《Cursed Heroine》 Chapter 1: Left-overs, cursing and reinventing oneself Chapter 1: Left-overs, cursing and reinventing oneself ¡°Pitiful, those greedy human insects don¡¯t deserve divine assistance if this meager offering is all they will give to their Goddess.¡±~Goddess ¡°Huh?¡± Hearing what is apparently a Goddess¡¯s disembodied voice immediately after waking up is somewhat frightening. And...why can¡¯t I see anything?! ¡°Oh, you¡¯re conscious. Actually, you¡¯re the one without a body, which also explains why you can¡¯t see.¡±~Goddess ¡°...¡± Great! She¡¯s reading my mind! Wait, what did she just say about my body? ¡°Well, you can think things through slowly on your own later. Let me give you the highlights so we can speed things along. The reason that your memory is somewhat fuzzy on the specifics of your life before is to prevent cultural contamination and harmful advancement of my world. Vague ideas of what you use to know are still there, however, you will need to ¡®reinvent the wheel¡¯, so to speak. You died and were randomly selected for soul transmigration to become a summoned hero in a fantasy world. Or at least that was the plan. Unfortunately your soul potential is too lacking to become a hero on your own, and what¡¯s left of the offering after the first five were summoned is only enough to give you a single lowest tier blessing. Since I won¡¯t be giving you the standard hero package and you¡¯re the one stuck with it, I will give you temporary control over your transmigration profile so you can decide things for yourself. Take your time to decide. You won¡¯t hear from me again. Just hit the finalize button when you¡¯re done and enjoy your new life.¡±~Goddess ¡°Hello? Anyone there?!¡± Seriously, she just left, just like that! FUCK! There was a classic ¡®ding¡¯ sound and a screen popped up in my mind. Yeah, my mind. Don¡¯t really have any eyes as a soul now do I? After scrolling through the menus for a little while, I realized that she actually gave me complete control over every aspect of my profile, not just the blessings menu and if I think of wanting to know more about something in the menu, it tells me. There are menus for attributes, cultivation stage, bloodlines/traits, appearance, skills, blessings and¡­curses? Interesting. Curses actually cause an increase in soul potential due to the decrease it causes to the subject¡¯s ability. Soul potential is the available expansion of a person¡¯s soul to gain, activate or improve attributes, skills, and traits. Perhaps I can work with this¡­ A little while later and I¡¯ve managed to scrape together a fair amount of soul potential(sp) by extensively cursing myself. Some were already in the system and others I had to design for myself. [Mute](+20sp), [Glass cannon](+20sp), [Slow Learner](+50sp) [Destined to Serve(Master: tbd)](Attribute control is locked at 1 until the first initiation)(+100sp) {Orders}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} [Servant¡¯s Attire(Linked: Destine to Serve)](+0sp) {Attire} Why I selected the mute curse is partially due to how very pissed off I am right now. I¡¯d definitely end up offending the people summoning me if I can talk and it¡¯s not like I won¡¯t be able to communicate at all. Once I have a master, I can just talk through them using the link. Glass cannon doubles efficiency of raising my mind cultivation while making my body cultivation twice as difficult. An obvious choice to lock in my role as a mage who will be staying as far from the fight as possible. Slow learning makes it ten times more difficult to naturally acquire or raise any skills. It does not affect my intelligence or knowledge. The flavour text for the destined to serve curse reads: ¡°The servant must dedicate oneself entirely to the master, always being close-at-hand(100m). {Orders} must be followed, {Punishments} received, and {Empathic Link} established to share the master¡¯s burden. This curse will transfer to the master if the treatment of the servant is abusive.¡± Pretty self-explanatory. I added the servant¡¯s attire curse just so I could wear modern clothes. It balances giving me cheaty free clothes by giving control over what I wear to the master. Yeah, those last two might seem somewhat really bad, but I¡¯m planning to sneakily designate a young princess or another girl as the master because I really don¡¯t want to fight for the people who had summoned me with such an inadequate offering that even that indifferent goddess seemed to pity me. With the soul potential from the curses and the whopping thirteen soul potential I got from the left-overs, I now have a grand total of two hundred three soul potential. I would have gotten a lot more from the destined to serve curse if I hadn¡¯t included that line about abusive treatment. That one line made it give one third the origional amount, but also prevents such things like suicide orders. I plan to outlive my master and live normally afterwards. The attribute lock was also necessary as a one time condition so the curse would at least be truly activated. Without that, the soul potential given was reduced to a tenth. Just to give you a stick to measure by, the ¡®standard hero package¡¯ costs five hundred soul potential. Now to get some serious benefits for myself¡­¡°OUCH!¡± Damb, that hurts! Probably the most genius idea I¡¯ve ever had hurt like a bitch! First thing I did was give myself eidetic memory for twenty soul potential and hit the update soul button. Which hurt! A lot! This opportunity is seriously way too good to pass up. The freaking complete list of skills with descriptions, acquisition requirements and basically the whole outline for the power system of my soon to be new world is literally right in front of me. Of course, I¡¯m totally going to memorize it. Ugh! That probably took years to completely memorize, though I have zero concept of time in this place. I wonder if I¡¯ll overshoot my summoning ceremony by a few decades. That would be nice. Though, I have a feeling that time just isn¡¯t a thing here. Next up is to choose my bloodlines, gonna pass on human though since they¡¯re the bitches who summoned me and I¡¯ve done that once already. After much tweaking and fine tuning¡­ Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood Demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Vampires are cool, right? And they have some great abilities among the immortal humanoid races. At fifty percent, they are perfectly balanced with having only benefits from their race, but none of the demerits. Blood demon complements the vampire bloodline really well and gains the adaptive blood trait I wanted at exactly twenty-five percent. The rest is just filler, but who would say no to being descended from a dragon. Any higher than twenty percent and I started growing scales on my body model though. Threw in the dryad bloodline just to fill the left-over. [Vampiric Bite], [Agility Boost(activate: 25sp)] [Regeneration(activate: 50sp)], [Body Manipulation(activate: 100sp)] [Dragon¡¯s Perception(activate: 150sp)], [Adaptive Blood(activate: 200sp)] Traits available due to my vampire bloodline were vampiric bite, agility boost and regeneration. I quickly used up ten soul potential to activate my vampiric bite. Girl has gotta eat. The trait lets me drain qi and mana from others to replenish my own along with some other vampire things. Agility boost doubles the effect the agility attribute has for my speed and reactions. Regeneration allows me to heal from any injury so long as I have enough blood. Blood demon bloodline made available the regeneration, body manipulation and adaptive blood traits. Same traits would stack to have increased effectiveness. I would be able to shapeshift somewhat due to body manipulation, though I would be limited to female humanoid forms. Female limited because I have dryad bloodline who can only be female and humanoid because of the limitations of my physically humanoid bloodlines. Adaptive blood enables me to gain additional traits from drinking blood. Finally, the dragon bloodline added dragon¡¯s perception to my traits which can perceive all energies and see through illusions. No traits were gained from the low percentage of dryad bloodline. The best part is that the bloodline traits can actually be activated later as long as you apply the appropriate amount of soul potential. There¡¯s now one hundred seventy-three soul potential left. Gonna do the appearance next¡­ After a ridiculous amount of time that I won¡¯t specify, I¡¯ve finished my Ideal body which is a nearly uncanny-valley level beauty. Golden ratio except a slimmer waist, short height at five feet, firm yet soft perfect-sized breasts(no painful ¡®boing-boing¡¯), slender hands, small feet, ivory-white sumptuous skin, a delicate oval-shaped face, large watery eyes with golden irises, dainty nose, luscious pink pouty lips and waist-length slightly iridescent silver hair(no body hair). I now dread that that goddess might come back and foil my evi...uh perfect plans. Moving on to the skills¡­ {passive} [Soul Devourer 1](-100sp) {active} -none- Just the one used up a large chunk of my remaining soul potential now sitting at seventy-three, but this is absolutely necessary in order to offset that slow learner curse and propel my strength further in the future. Soul devourer causes the souls of the recently departed in my vicinity to be drawn in and stripped of some soul potential before ¡®moving on¡¯; skills not possessed by user are stripped first and gained, then the remaining is absorbed purely as soul potential. Next is the blessings¡­ [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me](-50sp), [Status Manager](-20sp) I receive immunity to mind altering effects from the don¡¯t mind me blessing. Things like mind control, memory intrusion and others won¡¯t effect me. Status manager let¡¯s me disguise my skills and traits, even