or 'Magic Power' so we can derive from this later."

    Holy shit, I need this, I need this technique.

    "Did you understand what I said?"

    "Yes! I heard about it once so I have a good idea of what you are talking about. I learned about these five phases on my [Reduced Mana Cost] classes. One of my colleagues was learning this skill by improving her building phase."

    He smiles and reclines back, relaxing his posture.

    "Your colleague is on the right path. If she can manipulate the building phase with confidence then she has some talent. So, we talked a lot, now let's start practice. What's the level of your 'Perception' and your [Sense Mana]?"

    "15 and 9. Respectively."

    "Hm," he strokes his goatee, "Pretty good. I don't want you to hug me so close your eyes and sense my mana, try to copy my 'form'."

    Me too.

    I obey and start focusing on feeling mana. I got an idea, what if I forcefully use [Redirect Mana] on someone while they are forming a spell? To be honest this could be rather dangerous, an explosion would be the least worse of results.

    Anyway, focus! I see a very small vortex of mana, it slowly moves in an oval. Paying more attention to it I realize it's not exactly moving, but rather it is shifting positions instantly in such small increments it looks like it's a continuous movement. This will take some effort.

    The vortex feels like I am "grabbing" a rubber ball. I didn't pay that much attention to what exactly I am feeling while I sense spells until now. It's something like seeing a "soul", it's information not really made for the human brain so it "glosses" over. The brain tries to ignore the information but if you focus on it the brain forcefully translates it for me, somehow.

    Replicating this feeling is actually simply imagining it, imagining it so hard it turns into reality. Visualization is the way magic works, it's the way skills are gained. The more in depth you can imagine things, the better your spells and the more your skill increases. This is why learning magic has so much theory on physics.

    I feel a slight discomfort as I copy the gathering phase of my spells and try to mix it with the form that Kyros is showing. I slow down and reduce the strength of my gathering, this reduces the discomfort. This could be an early sign of bad mana manipulation, spells shouldn't cause pain unless you are suffering from overuse.

    My vortex feels like a small pebble moving at walking speed while Kyros's is the size of a watermelon and moves at Formula One speeds.

    "Dame Vanea told me you were supposed to be better than this," he says in a tired voice.

    I wince.

    "I believe I would be better on the actual talking part. This is not really a specific part of the skill, only a preparation, yes?"

    I open my eyes and let go of the vortex. He spreads his arms over the nearby chairs and smiles with half his mouth.

    "Well, yes," he rolls his eyes, "Just continue the circulation, try to increase the speed and size slowly. If you feel any discomfort reduce it a little, the discomfort means it is damaging your body. You don't need to hurt yourself to progress, in fact avoiding the damage is exactly the reason we are doing this exercise. You need to learn how to manipulate mana in a way you are not affected by it, otherwise if you try to use any offensive words on an enemy you will hurt yourself."

    "I see... I will return to my circulation."

    He grunts and I close my eyes.



    I continue my practice for what seems to be an eternity. I'm always trying to slowly increase the size of my vortex, retreating whenever I felt discomfort.

    Eventually my body starts to hurt. I stretch my body, trying to stave off any pain from bad posture but it doesn't go away. With my eyes closed I open my "Status" and see that my HP fell by 2 points. It seems I contracted fantasy-cancer.

    "That's enough for now, I will call the space mage," Kyros says.

    He rings a bell and Artan appears immediately. Kyros nods to him and a black circle appears in front of Artan.

    "Until the next time, Mr. Ryder."

    "Until then, teacher," I nod my head towards him.

    He smiles gently. I better get on his good side, he's a very reasonable person.



    It's 11AM. I come back early enough so I can help with lunch.

    Ciel soon brings Lina back. She seems excited because they are going over the [Extend] enchantment. With practice she might be able to replace the handle of her switch-axe for something longer and keep the enchantment or simply improve the enchantment.

    Ciel is going to receive a crash course in [Judgment], it's one of the few spells that damages undead permanently. If we are going to continue exploring unknown or unpopular dungeons we are bound to encounter other undead. After last encounter we decided it's better to be safe than sorry. We can't just go to the temple and have our weapons blessed every time we are going to a dungeon.

    "I talked with Arantos," Ciel says, "They are keeping a very close eye on Vanea. She's not wicked but she threads dangerously close to it."

    "I know it's cowardly but I would rather not have known what we did," I say.

    "This is why I don't like to get involved with nobles," Hana says, she hunches over and hugs herself, "Thinking myself stolen from Wolfy and being forced to have sex with other men gives me chills. It's also why I negotiated on being able to choose whom I served."

    Alissa's expression turns sad as she hears Hana. I'm glad to know they both don't have a fetish about cheating on me.

    "To be honest. She should be grateful she's still alive," Roxanne says ,"The Judges have no mercy with those who mess with Lords."

    "Vanea must be doing this mostly to get back at Darean," Ciel says, "Hurting him mentally is more insidious that way."

    "I would rather commit suicide," Alissa says.

    I'm not sure if I should be glad or worried.

    Lina sits on the lap of Ciel and both seem depressed.

    "I don't wanna talk about this anymore," I say.



    I missed Lina rubbing on my crotch while riding Alissa. It's healing my heart after that heavy conversation. Now I have another fetish to indulge in, sex while riding Alissa.

    At class Gify makes his appearance, the little ass is reveling in the attention.

    "Gih!"

    Yes, you are a little ass. You left me alone with Kyros but decided to appear when you have the opportunity of being a celebrity.

    "Gih? Geh guh gih."

    A celebrity is an important, famous, and well-liked person. And no, I'm not scared of Kyros, I just like the company. You know that being away from Alissa makes my "Sanity" go low, I get quite lonely when it happens.

    "Giiiih..."

    You are not a male! You have no gender!

    "Gihihih."

    You shouldn't make fun of the person who feeds you.

    "GUH!" The students around me clutch their hearts from Gify's cute loud chirp.

    I hear the bell chimes.

    And I was joking too. Now get off my thoughts, class is beginning.

    Lyle, Hatara, and Garanae come in a few seconds before the professor. Lyle seems to be warmed up more to me, though I can still see the usual savagery in his eyes. Hatara and Gara are stiffer than usual and Gara, specifically, nods to me with politeness. I guess they would change their behaviors when they knew I was part of a slaughter of 19 men.

    "Oh hello, Mr. Ryder," says a soft voice above me.

    "Hello professor," I answer.

    The cute gnome is hovering just above me.

    Gih.

    He's cute and I'm not gay. I don't know why I just think he's cute and huggable, maybe it's "Charisma" like always. Now get off my thoughts.

    "Professor Tanya will be delighted when she sees you," his smile is slightly mischievous.

    With that class resumes and the professor starts to describe concepts of [Space Magic]. We finished exploring physics and gravity, now we are exploring torque, matrices and how to use them to express position and rotation. This is quite simply video game physics 101. You have the X, Y and Z axis, which represent planes. X represents sideways movement, Y represent up-down movement, Z represents forward-backwards movement. You represent position with these 3 coordinates.

    You apply force on an object to create movement and through equations you can calculate the position of the object in any moment you choose. There's transformations and rotations and some other bullshit that's quite boring.

    I really dislike rotation matrices but they are necessary to properly understand [Telekinesis]. That spell is the basis of the entire magic school and my main attack booster, it's really important.

    There's also an introduction to non-euclidean geometry, like how to create a "3-sided square". Warping space and time becomes more important for the higher level spells.

    There is one interesting thing regarding the identification of items inside [Item Box]. Instead of it being simply a warped space, like a "bag of holding" of other fantasy worlds where the bag is bigger on the inside, it is a complete system with user interface. There's the sorting function, the search function, and buttons for storing and retrieving items. That and how [Gate] "coordinates" are managed is the most sought after "concept" of magic. The concept of automatic information classification.

    Whenever I think about [Gate] a small window with all the coordinates I stored is opened for me. The only information on these coordinates are the names I gave them myself, like "Wisps of the Proud beautiful wet stalactite cave". I can press a red "X" to delete the coordinate or I can press the coordinate and start chanting to open [Gate]. I can also simply press the "muscle" for the spell inside my mind for instant-cast.

    Skills like [Sense Presence] and [Sense Mana] or spells like [Detect Evil] and [Soul Search] give you rather abstract feedback. They give you only a "feeling", while skills like the [Appraisal]-types give you a neat window full of information. Spells that extract and organize information this way are incredibly complex and difficult to create, and yet there's a bunch of skills and two (relatively) simple spells that incorporate this concept quite easily. Even my [Sense Soul] draws upon this concept , it really is a very useful concept to integrate.



    Bell chimes and we go to our break. We barely have time to sit at our usual spot when Garanae begins to talk.

    "What did you feel, Ryder, when you... Killed someone?" He asks.

    Lyle purses his lips in displeasure. Both of us wished Garanae would have more tact.

    "The first time I nearly went crazy with anger and then puked. The second time I was shivering but kept my resolve and fought. The third time was with Lyle. Gify opened my heart to Alissa's, it allowed me to keep a straight mind and let the anger fuel my actions."

    "Three times...?" Hatara lowly asks, astonished.

    "All these times were for survival," Alissa says, then she smiles bitterly. "Wolfy certainly reacted better than me. Back in my home town I executed bandits, it took me quite a few until I stopped puking every time."

    Garanae stares at Alissa, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. For some reason he deluded himself into believing that Alissa was a princess.

    "For me it was very scary," Lina says, her voice trembling slightly, "But not as scary as seeing master get hurt or die. That was enough motivation I needed to keep moving forward, to keep fighting regardless of the blood or pain."

    Hatara lowers her head and hugs Garanae's arm harder.

    "Your parents will prepare all of you when the time comes," I say, I keep my tone as soft as I can, "From what I can see all of you will be fighters in the future, you don't have to hurry."

    "I sure hope so," Lyle smiles wryly.

    "You have a tendency of being reckless. Work on it and your father should give you more trust," I say.

    Lyle pouts and blushes in embarrassment. Even he is not so dense he doesn't know his own weaknesses.

    "Let's talk about something else," I wave my hand dismissively. "How was the compilation of books? What was written in them?"

    Lina and Lyle perk up and the gloominess from both disappear.

    "Oh yes!" He claps his hands, "It was mainly epic tales. A few dramas, a few romances, if rape and incest can be considered romance, and a surreal comedy."

    Gara and Hatara lift their heads up, eager to change the topic.

    "I do not want any more information on that romance," Hatara says.

    "What do you mean, surreal comedy?" Garanae asks.

    "We are lacking quite a few words of their vocabulary, so we don't have an exact translation. In the end, either the jokes are surreal in nature or their sense of humor is very, very weird," Lyle says.

    "Is it confirmed the books belong to the dragonoid culture?" Lina asks.

    "No, we only know that they do not belong to our culture," Lyle says, "It could actually even be part of breeder dragonoid culture. If someone in say, the Maoka continent exterminated a dragonoid breeder village and salvaged their books then it could eventually reappear inside a dungeon. Though there's a very small chance but it could also be simply from a random race of breeder culture."

    Alissa's ears twitch and we both look away. In the distance Silvane is coming, in her bosom she's carrying a pure white rabbit.

    "Hello, Mr. Ryder, Alissa, Lina, Mr. Ryzek, Mr. and Miss Taranoa," she says and nods to each of us.

    How annoying etiquette can be sometimes. Having to greet each of us instead of just sitting down with a "howdy".

    The rabbit jumps from her arms and lands on an empty chair. It changes into Nononya who bows to us.

    "Hello, everyone!" She says.

    See? So much easier. Even Ankara is not the kind that wastes time with meaningless pleasantries.

    Gify jumps into Nononya's modest chest. She seems surprised but ends up cuddling with him.

    "Gih!"

    Nononya blushes.

    "W-wha-what...?"

    I stretch my hand and force Gify out of existence.

    "Sorry about that, he's very mischievous," I smile apologetically.

    Gihih.

    If you tried that with Silvane I would skin you alive!

    "You are full of surprises, Mr. Ryder. It seems everything you do attracts attention," Silvane says in a warm tone, she then takes a seat. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation."

    "Not at all," Lyle shakes his head, "It's always a pleasure to have you here, Miss Silvane."

    He lowers his head because of politeness and because her smile made him blush.

    "I certainly do not like the attention. Fate keeps me throwing hardships," I smile bitterly. "Anyway, what were we talking about?"

    "We were just talking about the books we found in the Wisps of the Proud," Lyle says.

    "Ah yes," Silvane's smile is as fresh as spring, "The court mages were interested in this discovery. Seems something finally got their attention away from killing monsters."

    "Indeed. My grandpa finally took his eyes off the Symbol of Hate corpse and asked me to translate that surreal comedy for him," Lyle says.

    "It is regrettable how Rabanara does not fund archaeological expeditions," Silvane says with delicate pout.

    "But it is understandable," Lina interjects, "The whole Shore of Leaves is always under threat of monster attacks. Just yesterday we noticed the bounty on harpies increased."

    "Yes," Silvane props forward with a bit of excitement in her eyes. "It seems a harpy attack will come this year."

    Nononya sighs.

    "This time I won't be able to skimp my duties so I have been practicing elemental summoning. With the notes Mr. Ryder gave me my wind elemental is strong enough to disrupt the flight of the harpies," she says, a hint of sadness on her voice.

    "Just call me Wolf. Your progress is wonderful, but you don't seem happy about it," I say.

    She slumps her shoulders and Silvane rubs her rabbit ears, causing her to shiver.

    "Nono is not really a fighter, but a condition for her acceptance and funding in Rabanara was that she would use her summoning to help us fight," Silvane says.

    "When the time comes we should fight together, I will help you out," I say.

    "Yes, we are used to fighting alongside elementals so we will be there to help you," Alissa says.

    "I will convince my father to let me participate. My [Discharge] is improving so I will be able to help a lot with controlling the harpies," Lyle says, he clenches his fist and his eyes spell wildness, the wide eyed crazy psycho type wildness.

    "We are likely to be mere light support for the front lines so we wouldn't be able to help you," Garanae says with a hint of envy on his voice.

    The front lines on a harpy attack are hardly anything more than a mobile shield for the ranged fighters.

    "Well. This doesn't seems too bad," Nononya says, her white ears perk up a bit, "At least I will be able to see your elementals in action, Mr. Ryder."

    "That would interesting, indeed," Silvane stops the ear rubbing and turns her head to me. "I read your report on the Wisps of the Proud. Your use of the earth and wind elementals is ingenious. If you join the expedition things would go smoothly."

    "Sorry but I don't want to go there again. I had enough of that undead corruption to last me for a long time," I cringe and lift my hands, asking for mercy.

    I look at Alissa and Lina, both nod in agreement. Books are nice and all but fuck these undead. Maybe when the temple exterminates them I would spend some time on that watery cave.

    "Unfortunate but understandable," Silvane nods, "We will wait until we convince another summoner to participate. I think one of those at the Colosseum would participate if we offer enough money."

    "I have never been to the Colosseum, how is it?" I ask.

    "I think Hana and Roxanne would like it. There's some blood but it's mostly about having an entertaining fight," Alissa says ,"Specially the summoner fights, they go all out with the dramatic fights."

    "I think even Ciel would like it," Lina says shyly.

    "Next summoner fight will be at the 3rd of next month," Garanae says. "We should... all go together then."

    He seems a bit embarrassed to suggest this.

    "That would be nice, I will secure for us a private balcony," Silvane says.

    "Yes! Thanks Silfy!" Nononya wiggles her fluffy rabbit tail.

    The conversation goes back to the books Lyle found. Silvane and Alissa are very interested in the epic tales.



    I enter the bath and immediately Lina grabs my arm. She straddles my hand with her thin thighs and I already feel the heat coming from her.

    I love it when they use me like this. Take what you want, my body is yours.

    Her hips sway, rubbing her lips on my hand. I flicker my finger and jab her insides. A high pitched moan escapes her lips. She stops her rubbing and goes straight to mounting me, no questions asked.

    Ciel grabs her from behind and whispers into her ear.

    "Lina, my little one. It's time for you to share the load. I understand you are happy but we also, uh, have our needs."

    Ciel's voice trails off as she doesn't fully believe what's escaping her mouth.

    "Just one more time," I say.

    I impale Lina and force her to meow loudly. I fill her up and then I eat my thicc angel. I tell Roxanne to cast [Water Breathing] on Lina and to have her "massage" Ciel's feet if she wants me to finish Ciel faster.

    I paint Ciel's face white while she relaxes at the corner of the tub. Her face is of ecstasy as Hana decides to join Lina to fulfill her fetish.



    Today is the 17th.

    Double the tongues, double the happiness.

    I increased my "Perception", [Mana Control] and [Space Magic] by 1 (now 16, 0+11 and 11+20).

    Ciel finally learned [Redirect Mana] with 1 point in it and her "Willpower" increased by 1 (now 14). Now I can't give her [Wind Storm] since she lacks the points but she has cast it so many times she can do it even without the system. This is what talent is about.



    I spend my morning practicing circulation and coaching the girls in how to do it. Even if they don't want to learn [Godly Language] they should still learn it for the future training to increase MP and "Magic Power" that Kyros mentioned.

    Alissa brings cheese curds so I teach them how to make poutine. Hana, Roxanne and Ciel absolutely loved to eat it alongside some cheap beer. Ciel isn't really a drinker but she enjoys a small taste of it once in a while.

    Today Lina stays behind to practice her martial arts so it's only me and Alissa.



    This time the students understandably are agitated when they see Gify. It's basically a dream for most of them to have a nature spirit attach themselves to you.

    "How did you do it?"

    "How long did it take for it to trust you?"

    "How does it feel?"

    "Is it true the spirit can link minds?"

    "Is it true it can read your thoughts?"

    "I heard they would raid your ice box if you didn't feed them for even a day. Did that happen to you?"

    "Can you squish it? I know they have no bones but I want to know if they have something inside."

    Gih.

    If you say so.

    I squash Gify with my hand. He squeaks like a chewing toy, his feathers fly, his eyes pop out and his legs face backwards.

    The class stands still in silence. I see tears forming in the face of a girl.

    With another squeak Gify reforms himself and rolls on my table, chirping in bird-like laughter.

    Okay, that was a good one.

    "Gih!"

    A few people facepalm and laugh while others look at us in rage for the prank. At least the questions stopped.

    The bell chimes and professor Tanya enters the room. Her koala and "Plom" nature spirits stand still and silent for the first time since I met her. Both of them stare at Gify. The professor notices the oddity and comes hurriedly to my table.

    "Oh, oh, oh. You found one! How? How? When? Did you tame it? Or is it attached to you? How? Did it open your heart to someone? How?" She machine guns questions at me.

    Gify just sits down with a smug smile. He receives all the attention like he's a seasoned celebrity.

    "I, uh, I just gave him food and one day he decided to attach himself to me," I smile forcefully.

    The class turns silent.

    "What!?" Exclaims a student.

    The professor's face twitches.

    "That's it?" She asks.

    I clean my throat.

    "Yeah... That's it."

    The stares are so intense I'm starting to sweat cold.

    "You gotta be fucking..." She mutters and turns around. "I spent a fucking year talking and talking and playing around trying to convince each of these freeloaders to follow me."

    She walks towards the blackboard. The wide cuffs of her black dress wave about as she gesticulates wildly.

    "And now you come here and tell me a spirit just attaches itself to you because you fed it?"

    Her dress spins as she turns around in a huff. Her face shows no gloominess but a very awaken and disbelieving expression.

    "You young ones and you stupid talent and luck...," She grumbles and suddenly claps her hands, "Wait! Aren't you the 'Good Luck' Ryder?"

    "Yes...?" I answer meekly.

    "Thank the Gods, I almost lost faith in my own skill," she facepalms and shakes her head. "You are the one where weird stuff keeps happening. Having a spirit attach itself to you instead of having to tame it is just another monster for the Lord."

    Lina's Trivia: "another monster for the Lord" is along the lines of "the same event as usual has happened".

    I maintain an innocent smile during all this time. You just don't interrupt a person ranting.

    After this outburst we resume class. The professor takes this hook with Gify to explain more in depth how nature spirits can be used to connect people. Since I have already experienced this the lesson was wasted on me.



    I have finally achieved a presentable Worcestershire sauce. I used vinegar, not-cinnamon, not-ginger, not-cloves, harpy fat, anchovies(?) and beef broth. There's still some refining to do but it's usable.

    "Tastes so good!" Roxanne says.

    There's a lot of spices in Maoka so it's unsurprising she's not picky.

    "Quite interesting, reminds me of a sauce I ate once in Ryutake," Hana says.

    I gotta visit Ryutake, I have a good feeling about this.

    "I loved the cinnamon. It's used a lot at the Misty Low Forest," Alissa says.

    Lina frowns, she's somewhat of a picky eater. Or rather, Hilde didn't adapt to Avgi cuisine se she's not used to experiment new things.

    Ciel was rather neutral.

    "Can I show this sauce to the temple?" She asks, "It would be a good help to make the food more varied there."

    "Sure."

    I still have many more recipes to use to make money.

    After that I used my pseudo-Worcestershire sauce, not-paprika and melted butter to create Buffalo Wings. A certain someone once said I was committing sacrilege by using Worcestershire but need is the mother of invention. I didn't have the usual cayenne sauce available and I had terminal munchies so I just had to eat some wings.



    Today is the 18th.

    "Don't you want to try?" Alissa asks.

    Lina stops bobbing her head and offers it to Ciel.

    A little nervous, Ciel approaches and stuffs her mouth. Alissa holds her hair back and slowly guides her. The best part about Ciel is how her breast jiggles with every movement.

    I was close so I just finish inside Ciel's mouth. She grimaces.

    "Drink it," Alissa says sternly.

    Ciel looks at her with pleading eyes.

    "Come on, swallow," Alissa's tone is even more severe.

    Lina smiles at Ciel and nods emphatically.

    Ciel sighs and swallows, Alissa gives her a kiss on the cheek and I copy. Ciel blushes and immediately leaves the room.

    "Progress," I smile.

    I finally learned [Cooking] with 1 point. I wasn't putting that much effort into trying something new so I guess this is why it took so long.



    I go to the basement and wait a few minutes until the black circle appears. I enter it and I'm taken to the same room as last time.

    "Hello, Mr. Ryder," Kyros is the same as last time, relaxed and calm.

    "Hello, teacher."

    "Show me your progress."

    I sit down and start my circulation.

    "Hm... passable."

    Ouch.

    "Now, give it your all to increase the speed of the circulation, the faster it spins the better."

    This isn't as simple as it seems. I still have to reform the vortex little by little, except this time I have to do hundreds of these reforms in a few seconds.

    It's an exercise in repetition and patience. Whenever I start to skip too much Kyros stops me and forces me to move the vortex little by little again.

    After a while I enter a sort of trance. The movements are repetitive but not physically tiring, it's very cathartic.

    "That's enough for today."

    I bow and take my leave.



    I noticed that I have to put less effort in seasoning food now. Measuring how many pinches of salt was always a bother, I preferred to underseason then test the taste and finally adjust when necessary. Now I barely need to test the seasoning because I have been hitting the right spot on the first try.

    The speed that I prepare the ingredients also increased, my dexterity with the knife is noticeably better.

    I can also imagine the ingredients and how to prepare then and I get an intuition about how they would taste. Honestly I like cooking but the skill takes some of the effort off, which is not exactly why I cooked. I used it as a method of feeling catharsis, now things are more efficient, reducing the time I had for this relaxation.

    Oh well, whatever, more convenience is just more convenient. I won't turn into an old grumpy man that complains about the progress of technology.



    Today is [Electric Magic] class. Lyle is back to goofing around so I remind him to take things seriously. He gulps and focuses on casting [Discharge] in the largest area possible.

    Lina stayed home again to get used to her new switch-axe. I put her extra points for leveling up into [Axe Use] so she has at least some basis to start from. The skill system is so convenient to accelerate growth.



    Today I spar with Lina, Hana and Ciel. We are using real weapons and armor so Lina can practice with her switch-axe. Lina's excitement compounds with her inability to take it easy, making my life harder than it should. Her wish to prove herself to me is a bit worrying, she doesn't need to try so hard.

    I'm getting annoyed at being pummeled so hard so I try a new tactic. I hunker down behind my shield and keep her at bay. I grab the pommel of my sword and twist it once, it's quite hard.

    I strike with my sword and it slides off her shield, she's getting good at blocking. She counters with a chop at my legs and I step back. The axe grazes my shield.

    I grab the pommel again and twist it hard, I pull the pommel and it wrenches free. With my sword hand I throw it at Lina. It hits her in her helmet and she gets dizzy.

    I rush forward and bash her shield. She falls down like rock. I stab my sword in the grass, right next to her throat.

    She looks at me dumbfounded. I heal her head and take off her helmet.

    "What... Did you do?" She asks.

    I contain my chuckle and kiss her forehead.

    "Sorry for that. I threw my pommel at your head."

    "What...?"

    Hana is laughing while Ciel and Alissa are looking at us in disbelief.

    "Wolfy, that was fucking retarded, I can't believe it worked," Hana says, drying the corner of her eyes.

    "That was the pommel?" Alissa asks, she looks at the pommel of her own short sword and tries to unscrew it. "This is kinda hard."

    Ciel chuckles and goes back inside to look at the food. Roxanne looks over from the window of her room.

    "What's so funny?" She asks.



    As an apology for hitting her so hard, tonight I give attention to Lina after I appease the wild animal that is Hana.



    Today is the 19th.

    Triple-treat as 3 tongues entwine in a dance.

    This morning we teleport to Spiral Springs to get more moonlight moss. Just yesterday Hana saw a request for the moss. Kind of a cheat to be able to teleport there so fast but we really need more of Roxanne's elixirs.

    It nearly takes all of my mana to get everyone there but it's improving. I drink an MP potion and we move on.

    There's a considerable amount of Moonlight Moss, Roxanne is quite happy.

    Lina puts her axe to the test. Axes are better than swords at killing these bulky monsters like the Moon Turtles. Maybe we should get an axe for Hana too but she would need a level or two to have enough spare skill points for it.

    "Careful with the spikes!" Ciel warns Lina.

    "Okay!" Lina responds as she dodges a spike.

    She strikes with her axe at the blinded Moon Turtle.

    We gotta train Lina in [Earth Magic]. [Spirit of Gaia] only gives her magical "Strength" and "Endurance", it doesn't give her more mass so she can still be punted like a ball by monsters with enough strength. The dwarven men-of-the-line use [Earth Magic] to embed their feet in the earth, keeping them stuck on the ground.

    -I'm concerned about that Moonlight Moss request- I tell Alissa.

    "Why?" She responds and fires an arrow.

    "Someone is going to come here and see there's less Moonlight Moss than what was known."

    "They could assume it was a coincidence that someone was passing through and took the Moss."

    "Yes but still, if we do this repeatedly I don't want people to be wary of someone collecting the Moss all for themselves. People might stop posting requests for it at the Guild, which would be rather inconvenient as we wouldn't know when the Moss grew again."

    She tilts her head and purses her lips.

    "I see. Makes sense. Maybe we shouldn't collect the Moss from every turtle. The moss has a distinct smell and I think it's the spores, so I believe it spreads through the air. If we leave a turtle with Moss near others it could make the Moss spread faster."

    "That's a good idea, you are always helpful," I smile warmly at her.

    She blushes lightly and continues popping eyes. It makes me happy I can still make her blush.

    I spend this morning focusing on my mana circulation. The girls are enough to kill the turtles so there's no need for me to participate.



    Today is [Blessing Magic] class. It's always a straightforward class, there's not much theory to learn. It might also be the easiest magic school to learn.

    Hatara is getting quite good at singing. Her voice is so soft and sweet. I can just imagine how good of a folk singer she would be on Earth.

    This break everyone is at the table. I'm not the kind that goofs around and chit-chats or gossips. If it's not related to magic or work it generally doesn't interests me, because of that I never really had many friends. But it's still quite nice to sit back, relax and hear the others have their conversations. Specially because they don't keep trying to get me involved in the conversation. The older side of the family that would ask "why are you so quiet" was maddening... But I still miss them.

    I have to clear my head and focus on something else, these memories aren't helping me right now.



    Hana drags Roxanne out of her room and I tie her down with my hug so she doesn't escape. Even though Roxanne stopped working towards the anti-venom that killed her fiancee her obsession with potions still didn't subside.

    "Roxanne, you never talked to us about your parents," I say.

    She stops struggling and cringes. Well that's a good sign.

    "Well..." She smiles wryly, "We kind of parted in not so good terms."

    "Go on," Hana says, everyone nods.

    Roxanne deliberates for a few seconds but resigns and sighs.

    "I ran away from home," we all share a look of surprise. "My parents didn't approve of Mithra, they wanted a child of their blood. After she was gone I just couldn't stand anymore their talks of marriage and such. They wanted to create a family lineage and I just wanted to mourn. I took some money and ran away."

    "I assume that they didn't try to brand you as a thief otherwise it would have been difficult for you to pass through Goldport unimpeded," Ciel says, she frowns in empathy to Roxanne's plight. "Your problem is quite common among the nobles. Greedy parents that want a better position to the extent that they trample over the wishes of their children. I didn't know you were part of the higher society, though."

    "We are not considered part of the upper class of our Holy Land, I came from a small fishing village after all. What happened was that my parents ended up acquiring quite a bit of money, they found a wreckage and unearthed quite a lot of treasure. That happened when I was still a baby."

    "So that's how they paid for your tuition at the Holy Academy, yes?" Hana asks.

    Similar to a knights academy, the one on the demon race's territory is made to create servants and leaders to serve the Council of Elders.

    "Yes. They wanted me to follow the path and reach a seat at the Council of Elders. But I couldn't, I couldn't handle the pressure. Then I met Mithra and..." Her voice fades and she curls into a ball.

    I pull her down on the sofa and spoon her. Sometimes there's no need to talk, we already said our vows, all I have to do is assure her I'm here and I heard her.

    With warm eyes Hana rubs her thigh and I hug her tighter.

    I don't have parents to come back to so I will make sure you go back to yours.

    Each of the girls give her a kind hand squeeze to assure her, Aoi gives her a lick that elicits a chuckle and Gify rubs his forehead on hers. After a while Hana carries her to their bed, tonight she gets the best treatment for sadness, aggressive cuddling.



    Today is the 20th.

    With the help of Alissa, Lina succeeds, or rather, half-succeeds. I wake up to Alissa licking Lina's face, a perfect way to start a morning. Ciel decides to smother me with her pillows.

    I grab Ciel and reverse our positions while I use [Clean] on my mouth. I hold her head and kiss her deeply.

    "You are always the jealous one aren't you?" I say.

    She pouts and looks away.

    "But I will always love you just they way you are."

    She fails a poker face and her pout turns into a smile. I have to remember to regularly tell her I love her.

    "I love you too, my cute little old man."

    "Wow, what was that? What a horrible flirt. Do people of Rupegia flirt like this?"

    She huffs in annoyance but ends up chuckling.

    "Let me try that again," her tone turns to mockery, "I love you too, my little hero."

    "Oh no that was too far. I will show you what a virtuous hero I am by ravaging you."

    "Oh noo" -she slaps her forehead dramatically with the back of her hand- "the hero has turned into a depraved man that steals women's innocence."

    "Ei, that's a good setting. I want that the next time you tie me up," Alissa says.

    Ciel rolls her eyes and shakes her head. I insert a finger on Ciel, she gasps and squeezes me to her chest. I pull it out and my finger comes glistening.

    "You look disapprovingly but you are getting wet," I say, showing her the finger.

    Ciel squirms and blushes.

    Itadakimasu.



    My [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 4+18).

    Roxanne was looking downcast this morning. Hana kept her company and made sure she ate and talked to her. Tonight is her turn so I will do my best to keep her mood up.



    "Today we are going to take a step further," Kyros says, "Do you know how sound works?"

    "Vibrations on the air. You can visually see the vibrations if you look closely to the wave form of a string of a harp, the longer the string is the easier it is to see."

    Kyros blinks blankly in surprise. I could possibly have more knowledge on sound and music than the natives, I even know some sheet music.

    "That makes things simpler then," he mutters and cleans his throat, "The next step is to tremble your vortex so much you can produce sound."

    Oooooh! Now I get it how [Godly Language] works.

    Kyros starts a demonstration. I hear a low pitched rumbling, it sends me shivers like when someone scratches a blackboard, but the pitch of the sound is so low it shouldn't provoke this reaction. The mana-tainted sound waves are interacting with me.

    "Wait," I lift my hand and Kyros opens his eyes, "Sound propagates through the air. Is this sound that mana creates also propagating through the air? I thought mana didn't interact directly with matter."

    "Hooh. You are surprisingly well-read..."

    "What you mean by 'surprisingly'?" I interrupt with a frown.

    "Well..." He cringes and looks away.

    Hah, I made the stoic man embarrassed.

    "You are an adventurer and there's not many nobles who would be able to ask the same questions as you did..." He smiles apologetically.

    "It's fine," I wave my hand dismissively, "Let's go back to my question."

    "Yes. Well, mana really does not interact with matter, the sound it creates is a bending of our 'reality'."

    "So, like how gravity does it?"

    "What?"

    Oh yeah, he's not a space mage, his knowledge of physics might be limited.

    "Never mind. Continue, please."

    "Continuing. This mana wave bends our world, it's easily seen in mana storms, it's how they rip the world apart. The important part is that when you add words, a meaning to that sound, it interacts with our spirit. The words are understood by our spirit, forcing it to change. The power in the mana wave is what fuels this change. It works even when the person does not understand the language, hence the name, only the Gods can speak to us in a language every humanoid would understand."

    "But why do I have to move my vortex in a circle?"

    "It's to guide the wave. In the future you will need to make two vortexes, one will create the sound and the other will spin around the vortex and absorb the wave to shield you from it. With high enough [Mana Control] you can manually guide the wave so it only affects your targets."

    There's a way to create directional sound waves by using ultrasound as a carrier wave. This part of physics isn't my specialty so it will be left for some other time.

    The training is now another degree harder. Doing two movements at once is hard, doing it with two individual vortexes will be near impossible. Maybe this could be an introduction to dual casting for me.

    The fantasy-cancer also kicked up a notch, I have to focus hard on keeping control over the vortex. It seems that stray mana, uh, "particles" could be the cause of the corruption, mana itself doesn't interact with matter but it disturbs space-time.

    The more I focus on control over this vortex the less corruption I feel. The more mana particles that escape, the more the corruption that appears. The faster I spin, even though the same amount of particles is escaping, the more the corruption appears. So it's all about the speed of the particles. The faster they are, the more they disturb space-time, the more corruption that appears.

    Could this corruption also be related to how the undead corrupt the world?



    When we finish I feel very dizzy. I cast [Heal] on myself and the dizziness goes away.

    "Wast that [Heal]? I didn't hear you chant," Kyros asks.

    "I didn't. Keep this private, you can ask Dame Vanea if you want to know more."

    "Apologies, if Dame Vanea didn't tell me then I don't need to know," he bows lightly.

    "You seem very loyal to her."

    He smiles warmly.

    "I am."

    "Hm..." I stare at him for a few seconds.

    Would it be impolite to ask his story?

    Almost like he read my mind he speaks again.

    "I'm not a criminal, only a victim of injustice," his stoic expression returns.

    I nod at him, that's enough for me.

    "Until next time," I say and take my leave.



    Roxanne is a bit lonely so this time she came downstairs to help with lunch. Even Aoi is trying to help.

    Aoi is now the size of a fully grown corgi. She eats more than her stomach could possibly handle. Monsters like her that grow up to impossible sizes are considered partial magical beings. They absorb loads of mana into their own bodies and store it for energy and structural stability. Without mana the square-cube law would make a creature like the ancient Azurite dragon impossible to exist, they would collapse under their own weight.

    Aoi has also been developing more of her personality. She has been growing very curious, always watching closely whatever we have been doing. She tried to peel a not-potato but her claws are awkward to handle. If she grows some more she will be able to properly grasp things.



    "You need a little more time, my little dragon," Hana says.

    "Kweh! Tato, har' to cuut!" Aoi says, her voice is growing less strained.

    I run my hand through her sleek spine and she shivers.

    "Kihih! Ti-kle!"

    Male dragons and dragonkin have rough and pointy scales. Females have more smooth and rounded scales. Even though Aoi's scales are hard I feel like holding her all day and petting her head, just like I did with my dogs.

    I grab her and cuddle with her on my lap.

    "Ol-fy!" She stretches her head and tries to lick my chin, just a few millimeters short.

    "Yes?"

    "Lo-ve you!"

    Awn, oof, owie, ouch, guh! Critical hit!

    "Ha-na, Li-na, Li-sa, Ci-el, Ro-xy. Lo-ve you!"

    Area [Heal] please!

    A crowd of teary-eyed faces stare at Aoi like a hunter stares at its prey. Aoi jumps on the table and a storm of hands pets her whole body. She closes her eyes and sprawls herself, enjoying the free massage.

    "Gih!"

    Gify pops into existence and jumps into the mosh pit of caressing.

    Our lunch schedule gets disrupted due to our impromptu cuddling session. Roxanne's mood improved greatly after this.



    During [Reduced Mana Cost] class I focus on Toroo's method of improving the "building" phase of the spell. My "Perception" and [Sense Mana] are high enough that I can observe my own spells in quite a lot of detail, the problem is that the details do not make sense.

    I have to look over all my spells one by one. I have to identify the common patterns among them and see which patterns can be simplified. The patterns of a spell are similar to how a soul works, it's "organized" but "nonsensical" information. I can't see them with as much clarity as I can when I'm using [Infuse] from [Golemancy] but I can discern something.

    During this break Silvane and Nononya appear again. Gimbo was nervous for a while, he knows who Silvane is. Eventually he calmed as he saw how others would casually address Silvane.

    Silvane seems very interested in our discussions about this skill. Describing what we feel about the patterns is quite a difficult thing. Due to everyone's different levels of perception and intuition the way we sense patterns differs.

    For example. Alissa has a very good sense of smell, so when she tried to morph [Ghost Lights] to affect only a single target she felt the patterns of the spell as smells. Followed by that she saw abstract images and heard scratching sounds.

    For me I have a feeling like spells are "circuits". Like an electrical circuit, every "symbol" represents a "pattern", these patterns are how the spells are modified. The way these patterns are wired also changes their behavior in (what I believe it would be) predictable ways.

    Most natives of the world learns how to manipulate spells, though it's very limited. But even people with a small amount of talent for magic can observe the 5 individual steps that form a spell if they put some effort into it. For Alissa that modification was made on an instinct developed by years of contact with magic. Because I don't have the same instincts the way I see magic is very different.

    The bell chimes and we move back to class.

    "Say, Toroo, do you know who Silvane really is?" I ask.

    "Hoh? I'm not sure, she certainly acts like nobility but I don't know of any silver elf house that lives here."

    "She's betrothed to the Lord's son."

    She chokes on her spit.

    "W-what!?" She turns at me, she frowns so deeply her eyebrows make her look like a very angry owl. "Hoooh, you didn't deem it important to tell me!? I didn't even call her 'Miss'!"

    I chuckle and lift my hands in surrender.

    "I'm sorry. But you should have seen she doesn't care about these things. She was specially friendly to you."

    "Hoh!" She turns in a huff and marches on.

    "Miss Toroo," Gimbo scurries forward and interjects, "I had heard about the silver elf. She's a lovely woman who doesn't really hold nobility in high esteem. She's a Blood Slave, her parents were Lords that were executed for their incompetence."

    Toroo stops and her expression turns into surprise.

    "Huhm," She rubs the feathers on her head, "Tragic, I understand her position. But still, do not play me like this, Wolf."

    "I'm sorry," I smile in a way that tells that I am not sorry.



    Roxanne was feeling quite happy. Me and Hana tied her down and double teamed on her until she could barely breathe. She slept with a stupid smile on her face.



    Today is the 21st.

    Today Alissa had to wake me up the normal way because I came and kept sleeping.

    "A new challenge," Hana says, her eyes glimmer.

    "Love, I think you shouldn't have much hope on this one," Roxanne says.

    "You are a storm while Alissa is as soft as a snowflake. Your styles are too different," I say.

    This deflates Hana's ego. Alissa grabs her head and stares deeply at her eyes.

    "You shouldn't be sad, only you can make him cum in a few seconds."

    "That... Is true," Hana says, she gets up from the bed with a silly smile.

    My [Reduced Mana Cost] increased by 1 (now 6+4).



    This morning I spend with Hana and Alissa. I'm mainly training my footwork and how to use [Telekinesis] for short flights and to aid jumps, I want to use falling attacks like how Hana does. People think that I have little mass due to my size but if I can use [Telekinesis] to increase gravity on myself (and not break my legs after hitting the ground) then I can do some really savage overhead strikes.

    So far my style with the sword is catching them unaware with a super heavy attack. But this won't last, sometime, somewhere, I will find someone that can resist it.

    I have been trying to use [Rush] for lighting-fast strikes but it's dangerous. I can easily lose my weapon or over-swing, leaving me open to a counter.

    Roxanne finishes another batch of her strength elixir.



    As we prepare lunch Ciel barges in.

    "I learned it!" She yells with pride.

    "That was fast," Roxanne says.

    "Yeah well. [Judgment] is a really simple spell so it's easy to learn but mine is really weak. It does enough damage that I can threaten an undead but I would need time. If we meet a group like the dragonoids we should be able to keep them occupied long enough for me to kill at least one of them."

    "That's reassuring. Good job," I kiss her cheek.

    Ciel beams with a smile.



    Today is [Space Magic] class. I'm not that focused this time, my mind has been swimming with too much information. Magic manipulation, dealing with my women, Darean and Vanea, the problems with Ankara, the reoccurring situations where I have to kill people. I need a vacation.

    "Feeling tired, Wolf?" Lyle asks.

    Can't really hide things from that one.

    "I am tired," I sigh, "Next half-cycle break I wanna stay at home. Been fighting and training too much."

    "Sometimes we put too much on his shoulders," Alissa says.

    She pulls me closer, I lay my head on her chest and close my eyes.

    "It is impressive how you are the leader of your fellowship," Lyle says.

    "And you are famous in town," Hatara continues.

    "It is not unexpected for you to sometimes feel the weight."

    "Some of the weight is self-imposed. I spend too much money... Indulging on my women," I smile wryly.

    Someone grabs my hand. I open my eyes and see a smiling Lina holding my hand close to her fast beating heart. Her other hand is on her leather choker.

    "But it is worth it," I say.

    I smile to Lina and return to rest on Alissa's chest. Gify turns on his special touch and I feel like my shoulder is being massaged by running water.



    Today is the 22nd.

    My member has disappeared inside muffins. Every motion a small pink tip appears just to be covered by a tongue. Milk splashes on chocolate, a delicious meal for Alissa that licks and sucks on the lips of a very red and embarrassed Ciel.

    "You almost did it," Lina says with an innocent smile, "It was way better than my first time."

    "Yes, that was amazing, Ciel," Alissa says.

    "I will never be able to do such a thing," Lina hunches forward and squeezes her little mounds.

    "You have other things you have an advantage on," Alissa pinches Lina's bum.

    Lina jumps and her eyes dart about, absorbing the implication.

    Ciel is still frozen in embarrassment, the praise didn't seem to help.

    Now there is only one last piece of purity remaining on the priestess. Soon she will be completely mine.



    "Good morning, Mr. Ryder."

    "Good morning, Mr. Kyros."

    "Show me your progress."

    "Not much to show, I wasn't feeling like training the circulation yesterday."

    Kyros narrows his blue eyes in disapproval. I sigh with tiredness.

    "You wouldn't know but I have been fighting quite a lot lately. I'm getting very tired."

    "Not of my concern," he answers immediately.

    "It is if you want to properly teach me. You can't just look things in a vacuum."

    "In a what?"

    I massage my forehead.

    "It's an expression. You can't ignore the rest of my life, it has influence over my performance. Teaching is more than just what you say during class."

    His face frowns in annoyance.

    "You are far too young to be giving me a lesson."

    If only you knew the truth.

    "Whatever. Let's continue," I wave my hand dismissively.

    He huffs.

    I continue where we stopped last time, but I increase the intensity.

    Now I have to regularly heal myself. The dizziness is getting really strong, headaches hit me like flashes, my skin starts to grow red and inflamed. Is this radiation poisoning?

    "Pay attention to your symptoms boy, they show you are being sloppy with your control," Kyros says.

    I open my eyes to look at him and see small colored spots of light all over my vision. Yeah, it's fantasy-radiation poisoning.

    With time I slowly manage to create a low-pitched humming. I'm quickly developing a sort of auto-pilot mode. I just have to wish and "let go" and I can recreate the vortex at the same level of control as I have already achieved.

    "Boy, your level of precision and speed is good enough for some basic vocalization. But you have to improve on your control, you are leaking too much mana. Lucky for you that your [Heal] is so good."

    "I understand. I will keep it in mind."

    "That's enough for today."



    Today is [Nature Magic] class. The professor is teaching us proper vine manipulation by combining [Entangling Vines] with [Vine Weapon], it's the basics of natural materials manipulation.

    The spell [Grow] is used to harden the materials at specific points. You bend it, grow the two parts together, shave off the excess and repeat. This creates a material harder than normal.

    The elves have a more advanced version of it using wood. They bury it in fertilized earth and use [Grow] on it. The wood then absorbs nutrients from the earth and changes its composition depending on how the earth was fertilized.



    Lina is back at home sparring so it's only me and Alissa during break.

    "Gih."

    And Gify.

    Now that I can properly relax I notice that there's a considerable number of people glancing at us. Not the usual envy or lecherous glance, it's a neutral glance with a hint of curiosity.



    My time hugging Lina is growing short, she learned [Manipulate Metal]. As expected, it is weak, but it means that I don't need to show it to her anymore, she can improve the spell on her own. Not that I need a reason to spend hours cuddling with her cute ass rubbing on my crotch while I slowly bend a sheet of metal, but it was still a cathartic moment.

    I spend the rest of the night compiling Morse code for the girls. They don't need to learn it immediately, just a sheet with all the words and a small explanation is enough for an emergency.



    Today is the 23rd.

    I wake up in desperation as I have to claw my soul back from the black hole that's sucking the life out of me. I grab upon a red mane to stabilize myself on this world but this only makes the enemy pull harder.

    Like a horror move I slip little by little. I cannot maintain my hold and my strength slowly chips away. When I'm about to collapse I cum again and the storm abates.

    "That's a new record," Roxanne says.

    "Don't do this everyday, I think you might actually kill him if you do," Alissa says.

    I collapse back on the bed and try to calm my breath. Hana lifts her head and savors the sauce with delight. She finally swallows and nearly prances out of the room in happiness.

    "Wow..." I mutter.

    I came multiple times in quick succession. It takes me a few minutes before I can manage to stand.



    I increased my [Mana Control] by 1 (now 0+12).

    Alissa increased her "Strength" by 1 (now 12). I can see her already athletic body get even more defined. So delicious, I want to lick her abs and biceps.



    I spend the morning casually training. I focus on control, I need to reduce the amount of stray mana that escapes. I won't be able to increase the intensity of the circulation if I receive terminal radiation poisoning every time I train.

    Ciel has some interest in copying my circulation. Hana is also practicing with me, she will pass down my lessons to Lina when she comes back home. Roxanne has only a passing interest, she will keep to her potions until Kyros passes me the "Magic Power" training regimen.



    On [Electric Magic] class the professor talks about the level 30 spell [Charge]. It basically turns objects into a time bomb, when the time runs out it's like casting [Discharge] in every direction. Kind of underwhelming but the interesting part of it is that people have been modifying it to work like a battery.

    If modified further it could even be used to enchant weapons with electricity, though great care has to be taken so the wielder doesn't get shocked too.

    Lyle has taken an interest on this spell when I started telling him about how electrical actuators could be built. I don't have that in depth knowledge about it but I think Lyle could build it if he puts some effort on it.



    The class was about to end when I feel my pocket get warm. I take out Vanea's lithograph and my heart sinks.

    "EMERGENCY OPERATION. 9PM Baalfire's Tavern".
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2019
  16. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    We enter the tavern. It's just like last time, filled with smoke, low lights, music, and chatter.

    "♪ ACHOO! ACHOO! The dragon made the ground tremble ♪."

    I can barely pay attention to it, we didn't have enough time to relax and prepare our minds. Even Hana is showing some anxiety.

    "♪ ACHOO! ACHOO! The hunters laughed and hightailed ♪."

    A proto-waitress appears before us.

    "♪ ACHOO! ACHOO! The dragon made the ground tremble♪."

    "Good evening grand patrons. Would you like to go to our exclusive room? We can give you more personalized service worthy of someone of your position," she says, her smile is perfect but stiff.

    The same words as last time.

    "♪ Due to this crazy gam-ble, everybody left a-live! ♪"

    We nod and we are taken to the same corridors and stairs. We go downstairs and reach the same familiar room.

    It's empty.

    "Uh..."

    "Maybe the others haven't come yet due to the suddenness," Ciel says.

    "Maybe," I mutter.

    There are tables and chairs neatly arranged. Parts of the map of the town are strewn about. There are multiple drawings and markings on these maps, clearly part of some strategy meeting. The same golden, silver, red, and a new blue carving are all neatly organized at the side of the table.

    We spend a nervous minute waiting when we hear footsteps and casual chatter. I relax until the door opens and the group of people enters.

    A female silver elven archer. Her longbow is slung across her tall and muscular body which does not detract from her beauty. Her hair reaches her shoulders and curl inwards. Her sharp eyes and oval face give her a serious and sensual look.

    Soul Info
    Name:Ercuria UlherRace:Silver ElfLevel:44
    A young krampus male mage. His goat hooves clack on the ground, visible above his black robe. He has a wizard hat similar to Roxanne's, his curly brown hair and ram horns can be seen below his hat. His round face makes him look like an innocent child.

    Soul Info
    Name:Ervin KrampusRace:Krampus-type DemonLevel:35
    A runic dwarf. The first that I have seen that look like traditional Tolkien dwarves with a wide body, thick muscles, and a long black beard. His scarred face and arms have multiple tattoos of words and a mix of tribal and geometric patterns.

    Soul Info
    Name:Gilgor MomgrogRace:DwarfLevel:47
    And finally, a huge lion-folk, taller than Hana. His entire body seems to be furry. He walks on his digitigrade feet and he does not uses boots. He bellows a low rumbling laugh, showing an impressive set of pointy teeth and also a few molars at the back. His huge golden fur and brown mane is familiar, too familiar.

    Soul Info
    Name:Grosnok SokolRace:Lion BeastfolkLevel:51
    Darean's fellowship.

    I instinctively draw my sword. The girls spend a second in surprise but recover and draw their weapons too.

    Great Destiny freezes and look at us with worry. Grosnok slowly lifts his huge hands in surrender.

    "Uh... Hello?" He asks, not hiding his surprise. It's hard for his low growl of a voice to not look threatening but he succeeded.

    "Why are you here?" I ask.

    "We..." He looks at the other members, Gilgor shrugs. "Were summoned by Dame Vanea Anara. We are supposed to meet her here."

    What.

    "You are Great Destiny, Darean's fellowship, correct?" I ask.

    The girls twitch nervously.

    "Yes, well no. We kicked Darean out of the fellowship," he answers.

    What.

    "Why?" Alissa asks.

    "He was getting too unstable. He could barely keep focus during our fights, he was bound to die sooner or later. Then Dame Vanea came to us and told us of his...," He cringes, "other job. We decided to help her so we wouldn't be implicated in espionage against a Lord."

    Gify pops into my shoulder.

    "Gih, ga, gih."

    Huh.

    "You are either a good liar or you are telling the truth," I say.

    He lifts his hands higher and smiles wryly but it only makes him look more fearsome as his white fangs become more visible.

    "We ask that you remain as you are until someone comes to clear your story," Ciel says," Sorry for not believing you outright."

    Gilgor sighs and lowers his head. We lower our weapons but keep them on our hands.

    "You haven't told us why you are hostile to us," Ercuria says, her sharp eyes narrow as she scans us.

    "We killed Darean's brother and he has targeted us in revenge," Alissa says.

    "Oh shit, so you guys are the ones..." A mutter escapes Grosnok's mouth.

    I simply nod. We stay like this for another minute or so when heavy and armored boots stomp their way downstairs towards us. A head full of well-groomed black hair pops out from behind Great Destiny.

    "Excuse me," Haaran appears out of the door and shimmies his way towards us.

    His black eyes look at our drawn swords and he raises an eyebrow. His eyes spend a moment longer on Gify.

    "So. What are you doing?" He asks in a very casual manner.

    "This is Great Destiny, Darean's fellowship. Why are they here?" I ask.

    "Vanea didn't tell you?"

    "No."

    Haaran sighs and massages his forehead.

    "Did you make her mad somehow? I mean, did you annoy her in some way or another?" He asks.

    Uh... There is one thing.

    "I think so. We hid something from her and she got kind of mad..." I say.

    There's the time we hid the Gate Scrubber from her.

    Haaran rolls his eyes and moves towards the table. More knights appear behind him.

    "Sheathe your swords. They are with us, they changed sides. Vanea can be petty sometimes so consider this payback for whatever you did to her."

    I groan and sheathe my sword. Really now?

    Haaran cringes and sits on a chair.

    "Now, everyone, please come and sit. We don't have much time, I have to tell you of the plan."

    We sit at one side of the long table and Great Destiny sits at the other. They also don't seem too happy to be part of Vanea's petty revenge.

    One of the last to enter the room is Silvane, she sits near the end of the table and waves to us. She's wearing a mage's silver robe, she also has a metal staff with a free spinning hourglass on top, there's multi-colored sand inside.

    The last one to enter is Smegma. What the fuck. She's wearing a simple linen white shirt and brown pants, she looks just like any other commoner. Her brown side braids are well made, her freckled face is full of color and with hints of makeup and eye liner. Her eyes glaze over every face with no emotion. Her gaze stops at us for a few seconds and then moves, no reaction visible on her face.

    Haaran cleans his throat, his piercing gaze kills any murmuring.

    "For some time we have known about a warehouse that Darean, the spy, has been using to store smuggled goods. We infiltrated a spy and acquired the information that the goods will be moved tonight to a safer location so they will be ready for dispatch. The way that the goods are moved is by using [Invisibility] on them and simply passing through the front gates, which means that a powerful illusion mage will be present there."

    Oh, I see. With [Invisibility] they can smuggle anything they want right under the noses of the guards.

    The dwarf is sneaking glances at Lina. Uuuugh, focus.

    "Unfortunately we have caught a whiff of necromancy, a husk master," Great Destiny and a few knights look around nervously, "Our trackers can't discern the number of husks present so the true number of enemies is unknown. This is why a massive assault will be mounted as soon as we can confirm the presence of the illusion mage. My sister is coordinating the guards while keeping the information minimal so no early warning is sent to Darean."

    "We haven't confirmed Darean's backer so we do not know the extent of his power. What we know is that he has deep coffers. Expect well-trained and well-equipped enemy soldiers. We have been backing Darean in a corner so necromancy might be his trump card, which means he will throw everything at us."

    He flips through the maps on the table and picks one in specific. There's a large rectangular building at the center and many sewer tunnels passing around it.

    "It seems Darean is smarter than he shows. The warehouse is located on a spot where no sewer line runs through. Thus our tracking squad was limited to the rooftops of the nearby buildings," he puts a soldier carving with a silver dot on the head on a building a few blocks from the warehouse, "Wolf Ryder will be sent to rendezvous with silver squad, they have already infiltrated halfway towards the target. He will summon a Dream Eater to spread sleeping poison on the air to reduce the alertness and combat effectiveness of the enemy."

    The amount of rugged faces staring at me and measuring my worth makes me feel very meek. Great Destiny turns to look at me with surprise, the elven woman is particularly expressive. Silvane pouts with a hint of annoyance on her eyes. Perhaps it's because I didn't tell anything to Nononya about my true skills.

    "Reminder that his monster summoning is to be kept a secret. Disclosure of this secret will result in death," he adds, his sharp eyes scan the knights and spends a moment longer on Great Destiny. The knights are unfazed but Great Destiny tenses up.

    "I will follow Wolf with silver squad," Alissa says.

    A small albino incubus man cleans his throat. It's silver squad second-in-command, Sir Tarano.

    "Why do you wish to come?" He asks.

    "To keep him safe," she answers immediately.

    They stare at each other for a few seconds.

    "I use a bow and I'm more silent than he is," she adds.

    Tarano sighs.

    "Fine by me," he says.

    "Continuing," Haaran says, bringing the focus back to him. He positions multiple soldier carvings around the warehouse, "The rest will simply wait for the signal of silver squad. My squad, Great Destiny and the remainders of Helios will assault the warehouse and kill anyone in sight. We are fighting against an illusion mage, any enemy who casts a spell either loses both hands or gets immediately killed. No exceptions, no mercy, no hesitation."

    The knights salute.

    "Yes sir!" They exclaim in unison.

    "Great Destiny has an artifact, it is called Reaping Wind. It's a scythe that throws large [Wind Blades], be careful not to stand in front of them.

    The lion Grosnok gives a toothy smile and waves his paw/hand.

    "Once the illusion mage is confirmed to be present we will send, uh, Farana as a bait," he smirks and I see Farana cower slightly, "She has a special magic tool that will further disable anyone inside the warehouse. We will be tracking her so any hint of betrayal and her life is forfeit."

    When everyone turns to look at her she straightens her posture and smiles. Her smile is strained and ruining her pretty face. Great Destiny frowns at this display and Grosnok even turns his head away, his previous smile turned sour.

    "Everyone should have a necklace blessed by the Goddess of the Will. This is our main defense against offensive [Illusion Magic]. For the defense against [Invisibility] we will be using Dust of Appearance."

    Lina's Trivia: Dust of Appearance is a white powder that sticks to mana and transforms it into light. It was made specifically to counter [Invisibility] and it's rather expensive. It's much more efficient than the Manaflies they used last time.

    "Any questions," he scans our faces one last time.

    "No sir!" The knights answer.

    "Good. Now move!"

    Orderly the knights start to leave.

    "Ryder, you are with me," Sir Tarano says.

    I nod and turn to give the armor on my "Items" to the girls.

    "Be careful," Ciel says, anxiety painted on her face.

    Lina nods in agreement, also copying her expression.

    "Don't blow up the whole place without us," Hana says with a grin.

    "Hey, that's my job," Roxanne says.

    "Well..." Hana chuckles, "You get the idea."

    "Now, we, fight!" Aoi says.

    I smile and pat her head. She closes her eyes in happiness. Aoi grew so much she is more agile than Roxanne, she will be a proper fighting force this time.

    Ciel steps forward and grabs the hem of my leather jacket.

    "I love you..." Ciel mutters shyly.

    "I love you too. It's just a small departure," I smile at her and grab her hand, "Ciel, you are in charge."

    "Y-yes!" She straightens up and hardens her expression.

    I release her hand and move on.

    Tarano was staring at us with mocking grin. Farana is standing still with her eyes lowered.

    So we follow him.



    This is the results of the training of the girls.

    Alissa increased her "Mana Points" by 110 (now 345) and her "Magic Power" by 50 (now 115).

    Roxanne increased her "Strength" by 1 (now 9), her "Mana Points" by 65 (now 1270) and her "Magic Power" by 10 (now 390). Roxanne is slacking on her mana training so she had smaller growth than before.

    Hana increased her "Intelligence" by 1 (now 10), her "Mana Points" by 105 (now 325) and her "Magic Power" by 45 (now 105). She and Alissa kept improving their mana with spell training while I was away with Kyros.

    Ciel increased her "Mana Points" by 130 (now 1115) and her "Magic Power" by 20 (now 300). A byproduct of her training with [Judgment] was her increase in mana, her power didn't increase much since she was focusing on casting more spells instead of focusing on increasing the power of a single spell.

    Lina learned [Axe Use] with 1 point, increased her [Earth Magic] by 1 (now 2+3), her "Mana Points" by 180 (now 440) and her "Magic Power" by 25 (now 175). Her enchanting training is helping her increase her "Mana Points".

    Info
    Name:AlissaAge:16RaceFox-Type Wereanimal
    HP:100MP:345Magic Power:115
    Level:29Experience:7597/8000
    Stats
    Strength:12Endurance:18Dexterity:22
    Speed:20Intelligence:11Wisdom:12
    Willpower:16Charisma:10Piety:15
    Perception:17Sanity:15
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:Blessing from the Goddess of Love, Blinding Arrows
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Blood Slave (Owner: Wolf Ryder), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Roxanne Succubus, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina
    Crimes:NONE

    AlissaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use9Bow Use26Parry4
    Dodge2Sense Presence6Hide Presence4
    Enhanced Olfact5Enhanced Hearing3Hawk Eyes3
    Muscle Explosion2Quiet Steps4Quiet Action2
    Enhanced Stamina1Tracking2
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control3Fire magic1
    Light Magic1Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1
    Illusion Magic2Fox Transformation (innate)5
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Housework3Cooking4Cleaning2
    Washing 5Riding2Oral Technique4
    Pain Resistance2Hand Technique2
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)



    Info
    Name:Roxanne SuccubsAge:21RaceSuccubus-Type Demon
    HP:100MP:1270Magic Power:390
    Level:33Experience:4659/10000
    Stats
    Strength:9Endurance:9Dexterity:11
    Speed:8Intelligence:18Wisdom:17
    Willpower:14Charisma:15Piety:10
    Perception:10Sanity:12
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Helios (Fellowship), Wolf Ryder (Fiance)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Ciel, Lina
    Crimes:NONE




    Roxanne SuccubusSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Dagger Use2
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana3Mana Control25Reduced Mana Cost3
    Mana Efficiency9Fire Magic22Water Magic23
    Ligh Magic1Space Magic8Conjuring Magic5
    Alchemy3Potion Brewing11Poison Brewing2
    Redirect Mana1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Housework1Cooking1Cleaning1
    Washing1Riding1
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)

    Info
    Name:HanafuriaAge:23RaceFire-Type Dragonkin
    HP:150MP:325Magic Power:105
    Level:37Experience:1100/14000
    Stats
    Strength:19Endurance:24Dexterity:10
    Speed:13Intelligence:10Wisdom:10
    Willpower:19Charisma:16Piety:11
    Perception:9Sanity:17
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Blood Slave (Owner: Wolf Ryder), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel, Lina
    Crimes:NONE
    HanafuriaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sword Use20Spear Use14Bow Use9
    Two-Handed Sword Use9Pole Arm Use6Dagger Use4
    Shield Bash6Block8Parry6
    Dodge4Tatesomu Style4Muscle Explosion4
    Battlefield Perception2Taunt3Intimidate2
    Enhanced Reflexes2Enhanced Stamina4Enhanced Strength2
    Enhanced Endurance4
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control1Fire magic1
    Earth Magic1Light Magic1Space Magic1
    Conjuring Magic1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel
    Housework 2Cooking 1Cleaning1
    Washing1Riding3Massage1
    Dismantling4Oral Technique1Pain Conversion1
    Fire Breath (innate)5Summon Wings (innate)2
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)



    Info
    Name:CielAge:21RaceHuman
    HP:100MP:1115Magic Power:290
    Level:31Experience:8672/9000
    Stats
    Strength:14Endurance:13Dexterity:17
    Speed:18Intelligence:15Wisdom:18
    Willpower:13Charisma:17Piety:21
    Perception:12Sanity:19
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (fiance), Helios (Fellowship), Templar Knights (Honorary Member), Temple Priestess (Former Member)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Lina
    Crimes:NONE

    CielSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Glaive Use15Sword Use5Parry8
    Dodge6Block4Imperial Hasterrum Style2
    Muscle Explosion2Battlefield Perception1
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana2Mana Control6Reduced Mana Cost1
    Mana Efficiency4Wind Magic15Fire Magic1
    Light Magic24Space Magic3Conjuring Magic1
    Diagnosis7Redirect Mana1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    First-Aid3Housework3Cooking2
    Cleaning1Washing1Riding1
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)



    Info
    Name:LinaAge:15RaceDwarf
    HP:100MP:440Magic Power:165
    Level:22Experience:4501/7000
    Stats
    Strength:8Endurance:8Dexterity:12
    Speed:11Intelligence:16Wisdom:11
    Willpower:17Charisma:10Piety:10
    Perception:14Sanity:11
    Other
    Status Effects:NONETitles:NONE
    Affiliations:Wolf Ryder (master), Helios (Fellowship)
    Companions:Wolf Ryder, Alissa, Hanafuria, Roxanne Succubus, Ciel
    Crimes:NONE

    LinaSkill Report
    Physical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Hammer Use4+10Axe Use3+1Parry0+5
    Dodge0+4Block0+6Muscle Explosion1+1
    Shield Bash0+1Battlefield Perception1+1Dwarven Pride Style1+1
    Enhanced Speed2+0
    Magical
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    Sense Mana1Mana Control4Mana Efficiency1
    Fire Magic1Earth Magic2+3Light Magic1
    Space Magic1Conjuring Magic1General Enchanting8
    Magic Tool Carving1
    Miscellaneous
    Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel Skill NameLevel
    General Blacksmith4Sewing4Housework1
    Cleaning2Washing1Math4
    Riding1Stonebody (innate)3
    OBS: Level means (free point)+(trained point)


    We are brought to the same room as last time. Lines of space mages are ready for us. One of them opens a [Gate] and we follow after Tarano.

    We appear on a lowly lit room. I can see shadowy figures slowly stir. One casts a very faint [Spirit Light]. Multiple small men and women in black clothes and masks surround us.

    A woman with an undulating cat tail removes her mask and comes towards us.

    "Greetings, Mr. Ryder," Dame Larana speaks, her whiskers flicker as she smells the air.

    Her grey skin and sharp eyes makes her look quite ghastly in the low light. She turns to Tarano and continues.

    "You brought an extra," her tone turns cold.

    "Talk to Ryder, she volunteered," Tarano says with a shrug.

    Larana's eyes narrow in annoyance and her whiskers flicker again.

    "I am sorry for deviating from the plan but I am a capable archer and I can sneak better than Wolf. I would be much more comfortable accompanying him," Alissa says and bows lightly.

    "It's not all about your skills, the number of people is also a concern," Larana answers immediately.

    Alissa cringes but does not talk back. I grab her shoulder and she returns to normal. In truth I prefer her by my side too.

    Larana shakes her head.

    "No matter," she says, "We have to move forward, show us the Dream Eater."

    I immediately summon one and everyone jumps in surprise. After recollecting herself Larana smiles and her stiff tail starts undulating again, she seems to have relaxed.

    "How many can you summon?" She asks.

    "Five, but it leaves me without mana and reduces too much my maximum MP. I need MP to survive or to fight, I'm a magic swordsman."

    "Monster summoner and magic swordsman, actually. Quite envious," Tarano says with a crooked smile.

    "We only need two," Larana says, ignoring Tarano.

    I summon another. I will call them Dimy 1 and Dimy 2.

    "Good," she says and shows her white fangs with a smile, "Now put this cloak over your clothes, I assume you still use scale armor?"

    She hands me and Alissa a black cloak.

    "Yes."

    "You will not use armor until the attack begins, it's too noisy. Also remove your [Wind Armor] and [Rainbow Shield], it can attract attention. Your [Rainbow Crystal] can stay as long as you keep your hand gloved."

    I dismiss the spells with pain in my heart. I won't be able to recast them during battle, they cost too much mana.

    Alissa pulls out her smaller composite bow and ties her quiver to her waist.

    "This spirit, do you control it?" Larana points to Gify.

    "Gih!"

    "I see. You are not useful, leave."

    Gify glares at her and I feel a nearly scalding torrent of water passing through my shoulder. Larana's tail stops undulating and her vertical cat pupils narrow.

    "Giih."

    And he pops out of existence. He's not mad he's not useful, he's mad about her bluntness. Gify is quite prideful.

    Larana gives a black cloak to Farana too.

    "Now, let's move," Larana orders.

    Besides Tarano, Larana commands 7 other lithe men and women.

    I sneakily removed a point from [Mana Recovery] and added it to [Silent Steps]. I also removed 2 points from [Mana Efficiency] and added it to [Hide Presence].

    Larana, Tarano, and another man suddenly stop and turn their heads towards me.

    "You know [Hide Presence]?" She asks.

    That was quick.

    "Uh, yes."

    "That makes things easier. We should be able to hide from any patrol now."

    We quietly move upstairs and leave this empty and dreary basement. Upstairs is a carpentry. Multiple logs and planks are strewn about. Small boxes hold half-built furniture waiting for their craftsmen to come back. The smell of sawdust fills the air.

    Suddenly I'm attacked by the uncomfortable feeling of having my [Gate] blocked. Quite the defense perimeter Darean has, but how did he get another Scrubber?

    "Ryder," Larana stops and looks at me, "Get your summons to scan the next building and put anyone to sleep. We will make a path towards the building closest to the target."

    I nod and obey. I tell the Dimy brothers to take a look outside and clear the target building. If someone is about to spot them they will hide and return.

    The shrieking woman tries to make an appearance but I force myself to focus on the now.

    I watch their vision as we wait close to the wall. Dimy 1 releases a faint mist towards a suspicious man standing near an alley.

    After a minute the man yawns and sits down. Another minute he's sleeping.

    Dimi 2 sneaks while moving along the wall. Once below a specific window he simply releases his mist, slowly putting his target to sleep. The suspicious man that was looking out of the window props his head on the window frame and goes to sleep.

    "Building is clear. One man on the window is sleeping," I say.

    "Have the monster eat him. Innocent workers won't be standing guard," Larana says, no emotion on her voice.

    We move outside. One of Larana's men quickly sneaks towards the man on the alley and slits his throat. The creepy mask of a sleeping face comes back to me for more orders.

    "Eat that man you put to sleep," I whisper to it.

    Without a sound it moves back whence it came and I see it cover the sleeping man in smoke.

    We scurry to the wall of the next building. Tarano looks inside and signals to Larana.

    "Ryder, get the monster to put the two workers to sleep. Tarano, take the guard out," Larana orders.

    Tarano draws a dagger and moves inside. Dimy 1 moves behind him.

    It's a soap workshop. Two men are mixing a barrel of hot soap while a bored-looking armed man sitting on a chair sips something from a bottle.

    Dimy 1 releases a more intense mist. It mixes with the smoke of the fire and no one notices anything different. When both the workers start to stumble the guard starts to get agitated.

    Tarano jumps out of the shadows. He silently pounces on the guard and slits his throat with ease. The workers finally fall down on the ground, sleeping, though they could have been knocked out due to hitting their heads on the ground too hard.

    Larana's men enter the building and explore upstairs. A few seconds later I hear something heavy fall down on the ground.

    Dimy 2 finishes his meal. The man it "ate" now looks like he is brain dead, he drools and doesn't even breathe.

    "Same thing," Larana says to me.

    Dimy 2 puts another window sentry to sleep while Dimy 1 returns after meeting a wandering patrol of 3 men.

    "Security is tight, they are certainly waiting for movement tonight," Larana says, "Have your monster release mist on them from above."

    She picks 2 soldiers and the 3 of them go outside.

    The enemy patrol suddenly stops moving. They slap their faces to wake up and joke to each other. One of them stretches and yawns, only to receive an arrow that enters the roof of his mouth and exits through the back of his head. One receives an arrow to the throat and the last receives an arrow through the eye.

    The surviving man coughs blood and receives 3 arrows on his face, finally dying. Their bodies are quickly pulled over to the building we are on.

    The next building has 1 guard and 3 workers mixing another large barrel of soon-to-be soap. I use both Dimy's to fill the first floor with sleeping mist.

    The bumbling guard is peppered with arrows when he notices something is wrong. I smile with pride when Alissa's arrow hits him in the eye. I quickly stop my smile and mutter my prayer.

    Another guard comes down to investigate the noise and gets filled with arrows just like his companion.

    The next building is empty so we avoid it. After that there's 4 sentries standing on a very wide crossroads.

    "I will climb the building and order the monster to release the mist when the area is clear," Larana says while looking at her pocket watch, "When I give the signal kill them and recover the bodies."

    Those words are spoken with such a lack of emotion it's obvious she has said them many times before.

    Tarano nods and Larana jumps towards the wall. I feel a hint of mana coming from her. Her gloves fuse with the wood and she climbs the building like a gecko.

    With grace she vaults over the roof and turns into a Maine Coon, disappearing into the shingled roof.

    Through five minutes the area in front of us slowly gets fuzzier as more mist pours in. When one of the sentries tumbles I see Tarano's ring glow green. He and 3 other soldiers jump into the open and charge the sentries.

    The only sound the sentries make is a gurgle as their throats are slashed. Their bodies are dragged into our building and another soldier casts [Clean] on the ground, removing all the blood.

    We quickly cross the wide road and enter the next building. Larana picked the lock for us. We stop for a few long minutes as a casual patrol of 3 men slowly strolls towards us.

    "On my signal, pepper them," Larana orders.

    The patrol enters our sight as they cross the windows in front of our building. Silently Larana's hand chops the air and multiple arrows find their marks. The men fall on the ground and 3 soldiers drag their bodies inside.

    "You, stay here and report if any other patrol notices something suspicious," Larana says to one of her men.

    On the next building both Dimy's sneak behind the inattentive sentries who discuss the taste of elven prostitutes. Their smoke materializes into a Shadow Satyr and their swords separate the heads of the guards before they could say "there's a fucking creepy mask behind you, mate".

    Larana frowns at the sight when we enter the building.

    "We are spilling too much blood. I don't want to alert a sniffer. Let's avoid the patrols," she says.

    The next building has 7 guards inside. They aren't drinking but they are smoking something and playing cards. They are loud.

    "If we silence them it will be a problem," Larana says.

    "Leave a gift and move on. We have to sneak past them," Tarano says.

    "You stay behind," Larana points to one of her soldiers, "Fill that room with paralysis bombs when the signal comes and slaughter them all. Drink an antidote beforehand."

    The soldier nods.

    "Ryder, follow me closely," Tarano says.

    Larana turns into a cat and another woman turns into grey owl. They fly in front.

    We wait for a minute, then Tarano lift his hand to catch my attention.

    "Go," he whispers and silently rushes forward.

    I follow closely behind him. My steps sound like stomps in comparison to his delicate tip taps.

    We hide on a dark alley a few buildings over. A patrol passes less than a minute later.

    More men enter the same alley as us after they pass.

    I see the wereowl woman perched on top of the building in the corner of the alley.

    Alissa comes with the last batch of soldiers.

    We wait another patrol to pass and leave the alley. We cross a wide street and enter another alley. After everyone is together again Larana and the wereowl join us, returning to their normal forms.

    The wereowl woman makes a sign. She shows 3 fingers and points towards the second floor of the next building. Larana points to me and then points to the building. I whisper to the 2 creepy masks floating besides me and they fill the upper floor with mist.

    A few minutes after we see the white mist overflow from the windows. It's followed by 3 thumps as bodies fall on the ground. The mist disappears and 3 men go inside the building to finish the job.

    The next building is closed so Tarano has to pick the lock. There's multiple patrols passing near us. Across the road is our target.

    The soldiers take positions besides the windows. This is a simple tea shop, multiple chairs and tables are neatly organized on both floors.

    "Your [Hide Presence] isn't that good. Focus on remaining still and calming your heart," Tarano whispers and smiles. His thin chin makes his smile look slightly creepy.

    I sit down near a wall and Alissa sits besides me. Once I feel the warmth of her hand I notice the pain on my shoulders, I was incredibly tense. No wonder, we didn't have that much time to prepare mentally for this operation.

    Gify syncs my feelings with Alissa's and slowly my fear subsides. I focus on the warmth of Alissa's hand and slowly my anxious heart calms down. In the middle of the wolf's den I find happiness as I use my memories with Alissa to keep my emotions in check. The shrieking woman is completely silenced for a while.



    We spend a good while sitting and waiting. When I look around it's almost like I'm seeing statues instead of people, they are so still it's creepy.

    The patrols clear for a minute and I look at Farana. Her lifeless eyes stare at nothing.

    "You doing okay?" I ask her.

    Her face turns into barely hidden nervosity, her eyes race around and avoid looking into mine.

    "Y-yes, I'm fine," she says.

    Her voice is cute and very feminine, like Lina's.

    Alissa squeezes my hand and she gives me a sympathetic gaze.

    I'm feeling conflicted but I don't know how I should act. She should be grateful she's still alive but... How much is too much?

    Am I a sympathetic person or am I just lusting over her and fantasying about saving a broken woman? My feelings are too murky right now.

    Vanea's proposal rings in my head and I feel a very disgusting desire to... "Take" Farana. In my head this would be nothing but straight rape and yet the idea of taking another man's woman is doing things to my head.

    If even Alissa is feeling conflicted about it than I should just bury those feelings until they go away.



    A small commotion starts inside the warehouse and a few men hurry in and out. I feel the [Gate] block dissipate. The wereowl woman immediately opens a [Gate] in front of her and 4 plated knights appear. A second later the circle disappears and I feel [Gate] being blocked again. The knights walk in front of Farana and salute.

    The wereowl woman grips her head and grimaces. She must have used all her mana in a single go. Ouch.

    Then Larana turns to Farana.

    "It's time," she says.

    They both stand up and approach each other. Larana punches Farana in the face. Farana takes it without flinching and returns to her straight posture. She takes another, and another, and one last punch. Her face gets swollen, her lips part and blood trickles from her mouth, she's only slightly frowning.

    Larana draws a knife and starts cutting and ripping on her clothes, she gives a few shallow cuts to her skin. She finally rips open her shirt, exposing her pink nipples.

    "Ryder," Larana turns to me, "spread as much mist as you can from above the warehouse."

    I nod and a minute later a faint mist covers the warehouse.

    "Farana. Now it's your turn," Larana says coldly.

    Farana's face cramps. She nervously rubs her right wrist and I see there's a bracelet there below her clothes.

    With a forced smile she nods towards Larana and starts slapping her own face. When I see tears form on her eyes she stops and drops the cloak.

    "Ei," Tarano grabs Farana's hand and looks her in the eyes. His voice is very soft, "be careful, eh? I want to see you come back."

    Farana shivers and nods multiple times. The ratty man smiles creepily and lets her hand go.

    Farana turns and runs outside towards the warehouse. Her body is bruised, cut, and bloody, her clothes are in tatters. She looks like a rape victim.

    "DAREAN!" She cries.

    The men outside leer at her when they see her exposed chest but suddenly grow panicked when they hear her cries.

    "HELP ME, DAREAN!"

    Multiple patrols follow her but don't block her path. She enters the warehouse and a commotion can be heard.

    "Put your armor on," Larana orders.

    Everyone puts on black scale armor.

    A minute passes and the mist starts to thicken.

    "That's enough, any more and it will affect us," Larana says, "Dismiss the monsters."

    I obey.

    Suddenly Farana runs off from the warehouse. A few confused men stand still and watch her come towards our building.

    *BOOOOM!* An explosion rips apart half of the warehouse and lights up the night sky. The ground shakes and men scream. Pieces of the warehouse, human giblets, and assorted goods and food fly all around us.

    Larana pulls out a small onyx disk full of circular silver inscriptions. She pours mana on it and I'm attacked again by the uncomfortable feeling of having my [Gate] blocked. I can feel the two different blockers overlapping on each other. I can also sense the direction of the source of each blocker.

    Farana enters the building and stumbles. She's groggy.

    "Good one, Smegma," Tarano says. He giggles and nearly chokes on his own spit.

    She nods multiple times and collapses on the floor. Tarano drags her to a corner of the building.

    I feel the enemy [Gate] blocker dissipate. Now only Larana's blocker is active.

    "They will find us in a minute. Prepare for battle, meet them in the field," Larana says.

    I walk to the exit.

    "Ziny, Burky, I choose you!" I whisper to myself.

    I summon a Zinotue and a Burkanolf outside. I think Alissa and Larana might have heard me.

    The lightning tiger roars and the fire wolf howls.

    "Keep them away from this place," I order.

    Larana and Tarano smile as the two huge monsters make every man near us shit a Level. Fucking huge cost in mana though. I drink an MP potion.

    Now I'm ready, bring it on.

    We fire arrows and spells at the fleeing men, many of them are falling down asleep. They all have flimsy armors and weapons. Darean hired tons of men but he couldn't hire a large amount of elite soldiers. My monsters do nothing as no one is brave enough to face two 2-meters tall predators.

    With a *poof* Larana pulls out a bag from her [Item Box] and throws it towards the warehouse. It falls on the ground and spreads a white dust all over.

    Her tail undulates casually as no man is capable of reaching us. Suddenly her tail freezes and I look outside.

    The fleeing men start gathering around the remains of the warehouse. I can only barely feel fluctuations of mana, someone is casting spells in there. A few more men collapse on the ground, asleep.

    A large burst of mana escapes the warehouse, such inefficiency. The wave passes through me and we all hunch over, retching and nearly puking.

    "Necromancy!" Tarano yells.

    "RAAAH!"

    "I'LL FUCK YER ASS!"

    "AAAH!"

    "COME 'ERE PUSSYCAT!"

    "UOOH!"

    "I'LL RAPE YA UNTIL YE BLEED!"

    Larana's eyes narrow as the few awake men on the warehouse suddenly rush out towards us. They trample over their sleeping comrades without any care.

    Ziny charges the atmosphere with electricity and most of the men convulse and fall on the ground. Burky opens its mouth and a burst of flames catches the ones who managed to keep moving. The smell of burnt meat fills the air.

    "AHAHAHAH! FUCK YOU!" Screams one of the men as he burns alive.

    A shudder escapes me.

    Shit, these people have been charmed. The illusion mage must have used [Vicious Rage]. I pity them, I don't know how to dispel such magic.

    The 4 plated knights move outside to receive the charge of the rest of the burning suicidal men. Larana, Tarano, and two others pull out long swords while the rest of the men go upstairs.

    Suddenly the white dust starts sparkling and floating. They flow towards the warehouse and converge in the shapes of 11 people. Lights flicker and the shapes turn into real people. Our target has finally moved out of the warehouse.

    11 men and women. 4 plated soldiers with heater shields. 3 muscular archers with longbows. 2 mages with metal staffs and gems that flashes with lightning. 1 very tall plated soldier with a zweihander. 1 mage with a glass staff and a rainbow bismuth crystal on top, it's the illusion mage.

    "Told you they would be prepared!" Yells the illusion mage.

    Soul Info
    Name:Callistus DoukasRaceHumanLevel:55
    Dark hair, dark eyes, olive skin, and a broad face. The mage is missing an arm and his clothes are half burned. The others have small burns on their clothes and everyone is dirtied by soot.

    The mage is accompanied by a rock gnome with a very fat belly and a pointy hat made of earth and grass, it's an [Earth Spirit]. Those spirits are the mark of a properly trained mage, they are controlled directly by the mage and help in casting spells.

    "The glass staff is our target!" Larana yells.

    "It seems Smegma almost got him. Oh well," Tarano shrugs.

    Arrows and a few spells fly towards the enemy shield wall but they are all diverted into the ground or into the sky.

    "Enchanted shields!" Yells one of Larana's men.

    I start to chant a [Lighting Bolt] but I can't feel the "path" towards my target. It always veers into the ground regardless of how much I will it to obey my wishes.

    "[Lightning Bolt]!" I cast.

    The spell simply strikes the ground a meter away from the enemy shield bearers. I didn't even aim for them.

    Emellanat is the poor man's defense against spells. The real deal are enchanted shields like these.

    "The greatsword is enchanted!" Alissa yells.

    This is kind of bad, we have no idea what it does. It could kill someone on a single strike if we are not careful.

    Area spells start being cast upon us while the front lines clash. We interrupt it with ease.

    Ziny fires his [Lighting Strike] at one of the lightning mages. He falls down on the ground but quickly gets up. The others pull out barricades and start firing spells towards the building we are on.

    Our allies lob spells and arrows over the enemy shield bearers. Unfortunately the projectiles are too slow and the enemies simply step aside.

    "HUSKS! IN FRONT AND BEHIND!" Alissa bellows.

    I look through the door and see half-rotted orc corpses shambling out of buildings. Holy fuck.

    "I will cover our backs with the Zinotue!" I yell.

    "Understood!" Larana answers.

    Arrows won't do much damage against husks, Alissa's usefulness is limited.

    Burky's fire breath simply diverts upwards without even touching the enemy shields.

    The enemy fling spells and the walls of the second floor of our building burst open. Most of the men drop from the hole and spread to other buildings.

    Ziny charges the atmosphere and the orc husks fall down on the ground, convulsing.

    "Enough," I order it.

    I drink Roxanne's elixir.

    The atmosphere returns to normal and I charge forward. I cut the arms and legs off of each husk, this way they are completely useless.

    I can't kill them properly because I don't have much mana, I can only boost my strikes with a well calibrated [Telekinesis]. I have to use only the exact amount of mana that will allow me to slice off the limbs.

    Fucking husks don't even give Experience.

    The shambling corpses grab their shitty weapons that fell on the ground and rise again. I retreat and order Ziny to charge the atmosphere again.