letting me toggle them on or off. I¡¯ve verified that there is no way to see through status manager disguised status unless you have access to the world admin system. This is a must since I will need to hide much of my status so I won¡¯t be immediately killed or enslaved. My bloodlines are basically all demons or monsters, and I¡¯m about to get summoned in a human territory, probably in front of the king¡¯s court and church too. I set up some default info for the status manager and made newly gained things to toggled off by default. The don¡¯t mind me blessing is necessary to, among other things, prevent my master from irreversibly altering my ego with orders. While I will not mind being told what to do by a pretty mistress, I want to do it as myself. With this, my soul potential bank is mostly empty. Cultivation and attributes can be improved later. One attribute point is equal to a baby. Ten is average for an adult who has never trained. The percent in parentheses denotes the amount of control a person has over that attribute normally. It increases with training and will decrease when adding points to that attribute until further trained. Max attribute values for each cultivation stage is ten times higher than the last. Ten for stage zero, then one hundred at stage one and so on. By the way, this is the status those asshole humans will see if they appraise me¡­ Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female Race: Human Cultivation Stages: {Body: 0}{Mind: 0}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10/10}{Mana: 10/10}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 10(10%) | Vit: 10(10%) | Agi: 10(10%) | Int: 10(10%) Soul Potential: 3 {passive} -none- {active} -none- -none- [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me] [Glass Cannon], [Slow learner], [Mute] And, Finalize! ¡°So, she finished. I wonder what took her so long to decide...WTF! Interesting! Let¡¯s mark her for further observation to see how things turn out. This girl is perhaps the most entertaining thing to happen in the last few millennia. Hmm, let¡¯s mess with her just a little bit. Tweak this here...and...a little over there. Heheheh. This will be FUN!¡±~Goddess Chapter 2: Cliches for dayz Chapter 2: Cliches for dayz ¡®ding¡¯¡®ding¡¯ [Welcome Hero, to the world: Aetheria] Two ¡®dings¡¯? And cue the poor suckers, three guys and two girls excluding myself, looking around confused after suddenly being transported to a fantasy world. Wait, why am I getting so much more attention than the rest? Something doesn¡¯t feel right, so I start checking myself over. Yup, totally did not expect me to be wearing a very cute maid uniform right now. Opening up my equipment status screen I can see that I¡¯m wearing a maid¡¯s typical black pumps with a two inch heel, sheer-black thigh high stockings, garter belt and an excessively frilly maid styled knee length black dress. It has a lacy white apron, shoulderless sleeves with white lace trimmed cuffless endings at the wrists, seamless black leather waist cincher that extorts my curves, and a white top material extending from the apron that stops just above my boobs. The top is being held up by an intricate spider web pattern of black lace attached to a collar with more lace attached behind to hold up the back. Yeah, I said collar. One that looks very bondagy with a seamless strip of black leather over some black fabric trimmed with white lace that somehow makes it work with the maid theme. My stylish maid headdress has an addition of a sheer black veil that hides my face and I can see from the screen that I am also wearing some very risque black undergarments. And now for the accessories that seem to have wandered into some very inconvenient places....on second thought, I¡¯ll just paste my equip details so I don¡¯t have to say it. [Cursed plug of voiding #1] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: voids waste fluids [Cursed plug of voiding #2] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: voids waste matter If I didn¡¯t have a veil on, everyone would definitely see a very red face. Although that solves the whole medieval bathroom worries. Mmm, very useful equipment for a maid. Here¡¯s the rest¡­ [Cursed maid¡¯s pumps] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, comfortable(can be worn forever without developing blisters) [Cursed maid¡¯s stockings with garters] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, strengthening(can stand forever without cramping) [Cursed maid¡¯s uniform] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, dress for success(increased ability as a maid) [Cursed maid¡¯s veiled headdress] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, incorporeal veil(you can¡¯t remove what you can¡¯t touch) [Cursed maid¡¯s collar] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, tethering(instills an instinctual need to return to one¡¯s master) [Cursed panties of the succubus] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, yang drain(drains life force from any man in contact with the wearer) [Cursed bra of support] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, fortitude(wearer gains extra firmness) I did not add any of these items to [Servant¡¯s Attire]. I tried before to add items with effects to it, but I couldn¡¯t do it without it costing sp for each item. Ah, there¡¯s another notification. So that¡¯s why there were two ¡®dings¡¯ before. [Why you sneaky little girl. I did not give you permission to make such drastic changes to your profile. Then again, I also never told you that you couldn¡¯t. I will not punish you for my slip up, however, I¡¯ve made a few changes of my own. I¡¯ll let you find them on your own and I¡¯ll be checking in on you from time to time. P.S. I marked you as one of my priestesses. Give me a prayer some time soon so we can chat.~Goddess Kat] [Gained blessing: Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] [Gained Priestess sub-skill: Prayer] Somehow, I dodged a bullet there. Although my back was covered in a cold sweat, I¡¯m happy to report that the self-cleaning function is working. Let¡¯s unhide that blessing in my status, it seems like it will be helpful to deter some lustful gazes from doing something stupid. After thoroughly combing through my status, it seems that she only changed some cosmetic and semantics stuff. None of the vital parts of my status were ruined. To summarize the changes.... [Destined to Serve(Master: tbd)] (Attribute control is locked at 1 until master is decided) The servant must dedicate oneself entirely to the master, even in bed. {Orders} must be followed, {Punishments} received, and {Empathic Link} established to share the master¡¯s burden. The master is responsible to ensure the servant wears appropriate {Attire}. This curse will transfer to the master if the treatment of the servant is abusive. She combined the two curses into one, changed ¡®always being close-at-hand(100m)¡¯ to ¡®even in bed¡¯ and updated the sub-skills. {Orders} is basically the same except it now keeps a list of all orders currently in effect and I cannot be ordered to share my personal information. There are now a lot more options in the {Punishments} menu, including many that are linked to specific items in a new sub-menu of {Attire} labeled as toys. *Shivers*. The {Attire} sub-skill now has a designer menu accessible only to the master and four preset outfits that auto-equip as appropriate. My maid uniform for everyday wear, night wear, battle dress, and ceremonial wear(for my new priestess occupation). She also fixed the {Empathic Link} so that the master can temporarily block thoughts from the servant and block the servant from receiving the master¡¯s thoughts. From examining the intent of the changed line with the ¡®even in bed¡¯ clause, I¡¯ve learned that an insomnia debuff will affect me if I try to sleep anywhere else. And yes, contrary to popular belief, even the immortal races of this world still need their beauty sleep. ¡°Thank you dear heroes for responding to our summoning.¡±~unknown Ugh, the fat slob in gaudy robes with the beady eyes is speaking. Must be the king. ¡°I¡¯m Conielius Draug the third, king of Parnam.¡±~king Called it! ¡°I realize you must have many questions. Let us move to the throne room where we can be more comfortable and speak in detail of what is to come.¡±~king By ¡®we¡¯, he means only himself. The throne room definitely only has one, maybe two chairs, none of them for us. If I could speak, my sarcasm probably would have already sentenced me to death. Arriving at the throne room, the pig continues to blather on and on about how we are destined to save his kingdom from the evil demon king, but first we need to train ourselves up to the task. As such it is only natural that we all have to use the status orbs to reveal all our secrets. Wow, standard hero pack is no joke. They all got [inventory], [rapid growth], and a few other skills that seem to match their personalities, yet still diverse enough from each other to make a well rounded hero party. Plus their base attributes are all at one hundred with cultivation of body and mind at stage two. Adding it all up, these fools must have at least fifteen hundred sp invested in each of them. So not fair! Ah, everyones¡¯ attention is once again drawn to me, or rather to my unusual status. The whole [Mute] thing seems to have them all in an awkward silence. I make some writing motions with my hands until one of the heroes figures out what I¡¯m trying to convey and tells the rest of the gawkers who then provide me with writing supplies. Shortly after my ¡®situation¡¯ is resolved...yeah right...after the king expounds at length about how weak we all currently are, he finally makes the move he¡¯s been building up to. After some concealed threats, a bit of coercion, and intimidation, he reveals that he wishes us to all sign magic contracts to serve the kingdom in return for all the resources that are invested in us. It¡¯s undoubtedly a trap. Oh, that¡¯s interesting. One of the girls is pretty smart. She started asking the right questions about how the contract works, what are the specific terms, what are the obligations of each party and what restrictions are in place to protect the interests of both sides. I can see the cold sweat dripping off the hands of the other four who looked ready to sign earlier. We are swiftly told that discussion will resume tomorrow and that we should each get some rest until then. I quickly write a note to the smart girl. One word with a question mark, ¡®library?¡¯. She immediately understood my intention and asked if we could be lead to the palace library so that we might learn more about this world without troubling ¡®his pompous ass¡¯. They stalled, of course, with the excuse that they will ¡®arrange it¡¯ tomorrow morning and that we will resume discussion that afternoon. More likely, they just want some time to hide a few books they don¡¯t want seen. The heroes bid each other a good night and we are led away to our rooms to rest. Chapter 3: Luxurious night Chapter 3: Luxurious night I¡¯m lead by a somewhat nervous maid to my chambers. A set of rooms that include a sitting room, bath, study, and bedroom. I handed her a note requesting information about the royal family under the guise of not wanting to make any mistakes when in their presence. She quickly agrees, seemingly relieved to end the silence. Knowing that I can¡¯t speak, she doesn¡¯t ask me any questions and follows up her spiel on the royal family with some information about this kingdom, the surrounding kingdoms, rumors and finally some castle gossip. Seems she got comfortable talking to me quite fast. Might have something to do with our attire. My cloths bare some resemblance to the uniforms of the maids here, which are similar to the french maid uniforms from earth. Probably the influence of past heroes. After she concludes the gossip segment of our chat, she seems to have run out of topics. She noticed that it had already turned dark outside leaving to prepare the bath and dinner. Bath time was pure bliss. I¡¯ve gotta admit that this king sure does know how to stock up on luxury. My maid joined me in the lightly perfumed bath and washed my body with soap that seems to be made with milk and honey. Then she applies a hair oil to prevent fraying. Shampoo doesn¡¯t yet seem to have been invented here, but the hair oil is just light enough when rubbed in well that it doesn¡¯t feel greasy. Ah, you¡¯re probably wondering how I can take a bath in those clothes that ¡®cannot be removed by normal means¡¯. They simply vanished when I stepped into the bathroom, that ¡®auto-equip as appropriate¡¯ feature seeming to work for unequipping as well. When my maid, who had lead me to the bath, finished undressing herself and noticed my nudity, she froze. She seemed more shocked by my surreal beauty than where my clothes had gone. So I had to tease the cute little maid while she was resetting her brain of course. I stepped up to her and started exploring her lithe body with my hands. Her brain finally reset after I had started rubbing her breasts, taking a quick step back and covering herself in an adorable fashion. I would have kissed the girl to wake her, but I seem to have made a mistake with my height. The average height of women here seems to be around six feet while the men are upwards of six and a half feet. I¡¯m tiny in comparison at only five feet tall and can¡¯t reach her lips even on my tippy toes, I did try. My maid gave me a massage with another oil for the skin after drying me off. She only pause momentarily when she noticed the two accessories that hadn¡¯t vanished with the rest of my clothes. Seeing how red I had gotten when she noticed, she made a shushing gesture indicating that she will probably keep my secret. She was extremely thorough with my massage and I understood the reason once I was flipped face up on the massage table. She was getting revenge for my earlier exploration! I could see playfulness in her glistening blue eyes. She tried to dress me in the night gown she had prepared and was confused when I waved her off. I confidently stepped out of the bathroom and as expected, my nightwear appeared. Opening the equipment interface, which has a front and back viewable avatar, allowed me to see my current outfit. I¡¯m wearing a seamless red lace choker with the same effects as the earlier collar, the same panties except that they¡¯re red this time, and a layered red nightgown that has a partially opaque babydoll inner layer with a sheer outer robe. The babydoll is only opaque over the breasts and has sheer fabric just barely covering my butt. The robe is only sleeved halfway down and barely hangs on the shoulders before attaching itself to the outside areas of my bust. It then attaches again in the center and finally at each side of my hips, extending to my mid-thighs. The effects are¡­ [Seductive nighty of temptation] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: self-cleaning, enhanced sense(touch), sensual(wearer¡¯s movements are optimized) I get that the enhanced sense(touch) makes me more sensitive, but I don¡¯t quite understand the other new effect. Getting an idea, I leave the equipment view menu open and take a few steps forward. My hip movements are exaggerated and my steps are smaller, one foot directly in front of the other. It seems that my movements will all be sexified under the effect. I move to the table of food that has already been set up by others while bathing and make a gesture for my maid to join me. She waves her hands in adamant refusal. I lightly tap the side of my head and gesture to the food allowing her to understand that I don¡¯t know what any of it is. She then serves me each dish while explaining them. While enjoying the meal, I sit at the edge of my chair leaning slightly forward with my back arched. I noticed that I would occasionally twirl my tongue around my lips in a seductive manner, and that my posture brings great emphasis to my breasts and butt. I had intended to eat quickly while slouching, but my newly sensualized method of eating made the meal take much longer than normal. Judging by the occasional squirming motions my maid is making, mealtime had an unexpected benefit. I had no trouble convincing her to join me in bed when I made a come hither motion while laying seductively on my side. She stripped her clothes, seemingly faster than my own clothes had disappeared in the bathroom earlier and jumped in. I thoroughly caressed every inch of her body and kept her on the brink for a good while before letting her cum multiple times in a row, completely exhausting her. She had tried to pleasure me during our romp under the covers, but I discovered that my curse doesn¡¯t allow it at all. Her intimate touching made my body hurt and I ended up binding her hands behind her back with a strip of cloth from the canopy bed curtains. When certain that she had passed out due to exhaustion with no chance to wake, I fed my other half. She made a small whimper when sinking my fangs into her, followed by moaning while I drank her essence. I easily stopped myself before taking enough to harm her permanently and licked her wounds closed. I instinctively knew my saliva as a vampire has that function. As the last thing I needed to do today before falling asleep myself, I closed my eyes and prayed. After initiating the prayer, I found myself seemingly awake and standing naked in a luxurious room which far exceeds the luxury in my own. There is a woman present whose beauty is astonishing, even compared to my own, circling around me using her hands to examine every inch of my body. I find myself incapable of rousing myself to stop her and wait for her to finish. ¡°You actually did a pretty good job with it, the bloodlines merged just right so there¡¯s not really any conflicts in your body. Oh, little girl, you can speak here. That mute curse you gave yourself won¡¯t affect your astral body in my divine realm.¡±~beauty ¡°Even if you tell me, what should one really say when meeting a goddess. I suppose I should just start with the question that is most concerning for me right now. This priestess thing isn¡¯t going to turn me into a religious zealot like I¡¯ve read about in isekai novels, right?¡±~me ¡°Not at all dear. Although, if you were to practice enough, it wouldn¡¯t be impossible for you to cultivate enough divine energy to become a goddess yourself. None of my followers have been able to get that far in their short lives and the immortal races of my world tend to only believe in their own power. To answer your second question that you didn¡¯t ask, I wanted to talk to you because I found you interesting. Your exploitation of the reincarnation system is the most exciting thing I¡¯ve experienced in a long time, and your ingenuitive use of curses is...amusing.¡±~Goddess I can see the excitement in her eyes and smirking expression telling me that she probably isn¡¯t done modifying my curses quite yet. ¡°So, Goddess Kath-¡±~me ¡°Just call me Kat.¡±~Kat ¡°Kat, how do I ¡®level up¡¯ as your priestess?¡±~me ¡°Perform deeds in my name to gather faith from the masses and use prayer to deliver the faith to me. I¡¯ll convert the faith into divine energy, sharing a portion back to you. Then you just need to cultivate the divine energy. Rinse and repeat.¡±~Kat ¡°What benefits other than potentially becoming a goddess some day are there to cultivating divine energy?¡±~me ¡°Skills my dear. There is an extensive number of sub-skills that a priestess may use such as heal, cure, smite, bless, and many others. Theses sub-skills won¡¯t take any sp to gain or upgrade and the leveling of these skills isn¡¯t affected by your [slow learner] curse. You will simple have access to higher and higher level of skills as your divine energy pool expands.