    *TOON!* A shockwave runs through my body, making my ears ring. I look behind and see an allied plated knight skid through the ground. The enemy with the zweihander is standing still with his sword thrust forward. I can feel the remains of the vortex of mana that the enchantment of that sword created.

    I feel interest in looking at Callistus. I get a feeling that we barely need to fight anymore, the battle is won, reinforcements are coming. I can just lay back and relax.

    A ridiculous amount of husks, both orc and the recently risen dead men, is trying to approach our front line. Heh, Callistus is fucked, not even husks can save him now, this battle is won. Fuck me, I'm tired of fighting, I really need my vacation.

    Burky quit trying to hit the enchanted shields and is now focusing on keeping the swarm of husks from overwhelming our front line. His fire wall is protecting him from being flanked by the enemy mages and archers.

    Our building is being shredded as the trade in spells intensifies.

    Wait, no. This is wrong, I have to fight! Fuck, he almost succeeded using [Pacify] on me.

    "They are protected from my spells!" Callistus screams.

    "Do it the normal way then. Kill that werecat!" Bellows the man with the greatsword.

    Burky's claws rake and destroy bodies like nothing. The smell of burnt meat fills the air again as his claws of lava both cut and burn the enemies. Slowly the number of husks converging on our position seems to increase.

    I turn back and continue to cut down the swarm of husks behind us. They are already starting to fill the street.

    *TOON!* My ears ring again but no plated knight comes skidding. I glance back and see Tarano is stumbling backwards, his ears are bleeding.

    The husks are too close. Ziny starts firing lightning bolts from his mouth in quick succession. The husks hit by it have their bodies fried and don't rise again. His mana is being wasted this way but there's no point in conservating it if we die.

    The smell of burned rotten pork fills my nose. Disgusting.

    The enemy keeps moving between their numerous barricades. The building Alissa is on is already half destroyed. She's using furniture as cover to lob arrows.

    The husks reach my line of defense and start swinging their weapons. They are clumsy but they can still cut or be used as blunt attacks.

    Ziny charges forward. He tramples, rakes, and bites the husks.

    The husks counter and start to inflict multiple cuts on Ziny, the strength of even an orc zombie cannot be underestimated. Some try to hold on it to slow the monster down.

    Taking the opportunity now that Ziny got their attention I cut off their legs, leaving them only with their arms. The crawling husks get in the way of the walking ones, creating a mess of entangled rotting bodies.

    Ziny rushes back but it's quite wounded. He charges the atmosphere again. A mountain of husks starts to form, they crawl over each other and not even Ziny will come back alive from the swarm.

    *TOON!*

    I pull out multiple barricades. The wall of limbs claws on them and the ones at the top fall over the barricades. There's no stopping them.

    Well that's fucking peachy.

    A cold air seeps through the battlefield and the fighting behind us slows.

    "Lysander! Get the werecat!" Callistus yells.

    A creepy, lanky, and bald man with a hollowed face appears from one of the streets to our left. He's wearing a black robe and a staff of bones with a beating heart where a gem should be.

    He looks blankly at us. He raises his staff and every husk that I can see turns its head towards Larana. The knights tighten their ranks with Larana at the middle. Burky has to use his body to keep the husks at bay.

    Well that's fucking peachy.

    One of the plated knights chants something and touches the ground with the palm of his hands. The ground glows with white light and sparkling particles get suspended in the air. This is [Light Magic] level 60 spell [Sanctuary]. He must be a Templar Knight.

    The undead that approach the circle get weakened greatly, making them an easy target for Burky. Even the enemy soldiers seem to suffer when entering the circle. With this the battle on the front line turns into a stalemate.

    I cast multiple [Spirit Lights] and throw them at the mass of limbs, it slows them down. The husks groan and growl louder. they claw forward and their arms stretch, trying to grab us. What a fucking nightmare.

    "Keep the air charged at maximum power!" I order Ziny.

    He roars and rakes the wall of limbs.

    The zombies grab and bite into my [Spirit Lights]. Flashes of light burst out of the broken spells, stunning the wall of flesh for a few seconds.

    The necromancer lowers himself behind his barricade. A moment later black lines crack through the ground, making their way towards the [Sanctuary]. I feel the light of the spell flicker slightly and the glowing circle reduces little by little. That's [Decaying Corruption].

    Our front line is slowly being pushed back. The man with the greatsword is just too much for them, he's half-swording at quite the effective level. One of the knights took a hilt to the face and now he's staggering. The Templar Knight is casting [Heal] non-stop.

    Multiple large area spells are cast on the wall of husks. They burst into flames and the flesh burns faster than it should due to the concept of "consumption" imbued on the magical fire. The smell of rotten and burnt meat grows so strong I feel nauseous.

    *TOON!*

    "Help the front line," I order Ziny.

    It leaps back and almost lands on top of a plated enemy, he has to roll backwards to escape being crushed. Ziny shrugs off a few arrows and swipes at the soldier, sending him flying backwards. His enchantment wasn't enough to keep the monster truck away.

    Our front line regains momentum and starts to push back. The enemy focus on bringing down my wounded tiger.

    Hana breaks through the smoke and lands by my side.

    "Took you long enough," I say.

    Her armor, shield, and sword are completely bloodied. I see a few cuts on the lining of her armor and a few scales of her shield are missing. She grins fearsomely through her helmet and speaks.

    "I don't know what Darean did but we had a huge amount of fucking suicidal trash to cleave through. Not only that but suddenly orc husks poured through the buildings. What the fuck is he guarding on this place?"

    "No idea. But our target is over there," I point to the mage with the glass staff.

    Hana looks at him and then looks at the burning warehouse.

    "The fuck did you do?"

    "Nothing, heh. That one was Farana."

    Now that I look at her she's still sleeping inside the ruined building. There's even a few pieces debris on top of her but she didn't wake up.

    *ZUSH*! The mountain of bodies parts in two as a huge [Wind Blade] cleaves through the meat.

    "Move to the sides," Hana says.

    Another huge blade of air carves through the meat. I'm thankful husks do not bleed otherwise the entire street would be a pool of blood.

    A third cleave and the path is big enough for people to pass through. The meat still burns so people start to pour on a single file.

    The first one is Grosnok. He's wielding on one hand an ornate scythe like it's a stick and a large kite shield on the other. He swings the scythe like a toy and a huge [Wind Blade] comes out of his slash. It flies towards the mass of husks and cleaves them in half.

    The butt end of the scythe actually has a long spear blade on. The scythe part is not fit for cutting but at least he can use the other part for stabbing. The huge lion looks at bit comical and awkward using this weapon. There's a bastard sword at his side, showing he's at least prepared for the worst.

    After him comes the dwarf Gilgor with a pole axe and scutum shield. He's just as bloodied as Hana. His tattoos glow. His movements are much more agile than what someone of his size seems capable of.

    Both Grosnok and Gilgor use monster bones as armor, they look like tribal warriors.

    Then comes the elf Ercuria. She's flanked by two large dogs that look like Rottweilers. I think they are summons.

    The krampus mage Ervin comes after, a small flaming ghost floats over his shoulder, a [Fire Spirit]. From his age and level he must be completely specialized in [Fire Magic].

    Finally my girls pour after them.

    "Grosnok!" I yell.

    His huge head turns to me after delivering another batch of sliced husks.

    "Get that man!" I point to where the necromancer should be, "He's controlling the husks! The Burkanolf is my summon and it will open a path!"

    He nods towards me and goes after the Burkanolf on the left of the battlefield.

    "BURKY! Open a path towards the necromancer!" I yell in english.

    He howls and spews fire while he furiously cuts down husks. Grosnok slashes any survivors and his fellowship follow behind the monster.

    "Ziny! Come back and focus on disrupting the enemy!" I order in english.

    It barely has the strength to leap back. It's bleeding heavily from multiple wounds, his body is a pincushion of arrows, and one of his paws is missing.

    "Their shields are enchanted, can't punch through with our current power. The man with the greatsword has a sonic boom enchantment. It will push you back, hurt your head, and make you deaf," I tell the girls.

    *TOON!* A demonstration happens just at the right time.

    "I will deal with it," Hana says, with a *poof* she switches her sword for Lina's old hammer, "You, stick together and support the knights."

    "Yes!" I say.

    Lina and Ciel are looking tired, they seem slightly bloodied and there's a few small missing scales on their armor. Ciel must have healed any visible wounds. Roxanne is panting while the little blue dragon on her shoulder seems to be out of fire balls.

    "Where's Haaran?" I ask.

    "He separated from us to deal with some mercenaries," Ciel says.

    "The guards?"

    "Dealing with the husks. This is a nightmare," she lifts her hands in exasperation.

    "I know, right. Let's go, stick together!"

    Hana lands besides Larana. The werecat woman is panting and her ears are also bleeding, it seems she finally noticed the reinforcements. Her smile is absolutely beautiful, if only she weren't so cold.

    "I WILL BREAK THAT LITTLE TWIG IN HALF!" Hana taunts while she points to the greatsword at the hand of the enemy.

    I switch to my emellanat sword. We cleave a path towards the nearest enemy plated soldier at the right side of the battlefield. The number of husks is greatly reduced, there's only stragglers around us now.

    Alissa and a few men run away from a crumbling building and take cover on a building to our right. Through our party connection I feel her run inside the building and into the second floor.

    We approach the plated enemy on his left flank. He parries an attack with his hammer and points his shield towards us with his left. A huge gust of wind stops us from advancing, this is [Wind Shield].

    "[Explosion]!"

    Roxanne grabs her head and kneels. The plated enemy yells as his left arm and shield are crushed by the shockwave of the explosion. It seems that the enchantments are making even instant casting difficult.

    The wind pushing us stops and Lina charges forward, her bloodied axe shifting into a hammer. She strikes down on the knee of the man and it bends backwards. He yells again and parries another hammer from the allied knight.

    I dare not approach an experienced enemy in plate armor with only a measly sword. Ciel moves forward and strikes at his head with flat part of the blade. He falls down on the ground and Lina strikes his head repeatedly until he stops moving.

    Ciel looks at two archers behind a barricade aiming at us and points her glaive.

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    Just slightly weaker since she only has 19 points in [Wind Magic] this time. But still enough to cut the archers and make them fall on the ground screaming.

    Multiple [Lighting Bolts] are hurled towards us. Us 3 have emellanat so we only feel our weapons and shields get warmer as they absorb the spells. The two mages glare at us, a mix of fear, anger, and desperation.

    "TOON"! Hana takes a sonic boom directly on the face. She grits her teeth and maintains her form, parrying the hammer of a plated soldier. She strikes at the shoulder of the greatswordsman with all her strength. The man winces and retreats a few steps.

    "The mages!" I yell.

    We charge towards the two obstacles in the way of Callistus.

    "URAA! CHARGE FORWARD!"

    The power in Haaran's voice gives us a boost. A large patch of ground turns into [Soul Sand], keeping a particularly thick swarm of husks in place. Haaran and his knights come out of a street and cut down the helpless husks. He quickly joins Grosnok and both charge past my dying Burkanolf.

    Lina receives an [Earth Bullet] square on her shield. She retains her posture like a statue but she skids backwards a few meters. Callistus is looking at us with pure fear, his staff is pointed towards Lina.

    Fuck you, I cast [Rush].

    The first electric mage helplessly fires a bolt at me, it just gets absorbed by my sword. He swings his staff at me like a baseball club in a desperate attempt to parry. I slide my sword past his staff and use the momentum to whip it into a slash. With [Sharp Blades] my sword slides through the meat and cuts the bone cleanly. His right hand falls on the ground and he yells in pain.

    I continue forward. The fat little gnome fires multiple [Earth Bullets] at me, with [Rush] it's easy to dodge them. The ground suddenly shifts and rises, I tumble forward and roll. An [Earth Bullet] hits the gnome and disrupts him. Thanks, Lina.

    I reach the gnome and my sword slides through him like butter. Summoned matter is so vulnerable against emellanat.

    I look forward and Callistus suddenly splits into two, it's [Beguiling Clone]. Both clones try to run away in different directions. I cast [Discharge].

    One of the clones flickers and continues forward, the other falls down and convulses. I stop my spell and dash towards the latter.

    He gets up and tries to put the staff in front to defend himself. I pass through that amateurish defense and stab his stomach. My sword gets stopped by the chain mail below his robe and he hunches over in pain.

    I grab his only remaining arm and push it forward, I chop his hand off at the wrist. He trips and falls on the ground.

    "AAAH! FUCK! FUCK YOU, I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

    He tries to get up and I kick his face on the teeth. He lifts his head again and I fire an [Earth Bullet], now he finally passed out.

    *TOON!* Hana takes another attack. This time she stabilizes herself with her wings. She raises her hand and an [Earth Bullet] hits the greatswordsman in the helmet. He falls on the ground and struggles to get up.

    Ciel holds the last mage down with her glaive. He struggles to remove the blade from his throat and slowly chokes to death.

    "RAAAH!" Lina yells, her shy voice booming with anger.

    She reaches the one armed mage and chops at his chest with her axe. It gets lodged inside and she activates [Switch]. The metal turns liquid and the weapon is easily freed from the dying man.

    The last archer is overwhelmed by spells and arrows and finally dies to multiple wounds.

    Lina turns her weapon back into an axe and chops the fallen mage at his throat, decapitating him.

    The husks suddenly stop focusing on Larana and start attacking everyone, including the enemy soldiers. The husks can't kill them easily and only hold them down, making it easy to put them to sleep.

    I see Haaran has finished off the necromancer.

    Burky finally dies and fades into dust. Ziny runs out of mana so it starts to slash at the husks. Due to their lack of coordination they are barely more than wet paper to my monster.

    The greatswordsman is finally subdued by blunt trauma to the head caused by Hana. The rest of the plated enemies are knocked out too. The rest of the husks are being quickly cleaned up.

    Alissa jumps out of the window and comes to my side.

    "You hurt?" She asks.

    "No, just tired."

    Now this is carnage. There must be hundreds of husks here.

    Ciel goes to Hana and heals her ears.

    A knight comes to us.

    "Is this the illusion mage?" He asks.

    "Yep. Must be passed out, but you still gotta heal him soon if you want him alive."

    The knight nods and grabs one of the legs of Callistus. Without any concern he simply drags the unconscious man towards Haaran.

    Larana and her men are healing each other so I signal to the girls to group up.

    "Wounds? Problems?" I ask.

    Everyone shakes their heads. I dismiss Ziny before anyone else can look at it.

    We slowly make our way towards Haaran. He's sitting over a half broken crate, his face shows fatigue. Silvane is taking a look at his face and some dents on his armor.

    Rather comical seeing the small girl taking care of the large man.

    "Is it over?" I ask.

    Haaran looks over to Callistus and smiles faintly.

    "Yes," he looks at Silvane and his smile grows wider, his gaze is no longer piercing, "The guards have circled this area, they are going to comb every building in search for more husks."

    "What in Gods name is it that Darean has that warranted all this protection?" Ciel asks.

    "Money, more specifically, all his money," Haaran answers, "We cornered his operation so he had to concentrate everything on a single point. With this we were certain the illusion mage would appear to help move things."

    "Quite the gamble. What if he weren't?" I ask, "I wouldn't fight again for you if he wasn't here, this wouldn't be part of our deal."

    "We know, but there wasn't a better chance to capture the mage than this one," he shrugs.

    Silvane finishes the pat down and gives him a kiss on the cheek. The stoic image crumbles as he chuckles and grabs her by the shoulder. He starts walking towards the now extinguished warehouse with Silvane by his side.

    "Let's go see what's inside, shall we?" He says.

    Wary guards start to appear from the streets. They sigh in relief when they see the knights already finished the fight here.

    A very disheveled Larana approaches Haaran.

    "Dame Larana, cordon the area, don't let any guard inside the warehouse," he says.

    "Yes, sir!" She salutes and starts to bark orders to the knights.

    That woman has endless energy.

    I look back and I see Tarano pulling some rubble from the half-collapsed building. He pulls Farana out and hugs her.

    I really do not want to know what kind of relationship they have.



    A few water mages are putting out the last of the embers of the fire. There's lots of goods strewn about. Alcohol, cocoa, fine textiles, jewels, and many giblets of humanoids.

    Ah, cocoa, this is making me want to start a chocolate factory. It's curious how some things from Earth are the exactly same as the ones here.

    "This is not the main haul, there should be a trapdoor somewhere," Haaran says.

    It takes us a few minutes but one of the knights finds it. A set of stone steps downwards leads us into a dark room.

    Inside there are numerous crates, a considerable number of them are open and empty. Haaran and some others start opening the closed ones.

    "High elven beauty products," Silvane says.

    The eyes of Roxanne, Ciel, and a female knight shine as they stare at the crate.

    Haaran opens another.

    "Raw gems for enchanting or tools and a few gnomic magic tools," he says.

    Now Lina seems interested.

    "Emellanat," says one of the knights. He's holding a bar of the black, glossy, and sparkly metal.

    Alissa smells the air.

    "Oh, it smells of Ranja," Alissa says.

    It smells like oranges.

    "It's the same as your perfume," I say.

    She nods.

    Oh, I see it now.

    "Pick a crate of each, Ryder. A gift from us. We will also send you the payment for your work later," Haaran says.

    Now that the word "free" is on the mind of the girls they all show interest on one specific crate.

    "Thank you, Sir Haaran. I appreciate it," I say and bow lightly, "May we take the enchanted shield of the enemy soldier we defeated? It seems very useful."

    "Sure," he waves his hand.

    I nod to Lina and she hurries outside, barely containing a smile.

    I go to the crates and store them by using the rope loop that every crate has. A convenience so people can easily press the "store" button on their [Item Box].

    I hear the clacking of heels. It grows louder until Vanea appears on the room. She's wearing a mix of beautiful but still functional padded black scale armor with a battle skirt. Even with a coif she looks elegant. Lina comes scampering behind her and gives the bent shield to me.

    Vanea takes a glance at the contents of the crates and smiles widely.

    "There must be hundreds of rose coins in here," she says.

    "Unfortunately we found no weapons," Haaran says, "He must have distributed them all already."

    "There were plenty of well equipped mercenaries around, surely they must have some of it," Silvane says.

    "At this point any sane mercenary will have deserted him," Vanea says.

    She stretches herself and yawns with satisfaction.

    "There's nothing more to do here," she turns to us, "Our deal is complete, we even have the illusion mage captured. Rabanara is mine again," her eyes narrow and her last words are said almost in a growl.

    I feel a tightening of my heart loosening, my oath to her is done. She still has her oath to keep me informed and protected of anything while in here.

    "Glad to be of service," I say, I'm truly relieved.

    "Dame Vanea," Ciel moves forward, "What happened to the mercenaries we captured last time?"

    "Sent to Hiyoku Hara as combat slaves," Vanea answers flatly.

    Lina's Trivia: A stretch of land that once belonged to the dragonkin and is now under monster control. It's a constant battlefield where most empire soldiers go serve once in their career.

    Ciel frowns at her.

    "Don't worry, priestess. A Judge sentenced them, they will only serve a few years. Quite likely for them to survive," Vanea smiles sadistically at her.

    Ciel nods and backs away from Vanea.

    "Well, if this is all we are leaving," I bring the conversation back to me.

    "Very well, outside the mages will open a [Gate] back to Baalfire's for you. Until next time, Mr. Ryder," she smiles mischievously.

    "Until."

    No there won't be a next time.

    Silvane waves to us as we leave.



    We reach home and go immediately to bed. A weight lifted from our shoulders.

    I hold Alissa and kiss her. I taste her tongue, I fill my nose with her smell of Ranja, I run my hand through her toned body.

    I grab the base of her tail and run my hand through it. She shivers and kiss me harder. Slowly my consciousness fades, we almost slept with our tongues entwined.



    Intermission 8

    "AAAAAAAAAAH!"

    I flip the table over and smile at the glasses shattering on the ground. I grab the chair and smash it on the ground, it breaks into multiple pieces with a hearty crunch.

    I grab the leg of the table and rip it off then I strike that leg on the cabinet. The glass shatters and the porcelain is destroyed in a satisfying explosion. I flip over the cabinet for good measure and smash any surviving piece with my boot.

    I cast a [Fireball] and explode the remains of the cabinet. Cinders and ash fill the air, the smell of burning wood heals my soul.

    I grab the broken table and throw it through the window. It crashes down and I hear screams of surprise, making me giggle.

    "FUCK YOUUU!"

    I cast a [Fireball] on the ceiling candelabrum. The mana of the light crystals mix with the one from my spell, enhancing the explosion. I protect my eyes from the dust storm of shards. My ears ring and suddenly I lose my hearing.

    I open my eyes and see the piece of art that I have made. The crystal dust lingers in the air and glitter as the cinders slowly fall. The few flames of the remains of the cabinet are the only light of the room, creating waving red shadows on the walls.

    The chairs are all strewn about. Everyone seems to have left in a hurry, no one even grabbed their share of the coin. The bags are thrown to the ground and the scattered coins fill the floor.

    I wish I paid attention to their faces, if they left without getting their payment then I must have scared the Levels out of their souls.



    "The fuck did I do wrong," I let these words escape my lips along with a sigh.

    Everything was going fine. For years I never had a hitch, a failure, a real problem that I couldn't solve.

    Everything was going fine until... Brother.

    I let you become wicked, I let you die like a naked goblin. I should have kept you safe, I should have kept you away from these stupid fuckers, these reckless idiots, these power-tripping shitheads as useful as goblin jizz. They led you to death but I'm the one who let you leave.

    Everything was going fine until...

    Now without Callistus I can't even save Farana. She was always by my side, we always planned everything together. Now I feel so lost, abandoned, lonely.

    My dry mouth suddenly feels wet and salty.

    What have they done with you. What have they done.

    You betrayed me, you tried to hurt me.

    You are being used by them, YOU ARE BEING USED.

    They... They fucked... No, they raped you.

    THEY STOLE YOU FROM ME.

    Why you, why, why, why, why, why, why, why...



    My knees feel weak and I have to lean on the wall to keep standing.

    What I want to know was what I did wrong.

    Even Grosnok ran away and the goblin dick stole my scythe.

    Everything was going fine until. Until... Ryder...
     
    Last edited: Dec 5, 2019
  17. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 24th.

    It's over. Another crisis, another nightmare, another fight. It's over and now we are safe.

    I wake up to a very smug Alissa slowly licking my frenulum. When she sees I'm awake she swallows my member. Her head slowly moves downwards until she reaches the base. Her eyes staring deeply into mine. Her tongue caressing my skin all the way.

    She slowly moves back and I shiver in pleasure. She decides to lick my balls and suck on them. I shiver harder, it's a very sensitive place, it's a mix pleasure and almost pain.

    To continue her job Lina swallows my member. She tries to make the same movement but barely swallows two thirds. Yet her tongue still moves skillfully around the head. Lina does not need the skill, she's eager enough she can learn it the hard way, by sucking my dick so much she becomes an actual expert on it.

    My vision gets dark as Ciel smothers me with her breasts. With one hand I search for a nipple and guide it to my mouth and with the other I search for her pussy so I can have my revenge.

    It seems Ciel likes when others bury their heads on her breasts. Specifically, she likes it when me or Lina do it.

    I push Ciel away but continue to play with her nipple. I want to watch Alissa and Lina taking turns. It's so fucking sexy knowing they are indirectly kissing through my dick. I'm still not sure if Alissa is bisexual, I think she's being borderline just to satisfy my fetishes.

    "I'm coming," I say.

    Alissa sucks harder and suddenly releases my dick. She points it to Lina and I plasters her face. Lina frowns and starts to clean herself.

    "Clean her, Alissa," I order.

    Without skipping a beat she licks the entirety of Lina's face, even sucking on her lips. Lina fidgets but does not resist.

    I pull Ciel on top of me and she yelps. Her black hair falls on my face and tickles me, her large nipples rub on my chest. Her bright smile melts my heart.

    "I love you, deeply," I say.

    She blushes and smiles wider. She gives me a peck on the lips.

    "I love you more," she says.

    "A competition? If my memory is right you do not have [Enhanced Sexual Stamina], it wouldn't be wise to compete with a God of Sex like me."

    She scoffs.

    "God of Sex? Old man now you are being arrogant," she looks at me smugly, her fleshy lips makes her pout so much more cuter.

    "Oh yeah? Oh yeah!?"

    Now you have done it.

    I put on [Massage], [Oral Technique], [Hand Technique], [Enhanced Strength], [Enhanced Endurance], [Enhanced Speed], and [Enhanced Genital Control]. The last one is quite the interesting skill, it gives me more control over the muscles of my penis. With it I can rub on her G-spot if I angle it right.

    I grab her and roll over. Alissa and Lina strip so they can more comfortably masturbate to the show.

    I start with her ear lobes, they should be a slightly erogenous zone. I suck on them, lick them, and nibble on them, [Massage] also works with the mouth.

    She chuckles at the tickly feeling but it quickly dies down and she starts to fidget. I massage her breasts and nipples with both my hands. I send her jolts of pleasure as I slowly increase the strength of my grip, mixing rubbing and pinching.

    Her fleshy mounds are delicious to grab. I want to defile them again with my semen. I want to defile all her body with my semen.

    I lower myself. My tongue traces her neck bones. I nibble the nape of her neck and she giggles again. I lick her nipples, I suck on them strongly and she moans. But this isn't the main meal.

    I lick her abs and kiss them. I trace my tongue lower and reach her trimmed bush. I play with them and caress it with my hand but I skip her pussy. I lower my head even further, tracing my tongue on her inner thigh.

    She shivers and looks at me with disappointment. Soon, my lewd priestess, soon.

    I start working on her feet the way she loves so much. I suck her toes and press the sole. I grab warm lotion and spread on her feet, it's a special one from the high elven goods we got yesterday. It smells and tastes like mint.

    Ciel moans as I massage her feet. Such cute little toes, well trimmed nails, and a softness that rivals her hands. What a cheat being able to use [Heal] to keep your skin soft.

    I spread her toes and lick the sensitive skin in the middle. She giggles again but now they are mixed with moans.

    I get the feeling that this is enough.

    I start to massage her further upwards, licking again her inner thigh. I slow down my advance, little by little I inch closer to her slit. She breathes quickly in excitement.

    I finally spread her brown lips and they are drenched in her wetness. I push my tongue inside her and she immediately cums. I take my tongue out and finger her.

    "I made you cum just with a single lick," I say.

    She doesn't say anything. She turns her head away and see the girls masturbating, then she looks the other way, blushing.

    "Do you want more?" I ask.

    She purses her lips and keeps quiet. I slow down my fingers.

    "If you don't say anything I'm gonna stop."

    "No..." She mutters.

    "Tell me what you want."

    "Continue," she mutters again.

    "Huh? I couldn't hear you."

    "C-continue! I want more!" She turns to me with puffed cheeks.

    "Is that how you ask something?" I smile sadistically, I slow down my fingering even more.

    "Please..."

    "Louder, please."

    "Please continue!"

    "Continue what?" My smile grows wilder, I remove my fingers.

    She groans.

    "Fuck me! Please, fuck me!"

    "As you wish."

    I put two fingers in and rub her G-spot.

    She instantly cums again. Her back arches and her breasts jiggle.

    I suck the top of her lips and expose her clit. I use my tongue to [Massage] it, compounding it with my [Oral Technique]. I use my [Hand Technique] to stimulate every inch of her pussy.

    She moans louder and louder.

    I don't even know what I'm doing anymore, I'm just pressing buttons, I'm just letting the skill take over. I'm a conductor to the symphony of moans coming from her, I simply go with the flow and improvise.

    Somehow it works. She grabs the sheets and nearly rips them from the bed. Her head shakes and her voice fades out as she seems to be on a constant orgasm.

    Her mouth hangs open as she drools, her eyes lose focus, her expression goes flat as she seems to be unconscious. Her breath slows so much her chest barely moves.

    My hand hurts, my tongue hurts, my neck hurts, everything hurts. I'm not supposed to be able to do this, I'm breaking my own limits.

    The sheet is drenched in her own fluids and my drool. I put 3 fingers in, then 4, then 5.

    Then I suddenly penetrate her with my dick.

    Her back arches and keeps like that. I pound on her with all my strength, all my speed. I control my own dick to rub on her G-spot.

    I feel it coming. I pull it out and cum a huge thick load on her face, mouth, belly, and breasts. Then I collapse on the bed.

    Alissa comes up on Ciel. She licks her face clean, then she sucks on her lips. Slowly Alissa's mouth covers Ciel's and her tongue enters. I see Ciel react, their tongues touch and feel each other for a few seconds as they share my cum.

    Alissa breaks the kiss. She starts sucking my cum from Ciel's body, she sucks on her nipples and rubs them just like I did. Ciel moans again.

    Alissa lowers her head, she licks the abs, then Ciel's bush.

    Alissa repositions herself. Her tongue lowers and she licks Ciel's wet cunt. She fingers Ciel and scoops out a small amount of cum, then she plays with Ciel's clit. Ciel moans and Alissa giggles.

    There's still some cum on Alissa's mouth. She goes over to Lina and kisses her. Lina is still masturbating, she doesn't stop and receives Alissa's kiss. Lina sucks on Alissa's tongue and drinks up all the cum. A white trail escapes Lina's mouth, Alissa catches it before it gets wasted on the sheets.

    My dick is hard again. I fucking love you Alissa. I. Fucking. Love. You.

    I flip the still catatonic Ciel over. I push my finger on her asshole and cast [Clean] on her. Then I push my tongue inside her asshole, I go in circles and then penetrate, circles then penetrate. With a continuous [Regeneration] I push my finger deep, then two, then three. She screams but they die down as the spell takes efffect.

    I reapply lube and push my dick on that huge ass. The perfect heart shaped ass. Brown buns for my white hot dog.

    Ciel yelps again and regains some of her consciousness. She bites the pillow but does not stop me. I repeatedly cast [Heal] on her so she does not bleed. Alissa reaches over Ciel and fingers her. Ciel moans and yelps with every thrust of my dick.

    So tight, so hot, so sexy.

    "Ciel, you are mine! Your body is mine, your heart is mine. I love everything about you! Remember, you are mine!"

    Her breath is so haggard all she can mutter is a weak "yes".

    Lina starts playing with Ciel's breasts, she copies my massage style. She scootches besides Ciel and sucks on her earlobes. Ciel's throat is so dry she can only moan hoarsely.

    I feel it again and I let it come. I fill up Ciel's asshole and it overflows.

    Alissa quickly cleans my dick and goes for Ciel's ass. She tongues her deeply just like I did. With a single finger she scoops out any remaining cum.

    This time Alissa swallows it all.

    We spend a few moments catching our breaths.

    "So..." I flip Ciel and kiss her, she's almost fully awake again, "Who's the God of Sex?"

    "Wha..." Her eyes move about in confusion, "Oh..."

    A smile slowly grows on her face. She sighs and closes her eyes.

    "You are the cheating God of Sex," she says.

    "Good enough for me. A God of Sex is a God of Sex."

    I pull Ciel to lay down on my chest.

    "Alissa, you turning bisexual now?" I ask.

    "Hm..." She tilts her head sideways, "I don't know, I just wanted to make Ciel moan. I don't find women particularly attractive."

    Lina fidgets and looks down. Ciel is quiet, she seems to be processing what happened.

    "I think that..." Alissa grabs her chin in thought, "I want you to use me. Use me more, use me like the time when you tied me down. Use me to fulfill your fetishes," she licks her lips and talks almost on a growl, "I'm yours forever."

    I shudder at her words.

    "And I'm yours too. So was our vows," I say.

    "But I'm yours... Harder," she chuckles.

    "Hah. You want another competition?"

    "Don't think this one will go the way you want."

    My anus dislikes this conversation.

    I lean back and pull her on a hug with my other arm.

    "Well, if you want to fulfill my fetishes then prepare yourself," I lean close to her ear and whisper, "Because you will become everyone's fuck toy."

    Alissa bites her lips sensually and rests her head on my chest. Both girls are facing each other quite closely.

    "Just remember that you are only a slave to my fetishes. In everything else you are my companion, my wife, not a slave."

    She turns her head to me and smiles. "I know, I know," she says.

    Ciel turns around and pulls Lina in a hug, burying her on her chest.

    I know Ciel likes Lina a lot. But what kind of "like" is it? Lina is very receptive of attention from anyone, so I'm not sure what she truly feels for the other girls. Though Lina did live with only women for a few years.

    The amount of same-sex couples on the streets is much higher here than on Earth, I just wonder how many are actually bisexual.

    "If any of you want to experiment more then say so. Just remember to talk to each other," I say.

    Ciel turns her head towards Alissa then looks away with a hint of embarrassment. Alissa notices it and simply smiles smugly at her.

    Alissa's ears flicker.

    "The other two are awake, I'll go prepare breakfast," Alissa says.

    She casts [Clean] on her mouth then moves out of the room, still naked. Her cute ass and orange tail swaying sensually.

    "It felt nice," Ciel mutters, looking at Alissa's ass as she leaves.

    I completely corrupted the priestess. I fucking love this world.



    Roxanne gained [Mana Overuse Resistance] with 1 point. Now she's just one point short from [Ice Lance], though she used that spell so many times she knows how to chant it and cast it quite easily. She also increased her "Speed" by 1 (now 9).

    Ciel leveled up to 32. She increased her [Wind Magic] by 2 (now 17) and her [Light Magic] by 1 (now 25). She has 5 skill points left.

    Alissa leveled up to 30. She increased her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 3).



    Ciel is acting a awkward around Alissa, it's so entertaining I want them to keep like this for a while.

    "I'm feeling so tired," I recline back on my chair.

    "You don't tell me, I had a headache the entire night," Roxanne says.

    "I don't want to leave the house this break," I say.

    "Oh let's go do something fun then," she claps the tip of her hands in excitement.

    "Sure. Anyway, how about you all? Feeling okay?"

    "Well I'm fine, my sense of smell is still dampened due to the horrible smell of the husks though", Alissa says, "The fight was nerve-racking but we didn't get hurt so I'm just feeling a little tired."

    "I'm pretty good. If it's only husks then I can deal with it," Hana shrugs and then her eyes turn sharp, "But we are done with Vanea now, right?"

    "Yeah, we are done," I answer her immediately. I won't make a deal like that again.

    "We don't really have to worry about Darean anymore. Whoever his backer is might end up killling Darean himself, he lost a lot of money yesterday," Lina says.

    "Good," Hana reclines back on the chair and smiles.

    "I just don't want to fight husks again. My clothes are smelling putrid," Roxanne says.

    "It will get off, don't worry," Alissa says and grabs her hand, "Well I guess it's expected of you to be more worried about clothes than your life," Alissa slaps her hand lightly and smirks.

    "Hey!" Roxanne pulls her hand away and pouts, "Now with instant cast I'm not really afraid of anything besides invisible assassins."

    "And the undead," I add.

    "And the undead," she smiles bitterly, "I guess blowing them into small pieces didn't work."

    "Well, I will give you something to be afraid of," Hana says with an evil grin.

    "Try me, bitch, I will rub my own tail," she narrows her eyes in defiance.

    "That's not what I was thinking about but okay," Hana chuckles.

    "You, not thinking about sex? Ciel, [Diagnosis], quick!"

    "Oh you want to be fucked?" Her yes narrow, "Okay then."

    Hana sweeps the breakfast away, forcing us to pick our plates off the table. She pulls Roxanne out of the chair and drops her on the table, then she lifts Roxanne's dress, pulls down her panties, and starts to eat her out.

    I turn my head to Ciel.

    "Well I'm doing fine," she says, "I dealt with husks before, it's not a big deal."

    "I'm more worried about how you did as a leader," I say.

    Hana lifts her head and cleans her lips. "She did fine!" She says then starts using her fingers. "Though I wouldn't recommend her doing it often, she looked very nervous."

    Ciel laughs awkwardly.

    "I-I never had much experience with leadership," she lowers her eyes, "But I think I can at least keep everyone alive."

    "That's all we need and all I try to do," I say.

    I'm not deluding myself in thinking I'm a great leader, I know that at least I'm enough to keep us all safe.

    Now I look at Lina.

    "I feel okay..." She talks lowly yet high enough to be heard on top of the moans. "I just don't want to remember those things anymore, they make me feel sick."

    "Kweh! Ded, dis-gus-tin'!"

    She's mostly sad she couldn't eat anything.

    "I think we all feel the same way," Alissa says, "Just make sure you keep your energy up so you can still fight alongside Wolfy."

    Lina nods with vigor.

    "You had to kill some people, didn't you, how you feeling about it?" I ask.

    For me most people who died weren't really my fault so I'm using it as an excuse to distance myself from yesterday. I'm simply running away from responsibility.

    "I will... I will kill anything that tries to hurt us," her eyes flicker with anger, "I will never stand still and let them hurt us."

    I feel like sighing.

    "Just, just keep a level head and remember my two rules," I say.

    She nods once with resolve.

    Gify pops into my shoulder.

    "Guuh, geh guh gih!" He says, "Balance is everything, but you all did well".

    "Thanks Gify," Alissa smiles.



    I barely finish my breakfast before it's time for my [Godly Language] lessons again.

    "Good morning, Mr. Ryder. I heard you had quite the interesting evening yesterday," he gives me a calm smile.

    "Good Morning, Mr. Kyros. It was a nightmare," I sigh and drop my shoulders, "Crazed men and hundreds of husks. Never again, please."

    "The entire town is talking about it. A necromancer attack, the rumors say."

    "Heh, almost. Good thing Dame Vanea was ready for it, otherwise it would be a massacre."

    Kyros reclines on his chair and smiles to nowhere in particular.

    "Wouldn't be unlike her. Anyway, let's continue our lesson. I will teach you your first words, we have to speed up your training."

    I got you a surprise, old man. I put a point in [Godly Language].

    I sit on my usual chair and close my eyes, focusing on his demonstration.

    I can feel two mana vortexes. One is on his throat and the other is slowly spinning around it. The spinning vortex picks up so much speed my senses blur.

    Suddenly the first vortex vibrates.

    "Become stronger!" He yells.

    I feel a wave shake my bones, sending a chill through my spine. I feel my muscles bulge and slowly return to normal.

    Dayum son. If I master this maybe I could play Hulk.

    "Become stronger!" He yells again.

    This time I notice the wave is directed solely at me.

    "Become stronger!"

    I feel how Kyros is unaffected by the voice.

    The second vortex increases its spinning radius.

    "Become stronger!"

    The sound wave goes much wider this time.

    The second vortex disappears.

    "Become stronger!"

    Now this time there was barely a wave front. I felt only a small circle of the wave hit my heart and it still affected my entire body.

    "You noticed the three different ways I used the voice?" Kyros asks.

    "Yes. The first way was a normal sound wave directed towards me, the second way the wave got much wider due to the spinning vortex's radius increasing. Both didn't affect you. The third way it was directly sent to me only without the need for the spinning vortex."

    "Correct. We call the spinning vortex the 'shield vortex' and the other vortex the 'voice vortex'."

    "Quick question. Does the language that I use influence the effects?"

    "No. It's all the same to our spirits."

    Interesting. Though it behaves quite oddly. Why would the spirit of someone who never heard Andraste react to a mana wave?

    "Can I create a language and use it with [Godly Language]?"

    "Create...?" He frowns in puzzlement then shakes his head, "You have to use a language that belongs to the skill system. Using codes won't work."

    Aw shucks.

    "Now," His tone turns more stern, "Recreate my voice."

    I close my eyes and focus. The vortex creation is much easier than before, I could even try to start a shield vortex but I will leave it for later.

    I move the vortex towards my throat and grunt. I feel the shaking of my vocal chords and the vortex following it. There's a slight delay on the vortex, which made it sound like two grunts at the same time. Felt good enough for a proper try.

    "Become stronger!"

    I feel my muscles bulge for a few seconds. Much shorter than Kyro's voice. After the strength is gone I feel a chill running through my body and heavy nausea.

    "Ooh, very good," Kyros says, then he notices my frown, "I was expecting you to puke on your first try. It seems you do have a small talent for it."

    "Told you... So," I mutter, keeping my breakfast down.

    "You did," I open my eyes and he's caressing his goatee, "Now, try to focus on creating two vortexes, they will shield you from the feedback of a bad word."

    Easier said than done. Even with the skill I need many more points on it to properly control both vortexes. If you take your attention off from one the other dissipates, it hurts my brain.

    Hm... I have an idea. The dissipation is not instantaneous, so what if I keep switching my focus from them in quick succession? Just like how a computer processor works.

    Bad idea, now I'm nauseous and suffering from strong mana-radiation sickness.

    This is too hard, I wanna cheeeeat. I want to put more points on the skill. Yes Ciel, I'm a filthy, filthy cheater.



    Back at home I have such a bad headache that even [Heal] is not having much effect. It does not work well when you don't know much about the damage being healed.

    I keep [Regeneration] on and it seems to work, although slowly.

    "Roxanne, how did you learn to manipulate two spells at once?" I ask.

    Her glasses glint in the shadows and her smile turns smug. So smug I feel like teaching a bloody lesson to her ass.

    "Think it like this. Can you write two different words with each hand?" She asks.

    "I can only write with one hand," I smile cheekily.

    "Har har, you get what I meant?" She narrows her eyes in annoyance. Her serious face is so sexy.

    "Yes, yes. I can't write it."

    "But you can move your arms in different ways, can't you?"

    "So it's only a question of finesse?"

    "Not really. You have to memorize the movements, it's like a dance. They should come naturally to you. You don't separate your consciousness, you treat both movements as one."

    Simple enough, I guess.

    "Careful not to mix the spells. They are one movement, but separate," she adds with a wry smile.

    Okay, maybe not so simple.



    [Blessing Magic] class is noisy, everyone is talking about the necromancer attack. I heard no rumors about Ziny or Burky so I can assume the knights are keeping their mouths shut.

    "In the middle of the Crafter's Corner!" Lyle exclaims, "What was a necromancer doing there? I would assume he would prefer the slums to hide himself."

    "Why would he need to hide, specifically?" I ask.

    "Hm... Perhaps he needed a safe place to experiment?"

    "Then the slums would be better for this," Garanae says.

    "Then he just wanted a safe place to hide," Lyle says.

    "Living on a residential area would be easier then," Hatara says.

    Considering how ghastly that man looked I think he would be conspicuous there.

    "Then he was protecting something," Lyle says.

    "At the Crafter's Corner? Not the Bazaar or the Gambler's Den? Even the Guild's Corner would have something valuable stored."

    The Crafter's Corner is basically the industrial area of Rabanara.

    "There are warehouses in the Crafter's Corner," Lyle says.

    "They just store raw material and some finished products. None of them store something so valuable they need hundreds of husks to guard," Garanae says.