¡±~Kat I had thought that I memorized the power systems of this world. The divine system must be separate. This is perhaps a good thing. I¡¯ll look for an opportunity to gather some faith. Can¡¯t be too outstanding of course or that king will definitely try to suppress me, and the greedy church won¡¯t like me going around performing deeds in their Goddess¡¯s name without them taking their cut. Ah crap, did she notice that I¡¯ve memorized her power systems?! ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I see no need to take that knowledge from you since you paid a price of pain when you updated your soul with that blessing. Just don¡¯t go around revealing it to everyone. The divine system is indeed separate and forms a sort of extension around your soul, which is why it doesn¡¯t use up soul potential. Think of divine energy as more of a warm blanket for your soul. And with that, it¡¯s time for you to go.¡±~Kat Chapter 4: Finding my princess Chapter 4: Finding my princess I wake to the sound of somebody knocking on my door. It felt like I had just been talking with the Goddess, but I woke feeling quite refreshed, seeming to have used my maid as a hug pillow throughout the night. I sit up and stretch, excessively arching my back like a cat and moved to stand up from the bed. As I begin the motion to stand up, my nighty disappeared and my maid uniform has appeared by the time I¡¯m fully standing. Cracking open the door, I can see a young maid. She asks me where Sarah is and I open the door just enough to show her my maid laying in the bed smiling, her clothes scattered on the floor. The maid blushes a deep red, informing me that permission to visit the library has been arranged and that breakfast will be delivered shortly. I simply nod my head in acknowledgement and close the door. Minutes later, the maid returns with a tray of food, which I recognize this time. Seems that breakfast dishes are universal, just changed a little due to the difference in local ingredients. I finish eating quickly and am escorted by my new maid to the library. The other heroes have already been gathered and started reading the various books. Surprisingly, they have paper. Although it mostly resembles that patchy recycled stuff you make when you¡¯re a grade schooler. I simple grab a few books and start memorizing. When lunch time comes around, I¡¯m surprised to find that it¡¯s Sarah who brings it to me. While blushing, she informs me that the earlier maid had returned to my room with a healer and that such situations are not uncommon for the maids here. I take occasional bites while continuing to read and sipping tea. A few hours later, we are informed that the king would like to continue discussing the contract in his conference room. The heroes are situated on one side with the king¡¯s advisors on the other and the king at the head of the table. They debate for hours and I take that time to inventory my gains from last night. My soul devourer skill works at all times, but the new skills and soul potential won¡¯t fully integrate with me until I¡¯ve rested. Probably a safety feature to prevent pain like what happened when I used the ¡®update soul¡¯ button. I only seem to have gained eight sp and a bunch of skills, five in all: [contract](activate: 19sp), [sense mana](activate: 9sp), [mana control](activate: 9sp), [sense presence](activate: 9sp), [shadowmeld](activate: 49sp). Looking at them, I can guess that the king probably executed whichever adviser made the original contract and a would-be spy was killed. I spent the rest of the time the others used to debate to cultivate my divine energy. Last night¡¯s pray had gotten me one divine energy and I now had a new sub-skill, {blessing: lessor invigorate}, which simply gives a person a little more stamina making them feel refreshed. My divine energy has increased to two by the time I¡¯m finished. Due to my feeding last night, my qi and mana are bloated at twice what their max capacity should be. I alternate my cultivation between those two and manage to decrease them to five by the time the debate session has ended for the day. We will resume tomorrow at the same time. My updated stats are as follows: +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 0(15%)}{Mind: 0(15%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10/10}{Mana: 10/10}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 10(10%) | Vit: 10(10%) | Agi: 10(10%) | Int: 10(10%) Soul Potential: 3 {passive} -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Mana(activate: 9sp)], [Sense Presence(activate: 9sp)] {active} -[Contract(activate: 19sp)], [Mana Control(activate: 9sp)], [Shadowmeld(activate: 49sp)] -[Vampiric Bite], [Agility Boost(activate: 25sp)], [Regeneration(activate: 50)] -[Body Manipulation(activate: 100)], [Dragon¡¯s Perception(activate: 150)], [Adaptive Blood(activate: 200)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless} -[Status Manager] [Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute] -[Destined to serve(Master: tbd)] (Attribute control is locked at 1 until master is decided) {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} Today¡¯s events repeat for the next few days, including my night activities, except that I have taken some time out of the library to request tea with the various princesses. They are basically all brain-dead idiots waiting for their prince(political pawns for daddy). There¡¯s only one that fits my criteria that isn¡¯t too young. Princess Sophia is twenty-three and is an emerald eyed, green haired half wood-elf whose mother was captured in a raid by human slavers from her home near the border of the Magic Forest. She has intelligence and hate for her father in her eyes. It is also nice that she only stands at five and a half feet. Although, that is only because of her not quite mature body due to her long lived mother¡¯s bloodline. She has the elven facial features of a cold beauty and the curvy figure of humans including a nice size rack. Slender waist, white skin, and a concealed athletic body that the other lazy princesses lack. It takes another week to finalize the new contracts, by which time I¡¯ve finished with the library and am simply indulging in pleasures when I¡¯m not cultivating. The contract means absolutely nothing to me since I can¡¯t sign it anyways. My [Destined to serve] curse prevents it so that nothing restricts my dedication to the master. Signing day arrives and we are once again brought to the throne room to commemorate the event in front of the nobility. The other five sign their contracts one at a time with the king on the podium set up near the throne. When it gets to my turn, I simply hand a note over to the attendant to read for me. ¡°Dear king, I am unable to sign a magical contract due to a hidden curse. It seems the curse is hidden from others until fully activated. I will prove that this is the case, please do not be alarmed by what happens.¡±~attendant With the note read and a nod from the king, I take the quill provided and move to sign the contract. It immediately burst into flames when the quill touch it. I proceed with my plan as I handed another prepared note to the attendant. ¡°Although a contract cannot be sign, I have a different method that can be enacted with a female of the royal family. If you would allow it, I would have Princess Sophia accept me as her servant in a way that would be binding, more so than that contract would have been.¡±~attendant The king having seen the contract turn to ash with not a single mana fluctuation reluctantly agrees and has Sophia join us at the podium. I position myself in front of her and begin the submission ritual dictated by my curse, something the Goddess must have added. I kneel on the ground in front of her with my feet under me and place my hands with fingertips together on the ground just before her feet, then placing my forehead on the ground as well. I¡¯m prompted if Sophia should be designated as master, to which I accept. Sophia¡¯s eyes widen in surprise and she proceeds to read the prompt she received to our audience. ¡°Royal father, I¡¯ve received a message from the world that reads: ¡®Lilia has designated you as her master, do you accept?¡¯¡±~Sophia ¡°Go ahead.¡±~king There is a blinding light that envelops the two of us cementing our relationship in place. I take the opportunity to unhide my curse, to make my earlier words about it seem true. When the light died down, I get up from the ground and curtsy to my new mistress in the same manner as I¡¯ve seen the other maids perform in the last few days. I can feel Sophia¡¯s perplexity at the sudden string of events and information overload due to the link. I decide to jolt her out of it by using the link to speak to her. ¡°Greetings, Mistress.¡±~me This causes her to jump slightly with a small squeak. Cute! ¡°What is it, Sophia?¡±~king ¡°She talked or I think I heard her talk.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, only you can hear my voice like this. My binding as your servant has been completed, which includes an {Empathic Link} between us. Please inform your father that I have been successfully bound as your servant and the signing ceremony may be concluded. It will take time for you to completely understand and you will inform him of your findings.¡±~me ¡°She¡¯s somehow speaking directly to my mind. I can feel that she is bound to me, but it will take a little time to understand it. Father please conclude the ceremony. I will inform you of my findings soon.¡±~Sophia ¡°Very well. This signing ceremony is hereby concluded. Dismissed.¡±~king I follow my dear confused Sophia back to her rooms where she promptly loses her good daughter attitude, turns to me and demands, ¡°Explain!¡± ¡°Mistress, please investigate your status. You should have received a new blessing as well as the ability to view my own. This will perhaps be the fastest method for you to understand. I will answer any questions that you may bring up.¡±~me She studies it for a while and seems content to not ask any questions. We then head towards the king¡¯s study. Along the way, I ask her to only tell the king about the curse vaguely and to specifically tell him that even my clothing is cursed. One specific item which will drain the life force of any man I come into contact. As expected, we are both required to use a status orb and I get my first look at Sophia¡¯s status. Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1}{Mind: 2}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 75/75}{Mana: 200/200}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 50 | Vit: 75 | Agi: 100 | Int: 200 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 2], [Sense Danger 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 1] [Longevity], [Mana Affinity] [Child of the Forest] [Destined to Serve(Servant: Lilia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} -none- +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(5%)}{Mind: 1(5%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 5/10}{Mana: 5/10}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/10} Attributes: Str: 10(50%) | Vit: 10(50%) | Agi: 10(50%) | Int: 10(50%) Soul Potential: 25 {passive} -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Mana 1], [Sense Presence(activate: 9sp)] {active} -[Contract(activate: 19sp)], [Mana Control(activate: 9sp)], [Shadowmeld(activate: 49sp)] -[Vampiric Bite], [Agility Boost(activate: 25sp)], [Regeneration(activate: 50)] -[Body Manipulation(activate: 100)], [Dragon¡¯s Perception(activate: 150)], [Adaptive Blood(activate: 200)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless} -[Status Manager] [Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute] [Destined to serve(Master: Sophia)] (Attribute control is locked at 1 until master is decided) {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} After the king had been appeased with a short Q&A session, he dismissed us. I took great satisfaction when he seemed especially peeved by my underwear¡¯s effect on males. Sophia seemed to enjoy his misery as well, if the feeling of accomplishment I felt from our link is any indication. We then head back to Sophia¡¯s rooms for the night. Chapter 5: My adorable mistress Chapter 5: My adorable mistress We arrive at her rooms and she bids me good night as she enters the door. I slip in behind her before she closes the door. Prompting her to ask, ¡°What do you think you are doing?¡± ¡°Mistress, I am here to serve you of course. Please indicate your needs and I will do my best to fulfill them.¡±~me ¡°I need to eat dinner, take a bath and then rest. How do you suppose you will accomplish this for me.¡±~Sophia ¡°I will immediately head to the kitchen to acquire your meal and inform the staff to fill your bath. Perhaps Mistress didn¡¯t examine the intent of my curse? Please study it a bit more by focusing on the different phrases that are used. Also, please remember that you can use our link as well, I will hear any thoughts that you intend for me to hear.¡±~me ¡°Very well.¡±~Sophia ¡°P-please take care of me from now on.¡±~Sophia I immediately hugged her. The shyness conveyed with her first thought to me reminded me of a little girl giving her introduction in front of a new class. Too damn cute! ¡°Eep! W-wh-why did you suddenly hug me?¡±~Sophia In answer to her question, I send her the thought she had just provoke and watch as she blushed a deep red. Reluctantly releasing her from my hug, I set out on my tasks practically glowing with joy. I know exactly where I¡¯m going. Sarah was more than willing to talk about her duties in the palace and how she went about doing them. I head to the kitchen and inform the chef via written note that the princess will take her meal now. He nodded in confirmation and begins his preparations. I walk over to the servants¡¯ area and fix myself a bowl of stew with bread. It¡¯s not nearly as good as what I¡¯ve been eating, but it¡¯s filling. Once the meal is prepared, I pick up the tray of food and stopped by the housekeeping department, informing them via note that the princess requires her bath to be prepared. The kingdom¡¯s apprentice mages are the ones responsible for the baths. They use a purification spell which can remove any non-water elements from a pool of water. Then they use a fire type spell to heat the water. Sophia seems a little surprised that I¡¯ve successfully returned with a tray full of food for her, followed by the apprentice mages. Guess she hadn¡¯t thought that I would know where to go. I quietly set out the dishes on the table and pulled out her chair. When she sits down, I serve her the prepared wine and quietly attend by her side. Just before she is finished, I move to her wardrobe and pull out a simple green nighty and underwear. We move to that bath where my clothes once again vanish and I help Sophia out of hers. I click my tongue as she is only momentarily fazed by my beauty. When I notice the lack of oils and the lower quality soap, she informs me that those high end goods I had in my rooms are usually reserved for the harem and special guests. ¡°Please enter the bath first, Mistress. I shall return shortly with better items.¡±~me I don¡¯t even listen to her attempt to argue as I rush out of her room, maid uniform reappearing as I¡¯m exiting the bathroom. When I reach the room that I had been earlier assigned, I pack up the bath items and every luxury good I can find. After setting most of the goods down in her bedroom, I once again enter the bathroom. ¡°Mistress, please stand up so that I can apply the soap.¡±~me ¡°I can do it myself, just as I have been doing in the past.¡±~Sophia ¡°You will not! Please allow me to serve you to the furthest extent of my ability. I sincerely wish do this for you. Do not ever feel that you have to do anything yourself. Life as your servant is the role I chose.¡±~me She sensed my conviction in my thoughts and reluctantly nods her head, standing up from the water. I lather up the wash cloth and begin to methodically scrub every inch of her body using small circular motions. During the process, I memorized every detail of her body and take special note of any sensitive spots for future use while wearing a sly grin. Sophia shivers, not sure whether from reading that last thought or standing out of the warm water for so long. I help her back into the water and join her to remove the sudz, once again taking the opportunity to caress her body until her face is beat red. When I feel that she is at her limit of embarrassment, I move on to rub the oil into her hair. I quickly clean myself when I¡¯ve finished with Sophia and prepare our towels. I dry myself, then Sophia and have her move to the massage table which has probably never actually been used. I pour some oil on her back and start a deep tissue massage, taking full advantage of those sensitive places I¡¯ve noted earlier. She starts moaning in pleasure under my hands and is breathing heavily with her mind somewhat hazy by the time I flip her over. She passes out mid-way through the second half, so I finish anyways. I¡¯m unable to take any further advantage of my sleeping mistress due to the curse, only getting away with things while she is awake because it is considered silent acquiesce. I carefully dress her in the prepared clothes and carry her to bed. Pulling the sheets up over us, I wrap my arms around her and smile myself to sleep. I¡¯m somewhat surprised to find myself in Kat¡¯s divine realm again. I definitely did not pray tonight and haven¡¯t found myself here since the first time anyways. ¡°I can pull you here anytime I wish, it has nothing to do with prayer. Although, if you really need to speak with me, just say so when you pray. So, you decided on your master?¡±~Kat ¡°Yes! She is adorable!¡±~me ¡°Huhu, seems like you are having quite a bit of fun.¡±~Kat We talked for a little while about my experience with her world and what I think of it. Then she sends me back with a sadistic grin and ominous last words saying, ¡°Seems I need to send you that thing I¡¯ve been working on recently to congratulate you for finding your master.¡± My curse wakes me up early the next morning when it senses my mistress starting to come around. I can¡¯t help but cringe when I hear that familiar ¡®ding¡¯ sound. Knowing it wouldn¡¯t simply go away, I open the notification with dread. [You have been cursed.] Shit! Opening my status, I quickly look through the details of my new curse. [Frustrating Magic Hands] Hands are more effective in pleasuring others, gaining enhanced technique; cannot be used on self. The more this is used, the greater the frustration the user will experience. Basically, I¡¯ll go insane with frustration if Sophia doesn¡¯t help me. Ugh, I really hope she isn¡¯t too innocent to assist me when the time comes. No, wait, I can¡¯t even go insane; [Don¡¯t Mind Me] would prevent that. Sensing that my princess is nearly awake, I decide to take some comfort in her cuteness, gently using my finger to lightly rub her cheeks. She lets out muffle annoyance to my antics, pouting her cheeks in utter adorableness before she finally awakes. ¡°Ugh, why am I so sore all over. I can¡¯t even lift my arms. And why are you in bed with me?¡±~Sophia ¡°It is my duty to keep the bed warm for you! Also, my curse disallows that I sleep anywhere except at your side. The soreness is the result of the deep tissue massage I gave you last night. Although, you fell asleep part way through forcing me to stop from anything further. I shall go retrieve your breakfast, then help you with some exercises to help you recover.