    "Then... He was hiding something illegal. Something that needed to be stored on a warehouse but couldn't be shown in plain sight that it is valuable."

    It's so amusing seeing them get closer to the truth. Lina would be pleased to hear this conversation, she seems to like mind games.



    The bath was smelling absolutely pretty. The girls were debuting the high elven products.

    There's a liquid that they put on the bath that made it bubble and smell good. There's a shampoo type of liquid that made red bubbles that slowly turned green when the hair was "done". And finally we all turned into living hugging-pillows as our skin softened with a body oil that made me and Roxanne focus our [Sense Mana] on it because how the hell is that not magic?

    I noticed that Ciel is definitely avoiding looking at Alissa's naked body.



    "Wolfy," Ciel calls to me.

    "Yes, my love?"

    She squirms at my sudden attack.

    "How about we spend a night at the wet cave in the Wisps of the Proud? The temple already killed the undead so it should be safe."

    "Sure. I will open a [Gate] and send Holly first."



    The cave is empty, not even a dragonoid there like last time. I send Holly over the crack on the cave and there's not a single dragonoid down there. The temple did a complete sweep on the dungeon.

    "This cave is a healing place. Just close your eyes and enjoy the sounds," I say.

    The constant dripping and trickling of water is a massage for the brain. A single [Spirit Light] outside makes pretty reflections on the wet stone floor. I let myself enter a trance while we all watch the lights show.

    All the carnage in the world is worth it if I can safeguard moments like these, spending a healing time with the ones I love.

    Eventually we move inside the tent but keep the flaps open so we can see the show outside.

    Lina and Roxanne are playing Civil War. The more complex chess-like game that we bought. The two don't talk much to each other but over the game they seem to be bonding. Aoi seems interested in the game, her eyes are glued to the pieces and she's rooting for Lina.

    I'm more of a Risk or Settlers of Catan player. I like when games give more freedom of play, chess is so limiting compared to VR. Maybe I should introduce Dungeons & Dragons to this world.

    I spend my evening with Alissa on my lap. I love brushing her fluffy orange tail. Gify spends all the time on her bosom, being hugged by her. If he so much as hints he's being lecherous I will force him out of existence, I'm not being NTR'd by my own pet.

    Gih.

    If you are not a pet then what are you?

    ...

    I knew it.

    Ciel and Hana alternated as my breast pillows. Both of them taught wrestling to Ted and Suzy, Ciel is coaching Ted and Hana is coaching Suzy. Hana's style is not working well due to the lack of strength the little golems have, Ciel ends up winning 3-2.

    Before bed I have Alissa give me scratch marks on my back. She gets more feisty when there's an audience.



    Today is the 25th.

    I wake up to a hungry Hana, she needs double servings of her meal.

    Roxanne starts the cleanup while me and Alissa prepares the breakfast.

    Lina and Ciel are sleeping so deeply they don't wake up. Their noses are touching and their hair is tangled on each other. What a sight. Having everyone sleep naked is the best idea I have ever had.

    Alissa prefers some hot soup with tea and some grilled meat. The Misty Low Forest is quite chilly during morning so she likes hot things.

    Hana and Roxanne were born on hotter tropical climates. They prefer some fruit or fresh sandwich. Roxanne has a thing for spicy food due to the large amount of spices on her continent.

    I like some hot coffee with some bread. Sweetened coffee for bread with smoked meat and cheeses. Bitter coffee with milk for chocolate spread on bread. I still didn't get a whiff of coffee outside of the Morning Dew so I substitute it with tea.

    Aoi likes meat, that's it.

    Gify eats anything so we generally copy one of the breakfast someone is having and give to him.

    Ciel likes jam or butter on her toast accompanied by tea while Lina prefers to eat cold cuts of cheese and smoked meats, though she has an occasional urge to eat mushrooms. Lina had enough of simple toasted bread during her life with Hilde.

    I put each of their preferences on platters. Me and Alissa bring it over so the two naked sleeping beauties can have breakfast on the bed.

    "Wake up, my love," I say.

    Ciel groans and pushes Lina into her chest, suffocating her. If you are being cuddled by Ciel you should always have your back to her, she likes to hug things.

    Lina wakes up quickly due to lack of oxygen and pushes her away. Her droopy eyes extra droopy due to sleepiness.

    Lina finally notices us standing there with the platters and her eyes widen. She shakes up Ciel to help her wake up faster. Roxanne and Hana come back to bed with their own platters.

    We have a sexy, naked breakfast on the bed as we watch the Dripping Cave again.



    My [Blessing Magic] increased by 1 (now 4+19).



    We go back home and I spend this morning coaching and Hana on [Godly Language]. I have her practice the same routine as I did. She has much, much more difficulty than me in maintaining the vortex. She also has some problems actually sensing the vortex, her low "Perception" and [Sense Mana] are not helping her here.

    Her control is much sloppier so I keep healing her often. Not that she would easily get dizzy due to her "Endurance" but I would rather save her from the discomfort.



    On [Reduced Mana Cost] class I focus on my own method of replacing the reality of magic to obey to my own conversion of mana. I have been getting quite good at meditation and placing myself on a trance. I don't know if it's self-delusion but I can "feel" the way I convert mana change.

    Could I be changing my soul with some form of primitive [Alteration Magic]? I don't really know. Deviating from the system could have unknown effects. These things scare me a little.



    Me and Alissa made a super fluffy pie, it was so delicate it felt like your tongue was being caressed.

    "Eat your veggies," Ciel says.

    "Kweh..."

    "Gify is eating his," I say.

    "Gih!" He raises his head proudly before quickly lowering it again to dig on his food.

    "He, no, du-ragon."

    "I am and I eat my veggies," Hana says.

    "Muuuh..." Aoi groans, her nostrils light up.

    "Hey! No fire on the table," Alissa chastises.

    "So-ry," Aoi hurriedly apologizes with her eyes wide open.

    "Control your anger, little one," Hana says, "This is how dragons rise above animals and monsters."

    Aoi shyly nods her head in acknowledgment. She always listen to Hana.

    Dragons are omnivores, they have molars and incisors at the back of their mouths. They eat anything that could give energy to sustain their high-maintenance bodies.

    We are about to finish eating when Gify licks his plate clean and jumps into the middle of the table.

    "Gih, geh guh gih-ga go gih."

    He wants us to go into the Sea of Trees.

    "Weren't we going to relax this half-cycle?" Roxanne asks.

    "Gih, gih!"

    He really wants us to go somewhere.

    "Hmpf" Roxanne pouts.

    Alissa leans forward with curiosity.

    "But why do we need to go there?" She asks.

    "Gih."

    "You are being awfully cryptic. I don't like it," I say.

    "Gigigih!"

    I sigh and massage my eyes. He really wants us to go but is being very scarce on details.

    "Les, go!" Aoi says.

    I pet her sleek head and she lets out smoke from her nostrils in satisfaction. She trusts Gify unconditionally.

    "Alright... Does anyone do not want to go with Gify?" I ask.

    "I'm never leaving you," Alissa shrugs.

    My own foxy stalker.

    "I mean, do you want to go?"

    "Yes. It will at least be interesting," she smiles.

    "Well, this is really suspicious but I won't let you investigate something without me," Ciel says.

    Knowing her she's conflicted over the suspiciousness of his request but her curiosity tips her over.

    "I wanted to relax too but if it's somewhere dangerous I want you to help keep you all safe," Roxanne says.

    "Awn..." Hana pulls Roxanne into a bear hug, "There's no question about me, I will go where danger is."

    "Help, breathe!"

    Hana smirks and releases Roxanne.

    I look at Lina and she shrugs.

    "Why ask me? Gify could be taking us somewhere interesting and I won't leave you," she squirms over her own words."

    "Just making sure," I smirk at her.

    I was going to put a request to add an emellanat lining to all our shields but it will have to wait for another time. There's also the bent enchanted shield but due to damage it's not working, it will take some time for Lina to reverse-engineer it.



    Ciel manages to speak to Alissa normally but during bath she becomes awkward, even Roxanne noticed. I feel like I'll have to push Alissa onto Ciel again so she stops being like this but I think I'll tease her a little more.

    On the bed I'm used as a sex doll by the depraved duo. First I'm used as a board for the two to get off while they kiss. Then Hana picks me up and we have a vertical 69. The blood goes to my head and makes me very dizzy. Orgasming this way was a weird experience.



    Today is the 26th.

    Roxanne casually uses her tail to get me off while Hana keeps her mouth open for the shot. This was turning into a contest of creativity but I think that the creativity is running out.



    My [Reduced Mana Cost] increased by 1 (now 6+5).



    We leave quite early, there's still a faint mist around and the guards are just starting their rounds.

    Gify takes us to the western gate. Outside we see squads of guards accompanied by priests lining up. They are going to start a purge on the Sea of Trees. If only we were a day later.

    I will have Holly and Alissa help us avoid monsters. I don't want us to waste energy on trash mobs when we don't know how deep we are going to go.

    Gify tells us to continue west along the road until the road curves northwards. We get off our flying dinghy and enter the Sea of Trees and move south-west.



    We encounter a bloody battle between naked goblins and Mossy Fangpines. The Fangpines have the upper hand and shred the goblins. There was so much blood even I could smell it. We stood clear of that mess.

    A few minutes later we regrettably had to avoid a Grey Berserker that came running to join the carnage. We haven't sold the duplicate gnomic magic tools yet but once we do we won't have money problems for a while. There's also the large amount of emellanat that we have so we don't really have to fight that Grey Berserker.

    But still, money.



    Noon comes and we take our lunch break, a hearty meaty soup with garlic bread.

    The terrain has slowly begun to get hilly. We are approaching Rakontagne, the western mountain range. It's odd to think that Alissa's homeland is on the other side of those mountains. There's a long way until the mountain range, but still, so close yet so far.

    I really want to meet her parents. Not just hers, though, everyone's.



    We reach a cave and Alissa reports wyverns in there. Specifically, there's a huge Hooknose leading other smaller wyverns. We should report this to the guild when we come back.



    The sun starts to fall and I see a familiar sight with Holly. A huge and dark tree covered in a large amount of vines. I saw it when we were approaching the goblin village.

    We go down a hill and find a secluded nook filled with huge roots around it. The ground is perfectly flat and dry. Quite the snug place for us to make camp.

    Through a gap in the crown of the trees I look at the moon and mutter a curse. The brightest moon is the indigo one, the one who represents the aspect of otherwordlyness. Tonight and tomorrow is bound to be weird.

    Now that I think about it, Gify is leading us straight to that tree. Ominous.

    Nature spirits aren't evil or murderous, so I don't think we are in the danger of death. I just believe that tomorrow will be unpleasant.



    "Did you hear that?" Roxanne asks.

    "Kweh?" Aoi questions with her head tilted.

    "I heard nothing," Alissa says, her ears flickering repeatedly.

    Roxanne groans and shrinks on the bed, shivering a little.

    "C'mere," I pull Roxanne's head to my lap and caress her hair.

    Now with the elven products everyone's hair is so silky and soft. The perfume of the shampoo makes it smell so good, even though my hair smells flowery I love it.

    Ciel offers Ted to her, she accepts it and hugs it close to her chest. The little golem accepted that he is fated to be hugged and smothered in women's breasts. It is a shame for men around the world how he does not realize his luck.

    Oh wait. I better not change this nature of his, I already said to myself I won't be NTR'd by my pets. Maybe if I put a pink bow on him and say he's a lesbian the girls won't mind.

    Since my lap is occupied, Lina pulls Ciel to my side and has Ciel spoon her.

    Alissa, Hana, and Aoi are acting casual, they do not feel anything.

    I think I feel some form of pressure on my chest, it's a feeling difficult to describe. All I know is that it gives me anxiety.

    The forest is unusually noisy. I hear a lot of rustling and scratching. This part of the forest is more lively than the rest.

    I hear a seductive female moan followed by a giggle. I look around in surprise but nobody is reacting to it. Alissa glances at me, noticing my unease.

    "You also having a bad feeling?" She asks.

    I nod at her.

    She tilts her head in thought and worry.

    Aoi repeatedly jumps from Hana's head and glides down to the floor. She's trying to focus mana on her wings, flapping them will do nothing due to lack of aerodynamics.

    At the fifth failure she huffs, smoke and embers leave her nose.

    "Patience, little one," Hana says.

    When Aoi comes to crawl up on Hana again she holds down the little dragon.

    "Kweh! Fly, fun!"

    "Yes, flying is fun but don't get mad that you can't fly yet."

    Aoi tilts her head in confusion.

    "Get mad when you have to fight. Use anger only when necessary, getting angry at yourself won't help you fly faster."

    Aoi absentmindedly looks up while showing her belly to Hana for petting. I always see Hana wince at the cuteness whenever Aoi does that.

    "An, ger..." Aoi mutters while thinking.

    After a while Aoi resumes her flying trials, she still didn't have much success.

    Gify calmly sleeps on Alissa's lap. He remained in high-spirits during the whole trip yet talked very little, or rather, chirped very little. He only chirped when he needed us to correct course.

    Alissa's ears flickers.

    "I heard a woman moan," she says.

    "That's what I heard too!" Roxanne exclaims.

    "Me three," I say.

    Wait, that didn't work in Andraste.

    "I mean, me too," I correct myself hurriedly.

    I hear a thunder in the distance and cold air blows in. I pull out a gnomic heater magic tool, it even has a thermostat.

    We all huddle together. Things are getting creepy.



    Ever since I met with Alissa I never had nightmares anymore. My dreams were simple, sometimes they were painful memories of Earth, sometimes they were random nonsense, sometimes they were happy memories of Rupegia. This time my dream was a completely weird experience.

    I feel a storm ravaging the land. An island suffers with huge waves that wash away anything above ground; tornadoes move dust and sand, slowly grinding away the stone; lighting strikes explode any protruding rock; the earth cracks with constant earthquakes; lava pours out of the cracks continuously, it solidifies on the constant rain only to get broken down again.

    I feel this is one of many. One of countless islands where the storm ravages and rebuilds the land.



    Today is the 27th.

    Alissa and Lina wake me up. I open my eyes to see Alissa sharing half the bounty with Lina.

    I smile at them and once everyone uses [Clean] we share our usual morning kiss. I turn my head to the side and kiss the nose of the sleeping Ciel, who decided to use my arm as a hugging pillow. Her arms are like tentacles. Not saying I dislike it, though, on the contrary.

    Alissa gets up and opens the ice box. She picks up a cut of deboned fish. With a poof she pulls out a grilling grid and a heating magic tool. She turns on the tool and seasons the fish with some herbs and salt.

    Soon the smell awakes Aoi.

    "You want one too?" Alissa asks the little blue dragon.

    Her nostrils flare and she gives a smile full of sharp fangs. Dragons don't smile so she's copying us, to slightly frightening results. She nods and Alissa picks another cut of fish.

    Gify stops pretending to sleep and the other girls slowly wake up, they all get up and sit at the table. I'm the last one up.

    That dream is making me feel weird, I felt like my body wasn't my own anymore. The pressure at my back increased and my heart aches for something.

    That was the Everlasting Storm. Outside of the 3 continents there's nothing else out there, there's only the Storm, the remnants of the fight between the Gods. This Eternal destruction that ravages most of the world.

    "You feeling okay, Wolfy?" Alissa asks as I sit to eat.

    "I had a weird dream. I'm feeling odd."

    Ciel uses [Diagnosis] and casts [Purify Body] but nothing happens.

    I take a look at Gify but he's ignoring the situation. His face buried in a soup he's slurping.

    I let a sigh escape my lips.

    "It's just an uneasiness, if I get worse I will tell. Ciel you are second-in-command if anything happens," I say.

    "Y-yes. I don't think anything will happen, though," she answers.

    No one besides me is experienced in leadership but she's the one with the most level head here so she's the best for it.



    We pull out our cloaks and leave in the light drizzle.

    Slowly the drizzle turns into rain that turns into a thunderstorm. The light of the sun is almost put out, forcing us to cast our [Spirit Lights]. The forest looks extraordinarily depressive in this low light.

    I swear I'm hearing giggles, it's not the wind.

    The gnomic personal heating tools work to keep us from freezing, but they are costing too much mana and they don't stop the water from seeping into our bones.

    "Just endure it!" Hana yells.

    I barely hear Roxanne groan. Lina and I say nothing but our mood is horrible. Alissa and Ciel are a little more used to rough times. Aoi puffs smoke and keeps her own body warm with little effort. Gify is a cheater and he doesn't even get wet.

    Gih.

    Yeah, spirit body is cheating, you only feel temperature if you want to.

    I feel Gify shrug inside my head.

    Hana, Ciel, and Alissa are the ones with the most energy so they keep us moving at a steady pace.



    The storm lightens up and Alissa stops us.

    "Four large animals are coming!" She yells over the rain.

    Animals? Hardly any exist in the Sea of Trees due to orcs and goblins. Now, four large ones? This ain't good.

    I summon 3 water elementals. I can't use [Electric Magic] because I don't have enough control over it to not shock myself. I take my points off of it and put it all on [Earth Magic], now I can use [Dust Storm].

    Due to the light rain we see them before we hear them, but I think that even without the rain we would never hear them coming. 4 large black panthers with long, muscular legs and huge paws. Their claws are thicker than my thumb and look extremely sharp. Their mouths show impressive teeth while their yellow eyes and facial expression show unbridled anger. They growl wildly like panthers.

    Gatun's, the mounts used by the high elves of the High Forest.

    They walk low on the ground. Their long limbs move quickly while their heads move smoothly without bobbing. An eerie sight.

    They split and circle us, their gaze never wavering.

    "What are they doing here?" Alissa asks, clear surprise on her voice.

    "They are not running away, they are ignoring my [Intimidate]. They are trained" Hana says.

    "Then they belong to someone. Don't attack unless attacked, they might be protecting something," I say.

    They suddenly pounce towards us.

    "Uah!" Roxanne yells.

    Mana runs through Lina's body and she counters with a shield bash. Her shield diverts a paw away and she parries the other paw with her axe. The mouth of the Gatun continues down but it is thrown sideways as an [Explosion] gouges out a small chunk of his ribs.

    Hana immediately counters, before the Gatun can dodge her spear shoots forward. The enchantment and her thrust results in an incredibly fast strike, the spear gets lodged on it's throat. The Gatun extends it's long limbs and rakes her shield. A [Water Blade] splits its snout in two, exposing the bone.

    Ciel is not so fast with the counter, her glaive gets stuck on the ribs of the Gatun. Both paws strike her flank, its claws sink on her armor and stop at the fur lining. The Gatun receives a [Torrent] on the face and is pushed back. It pulls Ciel down as it claws are stuck on her armor.

    I cast a desperate [Earth Bullet] on the face of the Gatun. Its face tilts upwards due to the spell but it barely loses momentum. One paw strikes my shield and the other hits my sword arm, one claw sinking into my armor and shallowly breaking my skin. The force of the animal is so strong I feel like I'm getting crushed. An arrow pierces its throat and a [Torrent] pushes it back. The claw on my arm pulls me forward, making me stumble.

    The Gatun falls to the ground and swipes at Lina's legs. Its claw pierces her leg armor and breaks her skin.

    "RAAH!" Lina yells.

    She strikes with her axe and it cuts off the leg of the Gatun, the blade went clean through the bone.

    Hana's spear shortens and she spews fire. The fire doesn't go far due to the rain but it's enough to burn the face of the Gatun. The breath and a fireball Aoi threw burns his eyes, blinding it.

    The Gatun pulls it's claws in. It opens it's mouth and bites into Ciel's head, its steel jaw muscles bend her helmet. She drops her glaive and grabs the throat of the Gatun. She fires multiple [Air Blades] point-blank on its throat. Blood flies as the Gatun nearly gets decapitated. It spits her in surprise and pain.

    I stumble forward and strike its snout with the brim of my shield. The Gatun opens its mouth in pain and to bite at me, the bad smell of animal breath fills my nose. Another arrow enters its throat and I fire an [Earth Bullet] after it. The arrow pierces through its throat and it chokes. I remove my arm from its claw and slice with my sword, splitting his snout.

    The claws on Lina's leg dislodge, leaving a thin trail of blood. Another paw comes down, the claws break the scales and bend the metal of her shield. With an overhead strike she hacks at the attacking paw, forcing the elbow to point at the wrong way. It's roar of pain is interrupted by it's head exploding like a watermellon.

    Hana's Gatun retreats in pain. She strikes again at the neck and tries to keep it in place by using the spear with both hands.

    Ciel staggers back and points her finger forward. Aoi spews a fireball, the Gatun jumps upwards and the fireball explodes right under his chin, forcing his head upwards. From Ciel's finger an [Air Hammer] invisibly flies forward and hits its chin, forcing it backwards. A [Torrent] hit its chin again, forcing the head to an impossible position, breaking the neck. The Gatun collapses.

    I cast [Dust Storm], a large amount of dust gets lifted off the ground and surrounds the head of the Gatun. He swipes at it, confused. I fire an [Earth Bullet] at its body, making it roll on grass. Now he's completely disoriented. He stands still for a second and an arrow pierces his eyes. He falls limp.

    A thin [Ice Lance] pierces the skull of the Gatun Hana is holding. It collapses immediately.

    An arrow pierces the eye of the paralyzed Gatun.

    "What the fuck!" Hana exclaims, "The hell are these things doing here!"

    Ciel spits blood and heals herself. I instantly heal myself and Lina, our wounds were shallow.

    I check on Ciel. We needed Hana to pull her helmet apart so we could heal her. We both use multiple heals on her until she's back in shape. Lina spends some time reshaping her helmet with [Manipulate Metal].

    "Gify..." Alissa says, a hint of anger on her voice.

    All this time the little griffin was just laying still on my shoulder like he's glued. Normally he dematerializes whenever we fight but now he looks around casually, as if nothing happened.

    Don't tell me this is a fucking test.

    I kiss the drenched faced of Ciel and she smiles weakly. Her helmet is now misshapen.

    I store the bodies and dismiss the elementals. I feel even more sadness at killing animals than I do at killing monsters. What a shame to kill them because croikey, what a beauty they are.

    Then we huddle together under a huge snaking root to give us a small respite from the rain. We briefly warm ourselves with the [Warmth] magic tool.

    "Everyone okay?" I ask.

    "Yeah..." Roxanne answers faintly.

    The others nod. Everyone is taking a look at Gify on my shoulder.

    The first-class actor does not show a single reaction.

    "It's a test," I say.

    Alissa nods in agreement. "Whoever protects this forest wants to know who you are," she says.

    "I would rather not do this through deadly tests," I say.

    "Nature shows no mercy."

    "Next animal we attack on sight," Hana says.

    It certainly is like how the Gloomy Pervert said. I hope we didn't screw ourselves over due to the moon aspect.



    We continue our way forward. The rain turns back into drizzle, allowing us to finally warm ourselves again.

    The landscape changes slowly. We see patches of brightly colored trees and moss increasingly often. The bushes grow in size, forcing us to trudge through them with some effort. The mushrooms become more numerous and more eye-catching. The huge roots are a constant sight.

    "Do not touch any of these," Roxanne warns, "Many of them have poisonous spores and the rest I have no idea what they are like."

    "If I don't know the poison [Diagnosis] then [Purify Body] won't work," Ciel says.

    This is getting dangerous. No wait, this is already dangerous.

    "Form a line behind me," Alissa says, "I will make sure we avoid anything dangerous."

    Our traveling speed reduces but we avoid any danger.

    I start to see small amounts of suspended dust particles. After a while I realize they are colored and that they are spore clouds.

    The mushrooms start to pulse and glow. They come in many weird shapes, they resemble morels, brains, beards, skinny umbrellas, blood clots, or even underwater corals. Thinking of them as alien dicks lightens my mood.



    We find a skeleton of an adventurer sitting down with his back laying on a large root. At his feet there are multiple sinister looking glowing mushrooms.

    "Why did no monster eat his body?" I ask.

    "Monsters easily identify poisoned meat," Roxanne says.

    "The Mossy Fangpines use poison," I say.

    "But the Fangpines know the taste of their own poison."

    "Some adventurers use an Escape Bomb on themselves so their bodies are not eaten after they die," Ciel says.

    "Why?"

    "They believe it protects their soul," she shrugs, "I think it only delays reincarnation."

    "If you meet something like an undead then this might be a bad idea," Alissa says.

    "Or any monster that can manipulate the soul," I add.

    "Can we cremate him?" Ciel asks, "It's a shame to leave this corpse like this."

    "Wolfy. Can you lift him with [Telekinesis]?" Roxanne asks, "Nobody should ever be getting anywhere close to a glowing mushroom."

    "Stand back," I say.

    I focus on every bone that I can see. I have to be really delicate here, can't let a single bone fall.

    I start lifting him up. His leather and cloth armor rips even further but fortunately it doesn't fall down.

    Something shifts inside him and a leather bound notebook falls off his jacket. It opens into ruined pages and I catch a glimpse of Andraste.

    *FUSHH~* A black cloud emerges from the disturbed mushrooms. I drop the bones and run. The skeleton breaks into hundreds of pieces.

    We run with an increasing amount of spore clouds emerging from behind us.

    We reach an area clear of mushrooms and Ciel stops.

    "Leave it to me!" She yells.

    We stop and cover our noses. Ciel hurriedly chants. The spore cloud gets closer.

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    We are assaulted by mildly uncomfortable wind bursts. They sting my cheeks every time they hit my face.

    The wind around us calms but our surroundings get enveloped by a rainbow of spores. The tornado intensifies and slowly the spores are sent back to where we came, clearing our surroundings.

    "Gihihihih."

    The little shit giggles even though he receives glares from all of us, even Aoi.

    "Sorry. It wasn't a good idea," Ciel says.

    "It's okay," I say.

    "I apologize for disturbing his rest but our lives must be preserved," Ciel prays.

    Since we are already on a clearing we take this opportunity to have another hearty hot soup for lunch followed by hot tea. Comforting warmth fills our insides as the cold was starting to seep through our bones.

    Our soured mood abates for a good half hour of relaxation. But when we pick up our pace again the anxiety comes back.



    The hills start to increase in height, we are near our target. I feel the pressure in my back increase.

    There are barely any trees left. Only a mess of roots, glowing mushrooms, and rainbow patches of moss.

    "This is certainly a weird place," Ciel says.

    "You never heard of it?" I ask.

    "No... This is the weirdest part."

    Her mood slowly improves as the mystery thickens. But it's hampered again by Alissa.

    "Two large animals are coming. They seem rather humanoid," she says.

    Fuck me, again.

    The terrain is in our disadvantage, we are on a slope.

    "Form a line over here. We can't disperse due to the mushrooms."

    The wind rustles again and the drizzle quickly turns back into rain. The cloak protects us from the rain but we have to pull the hood down when fighting. The wetness and the cold is getting on my nerves.

    The wind picks up speed and Alissa frowns. This amount of wind is unnatural and will divert her arrows. I can hear the giggles again.

    Out of the woods come floating two hulking figures, at least 2 meters tall. The head is made of a conical dark cloud, the neck is represented by constant lighting, the chest is composed of mossy rock, the arms and legs are tornados of dust. Wild storm elementals, magical beings, extremely rare.

    Lina's axe switches to a hammer. Hana stores her sword and shield, she pulls out Lina's old war hammer and her emellanat sword. Me and Ciel take a step back from the line. I switch to my emellanat sword.

    "Give me a point into [Earth Magic]!" Alissa yells.

    "Me too!" Ciel follows.

    I quickly obey.

    "[Explosion] will be very ineffective!" Roxanne yells over the rain and wind.

    "Use anything blunt!" I yell.

    I summon two earth elementals. I don't want to waste mana, I hope this is enough.

    Roxanne points her staff and I hear her chanting. Aoi is also concentrating her mana, she's trying to somehow improve her own fire.

    The storm elementals float forward. One points his arm forward and a lighting bolt hits Hana's sword. The second raises his arms upwards and a tornado starts to immediately form in the middle of us, it almost topples us over due to the sudden wind. Me and Ciel immediately interrupt it.

    Both elementals reach us. Hana fires an [Earth Bullet] into the shoulder of the first storm elemental and follows with a strike. A considerable chunk of stone is pulverized. He swipes with one of his arms and a large gust of wind hits her. She has to summon her wings to not be swept away.

    My earth elemental punches the first enemy. The storm elemental simply raises his other arm and the fists of the earth elemental stop in the air.

    Lina strikes the second elemental in the chest and I see it float back a few centimeters. I follow with an [Earth Bullet] and rock pulverizes.

    The elemental swipes just like the other and Lina is thrown back into me. I grab her and we roll a few meters down the slope, drenching us in mud. Choosing this a part of the slope with no mushrooms behind us was good thinking on my part.

    Alissa and Ciel fire pathetic [Earth Bullets] at the second elemental, they only make it sway a little.

    Lina quickly gets up and starts to charge.

    "RAAAH!" She yells in anger.

    Hana strikes at the elemental repeatedly. It returns with more and more gusts of wind. Small cuts appear on her skin and along her armor. She uses the emellanat bastard sword on the limbs of the elemental, giving her small reprieve from the storm of cuts.

    Lina strikes the elemental and buries her hammer on his chest. He swipes her again but she remains in place by griping her hammer.

    "KWEH!" Aoi yells, fire dangerously escaping from her mouth and nostrils.

    "Lina! Get down!" I yell.

    She dislodges her hammer and literally throws herself on the ground.

    A fireball flies and explodes in the chest of the second storm elemental. It loses a large chunk of stone and staggers backwards. The earth elemental is blocked no more. It punches at the storm elemental repeatedly, both losing large chunks of stone.

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Wind Hammer]!"

    Me, Alissa, and Ciel fire our spells. Alissa used much more mana on this one, it breaks a chunk of stone. Ciel's do little damage but dissipates part of one tornado arm for a few seconds.

    "OH!" She squeals, "[Wind Storm]!"

    Hana staggers back while the storm elementals shudder. Their arms and legs dissipate and struggle to reform. After a few seconds they finally turn their chests towards the middle of the [Wind Storm] and interrupt it.

    "Wow!" I let it escape my lips.

    "HANA!" Roxanne yells.

    Hana ducks and rolls sideways.

    "[Ice Lance]!"

    A 50-centimeter thick lance flies out of her staff and gets impaled in the chest of the first storm elemental. It's chest cracks and glows for a few seconds, then it explodes in a shower of sparks and large chunks of rock.

    The other elemental turns into a tesla coil as hundreds of sparks leave his body. Lina is unnaffected due to her emellanat shield.

    We take a step back and both earth elementals start pummeling it, barely feeling the electricity. I feel a "path" forming behind me. I dash towards Roxanne. I hold my sword upwards and a lighting strikes it from the skies. My sword gets so hot I drop it to not burn my hands. The sparks subside and the storm elemental holds both earth elementals away with its tornado arms and legs.

    "[Wind Storm]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Earth Bullet]!"

    "[Fireball]!"

    And another unstable fireball is thrown at it.

    The tornado limbs dissipate and the elemental is hit by all spells at once. His already battered body is broken down in a shower of sparks and large chunks of rock.

    The stormy wind subsides and the rain goes back to a drizzle.

    Ciel, Aoi, and Roxanne are panting with pain from overuse. Alissa and Lina have little mana remaining from putting it all on their spells. Hana is okay but she's physically tired.

    "Who would have thought... That storm elementals are... Vulnerable to [Wind Magic]," Ciel says between breaths.

    "Only instant-cast spells. If you chant they could have a better chance to prepare," I say.

    "Perhaps... But [Wind Hammer]... Is still powerful..."

    Me and Lina use a potent [Clean] gnomic magic tool and the mud disappears from our clothes and armor.

    I turn to Aoi and grab her from Roxanne's shoulders. I hold her on my arms. She's quite warm, or maybe I'm just very cold right now.

    "Your fireballs were very useful," I rub her nose. She closes her eyes in happiness, she's feeling very proud of herself. "But be careful with it, though. They seemed unstable."

    She huffs smoke but nods to me. She knows she would disappoint me if she hurt herself.

    "Giih."

    He doesn't want us to stop.

    "Is it over?" I ask.

    "Gih."

    "Okay, just a five minutes break."

    We collect the stones and I store them. They are charged with mana and could even be used as gems for wands and staffs.



    We move on and the landscape changes again. The mushrooms die out, the trees disappear, all are substituted by the roots. The roots are so thick they almost form a wall of mossy wood. We shimmy our way through them and notice that the drizzle disappears.

    Suddenly the wall of roots opens up and we reach dry grass. There's not a single cloud in the sky, our first real sun light in two days.

    In the peak of the hill in front of us is the biggest tree I have ever seen. It might be bigger than a castle. Full of branches and leaves, it's a vertical pillar of dark green leaves. Hundreds of vines hang from the branches, visible from the few spaces you can see through. The bark is much darker than any tree on the surrounding, it's almost a creepy black.

    We stand still for a good minute admiring this ginormous tree.

    The thing that stands out the most is the quiet. Barely a wind, barely a ruffle, this place feels special. I don't really feel tense anymore, the pressure on my back finally released.

    "Two, uh, people, are coming," Alissa says.

    "Not sure?" I ask.

    "Yeah, weird souls."

    We stand in our battle formation but trying not to look too threatening. The encounter with the Gatuns made be slightly wary.

    Behind one of the few roots in the way to the tree comes out two nature elementals. A man and a woman, both naked.

    Actually, if Alissa said they are not animals then they must be dryads. When they get close enough I can make up the details of them, too much detail.

    The woman has long hair made of heart-shaped yellow leaves that reach her hips. Her face has round lines with very full lips. Her skin is light green and seems rough like moss. Her torpedo breasts jiggle in an impossible way, they are far too long for them to sustain themselves, they should be sagging heavily. She has an exaggerated hourglass figure with thickness that makes Ciel blush. Her bush in the middle of the legs is made of four-leafed clovers, I wonder if they signify luck in this world.

    The man has short black grass as hair that curls in a spiral. His face is chiseled and handsome, coupled with his smirk and he looks like an action hero. His skin is the same as the woman's. His body is more defined than a weight-lifter, I feel like starvation survivor near him. The worst is that he has a literal horse dick dangling about up to his knees.

    We all uncomfortably look away from the two shameless dryads. The footsteps stop for a few seconds and then resume. We glance towards them and thankfully their sexes are being covered by palm leaves growing out of their bodies. The bulge in the man is still ridiculous, though.

    "We are sorry for making you feel uncomfortable," says a slightly coarse female voice, "We rarely get visitors looking for something else than having some fun."

    "You are dryads, I assume?" I ask.

    "Yes...?" The man lifts a handsome eyebrow.

    "Gih."

    The dryad duo turns their heads to Gify and their eyes slowly open wide as realization sinks in. Their demeanor suddenly takes a change to a much more stiff and formal posture.

    "Oh my. Please come forth, you are guests of our Lord," the woman bows lightly and motions us to towards the tree.

    "I am Pallido and this is Camassia. We are the Speakers for our Lord," says the male dryad.

    Alissa, Ciel, and Roxanne stiffen up, their mouths hang loose in surprise.

    I only heard a passing about Speakers. It was only a very distant legend from the High Forest. This is certainly interesting.

    "Please follow us," Pallido says.

    I see the three girls are surprised but relaxed, I sheathe my sword and follow the dryads. I see that they do not trample the grass, wherever they set foot the grass actually grows a centimeter or so.

    "So what are Speakers, exactly?" I ask Alissa.

    "T-this must be the Lord of the Forest. A legendary being that existed before humans were created. A Speaker is someone who translates the language of the Lord to us, humanoids."

    Oh boy. I only heard that there's a theory that the high elves might have gained their knowledge to manipulate the High Forest from trading with a Speaker.

    "Are they dangerous?"

    "I... Don't think so."

    I will reserve my judgment then.

    We reach the base of the huge tree and the musky smell of nature becomes stronger. It has a calming effect on me.

    At the bottom of the tangled mess of roots we reach a doorway carved on the wood. Inside there's a cozy room with heating magical tools on the walls, multiple colored wool cushions, a low table with a beautiful porcelain tea set, and multiple twinkling crystals on the ceiling that illuminate the area.

    "Please take your boots off. You can spend some time here to warm yourselves," says Camassia.

    The wooden floor is warm to the touch. We take our armor off and huddle around the tea table. Alissa pours tea for us, it tastes like hibiscus. The porcelain is decorated with flowery patterns all over it. There's even a pot with sugar cubes.

    The two dryads stand by the doorway to the corridor deeper inside. They remain motionless like two status looking forward.

    Ciel sighs and massages her eyes.

    "Now this is unexpected," she says.

    Small vapors come out our bodies as the gnomic personal heather does its work.

    "I just... Can't believe it's really the Lord of the Forest," Alissa says lowly, her eyes barely focused on her tea cup.

    "Gih!"

    I guess that now that we are finally here there's no point more in him hiding it.

    "Okay, okay. I believe you." she says to Gify, "I just can't believe that I am going to meet the Lord."

    "I'm more surprised I never heard they were so close to Rabanara," Ciel says, "I mean. The temple hears everything the common folk talk about. It's hard to think nobody would try to explore this place."

    "We did have quite some trouble coming here." I say, "We even found a skeleton."

    "Forgive me for interrupting but we do have a lot of secrets that keep other people out," Pallido says, "Very few people know about our existence."

    "I wonder why," I say.

    "You will know about it when you meet the Lord," he smiles faintly.

    Well, whatever.

    "What exactly is the Lord of the Forest?" I ask.

    "This tree," Ciel says, "Tree of Mana, Lord of the Forest, Symbol of Nature. Those are the names it is known as. A being of legend that has been reincarnating ever since the war between the Gods of Change and Order created this realm."

    "They say the Lord of the Land lives inside the Wild Steppes, this is why the empire never invaded the Steppes," Lina says.

    "So, there are more than one?" I ask.

    "Theoretically. It is said they are the incarnation of the 10 elements," Ciel says, "Though we only know of the Lord of Storms, who lives beyond the sky lands of the chimeras."

    "How trustworthy is it? Could it harm us?" I ask.

    I do not care whether it can hear us or not. Gify is already kind of a spy for it, anyway.

    "Well..." She taps her cheek, passing through her memories, "It's a rather neutral figure. It never got involved in the matters of the humanoids unless we threaten it."

    "Gih gih."

    Harmless. On the contrary, it wants to help us.

    We are all in a kind of stupor. How do you react when a being much bigger than you offers their hand?

    I dismiss Holly but keep Shad on Roxanne. I'm not 100% comfortable yet.



    After a few minutes getting warm we stand up with regret. Those cushions are really comfy.

    "Ready to meet our Lord?" Pallido asks.

    "Yes, please," I say.

    "Follow us, then."

    We can all stare in silence as our brows are perpetually lifted in surprise.

    The halls are filled with ivies and other leaves even though there is no sunlight here. Flowers scent the air with their sweet perfume. Slugs, snails, and a small hermit-crab-like animal moves about, thankfully they are found exclusively on the ceiling. Small children that look like bulbous roots run around giggling in a very high pitch, they are the non-monster version of mandrakes, the Children of the Forest. Amber fireflies twinkle about, mostly resting near the ceiling crystal lights, those are Manaflies.

    There are slow moving human looking people with bark or leaves for skin. Curinds and Cublends, respectivelly. They grunt and nod at us in greeting, the leaf ones make a lot of noise when the move.

    We pass through dozens of rooms. Inside there's simple furniture like beds, cushions, shelves with leather-bound books, and counters that look like our kitchens with magic-tool stoves.

    In many of these places there are assorted animals not found here. Deer, dogs, wolves, cows, bulls, turtles, sheep, Gatuns, and a few more magical animals. A few snakes lick the air when we pass.

    There are plenty of Ronti, the mount of the Imperial Lancers. They are something like a mix of a mouse and a horse. Their rib cages glow with flashes of lighting.

    A few times we see inter species mating. Surprisingly "civilized" instead of the rape-y kind you normally see in nature.

    I even saw herbivorous animals eating cooked meat. From my classes on [Nature Magic] I knew magic beings of nature could morph how animals behaved but this is on another level.

    "Sorry about that," Camassia says with a slight cringe as we pass a wolf mating with a Child of the Forest, "I understand humanoids are much more reserved than our kind."

    "It's no matter, I understand our differences," I wave at her.

    I have a very good hunch that the animals are all sapient.

    We finally reach a big circular hall. Leaf baskets are used as elevators, multiple animals, and people can be seen using them. The elevator continues upwards so high we can barely see. Every floor there's a balcony where we see more living beings passing through.

    The dryads lead us inside a leaf basket.

    "Take us to the Lord, please," Pallido says to a vine that looks like a snake head.

    The snake/vine nods slowly. The leaf basket turns into cage as vines close down any escape and the basket moves upwards.

    Some floors have different layouts but they are all tall with wide corridors. Pack animals carry bags or pull wagons. I caught glimpses and the faint smell of stalls cooking food. This is simply a nature-themed town.

    Eventually the floors end and we only see the heartwood of the tree. A little longer and we finally reach the top floor.

    A circular room with tall windows let in large amounts of sunlight and a fresh breeze. The floor is covered in flowers and when our naked feet touch them we feel the softness of warm earth. It does not seem to dirty our feet.

    A little ways forward there's multiple sofas in a circle surrounding a very large wooden head of a sleeping old woman.

    The dryads lead us to the circle of sofas and motion for us to sit.

    I stare at the wooden head and see it's moving slowly, the nostrils flare as if she's breathing in slow motion.

    A branch that acts as hair for the wooden woman lifts up and snakes through the air towards the Camassia. It enters her ear and suddenly the butler-like demeanor of the dryad turns into grace as the dryad's entire body seem to constantly move.

    Camassia turns to us, her feet still but her arms undulate slowly.

    "Welcome, humanoids. Welcome to my body," she says in slow and gentle tone.

    I recover slightly out of my stupor and speak.

    "H-hello, uh, Lord of Nature. I am W-Wolf Ryder," I speak.

    "Lord of the Forest, Symbol of Nature," she corrects with a giggle, "But call me Gecynd. No need to add Lord, too."

    "Pleasure to meet you, Gecynd."

    "You too. And you, Alissa, Roxanne, Hana, Ciel, Lina, and Aoi," she gives a light bow to us all.

    The girls tense up and return the bow. Aoi is the only one who's composed.

    "It seems you know us well," I say.

    "Yes. And I could have known a little bit more, but you refused to get close to that tree in your house. A small shame," she smiles faintly.

    I blink in surprise.

    "What would warrant such surveillance?"

    "It is not everyday someone appears out of nothing inside my forest, realm traveler."

    Now that is surprising.

    "Is there something you know about how I appeared?" I ask expectantly.