¡±~me I return with a bed tray full of breakfast foods and proceed to lovingly spoon feed my immobile princess. She glares at me each time I need to clean her face of spillage. There is no way I would use something as mundane as a napkin when my tongue works so much better. I assist Sophia to flex and stretch her sore muscles, bending her flexible body like an experienced acrobat. By the time we are finished, she has regained movement, albeit weakly. ¡°Couldn¡¯t we have done the exercises first, then you wouldn¡¯t have had to feed me.¡±~Sophia ¡°Nonsense! I immensely enjoy being of use to you. Feeding you gave me a sense of great satisfaction!¡±~me I retrieve a wash basin and cloth to wipe down her sweaty body. She doesn¡¯t try to dissuade me and we move on to dressing. When I notice her trying to dress herself with the clothes retrieved from her wardrobe, I snatch them from her hands and take over the endeavor, copping a feel of her breasts while equipping her bra. Fully dressed, we step out of her room and begin the day. First place on her schedule is magic lessons. I am exceedingly happy about this because there were absolutely no books on magic in the palace library and you don¡¯t just get a skill for every spell here. You have to memorize and form the runes using your own mana to perform magic. Only the absolute necessities are represented as skills such as mana sense, mana control, and mana shaping. The same applies for fighting techniques such as using qi blades, qi charge, etc. Skills are basically just a way to give an ability beyond what a person should normally be capable. Mana, being an energy of the universe, should not normally be harnessable by mortals. This is something I really like about this world. You have to work to improve yourself systematically. Except the heroes, they just cheat their way to the top from the start. When we arrive at the mage quarters, Sophia is greeted by her mentor, a cliche elderly man with white hair and a long beard. She introduces me as her new personal maid when asked and passes along my request to read any materials he has about magic. Sven, as I¡¯ve learned is his name from Sophia¡¯s greeting, accepts my request and leads us to his study. Chapter 6: Lessons and growth Chapter 6: Lessons and growth When we arrive at Sven¡¯s study, he points out the books that are okay for me to read. I find out that it actually causes some mental strain to read the runes in the books and that higher level runes can harm me if I try to push myself too much. I¡¯ll need to increase my int attribute to be able to read the higher level runes. Since there isn¡¯t many books and fewer that I can actually read, I spend the rest of today''s magic session cultivating. +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(5%)}{Mind: 1(5%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0(10%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 0/13}{Mana: 0/20}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/10} Attributes: Str: 10(50%) | Vit: 15(50%) | Agi: 15(50%) | Int: 20(50%) Soul Potential: 4 So, when you cultivate, there are two methods. One that will expand the person¡¯s capacity to improve which is the stage and the other which will improve your attributes using up soul potential in the process, one sp per attribute gain. Both methods will use energy. Qi energy is one-third of the sum of the physical attributes and mana is equal to the intelligence attribute. A person will naturally have control over fifty percent of their strength at minimum unless they have some sort of debuff. They can also exercise to improve that control. Oh, and the glass cannon curse doesn¡¯t affect the speed I can raise my attribute values, just the speed I can raise my control and cultivation. Makes it not really worth it to train any of the physical attributes too much. We leave Sven¡¯s study just before lunch time. Sophia heads directly for her chambers and I swing by the kitchen to grab our lunches. I¡¯m harassed on my way by a pair of minor characters. A pair of apprentice mages who stupidly tried to drag me off to their room for a ¡®good time¡¯. My undies do their job and render them collapsed in the hallway with their energy drained. I take a little extra time to arrange them into a very embarrassing pose. I bring lunch and offer to feed it to her, which is refused with a glare. I try to lighten her mood by making small talk. ¡°So, I ran into a couple mage apprentices on the way to the kitchen. They tried to drag me off to their room for some ¡®fun¡¯. Do things like this happen often to the maids?¡±~me ¡°Unfortunately, yes. How did you manage to get away from them?¡±~Sophia *smirk* ¡°Panties. They almost immediately passed out after grabbing me with no permanent harm done except perhaps if somebody finds them in that position before they wake up.¡±~me ¡°Be sure to steer clear of my brothers. You can even take it as an order to run away from them and find me if they ever start to harass you. In fact, that is an order. If they can¡¯t abuse you, they are likely to try to kill you. What position?¡±~Sophia ¡°I flipped open their robes and positioned each of their heads to the other¡¯s nutts.¡±~me She bursts out in laughter for the first time since we¡¯ve met. Well worth the minor harassment I experienced. She has a beautiful smile. I¡¯ve now officially received my first order from her. It is heartwarming that it is for my protection. While I was listening to the kitchen gossip, I learned that the hero party will be setting out in one week for the dungeon city of Tandor which is directly south of here. The geography of Aetheria, at least from what I could gather in the library, is one very large continent divided into three by a treacherous river, a mountain range and a strip of poisonous swampland. In the center of the continent is an enormous mountainous region belonging to the dragons. The mountains extend to the edge of the continent in the southwest direction, effectively cutting off the demons race of the south from the non-human races of the Magic Forest region. The strip of poisonous swampland extends to the southeast direction creating a divide between the human and demon races. It is difficult for humans to traverse, however demonkin have tough bodies with some resistance to poisons and like to raid supplies from the border kingdoms. A wide river with dangerous rapids divides the humans from the Magic Forest as it travels due north from the central mountains. There are seven human kingdoms, Parnam being in the center with the other six surrounding it. According to Kat, dungeons serve a cleanup function in this world. They are generated in areas of dense energy buildup that happen in near populated areas. Once formed, they begin to suck up the excess energies generated from dense populations that has trouble naturally dissipating on its own. The dungeon then processes the energy into ores, monsters and crystals. After a dungeon has been formed for some time, it will begin to form natural treasures. These treasures can be skill crystals, qi crystals, mana crystals, spirit crystals, and in very rare instances, law crystals. Once Sophia has finished her meal, it is time for her archery lesson. It is a fairly straightforward lesson, mostly just shooting a lot of arrows to work on aim. I spent the time memorizing the motions and admiring the view. Sophia has very beautiful lightly tanned skin that has a golden shine under the sunlight. Last lesson is etiquette which not only covers customs in this kingdom, but all the surrounding kingdoms as well. Belgra, the kingdom to the southwest bordering the Magic Forest and the central mountains, is covered extensively due to the fact that Sophia is engaged to their crown prince. The reason they haven¡¯t married yet is because she hadn¡¯t quite lost all her childish features due to her longevity. In only a few weeks, she will have to depart for her wedding. Belgra has a lot of demi-human slaves due to its proximity to the Magic Forest. Some slaves make it to Parnam, but they are usually kept in the various peoples¡¯ harems or otherwise out of sight. Half-beastkin apparently always pass on their beastkin bloodline when reproducing and the beastkin traits are dominant. For this reason, most people who have beastkin as sex slaves will force them to use a contraceptive drug which explains why I haven¡¯t seen any half-beastkin children from our lustful king. They are publicly degraded as mere beasts and privately coveted luxury goods. Typical hypocritical behaviour! Once we¡¯ve returned to her chambers for the night, I decide to inquire about her feelings regarding her imminent marriage. ¡°Mistress, what do you think of your fiance?¡±~me ¡°What brought this up? You¡¯re usually pretty quiet.¡±~Sophia ¡°I didn¡¯t hear about you being engaged until today¡¯s etiquette lesson. Please answer using our link, you should practice. It may be of great use to you, should you learn to fully exploit the power I¡¯ve given you over me.¡±~me ¡°Oh, it seems like a good match since we are both half-elves, although he is twice my current age. I don¡¯t force you via your curse because I don¡¯t want to degrade you as an object to be used like my mother and me.¡±~Sophia ¡°Lie! You definitely just lied about the marriage being a good match. I can hear you trying to deceive me. Remember, the link transfers thoughts, not words, which includes the intent of that thought. Trying to lie to me when we are talking like this is pointless. I don¡¯t mind you thinking of me as a person, but I want you to use me to your advantage. Please tell me how you really feel.¡±~me ¡°I forgot the part about intent. *sigh* Honestly, the guy is an obnoxious lustful prick, not unlike my own father. I wouldn¡¯t even be marrying as the main wife, just another concubine for him to abuse. He has many rumors about how poorly he treats women, but I have no choice. Father threaten to harm my mother if I make trouble in this. Is it that you want me to be more assertive with handling you or order you to do things?¡±~Sophia ¡°Thank you for telling me your true feelings. Assertive, yes. Order, not quite. I want you to firmly tell me what you do or do not want me to do, only using an order as a last resort should I fail to comply.¡±~me ¡°Do not want you to do? Hmm, is that why you have pushing me into one embarrassing situation after another?¡±~Sophia ¡°...¡±~me She is more aware than I thought! ¡°I heard that! Perhaps I should learn how the punish commands work first!¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes, Mistress! Please punish this lowly servant!¡±~me Oh no, what have I just awoken in her...and...me?! ¡°I choose...this one will do.¡±~Sophia I immediately discovered what she just chose when my head felt like it split when the migraine inducing punishment activated. Just a simple pain punishment, but it hurts directly on the body and she chose the brain. Oooh, it hurts to think right now. I¡¯m thankful that she is learning though and that she set it to time out at bedtime. Bath time is much less stimulating now that she is leaning to assert herself and I was only allowed to give a quick massage to lightly rub in the body oil. No deep tissue massage tonight. When we get to the bed, my punishment is over, yet she insists that I sleep facing away from her when my hands began to roam. She then proceeded to secure my arms by wrapping hers around me, turning me into a very willing hug pillow. Last thing I do before falling asleep is my nightly prayer. Chapter 7: Master-servant bonding Chapter 7: Master-servant bonding The next few days breezed by as the heroes got ready for their dungeon diving and Sophia continued her lessons. Apparently the crown prince will be joining them as the sixth member since I¡¯ve already vacated the spot and It¡¯s tradition for the hero party to always have six, even once there has been deaths. I bet the king was just jumping at an opportunity to have a man on the inside, not the mention the positive publicity of a hero crown prince. They have been going on bandit clearing operations for the last few days to get them use to killing and I gain quite a bit of sp when they brought some of them back for public execution. Managed to gain two skills too, including the one I needed to start casting spells: mana shaping and sense intent. I¡¯ve gotten my intelligence maxed out at one hundred in the last three days and read the next stage of runes and books on magic. I learned the spells that the apprentice mages use to clean and heat up the bath, which is a good thing since they all started avoiding me after that last encounter. Whimps! I¡¯ve managed to requisition some additional beauty products from the housekeeping department on my way back from gathering dinner tonight. Only had to threaten to spread rumors that my princess¡¯s marriage was in jeopardy due to her not being able to receive proper care. They even handed over her allowance that they¡¯ve been embezzling. ¡°Mistress, could I please use the mint oil I¡¯ve appropriated from housekeeping to give you a deep tissue massage tonight? It has a great exfoliating effect that would be wasted with your usual massage.¡±~me ¡°Oh, all right. You¡¯ve been pretty good the last few days anyways, just don¡¯t go too far!¡±~Sophia ¡°Yippee!¡±~me ¡°Not gonna happen!¡±~Sophia ¡°Wait. What? Why not?¡±~me ¡°Not the massage. The thing you thought about after. Geeze, it¡¯s a good thing I took your advice to get better with using our link. To think you were planning to feed me mouth to mouth in the morning while I can¡¯t move on my own!¡±~Sophia ¡°H-how did you know?!¡±~me ¡°The link let¡¯s me know any and all thoughts you have regarding me as long as I wish to know.¡±~Sophia ¡°I didn¡¯t know that was a thing! S-since when have you been listening and how much?¡±~me ¡°Hoh. Getting a little embarrassed are we? I figured it out about two days ago and haven¡¯t turned it off since. Your thoughts about me are, to say the least, very intimate. Perhaps borderline obsessive.¡±~Sophia ¡°You¡¯re teasing me! Why do you know how to tease me so well?¡±~me ¡°You aren¡¯t actually the first personal maid that I¡¯ve had, just that my brothers will try to ruin any good things that I have. I stopped taking personal maids after they broke the first two, which is also why I worry so much that they will find trouble with you.¡±~Sophia ¡°Hmph! I¡¯ll burn them to ashes if they try. I¡¯m much better at magic than I was before.¡±~me ¡°Yes, yes. Perhaps only my two oldest brothers have any chance at matching you, but don¡¯t forget they are princes. They can throw their subordinates at you to tire you out first.¡±~Sophia ¡°Ugh! Such hateful men! Why do they think it¡¯s appropriate to pick on little girls so much. That pig king sets such a lousy example for his children.¡±~me ¡°I agree with you. I¡¯m done. Let¡¯s get in the bath.¡±~Sophia ¡°YAY!¡±~me We take our bath like usual, except that I¡¯m allowed to give her a deep tissue massage with the mint oil, albeit much lighter so she will be able to move afterwards. Just as planned, the mint does a great job of exfoliating. I¡¯m now highly frustrated because the extensive use of my hands has put my new curse effect into overdrive. I barely manage to finish without jumping on her. ¡°Why are you fidgeting so much?¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, when was the last time you checked my status?¡±~me ¡°When we saw the king after the ceremony. Why?¡±~Sophia ¡°Please check my status more often, preferably every time you check your own. Think of my status as an extension of your own, what¡¯s mine is yours after all. Please check it now. I don¡¯t know how much longer I can hold myself back without an order.¡±~me ¡°...When did you get a new curse?! And how!?¡±~Sophia ¡°It appeared after my first night as your servant.¡±~me ¡°Tell me things like that sooner, you must be feeling terrible! This is an order, go get into bed, you don¡¯t get to argue and can only receive this mistress tonight!¡±~Sophia With that, I leave the bathroom and promptly deliver myself to bed. Sophia follows soon after, not even bothering to put on her clothes. She climbs into bed with me and starts to slowly investigate my body. I want nothing more than to skip directly to the finish, but she is having none of that. My nighty¡¯s effect makes her touching feel way better than I had thought it would, yet she still hasn¡¯t pushed me over the edge somehow. It¡¯s almost as though she knows just when to stop. She smiles at me and the glint in her eye makes me think she really does know, perhaps due to the link. As she starts pushing my nighty up my body, it and my panties start to disappear, ultimately condensing into cute little flowers on my lace choker while maintaining the effects they had on my body. I¡¯m constantly sending her pleas and begging for release. She only allows me to cum when she is satisfied with her investigation of my body. She revisits each of my sensitive spots, giving me multiple releases until I finally faint. I wake up in my usual position as Sophia¡¯s hug pillow, and I can¡¯t help but smile when thinking about last night. ¡°Good morning, Lilia.¡±~Sophia ¡°Good morning, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°I wish you would call me by name, especially after last night.¡±~Sophia ¡°You could order me to do so.¡±~me ¡°You know I won¡¯t do that. Why do you constantly objectify yourself?¡±~Sophia ¡°I have given myself fully to you, Mistress. For a lifetime, I am yours. Please think of me as your irreplaceable and treasured possession. Do not think of this as the same your father has done to you and your mother, to him you are a replaceable toy.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m never going to win this conversation am I? I suppose we should get up and not be late for lessons then, but I¡¯d like a quick rinse before we set out, for the both of us.¡±~Sophia ¡°I¡¯ll immediately prepare the bath, Mistress.¡±~me I quickly use my magic to clean and heat the water. Then we both clean up without any fooling around. Once she is dressed, I retrieve our meals from the kitchen. There¡¯s only three more days until the hero party sets out. I meditate on my mind cultivation while Sophia is learning from Grand Mage Sven. Kind of expected it but yea, found out that he¡¯s actually the head mage around here. Good guy too, treats Sophia like his granddaughter and always has some candies. I¡¯ve learned a lot from him too and found out that he is in the fourth tier of mind cultivation. Apparently there is a quality increase of your energies after ever three tiers not counting tier zero. Second tier is average for soldiers, adventurers and bandits. Third tier is considered elite and fourth is considered masters. The higher tiers are only seen in the longer lived races. We head back to her chambers to eat lunch and I make sure to change the sheets while she eats, stopping occasionally to refill her tea. ¡°Mistress, the hero party will set off in three days. Will it be necessary for you to dress up for the occasion?¡±~me ¡°Indeed it will. Did you have a specific outfit in mind?¡±~Sophia ¡°Not quite. I was wondering if you would like to go shopping?¡±~me ¡°It might be nice to buy some new clothes, but I have no money of my own.¡±~Sophia ¡°Fufufu. That was true. However, that was because the housekeeping department had been embezzling your share of the funds.¡±~me ¡°And I suppose you have a way for me to get them back?¡±~Sophia ¡°Already done! We can go shopping now, right?!¡±~me ¡°There¡¯s something you want to buy isn¡¯t there?¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes! You need new underwear, yours is much too tight!¡±~me ¡°Bad girl. Did you just call your mistress fat?!¡±~Sophia ¡°Well endowed!