    "No. This is one of the things that interest me. There was no mana, no spell, no traces. You weren't there and the next moment you were. After that the Threads of Fate slowly changed."

    Oh. This dampens my mood. I would rather not get reminded of Earth or even if there's a way back.

    "Wait..." Ciel meekly raises her voice, "You said the Threads of Fate changed?"

    "Precisely. I can see them just like, well, what do you imperials call it?" Gecynd closes her eyes in thought.

    "Oracle?" Ciel says.

    Gecynd slowly opens her eyes and smiles again.

    "Yes, that is the word. After a long time observing the world I started to see what was 'underneath'," she smiles proudly. "I can see his soul just like your Oracles can. And let us say that his soul is very different from the norm."

    Alissa frowns. "His soul is normal to me," she says.

    "To you. I can see deeper than that. His soul is..." She slowly turns to me and smirks, "Bizarre. It made me question if you were a human when you came."

    "Hey... I'm surely a human, the system says so," I say, a little offended.

    "Yes. But all I could see was an aberration without a Thread of Fate suddenly appear in my forest."

    I don't like being called "aberration", justified or not.

    "Do you know the meanings behind his soul's... 'Diffferences'?" Ciel asks.

    "No," she slowly shakes her head with indifference and then continues, "You would need to go to your Oracle for that. What I do know is that his Thread is very... Unusual."

    "What are these Threads?" I ask.

    "They are the bonds that tie us," Ciel says, "The fate of every commoner is already set. Who they meet, who they fight, who they love, when they die. Very few people can change their Fate, they are the heroes, people who can beat the odds and rise above all others."

    "So this confirms he's going to be a hero?" Alissa asks, hopeful.

    "It would, if his Thread was usual," Gecynd answers.

    Alissa turns her hope into thought. She tilts her head and puckers her lips.

    "What do you see of his thread?" Ciel asks.

    "It is a... Stormy sea, a constantly morphing plane of endless possibilities. Slowly I see the storm recedes."

    "Then he's adapting," Ciel says, her legs crossed and her hand on her chin, deep in thought, "Since we know he's from another realm it's plausible that he wouldn't have a Thread. When he came here his Thread would be uncertain but slowly settle down."

    "Yes, I believe it is so," Gecynd says, "Though now that I see him close I can see the sea starting to move on a single direction."

    "You are like an Oracle, you have a lot of influence over his Fate," Ciel says.

    "Oh," Gecynd slowly claps her hands, "Then it is good that we met, an unstable fate is a dangerous thing. For him and for the world."

    "I hardly believe I would be able to change the world," I say.

    "Considering your powers, it is certain you could, given time," she answers with amusement.

    "Don't underestimate yourself, Wolfy," Hana says.

    I frown again.

    "The monsters you sent to us were a test of my powers?" I ask.

    "Yes," she replies immediately.

    "Why send your subjects to death when you could have asked for a demonstration?"

    "It wouldn't have shown your personality the way the test did," she answers flatly.

    "I dislike being put into danger like this. Such tests are unnecessary," I scowl to clearly show her my displease.

    "You are an interesting one," she smirks.

    "Please forgive Gecynd's bluntness," Pallido interjects with an apologetic frown, "When you live long enough the lives of others lose meaning."

    "I do not live forever, I die often. I only recover most of my memories through my roots," Gecynd says.

    "You still retain most of your personality in every reincarnation," Pallido smiles wryly.

    "Fair enough," she closes her eyes slowly in mild annoyance.

    "Didn't Gify tell you all about me?" I ask.

    "He told me much, too much, actually," she glares at Gify and he puffs his chest in answer. "I would rather confirm them with my own eyes. Some spirits can sometimes, brag, too much."

    "Gih."

    "Yes, I know," she rolls her eyes, "But how could I believe he had such incredible powers?"

    Gify's beak deforms as he pouts. Gecynd scoffs at him.

    So I guess he's not her underling, just someone who respects her a lot.

    Gih.

    "Why now?" I ask, "Any reason to wait so long?"

    "You seemed like a busy person. Only now you had a free half-cycle to come visit," she shrugs, then her expression turns serious, "Would you let me observe your Thread more closely? I feel it is starting to entwine with my own."

    "How would you do that?" I ask.

    "Let me touch you close to your heart."

    "Sure..."

    The voluptuous dryad comes dangerously close to my face and puts a hand over my chest.



    I'm staring at myself, my old self, dressed in a tuxedo. I can also see myself, my current self, dressed in my emerald scale armor and with my fang sword in hand. I know I am the one dressed in armor, yet I can still see myself, looking forward with grief stricken on my face.

    My old self is cold. His heart burns in pain. Pain and longing.



    The hand pulls away and the dryad looks at me with surprise in her eyes. I feel something change within me. I feel weird, like my body was not my own anymore.

    "Did you see something?" She asks.

    "Yes, I saw myself and my old self from Earth. Like I was looking at the mirror."

    "Curious," her constant movements slow as she thinks, "I also saw something, it was merely a wooden door with the word 'Legado' on the frame."

    "Legacy" in Portuguese?

    "What does this mean?" I ask.

    "Who knows? Your Fate is strong, so is mine, we are bound to influence the world and each other."

    Oh, that weird feeling is familiar.

    "Wait, there also was this dream, when I woke up it felt just like I feel now. I dreamed of the Everlasting Storm."

    "Oh? I remember you were sleeping near a bundle of my roots," Gecynd taps her chin slowly, "Perhaps your Fate interacted strongly with your soul just like it did when I touched you. Or it could be one of my memories."

    "Why would I see a memory from you?" I ask.

    "Perhaps one of my birth places? I have died more times inside the Everlasting Storm than anywhere else. These memories are strong inside me."

    "Why would you die there?" Alissa asks.

    "I am always reborn some place randomly," she lowers her eyes in sadness, "I do not know how to fully control my reincarnation so I often end up reviving on a place only to quickly die. I have found many of my roots all over the world with painful memories of such deaths."

    "Perhaps. But I only saw the storm, I didn't see you anywhere," I say.

    Gecynd closes her eyes in thought. Ciel sighs and holds her head.

    "Cryptic prophecies. I am back into a hero story," she says.

    "Why are you pouting?" Roxanne asks, "You are the one who wanted an adventure the most."

    Ciel shrugs and holds back a chuckle.

    "I just like to travel," she says, "What annoys me is why couldn't a hero's destiny not be cryptic for once?"

    "It's always back to being called a hero," I sigh.

    "Well, you have the markings of one," Gecynd says, "One just does not get sent into this world with your abilities simply to do nothing."

    "It even extends to us," Alissa says, "Clearly there's something he's meant to do here which needs a team."

    "A team composed of people very close to him," Lina shyly raises her voice.

    "Didn't you say you can see our status and the name of the screen is named 'Followers'?" Roxanne asks to me.

    "Oh?" Gecynd grins at me, "What a suggestive name."

    "Alright, alright," I lift my hands in defeat, "I'm sent here for some reason. But what is this reason? I never had any guidance, all I ever got was a message from 'God' saying 'I'm sorry for this, but there's no way for you to go back'."

    "'God'?" Gecynd questions, "Which God?"

    "That's the thing, it was only 'God', no more information on it. It could be the 'God' of my original realm, since most religions there are monotheistic and the God there is referred that way."

    "Monotheistic?" Alissa asks.

    "A religion with only one god, as if only the Overseer existed," I answer.

    "Oh, I see."

    Gecynd takes a look at all of us with a kind smile.

    "Whatever it is the reason you are all together know this," she says, "Your Threads of Fate are all deeply entwined. Do not stray from each other and your life will be what it is meant to be. Your Threads are strong, your future is important."

    Hana smirks and shares a look with all of us. "That much is obvious," she says, "We are all bringing something to Wolfy and he's bringing something to us. We are stronger together."

    Gecynd smirks for a few seconds and then her expression turns sorrowful.

    "There's something I must say to you, dwarf Lina," Lina nearly jumps out of her skin from being addressed directly, "The ancient dragon who killed your previous master was my responsibility. I am sorry for failing on this task."

    Gecynd bows apologetically and Lina's mouth opens wide.

    "T-that's no-not a problem. I-I understand that-that mistakes h-happen," she hurriedly stutters her words out.

    Gecynd straightens and smiles with her eyes.

    "You may be far too flustered to understand but I am truly sorry for your loss," she says, "I hope you will truly forgive me one day."

    Lina's mouth opens and closes soundlessly for a few seconds. Her embarrassment catches up to her brain and she blushes heavily. She finally closes her mouth and nods to Gecynd.

    "You are responsible for the monsters of the forest?" Ciel asks.

    "Yes. It is a treaty with Rabanara. I keep the worst of the Sea of Trees away from the Shore of Leaves and they allow me to live in peace and quiet."

    "But what about Hiyoku Hara?" Hana asks.

    "That place is under the influence of the Monster King," she shakes her head with a frown, "I cannot stop the monsters from appearing along the Rakontagne mountain range."

    Lina's Trivia: The dragonkin losing that stretch of land is what spurred the expedition into the Sea of Trees and the creation of the Shore of Leaves. Now Hiyoku Hara is an eternal battlefield for the empire.

    Hana sighs in disappointment.

    "There is one more thing. I wish to give something to you, Aoi," Gecynd says.

    The little dragon tilts her head.

    "Kweh?"

    "If you would allow me, I wish to bestow upon you a gift that will be very useful as you grow."

    Aoi turns to me and I feel she's asking my permission. I truly do not wish to control her too much but I guess I am the one with the most life experience so she's asking me for advice.

    "What is this gift?" I ask.

    "The ability to change the size of your body," Gecynd answers.

    That's interesting. When Aoi grows too large she would be difficult to have around, I guess this is something very thoughtful of Gecynd.

    "Why are you gifting us this?" I ask.

    "I mean no harm to you. Think of this a gesture of good faith, I wish to have a good relationship with all of you in the future," she answers.

    Alissa's eyes nearly pop out of her skull, Ciel chokes on her spit, and even Roxanne looks impressed.

    I look at Hana and she shrugs.

    "Well, go ahead, then."

    A branch enters the ear of Aoi and she closes her eyes in pleasure. I feel a small amount of anxiety coming out of her but it quickly goes away and the branch retreats.

    Aoi opens her eyes and I feel mana circulating through her body. Suddenly she doubles in size then immediately halves twice.

    "Kweh!"

    Aoi jumps in circles in happiness.

    "Ohoh! That's wonderful. My shoulders were starting to hurt," Roxanne says, clapping the tip of her hands in happiness.

    Aoi doubling in size makes her look slightly comical. The scales of a dragon do not grow proportionally to their size. So when Aoi increases in size she resembles something like a giant baby instead of looking older.

    Gecynd seems to almost want to dance in happiness as she looks at the celebration of the little dragon.

    "Now then," Gecynd slowly claps her hands, "That was all I wished to talk to you. Do any of have anything you wish to talk about?"

    I'm feeling the tiredness of the repeated battles and this conversation. I just want to lay down and rest.

    Alissa seems to want to talk about something but she eventually shakes her head.

    "Please stay here as long as you like. You are all my guests so the others will receive you warmly."

    The branch retreats from Camassia's ear and she stumbles forward. Pallido holds her and she slowly moves to a sofa.

    "I will take you to your guest quarters. The bed of the main room should comfortably fit at least five of you," Pallido says with a grin.

    With a little bit of embarrassment we follow him back to the elevator.

    "When Gecynd told about having a relationship with us why did you react like that?" I whisper to Alissa.

    "Having a relationship with the Lord of the Forest is an amazing thing," Alissa whispers to me, "Even the emperor would wish for such a thing. The neutrality of the Lord is something that vexed many emperors."

    Huh. Hopefully word doesn't spread. Now this would be something that would attract a lot of attention.



    As we go down the elevator I keep replaying the visions in my head.

    Me, facing my old self? Why? How?

    And then there's that dream. What would call me to a place where only destruction exists.

     
  18. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    "I just remembered, we heard some giggles and moans when we were coming here," I say, "Do you know what it could have been?"

    Pallido looks at me with the corner of his eye, he suddenly seems hesitant to talk.

    "That, uh..." Pallido massages his temple, "That must have been one of us. The moon was having an effect on us a day ago so the other dryads must have gotten... 'mischievous'."

    "There were some suggestive moans," Roxanne says.

    "Well... I'm sorry, they were mating near your tent," he hurriedly confesses, "They didn't mean evil and they would never interact with you due to Gify's presence but they certainly did some regrettable things."

    "It wasn't anything bad," I wave my hand in apology.

    "Yeah, just creepy, don't worry," Roxanne smiles wryly.

    Pallido nods and awkwardly returns to his more formal demeanor.



    We are taken to the 70th floor, around the middle range of the tree. The red grass is so thin and soft that it feels like we are walking on a textile carpet. The corridors are a neutral grey with very few leaves and ivies. They are all organized on a simple and orderly grid. It's one of the few floors were I actually saw doors. This feels like a hotel.

    "This is your room," Pallido says. He stops on a particular door with unknown markings. "Apologies but please memorize or copy the markings, they are in a neutral language we all use."

    I pull out some paper and a small clipboard and copy it multiple times, then I give the paper to girls. Each character is a number of scratches organized in a circle.

    "The other five rooms along the corridor can also be used by any of you."

    How much of our life did Gify tell Gecynd?

    Gih.

    Our sleep arrangements is not really "just enough".

    "The Cublend in front will be your guide, his name is Arlo," Pallido points to the other side of the wall where bunch of leaves arranged in the shape of a man are growing out of the wall. I see them flutter loudly. "If you wish to separate ask it to him and we will prepare more guides for each of you."

    "Thank you for your hospitality," Alissa says with a nod.

    "It is our pleasure," he bows, his curly grass hair bounces wildly. "If you need nothing else I will be taking my leave. You can always ask for another meeting with our Lord, she's not a busy person."

    "Thank you. That is all," I say.

    Pallido walks away and I feel glad the overly manly man is away from the women.

    We enter the room and the first thing we see is that the bed is larger than ours, there's a thick silk blanket on it and some very fluffy and furry looking pillows. There's a wardrobe that looks like it grew out of the wall, a table with some chairs that look they came right out of a nobles house, and I recognize a gnomic magic tool that controls the temperature. The mix of technologies is jarring but very curious.

    To our left the door is open to a large stone bath, beyond that is an almost modern looking toilet. To our right we see that the doors to our other rooms are all open. Behind the bed there's a balcony that gives us a view to the south of the Sea of Trees. We are considerably high above the canopy of trees, giving us unobstructed view to something amazing.

    Roxanne throws herself in the bed. She quickly removes all her clothes.

    "SO FLUFFY!" She yells.

    I strip down naked and join her. Yeah, she's right. This is super fluffy.



    Oh Gods, I fell asleep. It's almost evening so it's time for a bath.

    I wake up to Roxanne spooning me on one side and Hana on the other. My brains are being massaged by Hana's strong hands and I almost fall back asleep instantly.

    "Let's take a bath," I manage to force out before I end up blacking out again.

    The hands stop moving and I regain my consciousness.

    A groggy me and Roxanne are almost dragged to the bath where the other girls are taking a look. Simple grey stone with a large hole in the middle. Multiple gems decorate the border of the hole, magic tools. There's a large ice box where cold alcohol and some snacks are stored. Alissa closes the ice box and her nipples appear pointy. Even the floor is warmed.

    This is a hotel.

    "Wolfy, look at this!" Lina exclaims happily, "So many enchantments, maybe we should get some for our bath."

    I blink blankly for a few seconds and finally fully awaken.

    "Most look like magic tools. You weren't focusing on that, right?" I ask.

    Her eyes go back to being gloomy.

    "Ah, yes. I know very little about [Magic Tool Carving]."

    Lina's Trivia: Enchanting is a spell that affects in item, a magic tool is a spell completely contained in a crystal.

    "We can just ask Gecynd later. Actually, you should do it, ask her about the Monster King too."

    Lina stiffens and her breath quickens. Ciel chuckles at her anxiety and gives her a calming, breasty hug.

    "You will do fine, she doesn't bite, or rather, shouldn't," Ciel smirks.

    Alissa starts filling the bath. Bubbles start to fill the air, fluffy and golden foam starts to form, the smell of flowers fill our noses, and a harp starts to play.

    "Wow, even music. Now that is a bath," Hana says with a chuckle.

    Roxanne face plants on the water and we enter after her.

    "Cough, cough, gueh! What...? Oh, a bath," Roxanne surfaces.

    "Sorry, my love. I didn't notice you weren't fully awake," Hana says with a guilty grin.

    "You what?"

    "Nevermind..."

    Alissa activates another gem and the water starts bubbling, massaging our skin.

    "Oh yes..."

    My consciousness fades again.



    I wake to the comfortable breast pillow of Hana. Ciel and Lina are also sleeping while cuddling. Aoi and Gify are floating in the middle while they hold hands. Roxanne is sipping some blood red drink.

    "Let's switch," I say.

    With a grin Hana slips out and straddles me. Her bouncy breasts and slightly tanned skin fill my view. I trace my hand on her abs and lick them, she chuckles and flexes them for me.

    Hana makes me feel weird. I have to be very careful with her or it will be me being tied down and assfucked one day.

    Ciel groans awake as Hana moves her hips up and down. Hana has so much leg strength she can do a perfect piston motion for a long time.

    I clamp my teeth on one of her nipples. She stops pistoning and instead starts undulating her belly like one of those belly dancers.

    Her skin glistening with wetness, her wet hair sticking to her body, her serious face is that of a predator. I want to sink my claws on her body and show who owns her but I lack the energy, for now I will let her use me.

    Roxanne bites her lips, she wants in on the fun. I nudge on Alissa, who's quietly masturbating to us like always.

    "Kiss her," I point to Roxanne, "you are Roxanne's pet now, do whatever she wants."

    Roxanne's eyes dart between me and Alissa. Her mouth puckered in surprise. Hana simply smiles wildly.

    Alissa obeys immediately, yet I see the fear in her eyes. She straddles Roxanne and pulls her face to her own. Roxanne eagerly accepts, their mouths clamp on each other. Roxanne hugs Alissa tight and takes charge of the kiss. Alissa's tail is standing upright and swaying slowly, she's very scared, yet she obeys.

    Roxanne lifts Alissa out of the water and puts her on the edge. Her hands squeeze Alissa's breasts, then she pinches her nipples, provoking a moan. Alissa's entire body shivers.

    Her hand lowers to Alissa's abs, then to her bush, then her fingers enter Alissa. They break the kiss and Alissa moans, the mixed saliva dripping from her mouth.

    She sucks her nipples but not for long. She pushes Alissa down and her mouth trails to her lips. She spreads Alissa's pussy, she finds the little clit and chomps on it.

    Roxanne fingers and licks and sucks. Alissa moans louder and louder, her tail loosens but barely sways. She never asks to stop, she won't go against my wishes, she wants to be raped and it doesn't have to be by me.

    Roxanne, the expert, makes Alissa orgasm easily. I finish inside Hana soon after.

    Roxanne stops her symphony and moves out of the water. She sits on Alissa and rubs her pussy on her face. Alissa responds and chomps down on Roxanne, her [Oral Technique] also applies to other women.

    Roxanne shivers and her thighs squeezes Alissa.

    "Oh wow. What a slutty little tongue she has," Roxanne says.

    "Cummed already? I want a taste of that cunt too," Hana says with fearsome smile.

    Oof. I get hard inside Hana again.

    "Oh!" Roxanne jumps a little, "Those fangs are quite the treat."

    Roxanne cums another time and releases Alissa. Hana pulls Roxanne and forces her to clean her dripping cunt.

    Alissa curls on the border of the tub. Her face is blank yet her fingers still caress herself. Hana eats out Roxanne while Ciel and Lina are getting out of the tub, a very deep blush and a nervous smile on Ciel's lips.

    I come to Alissa and spread her legs. My throbbing dick penetrates her still wet pussy easily and she jumps in surprise.

    She quickly hugs me and her nails dig on my back at their usual spots. She moves her hips wildly and looks me in the eyes, life already back on them.

    "I love you," she says, "I love you, my master."

    "I love you, my little whore."

    She moves faster and faster. Lust turns to love that turns to passion that turns to rage. Now she wants to hurt me, to dominate me. The fucking slut doesn't have the stamina to compete against the God of Sex, cheater or not.

    Her rage burns out and she slows. Back to moving slowly.

    She giggles and gives me a long kiss. Her tongue tastes like Roxanne.

    "What have we become?" She asks.

    "Two depraved perverts."

    "Two people in love."

    "Two hearts entwined."

    "Two souls bound."

    "Two beings who trust everything of each other."

    She moves her hips slowly, savoring every jolt of pleasure. I kiss her and hug her tight, I feel her hard nipples rub on my chest. Her wet hair stick to my face. The taste of Roxanne slowly fades and get replaced by the taste of our saliva.

    Her perky breasts jiggle with every thrust, asking me to squeeze them. Her tail sways rapidly, making waves on the water and dispersing the foam. Muffled moans escape her mouth as I try to swallow her tongue. She simply cannot hold back her smile and it fuses with the expression of pleasure on her face.

    She breaks the kiss and arches her back. She laughs freely and smiles as I desperately try to make her stop laughing and go back to moaning. I almost succeed, her moans are just slightly louder than the wet sounds of underwater sex. Her nails dig again on my skin as she starts to lose herself on me.

    I love her so much I want to throw away this Ring of Fertility, consequences be damned. All I want is a quiet life with her, to make her happy in any way I can. I know I will never get it so I will enjoy every taste of her while I can.

    I pierce her one last time and flood her womb, so much she overflows. All hail our lord and savior [Enhanced Semen Recharge]. Now that I think about it I do have a magic dick, don't I?

    I keep inside her as we catch our breaths, I almost fall asleep like this. I want her to be mine, forever.

    I look to my side and the girls are eating salted not-peanuts and drinking some unknown beer while watching us. Lina found some green whiskey, hopefully she won't get drunk.



    We eat some snacks and rest some more on the bed. Due to me and Lina being so small we can all fit on it if we cuddle.

    I finally explore what changed in me after that vision. I get a hunch and add points to [Space Magic], at 40 points a new spell is shown [Warp Space].

    "Holy fuck! I can now use spells up to level 40!" I exclaim.

    "I guess visions about future destiny is a good way to change your 'perspective'," Roxanne smiles wryly.

    "Seems so..."

    "You gotta teach me [Holy Spirit]!" Ciel grabs my shoulders and her eyes leave no room for questioning.

    "Well, I have a lot of things I have to do. Is it really that important?"

    "Well..." Her enthusiasm deflates and her shoulder drops, "No. I just really wanted one."

    "Why do you want that one?" Alissa asks.

    Ciel twiddles her thumbs and avoids eye contact.

    "Bragging rights..." She mutters.

    Our stifled chuckles just makes her even more embarrassed.

    "A-anyway," she quickly gets up and tries to change the topic, "let's go out and take that tour."

    I look at the other magic tools and find something worrying on [Summoning Magic], the level 40 spell is called [Bind].

    Lina gets out of the bed and stumbles. She immediately uses [Spirit of Gaia] and returns to normal. So that is the secret of dwarves.

    Outside of our room we surround the bundle of leaves in shape of a man.

    "H-hello, are you Aslo?" Ciel asks shyly.

    "Arlo," answers a voice. It is old but strong, there's an undertone of wood creaking.

    The leaves grow away from the wall, pushing the existing leaves towards us while new leaves grow at the back. It looks like a stick figure of a man made of leaves. Eventually the branches snap and Arlo disconnects from the wall.

    "Sorry, Mr. Arlo," Ciel lowers her head.

    "Raise your head, humanoid," Arlo says, "I feel no offense on your words. And simply call me Arlo, no need for 'Mr'."

    "Understood, Arlo."

    The small openings between leaves show he's made of twigs, there's no organs inside. There's no mouth and I can't feel any mana coming out of him. How the hell does he talk or even see? The only facial trait he has is a bunch of leaves that look like a nose.

    "Well then, Arlo. Can you show us some place to eat?" Hana asks.

    "Sure thing," the leaves that make up his head nods noisily. "We have a section where food that should be to your palate is traded. Try not to take food from any other floor, it could cause problems for humanoids."

    It needs to be said how odd it is to talk to something that does not show facial expressions. Even the lack of eyes to show where he's looking at irks me.

    "Really..." Hana says, her eyes shining.

    "Hana, don't do it," Roxanne says, stern, "this is not a challenge."

    "Awn..."

    "We won't heal you if you end up sick," Ciel says.

    Hana pouts during our elevator trip but it quickly dissolves when we reach the 30th floor. The smell of food is mouth watering.

    A grass bridge takes us out of our basket and into the floor proper.

    In a nutshell, you can put on the Cantina Theme and we it would fit right in with this atmosphere.

    A marketplace exclusively for food. Multiple races and animals all walk through the dozens of stands. I don't know the name of half the living beings in here. Some of them are so alien I question if they really belong to this world.

    The buzzing of trade is very similar to that of Rabanara's, even though most sounds produced aren't part of any language I recognize.

    I see a Gatun growling at a Curind vendor. The bark-man vendor answers with the sound of stone grinding and wood crunching. The Gatun delicately puts his paw on the stand and a bundle of lightly glowing grass appears.

    The bark hand of the vendor turns into a large spoon. He sweeps the grass off the counter and pulls out two mangoes from below the stand. The Gatun delicately grabs the mangoes with his mouth, he tilts his head and the mangoes disappear.

    Even the animals know [Item Box].

    We see fishes being grilled by a weird fish... Man? He looks like a huge fish that grew jelly-like arms and legs. Another that I don't know the race of.

    "What is this?" Roxanne asks, "It looks like some good fish."

    "Blargdablagarag!" Says the fish man.

    "What did he say?" Asks Ciel.

    "Uh..." Arlo thinks for a few moment then turns to the fish man, "Blargarag."

    "Blargudlalar," the fish man answers.

    "Glarlalalala."

    "Glardu."

    "Globar."

    "Blargh."

    "Blargh."

    "They are bartering," I say to Ciel.

    "How do you understand each other?" Lina asks.

    "It's due to the blessing of our Lord," Arlo answers, "It should be similar to the spell you system mages call [Animal Tongue]."

    "Oh I see. You mostly understand the feelings behind the words," I say.

    "But it looked like he was speaking the same language," Lina says.

    "Blarg language is not really a true language," Arlo says, "A single word has many meanings, it still mostly depends on feelings."

    "Hmm... So maybe this is why it is not on the system," Lina says.

    "Maybe."

    "Anyway. What currency should we use?" I ask.

    "None," he answers flatly, "you are guests so anything you want we will provide."

    "How generous. Thank you," I say.

    Arlo nods. Rather stoic this Cublend.

    "Do you trade with coins?" Lina asks.

    Hana points to a few grilled fish sticks and the Blarg looks at Arlo. He nods and the vendor gives it to Hana, his fish lips distorted in what could be described as a smile.

    "They have some value but not much," Arlo responds. "Most valuable things are plants with mana on them."

    A shish-kebab stall being tended by a dryad is attracting lots of attention. He's roasting a large amount of sticks on top of a scented log. The smoke he's creating is being sucked by some large flowers hanging from the ceiling. The man trips and hits his firepit, a large ember falls out and starts a small fire.

    The crowd merely steps back a few centimeters. A flower on the ceiling turns to the ember and gushes water, putting out the fire. The flower then turns to the dryad and gushes double the amount of water on his face. The crowd produce sounds that could be interpreted as laughs.

    The dryad recovers the wet ember and returns to tending to his stall.

    The fish stick has quite the odd spice. Something like lemon but not very sour. It's in small clumps that burst on the tongue, sending periodic jolts of flavor. Cute gimmick.

    I ask for a few of the sweet smelling mangoes and Arlo barters for them. I guess not even Gecynd wants to feel ripped off when she receives the invoice of our expenses.

    The girls spread around and drag Arlo onto a few stalls. They come back with multiple types of fruits that I have never seen before.

    The shopping spree slows down and Arlo stops in front of us.

    "Would you like a restaurant?" He asks.

    "Sure."

    Better than eating while walking.



    Hana brings a bunch of large beetle shells. Everyone frowns at her until a smaller than normal Aoi crawls upon her body and snatches one.

    "Sweeet, can-dy!" She says.

    Trying to ignore the image of eating a bug. I throw a beetle on my mouth and chew.

    With a satisfying crunch the shell breaks apart and I feel a sweet and mushy taste of peach. It's consistency reminds me of pudding.

    "They are not the insides of a bug. Do not worry," Arlo says.

    I swallow and smile at them.

    "Tastes good, like fruit," I say.

    Alissa and Lina eat it with some reservations. Ciel and Roxanne look at each other then at the beetles.

    "The shell is only used as decoration, it's just pudding," I say.

    I pick two and push it to them.

    With a grimace they take them and eat it.

    "Tastes good," Ciel says.

    "But it's not the taste that's the problem," Roxanne says.

    "Yes. Food should look appetizing. Even if the shells are just decoration it's still a major negative point."

    Roxanne nods her head along.

    "Yes, yes. I give it a seven for taste but a minus ten for presentation," she says.

    "Indeed. Minus three is all it deserves," Ciel copies the nods.

    "Don't let the vendor hear this," Hana says with a smirk, she pops another bug on her mouth.

    I look back at the vendor, he looks like a large meerkat. He nimbly moves between each customer, appraising the magical plants. He gesticulates wildly at whoever he's bargaining with and finally swiftly switches the plants for assorted beetles. At one point he quickly appraises a bundle of weirder than normal grass and throws it into the face of the not-hawk that put it there, a moment later he's already dealing with another customer.

    "Do you have any dietary restrictions?" Arlo asks.

    "Diet... What?" Hana asks.

    "If there's something we don't eat," I say.

    "Well they don't eat bugs," Hana smiles at the two on the back.

    "I think he means something along the lines of not eating meat or drinking milk."

    "Yes, precisely," Arlo nods, his leaves make every movement noisy.

    The girls shake their heads.

    "Well I wanted to eat some meat, if possible," Roxanne says.

    Arlo nods and we change our path.



    The stalls turn into large rooms as we near the border. I see the sunlight as small balconies open up to the outside. A few animals like Gatuns and birds seem to use them as entry or exit points.

    We are taken to a restaurant at the border of the tree. Small windows let in the moonlight of the psychedelic moon and their satellites, tonight the green moon is the brightest.

    This place also has the odd mix of nature with technology. The floor is soft and warm dirt, the chairs are made of wood with very soft cushioning, the cloths used are what I believe to be rare spider silk, the dryad waiters use the same proto-waiter uniforms seen in Rabanara. It's all so bizarre.

    Since the dryads speak our language Arlo stays outside to give us some privacy. He merges with the wall in front of the entrance.

    It's an all-you-can-eat restaurant with a salad buffet. The proto-waiters pass through each table offering different cuts of barbecued meat. Let me say that they know how to smoke and roast some meat, the scented logs must be the local specialty.

    "So, what do you all think about Gecynd?" I ask, "I'm not very fond of allying with her, mostly because I don't fully understand her motivations, her whole perspective is different than ours. A semi-immortal being who uses the lives of others so casually scares me a little."

    "Hm... I actually think it's a good idea to keep in contact with her," Roxanne says, "She could be a good ally due to her power."

    Aoi lifts her head from her plate.

    "Kweh! Good wo-man!" She says and goes back to eating.

    Hana runs a finger through Aoi's spine, making her shiver.

    "She means us well," Lina says.

    "I agree with Wolfy, I think she's odd. I don't know what she's really thinking," Hana says.

    "You kind of say this about most people, what's so different about her?" Roxanne asks, trying but not really trying to mess with Hana.

    "Well..." Hana sends a glare to Roxanne, forcing her to squirm and bite her tongue, "It's just that I don't know how strong she is. I don't know how far we should, uh, appease her."

    "I agree," Ciel says, then she cleans her mouth with a napkin, "Having the Lord of the Forest as an ally would be incredible, but also far-fetched. She eventually will want something from us, nature doesn't do charity."

    "That would be our powers. Well, Wolfy's," Lina says.

    "Indeed. What she expects from us is not gonna be so outlandish," Roxanne says.

    "Alissa...?" I turn to her, she's quiet.

    "I... I still can't believe we met the Lord of the Forest. Then there's the vision that you two had, I don't know what to think about it."

    "Then don't. I hate cryptic things,"I say.

    Alissa sighs and drinks from her fruit punch.

    "I don't feel any danger from Gecynd," she says, "We all know of Wolfy's destiny, Gecynd is now connected to it, she will be an ally in the future. Even if she does need something from us, it will benefit us if we help."

    "Well, the Lord of the Forest is known to be fair. Having her in our debt would be great," Ciel says, "I'm just concerned about what will we need to do to put her in our debt. How big must a problem be for someone like her to not be able to fix it by herself?"

    "A lack of legs?" Hana asks. I almost chuckle but she's got a point. "If she could move she would have changed her location already. She's way too close to Rabanara, it shouldn't be easy to keep her presence a secret. And even with the Speakers I never heard of any of those creatures ever leaving their forests."

    "Now that sounds more plausible," Ciel says.

    "We are adventurers," Lina says, she spins the ice in her green whiskey in thought, "traveling the world would be in line with what we do."

    "And with what we want to do," I say, "After becoming a noble I want to travel the continent."

    "There's that vision she saw," Roxanne says, "If we find what "legado" means then we might find what we need to help her."

    "In Portuguese, one of the languages of Earth, it means 'legacy'," I say.

    "Could be a coincidence," Lina says.

    "I have a hunch 'legacy' is the proper translation," I say, "The languages don't translate directly but I can feel the similarities to many languages of my world. Andraste is seems similar to Greek and some Latin, high elven is very similar to Portuguese, dragonkin's are inspired by Japanese, Sommerland seems to be German, Maplethorne is English, Faium seems Arabic. There's plenty of references going around."

    "There's only one thing we are going to do at the High Forest," Alissa says.

    "It seems we found our dungeon to conquer," I say.



    After loosening my belt a few notches we go back to our rooms. Arlo told us he gets nourishment from merging with the wall so he has no problem in waiting for us. It's kind of like resting at his "bed".

    We all end up sleeping on the same bed. Along with the gnomic heaters we got some coolers too so we didn't get as hot as we would have been.

    I love the smell of the girls, the perfume of the lotions mix with each other and create a very sweet little piece of heaven. Their skin, and mine, is so soft now I kind of understand why Ciel likes to hug so much.

    I never thought I would be so lonely in a new world but there are so many little things that annoy me and they pile up. The clothes that don't really fit right, the socks the are rougher than I like, the constant need to use boots so you don't get your feet wet and dirty, the casual way death is treated, the need of individual strength to protect yourself from the world, the lack of a stable income, the constant reminder that there's something bigger than me going on, the lack of so many daily conveniences of my past life, a nagging feeling that if I stop increasing my power I will regret it, the impulse to make connections with people with power but the fear of what comes with it, the lack of internet, the lack of memes and web novels, no one understands my references, the food is just not the same as the one from my last home.

    I miss coming back from work, eating some mac & cheese, then reclining on the sofa to watch some anime. I miss being small and insignificant, I was just another speck of cosmic dust that acquired sentience.

    Now semi-immortal beings are taking interest on me and what I will change in the world. Seems that fighting only for my women would be a rather shallow motive, I have to take responsibility of what my power entails. With great power comes great responsibility.



    I see the Everlasting Storm again. This time I don't feel discomfort, I feel confidence. The Storm fades and slowly my usual dreams replace it.



    Today is the 28th.

    Alissa is training Ciel quite nicely. It's unfortunate that a titjob does not feel like anything special, it's mostly the view that's supremely arousing.

    Ciel manages to deepthroat me while I cum, she receives it directly on her throat without choking. She receives applause as the latest member of Ryder's Cum Guzzlers.

    Roxanne wants to play with Alissa so I decide to stay and help. I whisper something to Roxanne and she answers with an evil "ohohoh~". Roxanne is as much of a sadist as I am.

    We both hold Alissa down, she holds the legs and I hold the arms.

    "I will go out get our breakfast," Ciel says after recovering from her embarrassment.

    "I'll go with you," Hana says.

    "N-no, that's not-not necessary," Ciel laughs nervously, "L-Lina, come with me. We will carry everything, just, just stay here. Look, look, play with Roxanne."

    Ciel seems a little nervous in seeing Alissa being abused again but she seems even more nervous of what Hana might bring for breakfast.

    Hana turns around to see Roxanne's dagger tail penetrate a very scared and shivering Alissa.

    "Ooh..."

    To the disappointment of Lina, Ciel snatches her and they both go out.

    Roxanne's tail can be used as a dagger but when she wills it the blade gets as soft as rubber. It's still scary as shit, though.

    Roxanne plunges her dagger inside Alissa's womb, making her yelp. A second later she opens her eyes and looks surprised not to see any blood.

    Roxanne pulls it out and Alissa moans loudly, her tail sways for a second but it's still quite stiff.

    We three abuse every erogenous zone of Alissa until Ciel comes back. I play with her asshole, Roxanne with her pussy and nipples, and Hana keeps her mouth occupied with her own.

    I really need to buy strap-ons for the two so we can spit roast Alissa.

    Ciel comes back with multiple fruit salads immersed in Chantilly.

    Before Alissa eats she has to suck her breakfast out of me.

    After breakfast I take a nap while Roxanne uses Alissa to get off. The sound of moaning can be quite the lullaby.



    I wake up to a mesh of light brown hair on my face, my nose is filled by her sweet perfume of orange, my mind is filled with the calmness that the perfume provokes on me. A hint of gold shows Gify's feathers peeking out from Alissa's arms.

    A [Breeze] magic tool is on the table, it creates a soft wind on the room that caresses our naked skin. A small gust of wind hits my face and lifts my hair lightly, it tickles just like how Hana strokes my hair.

    Hana is cuddling with Roxanne on one of the chairs at the table. They whisper something to each other and share pecks on the lips. Aoi sleeps on Hana's head, her small legs sprawled about.

    I raise my head and see Ciel and Lina cuddling on a chair outside, overlooking the Sea of Trees. Like the rest of us, both of them decided to go back to being naked.

    I caress Alissa's floppy ears very gently. I feel her tail twitch, it's riding up on my belly and the fluffiness tickles me.

    Slowly I get hard again, I'm barely feeling drained. I gently lift Alissa's leg and let my erection touch her entrance.

    Over a few minutes I slowly move my hips. I feel Alissa's tail twitch again and her entrance slowly gets warm. My movements start to make sloshy sounds as I feel my shaft get wet.

    I gently put pressure on my dick and angle it so it starts piercing her entrance.

    I shift backwards to get more reach and suddenly she spreads her legs to make it easier for me. I manage to enter her but I don't reach too deep due to the awkward position.

    We spend long minutes moving slowly. She matches my rhythm and I penetrate her slightly deeper. I feel it coming but I try my best to hold it in, edging closer and closer to bliss.

    When I feel her tremble and squeeze me in orgasm I let it out. I cum just a few seconds after her, a little more and we would have been in perfect sync.

    I fill her with a huge amount of seed. I stay inside her for another long time as we fall asleep together again.



    I'm healing. Sex, good food, doing nothing all day. This is the life.

    The room smells of sex, though, we have to leave so the maids(?) can clean this up.

    Today my [Nature Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+16) and everyone's "Wisdom" increased by 1. Mine is now 17, Alissa's now 13, Roxanne's now 18, Hana's now 11, Ciel's now 19, and Lina's now 12.



    We leave the room to take a walk. Arlo called Gin and Aife, more Cublend guides. We got to a general trade floor and spread around but still remain close.

    Roxanne is regularly coming back to me to deliver assorted plants she finds. Lina once in a while brings some random nick-knack.

    The girls were very contained on their spending spree except for me, I got buckets of legitimate cow milk and cheeses. It's milder than minotaur milk but it's the closest thing I have that reminds me of home.

    "Say, Aoi," she stretches her head downwards and looks me in the eye, upside-down. "Don't you want anything?"

    She tilts her head and starts to look around. After a few minutes she jumps from my head and lands on the counter of a stall. There's some magical trinkets on it, one in particular is a cone of wood with a ball of gold resting on top.

    Aoi stretches her claws to the cone of wood and feeds it some mana. The ball of gold starts to float and spin, I see a nearly microscopic gem on the wooden cone. The gold ball heats up until it glows with heat and mana.

    "Kweh!"

    Arlo nods to the stall owner and the ape pushes the cone to Aoi. She grows and grasps the trinket.

    "We should teach you [Item Box]" I say, then I get an idea, "you should be able to keep things like these to yourself."

    I hand her a gold and a silver coin. She stares at them for a few seconds then quickly snatches them with her mouth. She happily clinks them on her teeth.

    Hana looks at her with some confusion.

    "What's so good about those coins?" She asks.

    "On my world dragons usually were fond of gold or other shiny things. Maybe it's something similar," I say

    "Hmm..." Hana holds her chin in thought, "We heard that dragons would collect weapons and coins, we thought that it was just the remains from their victims."

    "If you kill them regularly they don't have enough time to acquire too much treasure," I say.

    "Makes sense. Huh, who would have thought."

    "Then she really needs [Item Box]," Roxanne says, "she doesn't have pockets to carry her coins all the time."

    The Cantina Theme fades off as the animals look much more contained this time. I think the effect of the green moon is subdued during the day. Tonight should be a yellow moon so things will get much more quiet as time passes.



    Eventually we go to the restaurants for lunch. It's another dryad-run restaurant and this time we have pierogi with ground meat. Lina tentatively drank some whiskey again, later I saw her struggle to ask for more and got juice instead. I'm not sure what to say to her, I don't like drunk people but I don't need her to be a teetotaler like me.



    In the afternoon we spend our time at the balcony. Roxanne and Lina play Civil War again while we cheer them on.

    The balcony is rather small because I think Gecynd doesn't want people to see it from the outside. It's enough for us to sit on chairs though. If it was only slightly longer I could pull out a cheap sofa we once bought.

    The place where we are at has very few vines so it's quite a large view. It's just endless upon endless green. Then the forest tips over the horizon and disappears. To our right we can see the Rakontagne Mountain Range, snow-tipped mountains with greenish stone.

    "What you think is out there?" Hana asks.

    "Maybe a town of animals?" Ciel says. I press on the perfect spot on her feet and she moans lightly.

    "The animals must have formed clans, perhaps even a village," Alissa says, "there are some on the Misty Low Forest."

    "If this place exists why couldn't it also exist somewhere else?" Roxanne asks then turns back to her game.

    She regrets her distraction as Lina kills one of her Ronti lancers.

    "Arlo said that there's a blessing that gives the beings here [Animal Tongue]," Alissa says ,"it could be exclusive to this place."

    "Or it could be reproduced somewhere else..." Ciel says. She almost loses her train of thought as I suck on a the pink toe. "There's plenty of magic tools here. They could buy some, from whomever they are buying from, and set them up on towns and such."

    "Would be quite the cost," Hana says, "both on mana and on gems."

    "Well it is the Tree of Mana, maybe her roots could be used to at least feed the gems," Ciel says. She smiles to me as I kiss the top of her foot.

    "At this point I think Gecynd could just create a smaller version of herself somewhere else," Alissa says ,"if her mana reaches the gem then her body also does. I find it hard to believe the Symbol of Nature wouldn't be able to somehow reproduce and create smaller versions of herself."

    "If anything, we know that nature is all about reproduction," Hana says.

    Heh.

    "The lower levels are residential and the sounds of sex are quite common," Alissa says while nodding.

    "Anyway, whatever is out there must be able to keep, hm...! The monsters in check," Ciel says, "We now know, ah...! That Gecynd somehow takes care of the worst ones."

    "Gih hih."

    "An army of dryads sounds scary," Alissa says.

    Lina glances towards Ciel and loses her concentration. She makes a bad move and loses a Gatun scout unit.

    "Ohohoh," Roxanne chuckles with an evil smile.

    Lina glares at her and purses her lips in annoyance.

    "Kweh! Calm doown," Aoi cheers for Lina.

    "You traitor. I gave you my shoulders all the time," Roxanne glares at Aoi.

    "Hih-hih. She, neeeds, cheee-rin'."

    "Oh-hoh, so that's how it is. I also need some cheering, I'm not invincible."

    "You, old, Li, young."

    Roxanne scowls in pain while Lina snickers.

    Roxanne loses an [Earth Wall] mage, creating a hole in her defenses.

    "No!" She slaps her forehead.

    Lina lands dragon knights beyond the wall and makes her lancers charge.

    Roxanne puts down the [Eternal Gate] card on the board and summons dwarven men-of-the-line to receive the charge. Lina's smile fades as she realizes the trap.

    The charge is halted midway, none of Lina's infantry can move inside to storm the walls. Because of this Roxanne's auto-ballistas on the wall are free to focus on the dragon knights, eradicating them.

    "Noooo," Aoi cries.

    "Ohohohohoh!" Roxanne laughs with her hand covering her mouth.

    "Impressive acting," Hana says.

    Roxanne blows a kiss to Hana.

    Lina groans and regains her resolve. She retreats her lancers and prepares a new strategy.

    Roxanne's counter is swift but she narrowly wins. The dwarf girl is a vicious defender. Current score is 8-4 in favor of Roxanne.

    I finished Ciel so I sip my not-earl grey along with my gorgon fruit pudding. I'm so calm I feel like meditating. Ciel looks at me with hungry eyes and I quickly eat my snack.

    She gets up and leans over the railing, her flower already glistening. I penetrate her from behind and savor her insides, her soft moans slowly fill the air.

    Sex in the open like this feels so liberating.



    "So," I clap my hands and strain a smile, "who gets the priority?"

    Ciel and Roxanne look at each other. Their eyes hold aggressiveness, their pout holds anxiety.

    "We don't really get hurt a lot," Roxanne says.

    "It's for when we get hurt that we need the spirit," Ciel retorts.

    "If I have enough power then you will never need a spirit. I can just blow everything away."

    "Not all our enemies are monsters that attack from the front. We already got ambushed more than one time."

    "And when we do I can just instantly explode them."

    "But you didn't. The [Water Spirit] also won't help that much with [Explosion]."

    "Hohohoh," she laughs mischievously, "there's [Heart of Fire], I'm not just going for the spirit."

    Ciel bites her lips.

    "[Heart of Fire] is worse, it's only to help you. It won't help us much during battle."

    Roxanne smiles smugly, making Ciel turn red in anger.

    "Well I'm kind of the most vulnerable already. You also underestimate how powerful quick relocation can be for a mage. If I can learn how to cast it chantless then I'm a step closer to becoming a demi-god of death, ohohohohoh~..." Roxanne smiles maniacally, every word makes her more agitated.

    Now Ciel turns smug and crosses her arms.

    "[Heart of Fire] consumes a ton of mana, you will have to train to increase your mana," she says.

    All the evil in Roxanne gets cleansed in an instant.

    "Ah, shit!" She mutters. "Wait! Wolfy said Kyros was going to give him a training routine to increase mana. I can just use that!"

    "Yes you can," Ciel nods but her smugness increases, "but what guarantees it's not gonna give you the same headaches that normal mana training does?"

    Roxanne scowls and strangles the air in frustration. After getting over her silent tantrum she breathes deeply and looks at Ciel with all the confidence she can muster.

    "I will do it," she says.

    "Do what?" Ciel frowns.

    "I will train my mana."

    "Pfffff..." Hana scoffs at Roxanne.

    "Oi!" Roxanne scowls at Hana, "This is a conversation between the two of us. Stupid dragons are not invited."

    "Kweh!"

    "Sorry. Stupid perverts are not invited."

    "Oi!" Alissa enters the fray.

    "After what you did to Alissa you can't say you are not a pervert," Hana says.

    "That... Nevermind!" Roxanne throws her hand in the air in frustration. "Back to the conversation."

    "As you were saying," Ciel leans forward and speaks in a slow, mocking tone, "You believe you would train your mana with Kyros' technique."

    "I don't just believe. Hoh!" Roxanne scoffs, "I will."

    Ciel lifts her hands in defeat.

    "Fine, fine. I will let you learn [Heart of Fire]. Buuuut!" Ciel jabs a her finger on Roxanne's nose, "If you fail you will have to accept punishment."

    Roxanne's eyes race about as she imagines what Ciel might ask. She smiles as she thinks of Ciel's fetish, then she frowns as she remembers Ciel is not that depraved.

    "What kind of punishment?" She asks, wary.

    Ciel smug smile fades as she fails to think of a proper punishment.

    "You are too much of an angel to enjoy sadism," I say.

    Ciel pouts but I see a hint of a smile on her face.

    "I will punish her," Hana says.

    Roxanne shivers and she forces herself not to smile.

    "That won't be much of a punishment," Lina says.

    "Oh no. I'm gonna punish her," Hana licks her lips, "I will abstain from Wolfy just so I can use her and break her."

    Roxanne shivers again but this time she doesn't smile.

    "Awn..." I let out a disappointed moan.

    "For the greater good," Hana says to me with apologetic eyes.

    The greater good!

    "Do it for me, Roxanne," I say, summoning the puppiest of all the puppy eyes I can summon. "Don't let Hana's insides forget the shape of my dick."

    Roxanne sighs and her mouth twitches in a smile.

    "I will do it, for you."



    We take our clothes off and do it at the bath. I put on all my points on [Fire Magic] and [Mana Control], then I cast [Heart of Fire].

    My entire body turns into flame. I lose my human shape and become a large ball of fire. It's a horrible feeling, I immediately turn back. I splatter on the water and nearly puke.

    Alissa immediately fishes me out and I cough water.

    "[Refresh]."

    My dizziness disappears and I just float belly up.

    "That seemed fun," Roxanne says with worry.

    "I think..." I catch my breath "That people practiced this spell... Little by little, instead of transforming... All the body at once."

    "Seems plausible," Ciel says, "but can you do it like that?"

    "No," I answer flatly.

    "Well shit," Roxanne mutters.

    "I'm becoming more comfortable with modifying spells. This could be a good test for me," I say.

    "Then..." Roxanne taps a finger on her chin then shrugs. "I will just meditate and try to glimpse how it works from a distance."



    A spell that turns you into fire. Let swords phase through your flame, fly through the sky like a flaming arrow, slam on the ground like a meteor, that's what this spell can do. Big con for it is that if the flame is snuffed you die, makes it kind of dangerous to use during rain and impossible while underwater, also [Drown] becomes a death sentence.

    I have to do it slowly, just a small part of my body has to turn into fire. I sit down on the stone and concentrate. The knowledge that everyone is naked in the bath takes a lttle of my concentration away but it helps in keeping the pressure off. I'm still into "vacation mode", I don't want to stress myself.

    Many faceplants, crashes into water and near pukes later and I finally manage to at least keep my body from becoming a ball of fire.

    "You kind of look sexy like this," Hana says.

    I look just like a fire elemental, a naked man made of fire.

    "You might not want to sexualize me. The only thing that you can get is a nasty burn."

    "You said that you could eventually gain feeling on this form and choose when to burn," she says with a pout.

    "Eventually. This spell is quite hard," I turn back into my nakedness, "and it's using my mana like a fountain. I have to meditate again."

    Her pout turns into a frown.

    "Maybe if it only burns a little..." She mutters.

    Alissa shudders and mutters a groan.

    Roxanne managed to cause a few whisps of flame to float around her. Thankfully there's little risk in burning your own hair otherwise fuck this spell. I went bald once, once.



    I spend my evening training my Andraste. Been quite some time since I last did it.

    "Why do we have to do it naked?" Ciel asks.

    "Put 'naked' before any activity and it instantly becomes better," I respond.

    "Naked family gathering," Roxanne says with a smile.

    "Okay, I get it. Still, the longer we stay naked the happier I get."

    Ciel crosses her arms and pouts.

    "You are going to get distracted like this," she says.

    "Only if you keep pushing them together like that," I say.

    She blushes slightly but does not move.

    I grab Lina and shove her between my legs. Both of us do our evening training while slowly pistoning each other.



    Today is the 29th.

    "Nothing new for today, huh?" I ask Hana after I regain my senses.

    She gives Alissa her share and swallows.

    "There's just so many different ways we can suck your dick while you are asleep," she shrugs.

    "Not really complaining, though," I smile at them and give both a kiss on the forehead.

    Alissa beams with happiness while Hana contains her chuckle at being treated like a child.

    "Why do you like to drink it so much?" Ciel asks, one eyebrow lifted.

    "Why do you like to kiss him so much?" Alissa asks.

    "Why do you get all giddy when I say 'I love you'?" I ask.

    She purses her lips and pouts. "Alright," she says an waves dismissively.

    "Well I just think it tastes good," Hana says. Her crossed arms puff up her balloons even more. "That it makes Wolfy happy is just a bonus."

    "I like saying 'I love you' to Ciel. That it makes her happy is just a bonus," I grin at her. "I love you, Ciel."

    "How corny of you," she narrows her eyes at me.

    "I saw that lip tremble, I know you like it," I say.

    She huffs and turns away, hiding her light blush. Then I turn at the little girl twiddling her thumbs.

    "Come on, say it," I prod her.

    "I, uh, I love you too, Wolfy," Lina lowly says with her eyes looking down.

    I grab her chin and kiss her lips.

    "I love you too, Lina."

    Her eyes glaze over and her smile turns silly.

    "Now it's time for your meal."

    I lower her head into my rising erection.



    My [Fire Magic] and [Andraste Language] increased by 1 (now 0+1 and 5+5). Slowly I will get there. Spending time naked with Ciel is fun but what is not fun is grammar.



    "These are gifts from our Lord," Arlo says. With a small bow he extends a platter with 6 necklaces. "They have been blessed so it produces the same effect as [Animal Tongue]. They will also serve to appease any animal or forest guardian that you meet."

    We all pick our necklaces. They are made of branches, leaves, flowers and some small berries. It reminds me of a thinned Christmas wreath.

    I put it on and immediately feel a change in how I perceive things. It's a much stronger effect than my [Animal Tongue], I can feel faint emotions of every animal near us instead of only the one I'm directly talking.

    "When you leave the Tree of Mana the effect of the blessing will be reduced but it would still be effective," Arlo adds.

    "Hey, I can finally talk to Aoi like Wolfy does," Hana says, she grabs Aoi out of the ground and holds her like a baby. "I love you my little one."

    "Kweh! Lo-ve!"

    "Awn..."

    Hana's expression melts as she suffocates Aoi on a hug.

    Arlo's leafy face is expressionless but the necklace tells me he's "smiling".



    With the blessed necklaces we can finally take part of one of the most curious entertainment activities around here. The theater.

    Without an official language to use, the actors have to get the story across using all other methods. Sounds, music, dance, expressions, and body language, all of these is aided by the blessing that the Tree gives to all its Children.

    We get front row seats to the show. The theater is the odd combination of furniture found in the house of a noble with the heartwood of the walls and indoor red grass on the floor.

    The lights dim and the actors enter the stage.



    A girl is born. The father looks disappointed at his child, the mother cries at the bleak future of the family.

    As if understanding what awaits her the girl grows wild like an animal. She grasps on the last branches of life. The father brings food home and watches as the little animal eats the food with ferocity.

    I will live, I will live.

    The father stares with fear on his face as he sees a dark and frightening ball of magic leave the palm of his daughters hand. The ball flies and hits a resting bird, it convulses and writhes on the ground, crying in pain. The little girl rushes to the bird and snaps its neck. With dexterity she defeathers the bird, bleeds it dry, and with a ball of fire on her hand, cooks the bird.

    The father approaches the girl and her eyes widen in fear. She growls and shows her fangs, which are still sunk on the meat of her catch. The father smiles at her display and offers a piece of dry meat.

    The girl takes it in the blink of an eye and soon her belly is full of meat.

    I shall starve no longer.

    The tall and muscular brother comes, he wants his place, his destiny, he challenges her. The scrawny girl twists him and breaks him apart. As his body and mind fails to recover the girl extends a hand, with it comes a kiss.

    The lives of the strong shall not be wasted, they will flock to me.

    Father, then leader, then lord, they all fell to her. She takes them all, no life shall be wasted, no potential go unused.

    I slit the throat of my enemies, I eat their meat, and mate with their strong. I take what I want and what I need.

    She grows strong and extends her tendrils far. Her enemies tremble in fear of her ferocity. The Queen conquers all.

    Then she meets her nemesis.

    A creature so wide it is confused with a mountain. So big its steps provokes earthquakes. So strong the ferocity of the Queen is nothing but the anger of a single ant. But a swarm of ants can still take down bigger prey.

    I fear no one, I shall conquer you.

    Fire and brimstone rain upon her children, wind sweep them of their mounts, coffins of earth open and entomb her men, and a storm forms just to clean the earth of the filth that are the survivors.

    She lifts her head from the dirt and see nothing remains. Tears run free as she despairs, everything she ever had has been lost in a moment. The creature did not even glance at her.

    Stricken with grief, she uses her magic on herself. She carves on her body the shame of her loss, the folly of her pitiful attack, the stupidity of her arrogance.

    I won't die quietly, I shall have my revenge.

    She climbs upon the creature in silence. With pure physical prowess and stubbornness she sneaks upon the monstrosity. Once on top of the head she plunges her little sword that barely manages to break the skin of the creature.

    She flows her magic through the sword and penetrates the mind of the creature. She will invade the mind of the creature and destroy it. She will have her victory even if it takes her life, she has nothing else to live for after all.

    The creature fights back. She views the endless well of life, the cycle of birth and death. She is born again, suffers again, thrives again, rejoices again, and finally, fails again. The cycle repeats over and over and over again. We merely live until we fail and the world takes us back to the earth.

    How foolish of her to throw it all away when she lost for the first time. She has the privilege of remaining alive, she will do it all again and this time she will do it better.

    No more arrogance, my lineage shall survive this time.

    The creature shakes the earth with a horrifying sound. Her ears burst and bleed, her body shakes, and her bones creak. How cruel to die just after regaining the meaning for her life.

    The creature took notice of her and stopped its laughter. Such power that merely a laugh nearly killed her. Apologizing for its outburst the creature nursed the little girl back to life. Suddenly the creature speaks in voice only she can hear.

    "Bring me back a family worthy of the name 'Kaengraeng' and this time I will see you as my equal, my kin."

    The Queen answers with a scream of war. She will take this as a challenge, she will create a new family so strong the creature will tremble. Or at least one that survives a bout of laughter.

    She will come back and this time she will worship the creature.

    The lives of the strong shall not be wasted, they will flock to the creature. Under its wing I shall gain power, power to safeguard my kin.

    This is the story of the first Speaker.



    "I see the show left you speechless," Arlo says.

    "Yeah that was quite the storm of emotions," Roxanne says, "I cried so many times."

    "Hah, I think you cried more than you didn't," Hana says.

    "She just had such a hard life. So tragic."

    "Such was the life during the Age of Oppression," Ciel says.

    "From what we heard of Bestiaram things aren't that much better," Lina says.

    "Blame the heretics," Ciel grits her teeth, "How could people ever worship pain?"

    I smile wryly.

    "Over here there's really only one religion so things are calm. Back on Earth when religions fought each other horrible things would happen, even worse than what I heard from that continent," I say.



    We come back to our room in the evening. Everyone is rather quiet but very content. The show provoked a bout of introspection on the girls.

    We all lay down on the bed and stare at the ceiling. The show may have been silent but a large amount of emotions have been transmitted to us. We are all rather tired.

    Another fluffy and perfumed bath where Lina tries again to decipher the magic tools. Then another wonderful dinner, this time the main course is varieties of breads with wonderful sauces to spread, there was even pita bread. We finally regain our presence of mind and return to our normal way of acting.

    "Say, Alissa..." I call to her.

    "What?" She leaves the table and lays down on my side.

    "Would it be weird for us to, uh, have sex on your fox form?"

    "No. Well not for me," she smiles wryly, "Most non-wereanimals don't find it attractive so we hardly mention it. They feel it's like having sex with an animal."

    "Well it is having sex with an animal, but considering it's you I don't mind it."

    She beams with a smile and pushes my head to her breasts.

    Suddenly she grows furry and the next second I'm looking at a large orange fox on top of me.

    "Can't you become smaller?" I ask.

    "Oh yes! I can make it very tight. Heheheh, Lina got nothing on this!" Her fox face distorts into a mischievous smile.

    Lina lifts her head from the board and frowns at Alissa. Since the fox didn't see her she pouts and goes back to playing. Alissa reduces in size, if she stood on two paws she would be slightly shorter than Lina.

    "You can feel pain?"

    "Only if I want, I can control what I feel."

    "Then let's do this."

    The fox gives me a toothy smile and suddenly she swallows my erect dick. Her tongue is much longer and dexterous so I experience a different type of blowjob.

    A large fox with long fangs gobbling your dick is both frightening and arousing. Her head doesn't bob up and down but I see her tongue wrap around my head and quickly stimulate it all over. Her large orange eyes stare deeply into mine without wavering. Her face makes me feel weird but knowing who's behind it makes me tip over and explode on her mouth.

    "I found a new way to wake you up," she says.

    "Oh yeah that's something special."

    In the corner of my eyes I see Hana show a sad expression.

    "Awn, don't be sad Hana. I still love you just as much," I say.

    "It's just not fair..."

    Alissa turns back into her normal form and kisses Hana on the lips.

    "Remember the things only you can do," Alissa says.

    Hana chuckles at herself and gives us a half smile. Then a ferocious fox pushes me down, she lowers her back legs slowly but it misses her entrance.

    "Hah."

    I grab her neck and sweep her down. With her belly exposed to me I search on her fur and find the small pink opening. I penetrate it with my finger.

    She lets out a high pitched cry that makes Ciel jump on her skin.

    "Oh, sorry... It's the fox... Instincts taking... Over," Alissa says between high pitched moans, then she tries to smile wryly.

    I put some lube on me and slowly penetrate her. She yelps again and I grunt at the tightness. Her warmth and her insides feel the same, this is still my Alissa.

    I hunch over her and her long tongue enters my mouth. Rough and dexterous, her tongue provokes a storm inside my mouth. She licks my palate, giving me pleasure in a way I didn't think possible. I miss her lips and feeling her breath but this makes up for it.

    Her yelps grow louder as I find the first pair of 4 nipples she has. I break the kiss and move to her nipples. I wet the fur around it and suck on them, luckly her fur doesn't shed. I spend a little time with each of them, no nipple shall be left abandoned.

    I make her scream as I piston into her. Her claws come out and she tries to hug me with her paws. The claws stick to my skin and give her a hold so she awkwardly tries to move her hips.

    She bites into my neck and uses her entire body to move along with mine. Her fluffiness tickles my body as her fur rubs into my naked chest. I feel the animal wildness seeping out of her and contaminate me, my only wish is to fuck her.

    With a gutural grunt I cum deep inside her womb. I nearly collapse on top of her. I'm more exhausted and drained than I have ever been.

    When her bite loosens and her claws dislodge from my back I feel the pleasurable tingling of [Heal] being applied to my back. A breeze sweeps through my skin as [Clean] is applied after it to remove the blood.

    I collapse besides the fox and she turns back to her normal form. She nuzzles up on my neck and her arms and legs turn into tentacles as she hugs me with all her strength.

    "I love you, I love you, I love you," she mumbles while she smiles with her whole face.

    "I love you too," I weakly let it out.

    That definitely felt weird, I literally had sex with a fox. But seeing how happy that made Alissa I will certainly make an effort to please her. Not like I'm going to be arrested for doing anything illegal.

    After I regain my breath 4 pairs of hungry eyes stare at me. My dick twitches and Roxanne is the first to pounce on me.

    Tonight nobody is neglected, tonight I am fully drained.



    Intermission 9

    What does it mean to forgive? The pain doesn't go away so why should I forgive, why should I forget what doesn't leave me?

    I don't even understand why she apologized. She doesn't show emotion when the Children of the Forest die yet she apologizes for master's death. Is it just duty that makes her feel guilty about death?

    Why does a giant concerns themselves with an ant?

    The basket reaches the top floor and the vines open for me. The flowers feel good when trampled by my feet. They quickly whiter and a new one grows on its place.

    Huh. What a perfect analogy for my situation. I feel guilty about trampling on the flowers, such beauty shouldn't die before their time.

    "Good evening," Camassia says with a smile.

    "Good evening," I answer.

    A branch sneaks up on the ear of the dryad.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2020
  19. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    Today is the 30th.

    The demand of semen has been nearing the production capacity of Ryder's Baby Factory. To resolve this we have requisitioned an upgrade, [Enhanced Semen Recharge] has been upgraded by 1 point (now 0+6).

    We have one last breakfast of fruit salad with Chantilly.

    I sit near Hana and whisper in her ear.

    "Hey, Roxanne," Hana strains her face trying not to smile, "what do you think Chantilly is made of?"

    "Uh..." She looks at her large bowl blankly. "Milk?"

    "Yeah and what else?"

    "Sugar?"

    "And...?"

    "I dunno," she shrugs.

    Hana lets her evil smile surface.

    "Fat... loads and loads of fat."

    Roxanne and Ciel freeze, one with a spoon entering her mouth, the other mid chewing.

    "N-no, no, nooooo..."

    Both of them look at their bowls with pain and sorrow.

    Lina purses her lips and pushes the bowl away. I look at Alissa, she rolls her eyes and continues eating.

    "It's highly unlikely we will eat anything like this again so soon," I say while I grab more of the salad. "Eat all you want just one last time."

    Roxanne and Ciel look at each other then nod.

    Nothing was left of the breakfast.



    "Let's make a picture," I say.

    I fill the gnomic magic tool with mana and with a little awkwardness we position the smoky quartz on the table, we prop it over glasses and pots. Behind it we leave a wide canvas and we stand in front of the bed, prepared for the picture.

    I sit down on chair with Lina on my lap. Alissa and Ciel sit down on my sides, each holding one of my arms. Roxanne and Hana hug each other with one hand over my chest. Aoi on Hana's shoulders, and Gify on mine.

    The mana starts to seep out of the tool and it flashes. Smoke leaves the canvas, a rather faint and somewhat blurry image is burned into it. Looks like an old school picture without the sepia filter.

    "Amazing..." Alissa mutters.

    "Gih."

    "Beautiful indeed," Ciel says.

    "Hohoh, I always knew my glasses make me look sexier," Roxanne says.

    "You might be sexy, but damn, I'm hot," Hana says.

    "That's the smile that conquered my heart," I say.

    "Awn..."

    "My eyes are so..." Lina looks incredulously at herself.

    "Cute," I say.

    "Cute," Ciel repeats.

    "Hmm..." Lina purses her lips.



    We take one last walk on the market. Now with the Christmas wreaths the girls can more actively participate. Lina and Hana spend a long time together bartering with the animals. It was mostly Hana talking, with Lina coaching and helping out.

    It's wonderful that the animals and magic beings here have a different view on sexuality, the girls can all use pretty dresses without attracting attention. They could all walk naked without anyone batting an eye.

    Roxanne is sporting a rather risque black dress with her back exposed and only a loose and thin piece of cloth covering her nipples. It would certainly turn heads if we were among humanoids. Hana is using something similar. Her vibrant hair and the large breasts straining the dress would attract even more eyes.

    I walk with Roxanne on one arm and Alissa on another. Roxanne seems distracted with the corners of her mouth on a smile.

    "Something on your mind?" I ask her.

    She snaps back to reality and readjusts her glasses.

    "Well I'm just feeling sad we are leaving this place," she says.

    "I know, right. I would love to live here," Alissa says, she turns her head around and looks at the market with a warm smile.

    "It's just so different, so lively. The Holy Academy was so quiet and strict, it was suffocating. And then when I decided to travel I was always tense. I think that when I met that man who tried to... do things, I got a little paranoid but still. Traveling with you feels so relaxing."

    "I have to agree," Ciel says from behind us, "though we shouldn't grow complacent, there's still much danger out there."

    "Don't have to remember me, I will never forget invisible assassins," Roxanne says while nodding repeatedly. "But... even though we get into so much danger I just. I just don't want to leave, ever."

    I see the corner of her eyes water.

    "Getting sentimental on me now, eh?" I tease.

    "Shush! Don't ruin this!" She glares at me.

    I chuckle and kiss her soft hand, this appeases her a little.

    "We already said our vows so I'm not saying something new but I'm glad you are here. I trust all of you deeply," I say.

    Ciel gives me a kiss on the neck and Alissa a kiss on the cheek. I tap my cheek repeatedly until Roxanne takes the hint and gives me a kiss too.

    "This place actually reminds me of home," Roxanne continues, "the first home, before the Academy."

    "What's the name?" I ask. "We can certainly visit it sometime."

    "Mashoor. My parents don't live there so..."

    "You are going to have to meet your parents one day."

    She frowns and looks away. I pull on her hand and she looks at me.

    "Look. I can't go back to my parents, I won't let you run away from yours."

    "I'm, I'm sorry, Wolfy," she lowers her eyes, the sadness on her face breaks my heart."

    I release her arm and grab her pale cheek.

    "We will do it together. You won't be alone with them we will be all there."

    She purses her lips and strains a smile. "Thank you..."

    "Love you."

    Now she smiles.

    "Love you too."

    She recovers and we continue our stroll.



    One last lunch in the dryad all-you-can-eat restaurant and we are ready to leave.

    Arlo takes us to a residential floor. Deep within we enter a room.

    "Oh, huma-... humanoids!" Exclaims a woman.

    An average brown-haired woman. She's wearing grey robes with an embroidery of the Anara heraldry on the shoulder.

    "Oh hello. Didn't expect other humanoids here," Alissa says.

    "Me too," she nods with a smile, "it's very rare. Actually not so much, there's one or two of those weird druids around who appear once in a while."

    "They are only weird to your human standards," Arlo says in tired tone.

    "Which is why they are weird. They are different from normal humans."

    Arlo does a noisy shrug and turns to us.

    "We will be sending a word to the Lord of Rabanara that you are an acquaintance of our Lord. Is that alright with you?" He asks.

    "I have a close relationship to Vanea," I say, "she even know of my Gifts."

    "Much better this way, then," he noisily nods.

    He turns to the woman and hands her a sealed letter.

    "To the Lord, please."

    The woman grabs the letter and puts it on the ground in front of her. The black circle of [Gate] appears and disappears, taking with it the letter.

    "So where to?" The woman asks.

    "Can you take us just outside Rabanara?" I ask.

    "Sure. Simply walk north and you will reach there in a minute or two."

    "Thanks."

    I summon Holly to the surprise of the woman and send her first to check the area. Once I deem it clear we all go through the [Gate].

    Now we are back at the humid and oppressive Sea of Trees. The moss and mud is still humid from the rain of the last few days.

    Hana sighs with sadness.

    "That place was so nice. Reminds me of the streets of Betzenstein, the wereapes there were noisy but I miss it. The Tree made me feel nostalgic," she smiles faintly.

    "Is that in Sommerland?" Ciel asks.

    "Yep," her mouth smiles but I see a hint of pain on her eyes.

    Sommerland must be where her family is locked up. When I become a noble I will see what I can do to free them. I could convince them to become my Blood Slaves like how Hana is.



    We easily reach town and enter through the east gate.

    There's a considerable number of UFO's flying around the sky of the town. Not the same number compared to the university but it's noticeable. I wonder if some air control legislation is going to be implemented to prevent accidents.

    Me and Alissa go to the hunter's guild while the other girls go back home. I gave them my 2 small clay golems to help clean the house.

    Another fight is breaking out as we enter the guild. The booze from lunch must be still running on their blood. Not that there's really a specific time that these people start to drink.

    Taking a look at the request boards I see a few asking to escort children into the Sea of Trees for leveling up. Getting a few levels and some skills could be wonderful for their job prospects, parents must be saving money so they could pay for a request like this.

    "I want to talk with Carmen, can you go to Gordon without me?" Alissa asks.

    "Sure, no problem. Report to her the Hooknose nest we found."

    I enter the waiting area of the disassembling room and after half an hour Gordon calls me.

    "Oh, storm elementals, how rare," he says.

    He closes his eye as he feels the mana in the broken stones.

    "We went a little deep in the Sea," I say, "we were just exploring when we found them, couldn't resist and fought."

    "They should be tough nuts to crack."

    "And they were. But we were tougher."

    Gordon chuckles and passes a large hand over his shining bald head, then he calls Sonny. No job for him since there's no guts to butcher. The albino Incubus weighs the stones and runs some calculations.

    "You should go to the Gambler's Den, Mr. Ryder," Sonny says, "put your luck into some money before it runs out."

    "Got other plans for that," I say with a smirk, "I'm gonna need all the luck I can get."

    "Remember to not die," Gordon says.

    "That's my first rule."

    "Heh, and the second?"

    "'Let's never get into a situation where someone needs to die.'"

    "Hah, good man."

    I take my 4 gold coins and leave. I won't show the Gatuns since there's no reasonable explanations why they would be at the Sea.

    Outside Alissa is talking with Carmen. For a split second the brunette madam gives me a gaze that makes me feel like prey. Even with the [Mental Resistance] necklace and after living with Hana for so long Carmen's gaze still makes me feel like piece of meat.

    Alissa hands me a bundle of coins.

    "Reward for the information we gave," she tells me.

    "Soon you will have a little more, I'm sure," Carmen says with warm smile.

    "You want to stay a little longer?" I ask.

    "No, it's okay, let's go home."

    "Goodbye Alissa, Mr. Ryder."

    "Goodbye Madame Carmen."



    Back at home Roxanne calls me to practice [Heart of Fire] on the bath. She's developing her own chant for it.

    I spend my time trying to move but even with my body retaining shape moving it requires mental effort, it's very tiring.

    We sprawl on the floor naked. Her body is warm so I scootch over to her and rest her head on my chest, her hand trails down and strokes me very lightly. I trace my hand through her black hair and smell the calming lavender.

    Alissa is lightly practicing her [Illusion Magic] besides us, every once in a while we see her body flicker and turn into two for a second, [Double Image]. We both stare at her, she looks like a snack all concentrated and stuff.

    Aoi is casually staring at us, amused at our efforts of trying to turn into fire. Lina is right outside maintaining our weapons. Hana and Ciel are outside sparring, Gify is with them, teasing the one who's losing.

    "Wolfy, what's the level 40 spell of [Summoning Magic]?" Roxanne asks.

    "Uh... It's a spell called [Bind]."

    Alissa's eyes shoot open.

    "What does it do?" She asks with anticipation dripping from her voice.

    "No idea, which is why I'm not touching it yet."

    "Hmm..." Alissa pouts to me.

    A sigh escapes my lips.

    "Look, there's way too much that could go wrong with a spell like that," I say with a stern tone. "What if you are pregnant and then I summon you and the baby stays in place?"

    Both girls look at me with surprise.

    "That sounds horrifying," Roxanne says, her pale face slightly paler.

    "And that's not the only thing that could go wrong," I continue, I let my tone turn even more stern. "What if she becomes like an elemental and loses her personality? What if it requires lots of mana to keep her summoned? What if something on her changes permanently due to the binding? I love you too much Alissa to risk you for something like this."

    She frowns and lowers her eyes.

    "I'm sorry Wolfy, I was being stupid," she says.

    "It's okay, I just... Won't risk you."

    "What if you tried with something else? Like a monster or an animal?" Roxanne asks.

    "Kweh!" Aoi lifts her head in excitement.

    "Come over here," I tell Aoi.

    She scampers over to my side and I flicker her forhead.

    OW!

    "Ow," she closes her eyes in pain.

    I think I hurt myself more than I hurt her.

    "Don't look down on yourself just because you were born as a monster. I won't risk you either," I scowl at her.

    "Kweh..." She lowers her head in apology.

    I sigh again. These women are too reckless.

    Roxanne smirks and chuckles.

    "Be a little happy that they wish to be bound to you so much," she says.

    I scoff and smile faintly.

    "Aside from Alissa's fetish with domination I don't need unconditional loyalty. I want companions that trust me."

    "It's easier to just run from responsibility and simply give eternal loyalty," Roxanne says, she looks down and smiles with a hint of sadness. "I know because that's what I do."

    "You have so much 'Intelligence' and 'Wisdom' and you act so air-headed most of the time," I flicker her forehead.

    "Ow... Heheh," she shows her tongue to me. "What can I say, I'm lazy and you are reliable. Point me to things and I make them go 'BOOM!' That's what I do."

    "And potions," Alissa adds.

    "And potions."

    "Wolfy," Lina says from the door way, "what if you find a stray animal that's dying?"

    "What if the animal dying causes feedback?" I say.

    "Feedback?"

    "Uh... Something like our souls become connected and when it dies it hurts my soul."

    "Oh. That's true. Then just a small normal animal should do."

    "A bird," Alissa says, "it won't get in the way and can move more freely than something like a cat or dog."

    I wanted a dog, though.

    After a little handsy we go back to our training. I admit that training naked is slightly distracting but the benefits in morale outweighs the problems in concentration.

    Hana barges in on the bath, she seems rather annoyed while Ciel comes behind her with a very smug smile.

    "Wolfy, fuck me, now."

    I turn back into human and lay down on the floor, erection rising at her command. She sits on me and grunts in relief.

    "What's up... With you?" I ask.

    "Eheheh," Ciel smiles innocently, "she lost to me and now she became quite the Symbol of Envy."

    "Stupid [Glaive Use]... It's not a spear...! You shouldn't be able... To use a spear so... Effectively!"

    "Not my fault [Imperial Hasterrum Style] also cover a lot of spearmanship."

    Hana mutters a blasphemy towards the skill system only I and Alissa could hear.

    "Be thankful I don't like betting," Ciel says.

    Hana grunts.

    "What did she try to bet?" Roxanne asks.

    "Wolfy's cum," Hana answers flatly.

    Ciel frowns and turns red.

    "No. We bet his time," she says.

    "Same thing," Hana shrugs.

    "For you, you sex-crazed slut," Ciel shows Hana her tongue.

    "That's a compliment," and she smiles ferociously to me, I nearly freeze as her man-eating gaze turns up to eleven.

    "You are... My slut..." I let it out between shockwaves.

    She smiles and hugs me, allowing me to smell the alluring scent of her sweat. I grab her cheeks and feel her emerald scales, then I pull her close for a kiss. I run my hand through her red hair and feel how silky and puffy it is, the high elven products completely removed the mating of her hair.



    Ciel's good mood seems to vanish when I give my attention to Alissa during the bath. She fidgets and pulls Lina tight on a hug.

    For dinner we have pasta with bean sauce, I made this sauce trying to imitate tomato sauce but it only faintly resembles it. I'm craving for some spaghetti al pomodoro, though.

    I miss tomatos, I miss pizza, I miss margheritta, I miss the red sweet and savory goodness, the heavenly brother of pasta, the secret ingredient of sauces, the sweet paradise of ketchup, the orgasmic barbecue. Alas, it is not to be.

    At night Alissa cuddles with me while she reads Toroo's book on [Illusion Magic], it's an introductory tome. This magic school is incomplete so the spells on it aren't really the safest or the most efficient yet. Spells like [Ghost Lights] and [Double Image] are simplified enough that they activate every time someone looks into your eyes. In a battlefield this could result in your mana dropping like a rock and you being hit with overuse.

    I spend my time leisurely looking at the souls of the little two golems. I want to focus on them now, they could be excellent servants if I improve them.

    I sleep safe and sound. The Tree of Mana is a great place but home is home and my home is this house.

    I don't think I have enough mana for a [Gate] between High Forest and here, we will have to leave. It will be heartbreaking to leave this place.



    Today is the first day of the cycle, Genn, the day of Light; also 1st day of the 9th month, the month of Combat.

    I play with Hana's mane as she lays her head on my belly. I breathe in deeply and stretch.

    "Darean is fucked and now we can relax," I say.

    "Just one month of relaxation though," Hana says.

    "You looking forward to leaving this place?"

    "Not really, there's enough ways to gain a living here and nothing is really lacking for me," she turns her head to me and smiles wryly, her emerald scales on her cheek tickle my belly. "Though I'm worried about growing too soft, you pamper me too much."

    "He pampers us too much," Alissa says.

    "You all pamper me too much," I say.

    "What was that thing you said once, tushy?" Hana asks.

    "Uh... 'touché'?" I question.

    "Yes, that, touché," she licks my abs and gets up.



    My [Fire Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+3).



    Alissa increased her "Charisma" by 1 (now 11) and her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 4). Her practice of [Double Image] is already giving results. That spell makes the target see a double of her that she can control at will.

    This month the Coliseum is holding multiple spectacles. A few places on the town are reserved for public duels where hunters and guards participate en masse because there's a few talent scouts out there looking for the better warriors.

    A considerable number of knighthood candidates start by showing themselves on these duels and then at the 1st of next month a martial arts tournament will happen. It's there that the nobility will compete for the best candidates.



    I spend my morning researching improvements for the golems.

    The soul "expands" and covers the entire of the body, knowing this I try to find on the soul where the heart is because that's where we normally gather mana for spells. What I did notice is that I can't really correlate pieces of soul to anywhere on the body, it's like I'm seeing a "window" into some different space. With this my search for the "mana organ" becomes a matter of scouring through every inch of the soul.

    I recruit Alissa and Hana for this effort, I look into their soul inch by inch while they cast spells and then meditate. Finally I noticed a specific place where it seems like the complexity of the area reduces as they cast spells and then increases slowly again as they meditate. I assume this is the "mana organ".

    Now on the golems, on the exact same place of where the mana organ should be there's a similar "construct". It slowly reduces in complexity until we fill it with mana, then it goes back to maximum complexity. With this I'm certain I found the "mana battery" and that my assumption of the mana organ was correct.

    I spend my time observing the surroundings of the battery and organ. Hopefully the organ is what's responsible for collecting mana from the environment like we do. Then I use [Mold] on their souls and modify it to be similar to a mana organ.

    Curiously I can't fill a mana organ with mana like I can a mana battery. At least there's a level 35 spell for [Nature Magic] called [Mana Transfusion] that allows me to do it. I'm rather interested in the mana battery, maybe I could teach something to Lina that could help her enchantments.

    The "feeling" of feeding a mana battery is nearly the same as an enchantment or magic tool. When you grab a magic tool it is like you are standing in a slope, you "feel" like moving downwards and when you "let go" the mana is sucked. A mana battery feels a lot stronger the more "empty" it is, when nearing empty it's the difference between standing near a hole and standing near a valley.

    "Ohohoh! Now you are self-suficient," I pat both little golems.

    Both of them kneel and lower their head towards me.

    "Oh, look, they are learning. Ciel taught them that," Hana says.

    I must admit it's adorable to see a teddy bear and a cloth doll trying to look dignified.

    "Raise, both of you," I say.

    They stand tall (heh) and straight, waiting for the next order.

    "Can you teach them spells now?" Alissa asks.

    "I have to look where in the soul are skills stored."

    "Everywhere?" Hana questions with a shrug, "I always thought it was like a box that increased in size with every Level we gain."

    "Yes but the soul itself doesn't increase," I say. "How do you fit more things using a box that has the same space?"

    "Tighter!"

    "Or just better organized," Alissa says.

    "Not sure how the second one would work and why would we need soul fragments for it," I say. "I believe it's something more like how warped-distances spaces work."

    "You can use [Warp Space] now right?"

    "Yeah, hopefully it will give me some insight. Well this will have to be left for later, let's go make our lunch."



    This time we make some good milk roux for our lasagne, I have buckets of cow milk so they will last us a good while. We roast some Dragolite on garglic and oh Gods, it almost feels like home, almost.

    "Logan has started his initiation at the temple," Ciel says. "He can quickly rise as a battle priest, maybe one day he can be a Templar."

    "He certainly had the body for one," Hana says.

    "Don't they learn magic too? Would he have the talent for that?" I ask.

    "There's different types of Templars, because they have to learn martial arts they don't have time to learn all spells," Ciel says. "Not even the healers learn all spells from [Light Magic]."

    "Considering my cheats you might become the first one to learn all spells then," I say with a cheeky grin.

    "That wouldn't count because of cheating," Ciel rolls her eyes.

    "Yet you wanted to learn [Holy Spirit] from me," I say.

    "Different, uh... that's a different case," she crosses her arms looks away.



    After lunch it's return classes for [Space Magic]. The professor is skipping [Gate] and focusing on teaching us the level 40 spell [Warp Space]. Lucky me.

    The skill has some uses for combat but mostly it is used for creating Bags of Holding, House Carriages, House Tents, or the Hyper Loop found on the Capital. What makes these items special is that they are much bigger on the inside, allowing for easier mass transport. They are so expensive you don't even find them for sale in Rabanara, they are almost exclusive to nobility or rich merchants.

    Bag of Holding doesn't look very useful when you have [Item Box] but they can be used to transport items for quick reach. Like say storing a longsword on a bag tied to your arm for emergencies, or storing battle-potions where they won't be so easily destroyed in case you are hit. You can also apply some [Telekinesis] enchantment to it so they weigh less than normal.

    We learned that [Gate] does not create a "wormhole", it merely switches the position of an object. It's quite literally someone editing the "coordinate" property of an object like in a game editor.

    [Eternal Gate], the level 50 spell after [Warp Space] is the one that creates a permanent wormhole. A wormhole being bending space so much we can poke a hole and transport things from one place to another instantly. This is the spell that created those portals with a white veil inside the dragonoid maze of the Wisps of the Proud.



    "So father is quite interesting in meeting you, Wolf," Lyle says.

    Noo…

    "Why is that?" I ask, containing the frown that yearns for release.

    "Well you did save us from a large group of kidnappers, he only wants to show his gratitude," then he cringes and looks away. "I was kind of... vague with how the fight went so he got even more curious about you."

    Oh I see, at least he didn't tell him of my Gifts.

    "How did you describe it for him?"



    "Yeah I can see how he would be interested," I massage my temple. "It's no problem, I will talk to him when the time comes."

    Note to self, Lyle is terrible at telling stories, either that or he's very scared of his father.

    "He wants to meet at the next class break. Are you going out for hunting?" Lyle says.

    "I think nobody wants to leave next break so we should be free."

    "The 11th then?"

    "Sure."

    "Thank you," he smiles apologetically.

    "So, what did you guys do this break?" I ask.

    "I spent most of my time practicing my magic, father says I can participate at the next battle," Lyle says, his savage gaze turns warm for a moment.

    Garanae sighs and Hatara smiles wryly. "I have been trying to focus on [Fire Magic] but I don't have enough "Magic Power", I'll have to stand guard near the backup," he says.

    "At least he will be right outside my position," Hatara says.

    "Yeah but…"

    "We get it," Lyle says.

    "Oh, so your [Heal] is already powerful enough for you to act as support," Alissa says.

    "Nooot really," She curls her ponytail on her hand in discomfort, "Just enough that I'll accompany a temple healer."

    "Experience in battle is very important, do your best in there," Lina says.

    Hatara blushes but nods in agreement to her words.

    "You would know," Alissa says.

    Lina smiles adorably.

    "What about you? What did you all do this break?" Lyle asks.

    "Deep exploration on the Sea of Trees," Alissa says, the trio perk up their ears to her words. "Met a nest of Hooknoses, avoided a bunch of monsters, ran away from poisonous spores, and finally met a Storm elemental."

    "Oooh... how was it?"

    "Like cracking a nut," I say.

    Alissa recites our battle, omitting the instant-casting.



    Ciel's turn for attention. She immediately initiates things during bath and makes sure my tongue is occupied, either with hers or some other part of her body.

    The grabbing doesn't stop as she makes full use of the time reserved for her. Her tentacles keep me glued to her while we practice Andraste after dinner. Lina pouts and plops herself on my lap.

    I casually [Massage] both of them until Lina decides to strip and mount me. Ciel gets irritated but waits until I'm done with her to have her turn.



    Today is the 2nd. Yn, the day of Earth.

    Ciel looks adorable as she sits down, naked, and yawns while while hugging Ted. Lina slept while hugging Suzy but she's currently away so she wouldn't be dirtied by a stray droplet.



    My [Sense Soul] increased by 1 (now 4). I can now see the MP and "Magic Power" of other people.



    "I will sell half the emellanat and most of the gnomic magic tools," Lina says.

    "You can do it? Bartering, I mean," I say.

    "Hana can do it for me."

    "Keep her safe, then," I tell Hana.

    She grins and pats Lina's head.

    "Take, me!" Aoi says. She reduces in size and then glides from the second floor, landing on Lina's head.

    The gloomy girl giggles as Aoi's little claws tickle her head.



    I meet with Kyros and this time I put 2 points into [Godly Language].

    "You improved a little," He says.

    I want to put all points on it but the least Vanea knows about my Gift the better.

    "Yeah...," I mutter. The extra point reduced the nausea but not completely.

    Breathe in, breathe out. Breakfast, you stay down.

    Hey it rhymed.

    I will focus on not puking first, this way I can at least use the skill to buff us. Then I need to be able to dual cast so I can create the shield vortex to be able to use the skill offensively. I tried once but the skill doesn't give me enough muscle memory so I can dual cast, I will have to learn this the proper way.

    "You mentioned that there's a way to train my "Mana Points" using these vortexes."

    "I guess you have enough talent to try it out" Kyros caresses his goatee. "Well then, if I remember correctly you created [Sense Soul], correct?"

    "Yes."

    "Then you should know how a soul looks like."

    "Chaos, complex chaos."

    "Exactly," he smiles, "it's not a space we can compare to our reality but the inside of a soul still has space, it still has 'locations'."

    "Yes. I can see 'structures' inside the soul, with some effort I could eventually understand what all these structures are for."

    "Hm, 'structure' is a better way to describe it, yes. Continuing, one of these structures is where mana is stored. You remember what happens when too much mana occupies the same spot?"

    "A mana storm happens."

    "Exactly. Some people call MP 'Mana Particles' instead of 'Mana Points', it makes a little more sense since you can't divide a mana particle in two. Mana also has no mass and no size but we can still 'feel' where it is. Mana has basically one attribute, 'location', or 'coordinates' if you are one of those space mages," he smiles wryly.

    Not even in fantasy can scholars avoid schisms due to meaningless semantics.

    "So even inside the soul mana still has its property active, which means that our mana organ can't put all mana on the same spot, each particle has to be separated. The interesting thing about the mana organ is that it's not like a box for mana, it doesn't increase in size but rather, it increases in complexity."

    "Ooh yes, I saw that with my skill."

    His smile grows wider and I see the fire of excitement in his eyes.

    "Perfect! I knew it was true!" He leans back and looks embarrassed for a moment before going back to his usual stoicism. "Anyway, mana has no size so why should the mana organ increase in size when it can keep subdividing infinitely? Oh, do you know what subdividing means?"

    "Yes, increasing the number of rooms by breaking the rooms down in equal parts."

    "Good. So you see, the mana organ has to subdivide itself to increase its capacity but it can't do that while it's filled with mana. I believe the subdivision could negatively affect mana, nobody can prove it but it's the most accepted theory."

    With [Golemancy] maybe I could. It would be an extremely precise test but I could.

    "And now finally, to increase your mana you have to maintain the mana vortex outside of your body without losing a single mana particle. The mana is bound to your soul until it is spent on the gathering phase, this means that the mana particle 'slots' aren't filled again due to recovery, allowing the mana organ to subdivide.

    "Though the organ does not subdivide infinitely, it needs some 'stimulation'. So the cycle you need to perform is to keep all your mana outside on the vortex for about a minute, flood the mana back to your body, and then create the vortex again. This is the best way to improve your MP."

    I see, so this is why training by using all my mana eventually stops being effective to increase MP. The high amount of mana I have to use always causes some overuse side-effects, making it difficult to "dry up" my mana organ.

    "What about 'Magic Power'?"

    "You keep all your mana out with the vortex except for a single particle, then you try to cast a spell with it. You have to force your spells to do more with less."

    "So it's dual casting?"

    "Yes, unfortunately. This is the most controlled and safe way to do it so learning dual casting is a small price to pay."

    "What about blackout? Wouldn't my mana go to the negatives to create the spell?"

    "Not while you maintain the vortex, if you try to spend all your mana and cast a spell then it uses your vitality and your mana goes to the negatives. The vortex being out of your soul but still bound to your mana organ prevents the spell from using your vitality."

    This sounds so much like... a glitch in the system. What an odd interaction, it reminds me so much of abusing game logic. Then again, this cycle is called "Playground" and the realm "RPG" so it's not unexpected. I'm just getting so used to this reality that I forget its game-like elements.

    I will leave the mana training for later, I will focus on [Godly Language] for now.



    Lina comes back with a pale face. With a poof she pulls out a sack of coins and opens up for us. Dozens of rose coins spill out the sack.

    We are rich, so goddamn filthy rich.

    Aoi nabs one and scurries away.

    "Ask before you take it!" I yell to her.

    "Kay!" Her response is muffled by the distance.

    "You did it. Good job, both of you," Ciel smiles at them.

    Lina twiddles her thumbs and her ears redden. She nearly topples as Hana gives her a strong tap on the back.

    "We actually make a good duo," Hana says. "A few signals to put pressure at the right moments and they all fold to my 'Charisma'."

    "Her 'Perception' doing work," Roxanne says.

    I give a kiss on the forehead of each.

    "Good job," I say.

    Upstairs Aoi plays with her coins like a baby plays with toys.



    Nature class is about [Life Transfusion] and [Mana Transfusion]. Coupled with [Regeneration] these were the common healing spells before [Light Magic] was created. They also were the precursors to [Martyrism].

    And of course, the transfusion spells can have some "interesting" side-effects between lovers. I'm not surprised anymore when [Nature Magic] turns everything sexual.

    Well I guess it makes sense, the jungle is basically a bunch of animals screaming "HAVE SEX WITH ME!"



    I wince waiting for Lina to strike but it never comes. I open my eyes and see her wooden axe blade touching my neck.

    "Oh..." I let a sound escape.

    She learned very well how to smile with her eyes.

    "You are acting much more, uh, calmer today," I say.

    "I guess..." She answers in a whisper.

    "Anything happen?"

    "Well no, but…"

    "Giiiih...?" From the top of Roxanne's head Gify prods her.

    "After I talked to Gecynd I have been thinking. Thinking about what I want, what I wanted."

    "And what did you want?"

    "Power and revenge," she smiles faintly, her black bangs covering her eyes. "Now that I have both I have been thinking about the future."

    "You may be a slave but that's basically just on paper, I want you to be happy," I grab her cheeks and pull her head up. I stare into her deep black eyes.

    She smiles adorably.

    "I know. This is why I have been thinking, there's also your destiny as a hero to take into consideration."

    I chuckle and kiss her lips.

    "Fighting for you is not so bad but I want to do more," she continues.

    "You are also enchanting our equipment little by little."

    "Yes but I want to do more."

    One Alissa opens her eyes and smiles.

    "We all do," one Alissa talks while the other keeps meditating.

    "And me too, I want to do more for all of you," I say.

    The meditating Alissa flickers and disappears, the real Alissa clicks her tongue in frustration.

    Hana bashes Ciel to push her away and lowers her wooden sword.

    "I know my limits but I'm always thinking in how to exceed them," Hana says.

    "Were you even paying attention to our spar?" Ciel asks.

    "Hah! [Battlefield Perception], you have the same level as mine and you don't use it like this?"

    "Oh..." Ciel purses her lips and starts thinking deeply.

    I hug Lina closer and push my tongue inside her mouth. After a little teasing I push her away and grab my weapons.

    "Pull up your guard!"

    She smiles and her vigor comes back. She gives me a few bruises but I make her scream during the bath.



    Tonight I summon a [Holy Spirit] for Ciel. A light blue [Spirit Light] surrounded by fire materializes in front of me. Then forms from light two long transparent crystals that act as feet and a small oval metal mask with two holes that acts as a face.

    "Oh Gods, it looks so cute, I want to hug it so much!" Ciel gushes at the spirit.

    "You want to hug fire?" Roxanne lifts an eyebrow.

    "It uh, it's not real fire. It just look as cute as the drawings so I just want to hug cute things. They have no real form and I heard they feel good to hug," she awkwardly makes excuses.

    "Kweh! Bad, fi-re!" Aoi huffs smoke at the spirit which answers by tilting it's mask.

    "Awn," Ciel gushes harder. "Wait, are you controlling him Wolfy?"

    "No, I can feel it wants to look cute though."

    This spirit feels weird. I share my senses with the spirit the same way as normal summons do but I can control it directly if I want.

    Spirits are more commonly used as simpler spell casters, they use the lower-level spells mostly for defense and occasionally for offense. This way the mage can focus on casting the higher level spells without being completely vulnerable.

    "Wait, it feels like I'm doing two things at once, could this be the secret to dual-casting?" I ask.

    "I dunno," Roxanne shrugs, "I learned it by my own so I skipped the dual-casting classes."

    The problem with talent, Roxanne is a terrible teacher for dual-casting.

    She goes back to meditating alongside Hana, Alissa, and Lina, they are all trying the MP enhancement technique that Kyros taught me.

    Practicing magic naked with Ciel is harder than the others, I almost fell asleep on her softness. Seeing my vulnerability she decided to attack me by filling me with kisses, the battle against sleepiness was long and hard-fought.



    Today is the 3rd. Ne, day of Water.

    After Alissa's meal Roxanne uses her to get off. A mass of red and light brown covers my eyes and I immediately feel it rising again. Hana sits down on me and we slowly have our fun paying sole attention to the two girls to our side.

    After Roxanne is done with Alissa, she is used to clean Hana and I have to use Roxanne as I watch.

    "Guuys, I'm hungry!" Ciel appears on the doorway.

    "Kweh!"

    "Gih!"

    Lina stands still looking disappointed but soon after her stomach growls and she joins the famished faction.



    This morning is spent again naked with Ciel while we practice [Holy Spirit]. Roxanne only needs an occasional demonstration of [Heart of Fire] so I can split my focus between the two.

    We hang our painting/picture at the wall on top of the fireplace. It gives a refreshing vibe to the room, it makes it really feel like "home". I was never one to care about pictures, but the lack of a mirror or a camera made me value the little things, you only notice how you miss something when you can't have it anymore.



    "Behold! Lightning!" Lyle strikes his sword on the dummy and electricity runs through its straw body. Smoke rises and it catches fire, the professor [Rush]'es to the dummy and [Conjures Water] on top of it.

    "I told you to use very little mana," he growls at Lyle, his red leather mask only makes him look more threatening.

    All I need is a chair and some tea and I will be quite comfy watching this comedy routine unfold.

    This actually shows how talented Lyle really is, he learned the level 30 spell [Charge] while having only 15 points in [Electric Magic].



    Class ends and right outside of the university a beautiful carriage is waiting for us. On the outside it's a small carriage, on the inside it's a large room capable of transporting 20 people. Roxanne, Hana, and Ciel are already inside eating some snacks.

    The windows are thick and do not open. The carriage needs a strong base to endure such strong enchantment.

    The dresses are back, everyone switched to formal clothing and a magic-tool powered [Clean] is enough to make the faces look fresh.

    Nononya looks adorable with her simple puffy and frilly white dress. Silvane is enchanting as her loose sleeveless silver silk dress shows the contour of her small breasts, if I look closely I can even see the form of the nipple. Hatara is more modest with a sleeveless black dress and a green shawl, her loose hair gives her a more mature look.

    Alissa is using a puffy and thin yellow top with a long summer skirt, her toned midriff is showing. Roxanne is on her gothic-lolita-looking black dress with a huge cleavage and also knee high socks. Hana is on a sleeveless tube red dress that shows the contour of her entire body; her nipples are already hard, I will choose her for tonight. Ciel has her flowery dress, thought it's much shorter this time, showing a few centimeters of her thick thighs. Lina has a simple black dress that reaches her knees and a small white tie, she also uses a red bow tie headband.

    The male side is rather boring. We are all using velvet pants, a thick doublet and a cloak. Even in fantasy we cannot escape the lack of fashion for men. I'm actually envious, all I want is to look fabulous.

    Garanae has trouble finding where to look, he does not even want to stare at his own woman due to respect. Hana deliberately stretches, making her nipples poke through the dress fabric. Lyle turns red and keeps his head down while Garanae's eyes gloss over and lose focus.

    Ciel pinches Hana's arm and she stops her teasing but gives both young boys a hungry smile that give them shivers.



    "So I heard every race has its specialty, how are the spectacles on other Coliseums?" I ask.

    "Spirit battle royal or team spirit battles," Roxanne says.

    "Jousting with all sorts of mounts," Silvane says.

    Hana snorts.

    "We do horseless jousting with only our wings."

    "Ei, Ronti jousting is really fun to watch," Lyle pouts.

    "Yeah but it's always the same thing, wing jousting has much more breadth of movement."

    "I know, right," Nononya leans forward and grins. "We do [Fly] battles and they are so awesome, I miss them so much."

    "Now that's something interesting," Roxanne says, "[Wind Spirit] battles are quite hard to see."

    "Hmph! It's not about the spectacle, Ronti jousting is about precision," Lyle says with pride.

    "And elven jousting is about animal training and control," Silvane says.

    "I am sorry, Grand ones but I believe it is boring," Hana says, straining herself not to swear.

    Lyle sighs and chuckles, "Just call me by my first name, no 'Mr.'"

    "Same, no 'Miss'," Silvane says.

    "Anyway, we also do greatsword duels," Hana continues, "without armor they are quite entertaining."

    "And bloody," Roxanne adds.

    Hana shrugs.

    "When you have healers at your side it's very rare for someone to die, no need to go easy."

    "Weren't you born at Sommerland? What do they do there?" I ask.

    "Eh, the ape wereanimals like [Alchemicism] too much, it makes the battles quite confusing."

    Roxanne snorts, "What's the use of alchemy if you can't reproduce the same result twice," she wrinkles her nose.

    "Uh, what? You have to explain that one to me," I say.

    "A part of [Alchemicism] is trying to extract the abstract concepts of things. The problem is it rarely works the same way twice, you are basically asking the God of Luck to give you the spell you want!" Roxanne throws her hands in the air. "It's fine if you want to use it to extract the more complex things out of materials but the wereapes go a step too far."

    Another rift between scholars, how amusing.

    "Aanyway... what about the Misty Fox clan?" I ask.

    "We don't duel much, just some archery contests. The more popular contest is hunting the most dangerous monster you can, alone," Alissa says.

    "What about the dwarves?" Lyle asks to Lina.

    "I never saw but I heard they like to duel with full plate and clubs until one passes out, then there's the men-of-the-line team combat. I'm not sure how true it is but there's drunk duels where you are not allowed to use [Spirit of Gaia]."

    "Now that's something interesting," Hana smirks.



    We reach our destination and get out of the wagon.

    The Colosseum is a large circular building made of blue-gray bricks. It has a tall ceiling between each of the 3 floors with huge windows where statues of overly muscular men, women, and large monsters peek out from. Floating on top of it is a mini-sun called [Spirit Light].

    We are on the "noble" side so other carriages and the usual carnival of fashion flock in direction of the entrance.

    Our group simply strolls through the line and we pass by the guard with merely a nod from Silvane. We pass through wide halls full of murals of glorious battles that elicit a nod of approval from Lina. Stalls of assorted goodies can be seen, sweets, snacks, meats on sticks, keepsakes, plushies, and even fake gladiator armor for children.

    After a stair we reach our room, it's a covered balcony protruding forward towards the middle of the ring. A feast of fruits, sweets, meats, and other savory snacks are in front of us on a table. Beyond that Haaran awaits on a very comfy looking sofa, his feet up on an ottoman footstool.

    "Hey Silf," he waves towards us, his piercing gaze nowhere to be found.

    She smiles at him and plops on the sofa at his side, Nononya then plops besides her. After some quick introductions my group picks a wide sofa while Lyle's picks a smaller one at the middle.

    "Vanea is not coming?" Silvane asks.

    "No, she's with mother and Lai," Haaran answers.

    Conversation is thrown away as they discuss the best gladiator and who's going to win this time. There's also some mentions about the summoning battle but not much information about it was revealed to keep the mystery.

    The golems are pulled out by Ciel, now that they are self-sufficient they are kept outside most of the time.

    "How adorable!" Nononya grabs Ted and hugs him tight, the little golem already learned that resistance is futile and his destiny is to be smothered by women.

    Once she gets her share of hugging she puts the golem down and Roxanne tells them to dance, causing Nono and Hatara to cough blood.

    "Amazing, Mr. Ryder," Silvane says. "They look so incredibly smart... and cute..."

    "So, so cute!" Hatara gushes, her green eyes suddenly turn into one of a hunter. "So envious! Sell one to me one day."

    Haaran raises an eyebrow and Garanae rolls his eyes.

    The mini-sun glows green and the entire Colosseum goes quiet.

    "Gentlemen and Gentlewomen!" Announces a magically-enhanced voice. "Welcome to the 110th spectacle of the year!"

    The crowd cheers.

    "Our schedule for tonight is first a Battle Royal, then a duel between Baal and Taal, the twins of anger and scorn!" The crowd gives a "hurray!". "And finally, the SUMMONER BATTLE!"

    The crowd cheers again.

    "Start returning to your seats, folks! The bets are going to close down in a minute and the battle will start in five!"

    I look to Ciel and grab her hand.

    "What do the gods say about betting?" I ask.

    "The God of Luck says it's a waste of time," she answers.

    "So why do people do it?"

    "The God of War tells people not to foolishly charge to your deaths but people still do it all the time. It's simply because people are fools," she smiles bitterly.

    "More like they want some excitement," Hana says.

    "They are still fools if they don't know when it's appropriate to make a bet," Ciel smiles smugly.

    Hana shows her tongue at her and Ciel snorts.

    A minute later a large amount of mostly men and some women come out of the first floor into the dirt arena. They wear typical gladiator armor that exposes a lot of the body but protects the more important organs like the heart and brains.

    A beautiful dragonkin woman appears and the crowd goes wild. She's taller than all the men, she must be at least 2,1 meters tall. Her pure white skin in contrast with her abyss black hair and scales, her armor is minimal, it could barely be considered a bikini since she even exposes a massive breast with a ghost nipple.

    The male side of our group becomes a little uncomfortable as the female side tries to catch back our attention. Lyle's posture shrinks as he looks incredibly solitaire in his awkwardness.

    Lina casually drills her ass on my crotch as she pets Aoi. Alissa latches my hand in the middle of her crotch, which I feel get warm by the second. Hana latches my other hand on her crotch, which is already warmer than Alissa's. Roxanne and Ciel reach over and painfully squeeze my thigh for a second.

    The shameless dragonkin pulls out a greatsword with a light blue sheen. Lina's grinding stops as she admires the sword.

    "Kanal..." She mutters.

    "What's that?" I ask.

    "Metal perfect for enchanting," Hana answers, "not the best at cutting but you can make some interesting weapons with it."

    After the carnival of gladiators is done coming out, a large amount of robed priests fill the ring wall of the arena and lower themselves behind barricades.

    "It is time!" The announcer suddenly speaks, "Without further ado, LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

    *PUOINNN~!* A gong is hit and the warriors start to fight.

    The shameless dragonkin flies towards the nearest man and bashes him, he loses his posture and she slashes with all her strength. Her sword buries itself halfway through the exposed leg of a man, then a ghost of her appears and strikes again, this time the leg is cut through.

    Interesting indeed.

    "[Double Strike]..." Lina mutters again, completely entranced on the woman.

    The crowd "ooh's" in sympathy. The now legless man and his legs are quickly recovered by the priests and immediately his leg gets reattached, though he doesn't return to battle.

    "She swings that sword like a club," Hana says. "It works but..."

    "It's completely inefficient, ridiculous even," Haaran says.

    "They are performers after all," Silvane says with a shrug.

    The shameless dragonkin skewers another man through his stomach and with a monstrous grunt, throws him into another opponent. Both men break bones from the impact, an arm is twisted on the wrong way.

    "Wow..." Haaran mutters, his eyes gleam with admiriation.

    The men decide to gang up on her. One tries to thrust but has his sword blocked by the black scales at the back of her hand; another cuts one of wings off; a third slashes at her thigh, drawing blood; a fourth comes for a killing blow at her exposed shoulder but stops when her sword flashes light and blinds everyone nearby. The light even hurt our eyes a little.

    She crouches low and cuts off the feet of her attackers with a sweep. She immediately awkwardly flies to the side when the biggest man of the arena slashes down at her with his own greatsword.

    The man is a muscular, bronze skinned man with the biggest mustache I have ever seen, and he's only wearing a tight red thong. He's just as bloodied as her.

    "SABLE, SABLE, SABLE!" Half the crowd cries.

    "MONS, MONS, MONS!" The other half cries in response.

    They trade blows, nicking each other little by little. Each cut causes a short gush of blood to come out, dyeing the sand of the arena red.

    The rest of the battles ended, bringing calm to the arena besides the two. In a split second they part ways and cleave the few remaining men, finally leaving them as the last two standing.

    They rush back to each other and the clash restarts, but there's a clear winner approaching.

    Mons kicks Sable away, she weakly stands up and walks forward. Mons leans forward and is stopped by Sable's hand. She holds him still, gives him a peck on the lips and pushes him back. He falls on the ground, unconscious.

    "RAAAAAahh..." Her victory scream fades as she falls backwards, also unconscious.

    "SABLE WINS!" The announcer screams.

    The woman is healed by the priests and immediately runs a victory lap. The crowd throws flowers, coins, and marriage proposals from men and women.

    The priests quickly clean the arena out of body parts, participants, and blood. In a few minutes everything is back to normal.

    "Gentlemen and Gentlewomen!" The announcer talks again. "The bets for the next spectacle have closed! Sit down and watch as the twins settle who's the best swordsman of Rabanara!"

    From opposite sides two handsome men with chiseled faces and statuesque bodies come out, I feel an instinctual need to cover the eyes of all women. Both of them have a half neck guard that only protects the spine, a shoulder guard that covers the heart, and short leather pants, their muscular chests are exposed and oiled. One has a ball of fire engraved on his metal kite shield and the other has a crystal of ice. One is a red skinned devil-type and the other is a blue skinned oni-type.

    Their faces look the same even though they have different races, the devil-type has two small protusions on his forehead while the other has two short yellow horns coming out. They put their identical helmets on and draw their identical steel swords.

    "Brother!" The blue oni yells, "Let your chaotic ways end here! Your swordsmanship brings nothing but blood and death, you will waste your life by dying by your sword due to your recklessness!"

    "Brother!" The red devil yells, "Let your decaying ways end here! Your swordsmanship brings nothing but meekness and stagnation, you will waste your life by withering away without accomplishing anything!"

    "Let the Gods decide who is right! You will be defeated here, Baal!"

    "Let the Gods decide who is stronger! You will be defeated here, Taal!"

    They point their swords at each other and charge.

    Baal strikes first and keeps his momentum. His sword does not stop as he strikes again and again. Taal defends with his shield, using minimal movements to deflect each blow.

    "Now this looks like proper swordsmanship," Hana says.

    Haaran nods in approval.

    Baal flourishes with a spin attack, it strikes so hard Taal's shield that even I wince at the damage to the blade. The sound of metal hitting metal reverberates through the arena, bringing the crowd to higher levels of excitement.

    Haaran sighs and smiles bitterly. "Can't forget we are still at the Colosseum," he says.

    The battle picks up pace not in speed but in showmanship, each fighter flourishes with increasing frequency. It's a beauty to watch but it's not one a show of expert swordsmanship.

    Baal nicks Taal with more frequency than the inverse. The blue skin of the oni gets slowly died in his blood as the wounds increase yet his posture never crumbles or his speed decreases. Baal on the contrary looks increasingly haggard and with more difficulty to breathe with each attack.

    "JUST... DIE... ALREADY!" Baal yells between each strike.

    "YOU... ARE... FOOLISH!"

    Taal bashes and counters, his strength pushes Baal away and his sword jabs the stomach of his brother. He continues with his momentum, a rhythm of bashing and countering pushes Baal away and soon he's going to touch the wall.

    Baal sinks his foot on the ground and takes a bash on his body. He hugs Taal's shield and jabs at his collarbone from above.

    Taal sinks low and sweeps his brother's feet off the ground. He leans forward as Baal's body hits the ground and forces him down with his shield.

    Taal's sword flashes and Baal drops his weapons, his hand goes to cover the new wound at his throat, a futile attempt to stop the flood of blood.

    Taal kicks the ground and lands a meter away from his brother, in a moment a priest is already healing Baal. Taal lifts his bloodied sword to the sky and closes his eyes in meditation.

    "TAAL WINS!"

    The crowd explodes in cheers again and Taal makes a victory lap. The crowd throws flowers, coins, letters of love, and used panties.

    "You said dragonkin duels are more bloody?" Alissa asks Hana.

    "Oh yes, a slashed throat or a missing arm are not enough to stop a fight," she answers.

    The cleanup is quicker this time so in a minute the announcer is speaking again.

    "Gentlemen and Gentlewomen! The bets for the next spectacle have closed! Sit down and watch our final spectacle! The SUMMONER BATTLEEEE~!"

    "TITAN, TITAN, TITAN, TITAN!" The crowd chants.

    "Ohoh..." Roxanne murmurs.

    Nononya's whiskers twitch repeatedly.

    Everyone leans forward waiting for the next duelists.

    Out of opposite sides, two lithe robed figures come out. One is in white robes, the other in black . A krampus-type demon with brown hair and a wereowl woman with white hair with streaks of grey.

    "KROSSUS VERSUS OROONA!"

    Both of them start to chant and after 2 minutes a 10-meter tall earth elemental forms on each side. Their bodies are made of floating blocks of stone while the joints are round balls. Stone grinds on stone loudly with every movement.

    The elementals step forward in slow motion, each step sending a tremor through the arena.

    "Oh, wow," I let the wonder escape my lips.

    "Impressive but I believe it's borderline unpractical, right?" Silvane asks.

    Nononya has her mouth hanging in wonder but still manages to nod repeatedly.

    "The mana efficiency is going to be horrible," I say.

    Krossus' elemental is made of yellow stone while Oroona's is made of black stone.

    "LET THE BEST SUMMONER BEGIN! FIGHT!"

    The elementals crush the ground as they charge forward. The yellow titan aims a right hook while the black titan leans low and opens his arms wide.

    "Yellow opens with a punch while Black bets it all on a bear hug!" The announcer yells.

    Yellow fires his slow-motion punch and grazes the arm of Black, who deflects the blow with his own arm. Black slams his front foot on the ground to stop and aims an uppercut with his left arm.

    *DROOM~* A low rumble as stone hits stone and piece of yellow rock flies. Yellow's head block spins wildly, his balance is broken and he falls backwards.

    "OH! A perfect parry followed by a hit!"

    Yellow uses his arms to hook on Black's arms and pull him down. Yellow's body twists and suddenly, as "sudden" as a 10 seconds fall can be, Black hits the ground first, followed by Yellow's knee.

    *DOOOOMSHH~...* Dust lifts from the ground as both titans fall like rocks, literally.

    "Yellow reverses it up and drags Black down with it!"

    A 3-meters tall dominatrix made of fire burst alive besides Oroona. A 3-meters tall angel of light in a frilly dress blooms out of a flower besides Krossus.

    The dominatrix flies forward and her whip of fire curls around Yellow's neck. She grunts as she pulls him away from Black.

    Long blades appear out of the back of the hand of the angel and she flies forward towards the dominatrix.

    "Dame of Pain and the Saintess make their appeareances! Will their rivalry finally end here!?"

    Yellow staggers up, his hands claw at his face trying to remove the whip in vain. Black hits the ground with his arm and his other flies upwards, the outer layer explodes revealing a much thinner, and faster, arm below.

    Saintess is nicked by Black's new arm and is diverted away from the fight. Her hands rub her eyes as dust must have entered them.

    "The Saintess is taken in surprise by a layer discard from Black!"

    Dame of Pain raises her other hand and a large ball of fire starts to form.

    Yellow turns around and tries to move towards the Dame but his legs are swiped by Black and he falls face first on the ground.

    *DOOOOMSHH~...* More dust is lifted. The Dame cackles an evil laugh and prepares to throw her spell.

    A flying blade pierces the ball of fire and glows. The fire grows wild and the ball starts to lose shape.

    "The Saintess interrupts the spell with the mana from her sword!"

    The Dame scowls and throws the unstable spell at Yellow.

    The Saintess flies into the spell and buries her other blade at it. She screams as the flame licks her "skin". Yellow pulls her away and the spell explodes, chunks of yellow rock fly around the arena.

    Bursts of wind prevent the rock from reaching the stands. A particularly large piece of rock floats in front of us, wind flowing all around it, keeping it still. Another gust of wind takes the rock away back into the arena.

    "Now that was scary as hell," I say.

    Haaran chuckles. "That's the point of using [Wind Shield]," he says.

    "It really makes it more exciting," Lyle says.

    "Yellow sacrificed his hand to save Saintess, but oh no...!" The announcer yells.

    Black jumps into Yellow and crashes down on him. Yellow sinks into the dirt as it compresses under the ridiculous weight. Black lifts his fist up.

    A new sun appears on the arena. Saintess opens her mouth and a beam of light hits the flank of Black, sending him a meter away from Yellow. Her spell ends and she looks depleted with her shoulder slumped.

    The Dame retreats her whip and coils it on Saintess, making her scream. She pulls the whip back and sinks a fire claw on the belly of Saintess.

    "THE SAINTESS IS CAUGHT ON THE EVIL CLAWS OF THE DAME!"

    The crowd groans in pain, clear favoritism towards the light elemental.

    The Saintess struggles and wrenches free, she flies away and collapses on the ground. White shining "blood" stains the claws of the Dame, which slowly return to being a "normal" hand.

    A tornado quickly forms besides Oroona. In a few seconds it dissipates and a 5-meters tall, transparent, green woman is left behind. You can see sharp features and an air (heh) of self-importance on her.

    Besides Krossus it suddenly starts to rain. Quickly the drops of rain freeze in the form of a throne, after that a blob of floating water takes the shape of a 5-meters tall man. He has similar facial features and the same air about him.

    "THE LAST SUMMONS APPEARS! SISTER TEMPEST AND BROTHER MAELSTROM ARE CALLED TO BATTLE!"

    The ants that are Krossus and Oroona hunch over and breathe quickly, their mana is exhausted.

    Suddenly Yellow explodes and the arena is filled with dust again.

    A woman screams and a gust of air sweeps the dust. A skeleton of Yellow is moving at incredible speed back towards Maelstrom. Dame is on his clutches, being squeezed alive by him.

    "Yellow shows his final form and captures the Dame!"

    Maelstrom calls forth a jet of water that he fires towards Dame, steam fills the air and obscures our vision again.

    A large tremor runs through the arena and Tempest clears the air again. A skeleton of Black is on top of Yellow, his foot is crushing the rib cage of the fallen titan. Dame is being encased in ice, she desperately tries to melt her prison down while shrieking.

    Black cracks the spine of Yellow along his rib cage, breaking his body into two. Suddenly dame starts to glow. The ice prison shatters and a gush of water throws Dame back towards Black.

    *BOOOOM!* Rock flies towards every direction again and [Wind Shield] keeps us all safe. The air clears and we see Black is standing still, the skeleton above his hip is missing, black rock fills grounds of the arena.

    "THE SUICIDE BACKFIRED! MAELSTROM USED DAME TO FINISH OF BLACK!"

    The crowd goes crazy, children have meltdowns, Aoi flaps her wings in excitement.

    Maelstrom forms a spear of ice while Tempest forms one of air.

    They charge at each other and a "bloody" battle begins. Water drips down multiple holes on Maelstrom and green smoke comes out of Tempest's body.

    They pierce each other in a display of savagery more than spearmanship as they forgo defense.

    Tempest is faster and is filling Maelstrom with more holes than he can dish out in counter. He's pushed back and Tempest smiles sadistically. The man of water has a stern expression but pain slowly seeps into his face.

    "Maelstrom is being pushed back! The brother cannot compete with his sister's speed!"

    Suddenly Yellow gains a burst of speed and grabs the legs of Tempest. She sneers at him and crushes his head, finishing him. A moment later light escapes from his ribcage, then the ground turns white and Tempest screams.

    "THE TRAP HAS BEEN TRIGGERED! TEMPEST HAS FORGOTTEN THE SAINTESS!"

    Her movements slow as [Sanctuary] attacks her every being.

    Maelstrom booms a laugh and strikes back at his sister. She cowers and tries to leave the sacred ground but every move takes away her power. She barely manages to defend herself.

    With a final laugh Maelstrom pierces his ice spear on the head of Tempest. She shrieks and becomes invisible, suddenly a tornado blasts through the arena and the elemental is no more.

    Oroona kneels.

    "KROSSUS WINS!"

    The elementals dissipate in a rainbow smoke and Krossus makes his victory lap. The crowd throws flowers, coins, lewd drawings of his summons, and proposals for summoning brothels.

    "Now that was a spectacle," I say.

    "Can you do things like this, Wolf?" Garanae asks.

    "I think I can get to 5 meters tall, but the efficiency of it is ridiculous, it's impractical for combat," I answer.

    "What a shame, sieges would be so much more interesting if we had 10-meters tall titans taking front row."

    "Maybe if we had someone dedicate their lives to it the efficiency could be improved," Nononya says.

    "Oh?" Lyle turns his head to her, his eyes gleam with hope.

    "You still have to deal with catapults and earth mages using huge [Earth Bullets], simply not feasible," Haaran says.

    "Oh..." Lyle and Garanae drop their heads.



    We spend a little longer and fill our bellies with more snacks. Since it's well into the night we are taken home after that. A new carriage was waiting for my group.

    I enter the bath and push Hana on the wall, she bends over and lifts her dress for me, one toned leg up on a stool. I immediately penetrate her from behind. She's a mild exhibitionist, she would get warmer every time someone glanced at her nipples.

    The prolongued teasing took its toll on us. Soon I pull it out and finish all over her dress, ruining it.

    We take a quick bath to clean the sweat and then go to sleep.
     
  20. Manasong

    Manasong Well-Known Member

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    The new cover is finally out! Thanks to my patrons and readers for supporting me so far.Check it out in its full glory on my blog.


    Today is the 4th. An, day of wind.

    Ciel wakes me up with her breasts, seems she was quite happy with yesterday's spectacle.

    "Alissa, go get your morning meal," I point to Ciel.

    Ciel stiffens and eyes Alissa warily. Alissa smiles wickedly and goes for a kiss. Ciel arches back but she can't escape, Alissa's tongue invades Ciel's mouth.

    Ciel's breasts jiggle as she breathes heavily. Alissa's tongue scoops out the cum, she doesn't let a single white trickle go to waste as she sucks on Ciel's chin. Then she's back to raping Ciel's mouth.

    Lina watches with wide eyes and fidgets in anxiety. Alissa pushes Ciel back and mounts her, she grabs Ciel's face with both hands and kiss her wildly, Ciel responds and their tongues rub on each other. Then she releases her face, with one hand she grabs one breast and the other she starts to masturbate.

    She grinds her pussy on Ciel's belly, leaving a wet trail as the two beauties do not stop kissing. Alissa's hand picks up speed and she rubs herself harder.

    Suddenly Alissa breaks the kiss and covers Ciel's mouth with her pussy giving Ciel a beautiful orange mustache.

    Alissa arches her back and moans loudly, her entire body shivers and she stops masturbating. She collapses back and her drenched pussy unglues from Ciel's tongue, her face is completely wet in Alissa's juices.

    I grab Lina and insert my throbbing cock on her wet cunt from behind, making her yell in pleasure. Alissa leaves to start breakfast while Ciel remains sprawled on the bed, her eyes out of focus.

    I grab Lina's head and force her on Ciel's mouth.

    "Clean her," I order.

    Lina obeys and her small tongue substitutes Alissa's juices on Ciel's face with her saliva.

    Suddenly Ciel recovers her conscience and sits up. She looks at the grimace of Lina as she suffers from pain and pleasure and reddens like never before.

    "You becoming bisexual now?" I ask, mid pounding.

    "I just... I don't, uh. Well, ugh!" She covers her red-brown face with both hands. "What have you done to me, Wolfy!?"

    "I did nothing, you are the one who licked Alissas wet pussy."

    Ciel groans and shivers.

    "I just don't know anymore. Ah screw it, I'm a lesbian now."

    "Bisexual."

    "Yes, that, whatever," she chuckles and leaves, still naked, leaving me to take my lust out on the little girl.

    I pound hard again making her yell.

    "You got jealous?" I whisper to Lina.

    She doesn't answer and continues moaning loudly.

    "You have to take what you want from her, just like Alissa did," I giggle maniacally.

    I cover Lina's mouth and pound her harder. When I'm near I turn her around and paint her pale body white.

    I leave her there like a used doll and tell Hana that she has cleaning to do as she's leaving her room. Roxanne smiles and we both stand in the doorway watching as Hana licks the little girl clean.

    During this breakfast everyone looks quite satisfied. Me more than everyone since they are all wearing only underwear.

    Ciel is absentminded with a small smile on her face, she avoids looking Alissa in the eyes. Ciel suddenly regains focus and looks at me.

    "Wolfy, corgi, please," she says.

    Roxanne's eyes shoot up and I summon two for them to pet.

    Ciel hums happily while the chubby dog pants on her lap.

    "How's the broken shield enchantments going, Lina?" She asks.

    "Not much progress," she shakes her head, her eyes gloomier than normal, "they are very complicated."

    "Can you ask Mr. Gimbo for help?"

    "We haven't started looking at reactive enchantments yet."

    "Can't tell were we got the shield too," Roxanne asks.

    "It's fine, take your time," she smiles at Lina who nods once in response.



    My [Light Magic] and [Electric Magic] increased by 1 (now 4+7 and 9+12).



    I put another point in [Godly Language] and impress Kyros even more. The feedback is slowly decreasing.

    "Do you have a skill point on the language yet?" Kyros asks.

    "No," I lie. Well technically it's not a lie.

    "You will soon," he nods to himself, "you have a good talent for it."

    Thanks, mate. Kyros is a good person.



    For lunch we stir fry meat with my Worcestershire sauce. Put some vegetables along, dice it all up in small parts and you can eat it on a sandwich. The bread we use has an incredibly crunchy crust with a very soft interior, Alissa found the best baker in town.

    Blessing Magic is more singing. This time I have been trying out [Reinforce], it's going to please Lina a lot since it reduces wear and tear of equipment. Well maybe it won't please her that much since she's kind of a workaholic.

    I come back home and see Ciel and Lina meditating besides each other. As me and Alissa approach they open their eyes and smile warmly. Oof my heart.

    "Practicing magic again?" Alissa asks.

    "No, just meditating for better prayers," Ciel answers.

    "Oh, that helps? I never knew."

    "Somewhat," she shrugs.

    "Is Lina becoming more pious?" Alissa asks. "If I remember right your "Piety" was 10, right?"

    Lina lowers her head and fidgets.

    Gify pops into my shoulder.

    "Gih."

    Lina sighs.

    "I want to ask them to watch over us," she says.

    "I believe they would already do that to us," Alissa says with a wry smile.

    "Yes but I want to ask for it. Besides, there's something I want to ask them."

    "Oh? What is it?" I ask.

    "Secret," she smiles adorably.

    Ciel pats her head and Lina blushes.

    Hana comes back a minute later, sweaty from sparring at the guild. She looks a little down.

    "What's up, Hana?" I ask.

    "Up?" She lifts an eyebrow in confusion.

    "Ehrm..."

    "Reference from your world?" She asks immediately.

    'Yeah," she chuckles once, "I meant, did something happen?"

    "Got distracted and lost a duel with Toga," she smiles bitterly.

    "I don't think I can even beat him."

    "That's because you can't use your spells. Now come on, I need some consoling, spank me with [Telekinesis]," she pulls out two dull iron swords and throws one at me.

    I have been improving my footwork by using [Telekinesis] on myself, slowly it becomes a second nature. A small decrease in gravity to make me jump farther, a small increase in gravity to make the sword hit harder, a momentary disruption on the weapon of the enemy, a momentary [Rush] to cause a surprise. This fighting style is really unique.

    The problem that I see is that it is restricted to using mana, if for some reason I can't use spells or I am out of mana I am dead. Now I have to balance the pro's and the con's. I can't really learn two styles, even my [Dodge] and [Block] are influenced by the spells so I have to commit to fighting with spells to reach peak performance. The problem is that I have to use spells to fight, if I don't then muscle memory is likely to make me do a mistake on my footwork, then I will stumble, fall, and die.

    Fuck it, I'll take the plunge, I'll commit to this style. If I have to name it it will be Ekrano Style.



    More playing around with the [Holy Spirit] as I rest with my pacifiers. Roxanne was getting lonely practicing her [Heart of Fire] on the bath so Hana stayed there to keep her company.

    "Kweh?" Aoi looks at us with curiosity in her cry.

    I clean the saliva off my lips and my mind starts racing with how I'm going to explain this to her.

    "So, Aoi, you see, when a man loves a woman very much..."

    "Kweh? Kwh! Speell!"

    "OH! That..." I scratch my head as my cheeks burn red.

    "I'm trying to learn the spell Wolf is using, the [Holy Spirit]," Ciel says, holding back her chuckle.

    "I, ler, fly!?"

    "Hey, that's quite the possibility. It would speed up your growth," I rub my chin in thought.

    It seems Aoi is learning how to sense mana, this means she can learn spells just like we do. Wow, imagine a huge ass dragon that can double in size and cast spells at you, possibly even chantless. Aoi, the Destroyer.



    Hana grabs Alissa's head and shoves her on her pussy. Alissa immediately goes to work.

    "Wow... [Oral Technique]... is amazing!"

    "Uh, huh," I answer absentmindedly.

    Hana slowly ties up Alissa in spread eagle. Her breasts painfully squeezed by the rope, a knot right on her pussy, another on her asshole. Her legs are pulled upwards and straight, her arms are tied to the headboard. She has nearly zero wiggle room, she's now a mere sex-doll.

    Hana slings over a leg and rubs her pussy on Alissa's. The wetness from both mix together into a delicious liquid. I cum at this sight inside Roxanne, we aren't paying attention to each other, we are just furiously fucking as we watch our lovers have sex.

    Alissa's moans get muffled by Hana sitting down on her, who in turn has her meal of Alissa's delicate womanly lips. She makes Alissa moan loudly with her tongue, yell in pain with her bites, shiver in fear when she brushes the blades of her scales on her.

    Roxanne cums and wrings out another from me, my dick is getting drained.

    Hana laughs and starts fingering her wildly. First 1 finger, then 2, then 3, then 4 then when Alissa stops screaming, she forces her hand in. It doesn't pass, it went only half way in.

    "PLEASE! STOP!" Alissa yells yet her tail still wags.

    "NO!" Hana uses the other hand to stretch Alissa's asshole.

    "AAH...! AAH...!"

    Every thrust makes Alissa yell.

    Hana changes position, she starts to lick Alissa's pulsing asshole, spreading it more and more. I stretch my hand and apply [Regeneration] on her. Alissa's entire body quiver as she has orgasm after orgasm.

    Hana goes back to fisting her first target, now her hand is completely covered in Alissa's wetness.

    Hana pulls out and pushes in, her hand slips entirely inside Alissa.

    "AAAAAAH!" Alissa screams in a high pitched tone.

    I cum inside Roxanne again.

    Her voice runs out and Hana pumps out a few more orgasms out of her and tires out.

    "I think she's kind of passed out," Hana says.

    "Or in shock," Roxanne says.

    "Eh, whatever, come here, I need you now," Hana pulls Roxanne out of me and cleans her.

    Alissa slowly regains lucidity. I untie her and clean her body, after Hana stops moaning we both fall asleep quite quickly.



    Today is the 5th. Fo, day of Fire.

    For the first time in a while Alissa doesn't succeed in waking me up. I wake up to her face a mix of emotions, her eyebrows knit in pain, her mouth hangs open in pleasure, her moans show both. She struggles to keep my cock in her mouth.

    Hana holds Alissa's hips up with one hand grabbing the base of her tail, that's the source of pain. Hana's mouth and other hand plays with Alissa's lips and asshole, that's the source of pleasure, I think.

    Hana sees me awake and smirks, she releases Alissa and lets her finish her meal.

    Aoi stretches as she awakens, her little claws tickle my hair as she wiggles her fingers. Gify imitates Aoi in a more exaggerated way and his limbs stretch beyond normal means. Both jump on my chest and snuggle up to my throat.

    "Do-ne, play-ing?"

    "Yes, yes. Let's go feed the two black holes, shall we?" I sit down and the two roll off.

    "Kweh?" She tilts her head. Cute.

    "Gih!"

    "You eat just as much as Aoi."

    "Gih, guh."

    "I never heard someone having pride of their gluttony," Alissa says, she snatches Gify and aggressively pets him.

    "Gih."

    "Yes, yes, Your Highness Gify, we shall prepare a breakfast worthy of you glorious fat ass," I bow to Gify and Aoi lowers her head along, slightly confused.

    "Gieh, gah gas."

    "But her fat ass is actually sexy."



    Lina increased her "Piety" by 1 (now 11). I increased my [Blessing Magic], [Mana Control], [Space Magic], and [Enhanced Semen Recharge] by 1 (now 4+20, 0+13, 11+21, and 0+7).



    "You look quite tired, Alissa," Ciel says.

    "Heh, heheh, eheheheh..." Alissa responds with a silly chuckle.

    "I showed her how real women make love," Hana says.

    Ciel blinks repeatedly.

    "That was the hottest thing I have ever seen," Roxanne says, a warm smile brightens her face.

    "Wolf, uh, we are going shopping today, right?" Ciel forces a smile.

    I really have to force Alissa on Ciel, she seems quite scared of her own desires.

    "Yeah, equipment upgrade for everybody!" I spread my arms wide and smile.



    We go on another shopping spree. More glass cabinets, more ceramic plates, some silver cutlery, another tea set, beautiful mixed potted flowers, a 2 meters tall mirror for all of us, a small glaive embroidery to hang on Ciel's door, and an embroidery of a ruby and a hammer to hang on Lina's door. More dresses to fulfill my fetishes.

    For armor everyone has been upgraded to Grey Berserker leather padded with Stal wolf fur and covered with emerald scales, even things like coifs, mittens and boots. Roxanne's scales affect her spellcasting but the benefits of the armor make up for it. We traded all mail for the scales, the riveted mail was being a pain for Lina to deal with, her [Manipulate Metal] isn't that precise to repair it.

    All our shields have been lined with emellanat. Ciel's wooden targe has also been upgraded to a metal one. Hana now has a warbow, though It's not enchanted yet. We now have some dragon fang dust that can be used to repair my sword.

    We have bought a small dagger with [Double Strike], Lina will reverse-engineer it to enchant Hana's sword with it. Though for now the bent enchanted shield still takes priority.

    We finally have a lithograph. One for each of us, they are all bound together on a network, modify one and the others follow. They are like Vanea's lithograph, a small metal retangular box that has a white and a black fluid inside, you apply mana to a very small gem and the black fluid follows your finger, allowing you to "finger paint" a message. Primitive but functional.

    Finally we go back to the jewelry shop where we bought Lina's choker.

    "Y-you sure this is okay?" Lina asks.

    I nod at Lina and bring her hand to my lips.

    Ciel is quiet but she can't hide her unease.

    Roxanne claps the tip of her fingers in excitement.

    "It's been so long... uh," She knits her eyebrows, "I had some jewels before but I left them, they belong to my family, not me."

    Alissa and Hana are rather absent-minded, they may not have the most vanity but they certainly enjoy looking beautiful.

    Once we enter the store Alissa disentangles from my other arm and makes a beeline to a display of turquoise necklaces, pool blue gem with black streaks. Aoi drops from Hana's shoulders and starts walking around the store.

    Roxanne quickly picks up a simple black cloth necklaced with a small marquise wine red garnet hanging from it and rushes to Hana.

    "This, you," She says, her hands reach over Hana's neck and she fastens the necklace.

    Hana looks at me and shrugs then plays with the small gem with her hand, a warm smile caresses her face. The necklace is long and even reaches her cleavage.

    Roxanne picks up a thin black metal necklace with an Asscher ametrine hanging. The gem has a dark purple tone and on the middle it is tainted with a bright yellow. If light hits it at the right stop it looks like dusk.

    Ciel spends some time looking over the moonstones. I point towards a heart shaped one and smile at her. She opens and closes her fist in indecision, her gaze lingers on the stone I chose.

    Lina looks so lost she's sweating cold. Roxanne comes and brings her over some tanzanite, the deep purple gems awaken something on Lina as her eyes open wide. She shyly stretches her hand forward towards a Portuguese cut gem, it's spherical and looks like a storm of reflections is brewing inside.

    Alissa comes with a white cloth necklace in hand, the turquoise she chose is shaped like a tear, Briolette cut. The gem contrasts well with her eyes.

    Ciel chose a silver coated metal chain necklace with a heart shaped moonstone. Lina chose only the gemstone, she will embed the gem on the metal plate of her slave choker.

    Alissa suddenly grabs my hand and puts a black cloth necklace with a square cushion-shaped heliodor gem, it is bright yellow with a hint of green. I lift an eyebrow but quickly lower it. I put on the necklace and hurry over the mirror.

    "Fuck me, I look fabulous," I whisper.

    "Gih, guh goh gah."

    "Thanks..." I smile wryly.

    "I prefer handsome, or dignified," Alissa says as she approaches me.

    "Whispers aren't meant to be heard by just anyone."

    "Then simply don't speak, you know my hearing is good," she lightly pinches my cheek.

    I smile faintly.

    "Should we get something to you too?" I ask.

    "Geh geh, goh gih goh guh."

    Alissa chuckles, "Do you only care about food?"

    Gify morphs his shoulders into a shrug.

    "Kweh!"

    Aoi taps the glass with her claws, below there's a round gem of deep blue azurite with blue pool hints of malachite.

    The female attendant looks supremely amused after I ask her to measure a very small necklace for Aoi.

    "I have seen small dogs and even a small Gatun receive a jewel, but for a dragon this is the first time," she says.

    "Pre-ty!" Aoi says as she looks herself on the mirror.

    "Awn..." Hana gushes over the little blue bundle of scales.

    'I will teach you [Item Box] so you can store your things on it, okay?" Roxanne says.

    "Kay!" Aoi shows her fangs on a smile.



    Alissa starts baking a berry and honey pie. It will be ready after lunch. The fluffy dough is her new obsession, it's something rather hard to find due to the precision necessary. It's not bread but certainly has that bread white "breadness" to it.



    Today is [Blessing Magic] class. Hatara gives me satisfied nods once she sees my new necklace. It certainly compliments my dark hair and eyes.

    My pocket starts to heat up and I see a message from Vanea.

    "Come see me at the break."



    "Enter."

    Me, Alissa, and Lina steel ourselves, this time Gify is also awake and aware, he massages my shoulder with the running water feeling and lightly connects our minds. I grab Alissa and Lina's hand and feel my mind clear. We breathe in and open the door.

    Vanea is sitting at her usual spot, this time with her proper chair. To the left there's a new small table where Farana is perusing over documents and making small corrections. She's wearing the usual grey velvet uniform and beret of the university attendants. She lifts her eyes and glances at us then goes back to work. Her expression is neutral but now I see life in her eyes. She's wearing a collar with a black tag, the mark of a criminal slave.

    Soul Info
    Name:Farana UiaraRace:HumanLevel:37
    MP:120Magic Power:30
    I almost sigh in relief.

    We bow lightly to Vanea and sit, her gaze is uncomfortable as always. I will need Lina's ass on my lap for a good half hour to heal after this.

    "I see you have been busy, Mr. Ryder," Vanea says.

    "As always," I smile for a moment.

    "I believe you will accomplish a lot but I didn't think you would actually meet with Lord of the Forest."

    "We didn't, we only visited the Tree and talked to the Speakers."

    "Oh? Oh yes, the dryads," her gaze loses focus for a moment. "I'm impressed you managed to find a way to being accepted, the Lord is quite unforgiving of trespassers."

    "Gih."

    "I see..." She contemplates Gify's words, her expression neutral with a hint of tiredness. "Now, I called you here to tell you that Darean has fled Rabanara."

    I glance over to Farana and see her still working like before. She notices the silence and looks over us then returns to work, her expression is the same but just a tad sadder. I turn back to Vanea and frown.

    "How did he escape?" Alissa asks.

    "Ever since I captured Farana he went into hiding, quite difficult to find someone that has that much money," she says, her eyes half-closed in annoyance and tiredness. "I only know he fled because his minions have dispersed and a considerable number has switched sides. Even if he were still in Rabanara he's finished."

    "That's nice to hear but we will be leaving soon, we could end up meeting him again," I say.

    "Exactly," Vanea flashes a smile. "If you do meet him please capture and interrogate him, I would pay a fortune to know who was funding him."

    "You still don't know?"

    "Only that it's imperial royalty."

    Us 3 share a look. It really was royalty. This is insane, the amount of money they could have poured in to fight Vanea is almost limitless. I have to thank the Gods that I didn't make the mistake of announcing to the world my relation to her, she can survive the wrath of royalty, we can't.

    Her smile grows wider as the silence continues.

    "I know you are going to the High Forest so this is my warning to you," her smile turns warm. "Darean has fled to the High Forest, neither I nor the empire has a proper network there and the elves have their own problems to deal with. He can survive there indefinitely, or at least until the western Crown Lord has been replaced and the order reestablished."

    I sigh and massage my eyes. We haven't gotten rid of the fucking stalker yet.

    "If you ever need someone to trust, the eastern Crown Lord is reliable," she continues.

    "Why is that so?" I ask.

    "He's the one spearheading the reforms on the High Forest, we have a good relationship with him," she says. "His side of the forest is safe, so it's unlikely Darean will act over there."

    "But we are going to the western side because there's plenty of unregulated dungeons there."

    "So rely on the eastern Lord, you can easily sell your services to him."

    I would rather not have to deal with nobility again. Alissa and Lina look just as demoralized as me.

    "Thanks for the warning, we will deal with it," I give her a tired smile.

    "I hope you do. I will be going to the capital next year, I will see you there," she smiles again, this time more mischievous.

    "What? I could end up avoiding the capital if we visit Sommerland then Mountainhome."

    Find Hana's family then visit Lina's.

    "You will certainly visit the capital, with your Gift I find it hard to believe the emperor won't notice you," I cringe at her words. "Now that we are talking about it, what is your Gift exactly?"

    "I would rather not say."

    "Guarded as always," she chuckles.

    "It pays to keep your abilities a secret, Darean's attack failed because of this."

    She nods in agreement.

    "I know that well... one last thing, do you wish to purchase Farana?" She asks, innocently.

    I choke on my spit, Alissa flashes a smile but quickly turns it into a frown, Lina's expression is unchanging but her skin pales.

    "No, thank you" I answer as soon as I regain control of my throat.

    "What a shame, it's quite obvious you are a good master, at least for women."

    "I already have enough."

    "At least Tarano will be happy..."

    The ruffling of paper slows and I glance at Farana, she rubs her wrist in nervosity and then continues to work. I'm not sure if she's happy or not.

    "Don't concern yourself too much over her, she's paid her dues, now she only has to keep being a good girl," an odd warmth on Vanea's voice.

    Vanea rests her crossed hands on her lap in a relaxed posture.

    "Was that all you had for me?" I ask.

    "Yes, I believe this is our last meeting like this. Have a safe journey."

    "Thank you, for you too."

    We bow lightly and take our leave. Once we leave the building Lina talks, "Vanea looked somewhat, disappointed."

    "Gih."

    "Yeah, she even looked tired, if it's bleeding over her expression she must be really tired," I say. "Not really of our concern now that it is over."

    "I must say, I'm happy it is over," Alissa stretches as she speaks. "Though not entirely over at least we are only dealing with a fugitive instead of a crime lord with the backing of royalty."

    "No invisible assassins," I say and Lina nods along.

    "Gih."

    "Yeah, and no kidnappers," Alissa grabs Gify and pets his cute white little stubs he calls wings.

    Gih! Geh gah guh!

    Eheheheh. You have never seen a real griffin, have you? Real wings are massive.

    Guh gih geeh.

    I have seen illustrations at books, and that's enough.



    It's relaxing to eat our pie as we watch the hustle of the other students and ruminate on what we were told.

    There's some catharsis in knowing we are safe in Rabanara but also I feel rather calm at the future, knowing the enemy is coming is hundreds of times better than the sudden panic of falling into an ambush. Maybe this is why the shrieking space mage is what haunts me once in a while, I fear the unknown more than the known.



    "Kweh!"

    "Hold tighter!"

    We are greeted at home to a very small Aoi grabbing Roxanne's coif as she walks around. Roxanne is helping out with dinner and Aoi is stuck with her, trying to concentrate into copying Roxanne's manipulation of [Item Box].

    "Sounds like you are having fun," Alissa tells Aoi.

    "Kweh! Wob-ly!"

    "Oh shush and go back to concentrating," Roxanne says and taps Aoi's head lightly. "I heard your wings flap, don't think I'm going to continue this if you start to mess around."

    "Oh, no!"

    While Roxanne is busy with the pot Hana looks at Aoi and mouths "flap more", then she returns to chopping Dragolite meat. This elicits a giggle from Aoi and a glare from Roxanne who has a sixth sense in noticing mischief.

    I approach Roxanne and smell the soup. Smells hearty and looks orange, must be a combination of Dragolite stock and annatto.

    "I must say, Wolfy," she stops stirring the soup and gives me a greeting kiss, "cooking is harder than I thought, it's so much easier to just follow orders..."

    "And the Ronti are fast," Hana says.

    That means "that's right" or "that's obvious" depending on intonation.

    "Being a chef is quite hard, finding the proper food that pleases everyone is quite hard. It's also why I experiment so much," I say.

    "Well I find seasoning to be quite hard. We also have so many spices," Roxanne says and adjusts her coif as Aoi almost falls over.

    "For seasoning just under season and then adjust, whenever you can do a taste test. For spices stick to what you know until you are comfortable to expand, don't try to impress."

    "It's just that there's so many details," she glances over the multiple bowls where the dishes are being made.

    Roxanne is making soup, fried meat, a leafy salad with light mayonnaise, and a squishy vegetable salad that reminds me of cucumber seasoned with vinegar and sugar. Quite the task.

    "That's precisely the point. The devil is in the details."

    "Another reference?" She asks flatly.

    "It means something simple might take a lot more effort because details were overlooked."

    "What does the Devil race got to do with it?" She tilts her head and Aoi squeals in delight.

    "We are not talking about the same devils."

    She shrugs and goes back to stirring the soup. Alissa puts on the apron and comes to help. Lina comes down and gives me a greeting hug.

    "Where's Ciel?" I ask.

    "With Arantos," Lina answers.

    "Let's go out to spar, then?"

    She nods.



    Lina is slowly getting better with her strikes, more controlled, deliberate, and precise. Her battle sense is improving. If I start to mix up my skills along with my style I can finally beat her again.

    Ciel comes back home and quickly joins us in sparring. I use [Telekinesis] to glide away from Lina's attack and stop.

    "You spent a long time talking to Arantos," I say to Ciel.

    She chuckles and rolls her eyes, "I told him we are leaving to the High Forest, he started giving me all kinds of advice and warnings."

    "Sounds like he cares about you," Lina says.

    "Yes, I know," Ciel smiles wryly, "doesn't make it any less tiring, though. Oh yes, he wants to talk to you, Wolfy."

    I feel a chill.

    "Don't make that face, he's not going to eat you."

    "Doesn't make it any less scary, though," I say.



    The two girls spar ferociously. We don't use protection equipment as the bruises build "Endurance" and [Heal] makes them all disappear anyway.

    Despite being tired Ciel still puts up a fight against Lina. Her range advantage makes Lina's axe nearly impossible to use unless when she uses magic to create an opening.



    Ciel drops down and sprawls on the grass, Lina joins her as I rest up.

    "I'm actually quite excited to leave. I only spent some time on Goldcross last time I left, I heard that Escanso and Goloria are beautiful cities," Ciel says.

    "They are high up in the trees, right?" Lina asks, Ciel nods. "It's just... scary for me. I'm not sure if [Stonebody] will still work so high up."

    "It didn't change when inside the Tree of Mana, right?" I ask.

    "Yes, but still, the Tree of Mana is special."

    "The High Forest is also special. The elves mold the trees with their own magic, the ambient mana should be high."

    "Hm..." Lina purses her lips in thought.

    "Come on, sit up and pray. We will take a bath in five minutes," Ciel sits up and pulls Lina. Both girls cross their legs, closes their eyes, and turn into statues.



    The bath is spent with Ciel. Alissa relaxes back and masturbates slowly as always. I feel Ciel is a little too excited and vigorous, she glances at Alissa and smiles faintly. A little progress at least.

    "You are like a newborn," Ciel says.

    I shrug and continue.



    Night is spent again with Ciel and [Holy Spirit], I got it to tap-dance. Ciel is unsure if that's sacrilege or not.

    Lina uses [Manipulate Metal] to mold the metal band on her choker so she can attach and detach her small jewel. She looks so cute with it on.



    Today is the 6th. Ekt, day of Electricity.

    Alissa shares her morning meal with Lina by way of kissing. Ciel unconsciously squeezes my arm harder as Alissa explores Lina's mouth. An out of breath and blushing Lina is left behind as Alissa leaves the bed to make breakfast.

    Before leaving the room Alissa takes a moment to stare at her naked self on our new mirror, she pinches her own butt and moves out with a sway on her hips.

    "Just making sure, you can always deny her, Lina," I say.

    "It's okay..." She mutters.

    "Gih."

    Lina purses her lips.

    "I like it..." She forces it out with some effort.

    Ciel stands up and leaves, I pinch her jiggling ass and she glares at me for a moment. She's totally jealous.



    Today Lina's "Dexterity" and "Speed" increased by 1 (now 13 and 12). Roxanne's "Dexterity" and "Perception" increased by 1 (now 12 and 11).



    We sit at the table and a very happy Hana is humming as she cuts down some fruits for a salad with cream.

    "You are quite happy this morning," Roxanne says.

    "You didn't do anything?" I ask Roxanne.

    She shakes her head sideways.

    "Today is my birthday," Hana answers, chipper.

    My stomach sinks, my heart hurts. OH NOOOOoooo~...

    "Oh. Congratulations, let this year be better than the last," Ciel pats Hana's back.

    "Let this year be better than the last," Alissa repeats and also pats Hana's back.

    "Kweh! Grat!" Aoi rushes over Hana and licks her face.

    "Gih gih."

    Roxanne and Lina then do the same. Hana smiles wider and then stares at me, waiting for something.

    "Wait, what's going on? Is this how people celebrate birthdays?" I say as my eyes race about, bouncing around everyone's happy expressions.

    "Yes? Is it different than on Earth?" Ciel asks.

    "We usually have a party where people bring gifts."

    "Oooh party" Hana says.

    "Gifts," Roxanne's glasses glint.

    "The party seems okay but what would we gift Hana?" Ciel questions.

    "Something she needs," I say.

    "And what would it be?" Alissa asks.

    I shrug and then Hana also shrugs.

    "Sounds troublesome," Lina says, her eyebrows knit in thought.

    "And it is," I cringe back at certain memories.

    "How do you deal with it having to give gifts to so many people?"

    "Trying to think of a gift for marriage is already hard," Alissa says.

    "Yes, it is harder."

    "We doon't really need to bring all of your customs back, right?" Roxanne questions with a phony smile.

    "A party is enough" Hana says.

    "A party it is," I say. "Anyway, uh. Congratulations, let this year be better than the last."

    I grab Hana's hand to give a kiss but she steals one from my lips.

    "How about we bake a cake ourselves?" Ciel asks.

    "We would need a lot of time," I say.

    "Let's do on the class break."

    "The 12th then."

    Ciel nods emphatically.



    Kyros forces me to resist the [Godly Language]. I'm forced on the ground as he repeats "kneel". It is supremely unpleasant to not have control over your own body.

    "Your 'Willpower' is quite good, most people in your place would be as still as a statue," he says.

    I'm trembling all over trying to resist, my head slowly rises. I can't even smile or scowl, my body is completely controlled.

    "Release."

    I regain control and sprawl on the ground.

    "Now, try to make me kneel."

    I regain my control and slowly sit back on the chair.

    "Kneel."

    I see his face twitch and his body rock back and forth. I hunch over and grab my stomach, trying to keep my breakfast in.

    "Good,"he smiles warmly, "you are improving.

    I think I hurt myself more than I hurt him.

    "I remembered one thing, you ever heard of [Inspire Growth]?" I ask.

    "Oh that," he smiles faintly and strokes his goatee, "every drill master has it, helps people improve stats and magic."

    "Not skills?"

    "No."

    "What about [Increased Growth]?"

    He narrows his eyes in thought.

    "Never heard of it, sounds similar to Inspire, could work the same way," he shrugs. "Where did you hear about it?"

    "I heard someone at the hunter's guild got it but was afraid of the skill checks," I lie.

    "Ah, that's quite common, once in a while an adventurer gets a weird skill and pays the temple to remove it," he chuckles. "Quite annoying, really, it's not cheap."



    On [Space Magic] class I learn to chant [Warp Space]. Basically it "shrinks" space so more things can fit on the same space or the inverse. The professor starts a demonstration that makes us feel like we are tripping.

    "You can see that there's a visual deformation of space as the parameters for reality are distor..." His voice slowly fades away as his head turns smaller and smaller, like he's walking away from us, then his head starts to increase in size again. "...roperties of this new space are exactly the same as the normal one so it is safe. What you should all be careful of is of the boundary space," his head grows back to normal but then balloons and expands much bigger than the original.

    He continues, "This space has transient properties so when you create an extreme transition, physics start to acquire some odd behavior, potentially harmful," as he speaks his ballooned head extends a little further but starts to conform to a cubic shape. Like a distorted mirror his face is completely stretched yet gives the weird feeling of his skin "flowing" around the cube with a mere tilt of his head.

    "You could compress or extend space directly inside the body of somebody and rip them apart," he casually smiles and his eyes glaze over as he imagines something, "but the usual inefficiency of affecting someone's body directly with mana still applies. The amount of mana necessary for such a thing would be ridiculous.

    "Also don't ever try to compress it to extreme levels, you will doom us all when you rip the fabric of reality. Though you would never have enough mana to do this but still, the warning is given," he chuckles at himself.

    Is it black holes? Well shit, now that's scary.

    At the moment I can only create a small box of warped-distances space. It's odd to push your hand through it, it either feels like it's being pushed forward or back depending on whether I'm compressing space or the inverse.

    Could be used as a tripping hazard, it would certainly mess people up to have your foot snag back during combat. Could even be used to slow down attacks. Imagine creating a super long corridor where things like arrows take forever to cross. Though I can't do these things instantly, the vacuum that it creates is quite wild and becomes exponentially more mana-inefficient the faster I try to make it.



    "You managed to cast it?" Lyle asks, his eyes wide in wonder.

    Lyle is a precious child, always so dreamy.

    "Yeah, just a very small and faint space, barely any perceptible shrinking."

    "Still, you are quite the space mage, Wolf," Hatara says.

    Garanae gives a shy nod.

    "We all have our specialties," I say.

    Alissa smirks, I know exactly who she's thinking about right now.

    "Miss Lina is not coming today?" Lyle asks and looks around the buffet.

    On a second thought, I don't really like you that much, Lyle.



    Rest of the class is theory, we calculate how physics interacts with the warped-distances space. Like atmospheric pressure, sound propagation and the effects of something passing through it in high speed, say a leg or an arrow.

    It's quite the mindfuck that's difficult to wrap my head around. Though this was a very enlightening lesson.



    On the way home Alissa suddenly stops moving.

    "Wolf, can you give me [Ignorance]?" She asks

    "Sure, why?"

    "There's a weakened bird over there, I can capture it easily with the spell."

    "Oh, for [Bind]?"

    "Yes."

    "One moment."

    I unmount her and she turns back into the love of my life. I adjust my points and cast [Ignorance], my hand glows and I touch Alissa. Suddenly she hurts to look at, something that sounds like a nightmare to me.

    She stalks the bird and then pounces on it. The poor thing is old and weak, couldn't resist Alissa's assault even if [Ignorance] wasn't applied.

    I pull out a bottle of paralysis poison made by Roxanne. Alissa opens the little beak for me and I pour a few drops into the beak of the little grey animal. Not even 10 seconds later and its body stiffens, could even pass up for dead if it wasn't warm.

    "Let's do this at home," I say.



    Everyone is circling me, anxious, excited, and curious.

    "Here goes nothing."

    "What?" Hana asks.

    "Idiom."

    I cast [Bind], my hand glows and I grab the bird.

    I feel like I grew another arm, I wish I had [Materialization] right now. I pull the arm out and feel a need to bring it to my chest. With little effort I feel something enter my heart, then I release and my hand stops glowing.

    My body convulses and I lose control of my muscles. I feel a stiffness on my whole body that's very uncomfortable. My heart beats fast and my eyes dart around, fear clouds my mind. I feel an incredible need to open my arms wide and flap. I'm hungry and tired, very tired. My vision doubles.

    My mind stabilizes after a minute and I recognize what I have been feeling. Proprioception, vision, hearing, touch, and other senses. The same overload of information when I first summoned something. I wish to cut all my senses and my body returns to normal.

    "Ughh... I feel horrible..." I mutter.

    "Wolfy! You okay?!" Alissa's orange eyes stare unto mine, fear and desperation on her demeanor.

    "Yes, I think," I push her away and straighten myself on the sofa. Ciel removes a shining hand out of my arm. I look around and see everyone's pale faces, even Aoi's, if that's even possible. I look at my shoulder and a very calm Gify stares at me.

    "Gih."

    "Yeah, you girls should trust Gify," I say, "he sees how my mind works."

    "At least he didn't get physically injured," Ciel sighs.

    "Still scary, what did just happen?" Roxanne asks.

    "I felt everything the bird was feeling and the poor thing wasn't feeling good," I say.

    "Oh..."

    I feel something more, like a string inside my mind that connects to my body, feels weird. I tug at it and feel the bird's mind flood into mine, like a large fluffy blanket that wants to engulf me. With little effort I bundle it up and engulf it myself.

    The bird's mind starts to detach from myself, I still feel it but it seems like a different world, a second monitor that I can look at when I wish, different from the usual feeling of having more "eyes" that the usual summoning has.

    "Give it the antidote," I say.

    Lina receives a small bottle and pours it down the throat of the bird. Slowly its body relaxes and it calmly flaps its wings, stretching itself.

    I watch it with warm eyes and hold the blanket tighter, it shrinks on my grasp and becomes a mere fuzzy ball of fluff. I see the little grey bundle of feathers shiver and chirp happily.

    "You are safe here," I say.

    "You can talk to it?" Alissa questions.

    "Not really, it's even more abstract than [Animal Tongue]. More like it surrendered its mind to me."

    I tug at the fluffy ball and will it to sleep. The bird curls on itself and closes its eyes, in a minute it's mind is completely shut down.

    "Incredible," Ciel mutters.

    "So you really can control it's mind," Alissa says.

    "Yes but it could also do the inverse and control me if my mind is not strong enough. It's what happened when the spell started taking effect, I wasn't ready for it and felt like a bird."

    The girls raise their eyebrows.

    "This is dangerous," Ciel says.

    "But also interesting," Alissa says, holding her head in thought. "You need to test it more."

    I cast a [Heal] and [Refresh] on the bird. Its body was too weary, it wouldn't survive longer like this.

    I wake it up with a thought and start controlling it. I have it eat some berries we have then I make it fly out of the window and make it cross town. The feeling of flight is enhanced by the birds own feelings of freedom. I can somewhat read its mind, its not smart enough to have proper thoughts but I can certainly understand its feelings.

    "Controlling it costs mana. The further away he is the more mana it costs to send him signals," I say. "Though the sense sharing is not costing mana."

    "Sense sharing could be something like a piece of the soul staying with it. This is why it doesn't cost mana," Ciel says.

    "If information is being shared and a piece of my soul is in the bird than maybe there's a way to detect the transfer of information somehow."

    "What?"

    "Some concept from my world. I'm also worried about someone getting a hold of the bird and hurting it's soul, it could end up hurting me too."

    "Remove the points and see what happens," Alissa says.

    I call back the bird and start to focus on how to summon it. This spell is very different, I can't use the "pocket monster" approach and summon a ball of light, I have to summon it instantly besides me.

    I pull on the string that's connecting the blanket, a little mana goes away. I "grab" the string and pull it hard, it keeps coming to me and my mana drops a considerable amount.

    A light appears in front of me and the bird materializes out of it.

    "Oohhh," Roxanne looks at the bird in wonder.

    "That took a lot of mana."

    "Expected since you teleported it," Alissa says.

    I remove the points and the fuzzy ball turns back into a blanket, taking a lot of effort to keep it contained. I quickly put it back on.

    "Didn't remove the [Bind], only made it more difficult to control."

    "Okay, you really have to find a way to undo the bind," Roxanne says.

    "Soul damage first," Alissa says.

    I put 40 points into [Spirit Magic] and a new spell appears [Soul Blade], I cast it.

    A small ethereal purple broad blade appears in front of my right hand, the size of a dagger. Awkward to use, it's similar to the katar, a push dagger.

    I make the bird land on the table and cut all senses from it. I let a sigh escape.

    "Here goes nothing..."

    Preemptively wincing I push the blade into the bird.

    "AAH!" I yelp in pain as my head sears in pain. The bird also cries and falls over, passed out, "FUCK!"

    I cast [Soul Touch] and grab my chest. As if my insides are caressed the pain slowly recedes and soon turns into a gentle pleasure. Alissa caresses my hair, Aoi licks my chin, and Gify turns on his touch until the pain goes away. Then I do the same for the bird until I can see it's back to normal through the sense sharing.

    "Yeah this is bad," Hana says, "Meet a spirit mage and you are screwed.

    "You really have to find a way to undo the bind," Roxanne says.

    "Agreed. Hm, maybe if I..." I get an idea.

    I grab the fuzzy ball and start to push it away towards where it came. Somewhat like the reverse of [Redirect Mana] I push it out of my soul and the fuzzy ball simply disappears. The bird suddenly chirps and flies into the window and crashes. Alissa hurries and grabs it again.

    "Well... I did it."

    "That's reassuring. A bird isn't that useful for you, anyway," Lina says.

    If I could teach this spell to other people it would be something like familiars, quite the exciting idea.

    "I have to develop chants for these spells and teach other people, you girls would benefit from having something like this," I say.

    "Possibly, scouting would be much easier, specially when you have an eye on your back," Hana says.

    "Bind a Beholder and you are safe from nearly anything," Lina says.

    "Except invisible assassins," Roxanne says.

    "Except invisible assassins," Hana repeats with a sigh.

    "What do you think would happen if you do it with a humanoid?" Alissa asks a glint in her eyes.

    "Difficult to tell, the bird was barely sapient and he tried to take over my mind."

    "Sapient?" Alissa asks.

    "Intelligent like us," Ciel answers.

    "Then let's test with something barely intelligent, perhaps goblins or Mossy Fangpines."

    "First we have to know what happens when we kill it," I say.

    "Let's use the bird then... sorry, it's important to know this," she hurriedly adds as she sees the pain in face.

    I'm sorry little birb, you are not safe here.

    We move to the kitchen. Alissa holds the bird over the stone sink and looks at me, I nod. The dagger slices, its head falls off and I feel my heart stop. My vision goes dark.

    I felt "death", not only did [Battlefield Perception] trigger but I also felt the dagger run through my throat and the blood leave my body. Then I felt emptiness, cold, and loneliness. Aoi's feelings of her parents are a mere drop in the ocean of what I felt. Something was ripped from me, something very dear.

    When I realize I'm already on my knees, head buried on my hands, tears flowing freely. Slowly the emptiness recedes and I start to feel again, the touch of the hug, the warmth of their skin, the fruity mix of smells from their hairs, Alissa's concerned eyes staring into mine.

    "That felt horrible..." I mutter.

    "I'm sorry Wolfy," Alissa's frown deepens.

    I weakly smile and chuckle.

    "You worry too much," I say.

    "Look who's talking," she pouts.

    "What did you feel?" Ciel asks.



    "This is quite the dangerous spell," Ciel says.

    "But incredibly useful," Roxanne says, she grins and her glasses glint.

    "How so?"

    "What if we [Bind] each other? Not just one [Bind] but two-way."

    Holy shit, instantaneous mental communication.

    Ciel massages her temples.

    "Imagine if we can coordinate strikes!" Hana grabs Lina and Ciel's hands.

    "Scouting and stalking would be much less dangerous," Alissa says.

    "No one would be truly alone," I say.

    Aoi suddenly sparks up from the table and jumps on my chest.

    "No, mo-re, a-lon, e-ver."

    My head hurts. There's going to be so many cons to organize this, but the pros!

    "Gih, gig go-geh-gih-gah."

    "Yes, the potential. But it's dangerous, so dangerous," Roxanne sighs and massages her eyes.

    "You mentioned that it became harder to "control" the bird when you reduced the points, right?" Ciel asks.

    "Yes, the bird's mind tried to control me."

    "What if two strong-willed but equally inexperienced humanoids are bound together? Could their minds mesh irreversibly?"

    Roxanne sighs again but much longer.

    "Only Wolfy can do this. You could act as the central connector, can you do more than one?" Lina asks.

    "Could be possible but the bond is quite deep, I could lose control."

    "Then we really have to test this with goblins then orc maybe. Alissa should be the first of us to be bound, if it won't work with her then it won't work with anyone."

    "Kweh!"

    "You are second," I say.

    She snuzzles up on my neck and her blue scales tinkle.



    We go take a bath. Emotionally exhausted I sink on the tub and close my eyes. I recognize Lina's hand grabbing my member and slowly stroking it. I open my eyes and see her impish smile.

    I give a peck on her lips, then on her cheeks, then on her neck, then on her ears. I fill her body with quick kisses until she giggles. I pull her to me and finally give her a long tongue kiss. I pull on her small tongue and lick her palate, giving her a shiver.

    I make her breathless just by kissing. I stimulate her tongue with mine, I plunge it deep into her mouth, I give a small bite on her lips.

    I lower her into my erection and use her for my own pleasure. Alissa's hands snake upon Lina's body, she finds her nipples and play with them. Alissa kisses and bites Lina's neck, she turns Lina's head sideways and scrape her fangs on her skin. I suddenly understand why vampires are so sexy.

    Alissa rubs herself on my leg as she hugs Lina tight. She pulls Lina and breaks our kiss, she turns her head around so she can kiss Lina too. Alissa deliberately plays around with Lina's tongue on a way I can see, she opens her mouth wide and pulls back her lips, she plays around with Lina's greedy tongue who snakes out of her own mouth in search of Alissa's.

    Alissa's hands move down and easily find the so sensitive clit.

    "AH!" Lina yelps as Alissa pinches down her clit, hard.

    I stop moving Lina up and down and instead use my own body to pierce her, giving Alissa an easier time in playing around with Lina.

    I look at Ciel and smirk. Her face is tense, one of her arms is buried inside her legs. She doesn't want to show but I can still see she's furiously masturbating. She's not watching me, she's watching Alissa play with Lina.

    Alissa suddenly stops the kiss and Lina's face turns sad. A bridge of saliva connecting their tongues breaks. She pinches her clit again and Lina squeezes me with an orgasm.

    Alissa smirks deviously at Ciel, who shivers all over as she reaches climax herself.

    Ciel's corruption gets deeper.

    I finish all over Lina's belly and make Alissa clean her. Ciel is the first one out, she slaps her own cheeks and tries to calm herself.

    Me, Hana, and Roxanne share a smirk.



    "Careful, your grip is quite bad, you can cut yourself like this," Hana says.

    "Didn't you have [Dagger Use]?" Alissa asks.

    "Helps with cutting, not with gripping vegetables," Roxanne answers.

    "Cut the Remmidy in half first, having a flat side on the board prevents it from slipping," I say.

    "Oh, I see," Roxanne says, she nods repeatedly deliberately just so Aoi has to grip to stay on her head.

    Like a child scared of pain, Roxanne awkwardly cuts the onion-like vegetable in small pieces while grimacing.

    "Next we put the fire at maximum and keep stirring it so it browns evenly."

    "So what's this brown stuff? Your world explains it, Wolfy?" Roxanne asks.

    "It's called Millard reaction, though I think that since it's a vegetable it's technically caramelization."

    "How does that work?"

    "No idea, not my area of expertise, I only knows it works."

    "Pff," Alissa scoffs.

    Ciel quietly cuts down the meat alongside Lina. Lina tries to slowly move closer while Ciel slowly moves away.



    I grab Ciel's arms and pull her around me, forcing her to be the bigger spoon.

    The [Holy Spirit] runs up the sofa and kicks Ciel's chin, making her flinch. She wakes up from her stupor and glares at me. She gives me playful slaps until I remove the smirk from my face.

    When going to bed Ciel quickly grabs Lina and smothers her, Lina turns around and hugs back. The two adorably sleep with their noses touching.

    "Just a little push..." Alissa whispers to me.



    Intermission 10

    Tarano comes to get Farana and I'm left alone. I dim the lights and rest my head on my hand. Suddenly my chair doesn't feel as comfortable anymore.

    Damn Royals, what in the hell do they want with Rabanara? Kyros is not worthy of this response, something else made them angry. Probably something petty, their spit is worth gold, someone was probably just playing around with me.

    I let a long sigh escape.

    If only I had met him sooner, a Gifted ally would be perfect for me. As much as I review the information on him there's nothing that stands out too much, he's just a runaway noble like others. The annoying thing is that I can't find from where he came from.

    All I can do is keep a cordial relationship with him, though he seems scared of me. Not that I blame him, sometimes I despise the Eyes of Authority but in the end they have done more good than bad for our family.

    It's unfortunate he's taking the Misty Fox slave away but such was the deal we made with the Slavers. I'm sure the Fox Chief is satisfied with Ryder.

    Well, what a waste. If he can deal with 5 women than maybe he has some interesting to show...

    Whatever, at least I have Grosnok, I prefer bigger men anyway.

     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2019