¡±~me With that last comment turning her scarlet, she blocks my further messages, as she has recently learned how to do, until it is time for the next lesson. I put on a hurt look and take a look at my status to pass the time. +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(5%)}{Mind: 1(65%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0(16%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 0/17}{Mana: 0/100}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/10} Attributes: Str: 13(50%) | Vit: 18(50%) | Agi: 22(50%) | Int: 100(50%) Soul Potential: 40 {passive} [Sense Mana 1] -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Presence(activate: 9sp)], [sense intent(activate: 9sp)] {active} [mana control 1], [mana shaping 1] -[Contract(activate: 19sp)], [Shadowmeld(activate: 49sp)] -[Vampiric Bite], [Agility Boost(activate: 25sp)], [Regeneration(activate: 50)] -[Body Manipulation(activate: 100)], [Dragon¡¯s Perception(activate: 150)], [Adaptive Blood(activate: 200)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless} -[Status Manager] [Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute], [Frustrating Magic Hands] [Destined to serve(Master: Sophia)] (Attribute control is locked at 1 until master is decided) {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} Chapter 8: Playing dress up Chapter 8: Playing dress-up Sophia decided to take today off from afternoon lessons. We drop by the royal guard barracks to pick up an escort and head to the noble district with a pair of female knights trailing behind. It¡¯s a short walk from the castle, not even worth the trouble to get a carriage prepared. Our first stop is a lady¡¯s boutique where I proceed to pick out several sets of undergarments. I am sure of her sizes, but help her to try them on anyways. You can never be too careful. Plus, it doesn¡¯t hurt that I obtained some valuable eye candies. Second stop is a dress shop that seems fairly stylish. We obtain their catalog and spend nearly two hours picking the details of one new dress. Clothing for nobles is very Victorian style. Most everything is made to order and overly complicated. I¡¯m just glad that the crinoline, that heavy structure to flair out ballroom dresses, hasn¡¯t taken root here. Corsets exist, but the fad to tighten them to the point of suffocation and breaking bones does not. We pick a couple ready made dresses from another shop for everyday wear, which takes only a few minutes to alter. One green and the other white, that look a lot like plain summer dresses. I picked out a few trendy looking belts and accessories to help liven them up. On our way back to the castle, Sophia detours into an unusual shop that she had noticed. I can¡¯t help but stop outside for a moment when I realized it was a novelty shop. Rushing in after her, I¡¯m somewhat relieved that it sells what appear to be cosplay items, not something more peculiar. The pretty female shopkeeper is showing her...Oh no! Nononono, no! Not good! Sophia has an almost fanatical gleam in her eyes as she is staring at the beastkin special item sets. She drags her eyes away to look at other things only after a few minutes of intense staring. As I heave a sigh of relief, I started to look around at some of the other goods. I ended up picking out a couple jewelry sets that are much more modern than what we had found in the earlier shops. Sophia comes out from a back room followed by the shopkeeper telling her that her order would be tailored in a few days and delivered to the castle. When I see the bill, I can¡¯t help but wonder what she bought. I''m told that it¡¯s a surprise with a mischievous smile on her face. With this, we have managed to spend two thirds of the money. We arrive back at the castle and I drop our purchases in the room before retrieving dinner a couple hours earlier than usual. When I ask why we are eating dinner so early, I only get a foreboding smile in response. I take the time while she is eating to put away the new items and throw out her ill fitting ones. ¡°Your turn.¡±~Sophia ¡°Huh...my what?¡±~me ¡°Hmph, I let you have your way dressing me up all afternoon. It¡¯s your turn to be dressed up.¡±~Sophia ¡°Umu, please be gentle.¡±~me ¡°Let¡¯s see my new gown first. We¡¯ll alter the colors and design slightly to fit you since you will be joining me for the festivities as my attendant. I¡¯ve already input the specifications while I was eating.¡±~Sophia ¡°Wait! Why do I have to dress up too, can¡¯t I just wear this?¡±~me ¡°No, you may not! Since I have to dress up for this, so do you. The party is in the evening in two days, then they will depart the next morning.¡±~Sophia Finished with her rant, she immediately activates the new outfit from the attire menu and my clothes begin to shift into the gown we had arrange before, complete with all the accessories. Very soon, I¡¯m wearing a floral green evening gown that hangs off my shoulders, swooping down to the top of my breasts. The gown is decorated with white flower patterns and has a white underbust corset with flowery white embellishments that pushes up my breasts. There is accompanying emerald embedded necklace, earrings, and tiara, all made from silver. White gloves and stockings with green flower patterns, and silver colored strappy four inch high heels. My hair has twisted itself up into an intricate braided design in a princess-like style. ¡°Looks pretty good on you. Can you replicate the hair design for me during the event?¡±~Sophia Taking a better look at the hair from my avatar in the equip menu, I memorize every braiding method and positioning before I give my nod of agreement. ¡°I can do it. We will need to acquire some simple silver hair pins to do so however. My hair is held in place by my curse, yours will need something extra.¡±~me ¡°Great! Now let¡¯s see what we can do with the colors.¡±~Sophia The silver turns to gold and emeralds to rubies. The dress turns black with yellow flower patterns and my corset, gloves, and stockings turn black as well with similar yellow flower patterns. She seems satisfied at this point and I have to bring up the glaringly obvious issue. ¡°You weren¡¯t thinking this is complete, right?¡±~me ¡°Mmm, it looks good on you.¡±~Sophia ¡°You are avoiding the obvious. I cannot wear a tiara to a party. Are you trying to cause trouble?¡±~me ¡°Well, it does look good on you, but I see your point. What should I use instead, I¡¯ve never really had much jewelry.¡±~Sophia ¡°Use the design of the decorative silver flower hair pins we bought, just change them to gold and use the flowers from the dress instead. What about the hair, shouldn¡¯t I have a more subdued style than my mistress?¡±~me ¡°That can work. Forget about the hair! You¡¯re wearing the same style as your mistress, so we match.¡±~Sophia Shortly after, my tiara disappears. I now have a flowery clip along each side of my head and a much larger flower of the same type tying up the back with some golden tassels hanging down. She saves the outfit as a new preset, labeled: Party. Then she proceeds to have me wear various other outfits that we bought or she can think up. Somehow, I get the feeling that my life as her personal dress up doll has only just begun. Surprisingly, I don¡¯t end up with beastkin equipment and take the risk of asking why. ¡°That novelty shop earlier, why were you so focused on that one item?¡±~me ¡°Oh, that? My first personal maid was a catkin named Cilia. She was with me while I was still with my mother in the harem and followed me when I was forced to leave at fifteen. My eldest brother took a liking to her and was abusing her in secret for nearly two years before I found out. She ended up dying due to his cruelty after I confronted him. I only manage to keep my next personal maid for a year before my second brother broke her mind with his own form of cruelty. After that, I gave up on taking personal maids, I couldn¡¯t handle the heartbreak. I still miss Cilia a lot and thought about her when I saw those items.¡±~Sophia I could see tears forming in her eyes. I stepped up to her and wrapped her in a hug, rubbing her back until she recovers from her crying session. I use a handkerchief to wipe away her tears and go prepare the bath. As we make our way to the bath, she tells me something curious. ¡°I change your nightwear preset just a little bit. Something from my childhood to help comfort me at night.¡±~Sophia ¡°Anything I can do to be service, Mistress.¡±~me While feeling happy that I could offer her some comfort, I fail to notice her smirk and a mischievous glint in her eyes. Bath time is as per usual. We used a light flower based oil this time, just something simple to prevent dry skin. I walk out of the bathroom and freeze. My night wear has appeared along with new sensations. Trying to deny knowing what it is, I check out my avatar view from the equipment menu to discover what new special items have been added¡­ [Catkin ears of disguise] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: enhanced senses, disguise(replaces normal ears; behaves realistically) [Catkin tail of disguise] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: enhanced balance, disguise(fuses with body; behaves realistically) I can feel them twitching atop my head, but still touch them with my hands to confirm it. My normal ears seemed to have vanished completely. Turning to look at my backside, I can see my new tail flicking around. As I¡¯m examining my new equipment, I feel a chill in my spine. I look up to find Sophia staring at me with that same fanatical gleam she had back in the store. I ran away, it was instinctive! I think any beastkin would do the same. She captured me before I took ten steps, her agility being way higher than mine. I was then summarily thrown onto the bed and pounced on. My ears are caressed and tail stroked, quickly turning me into a mess. When she would nibble on my ears, it would cause waves of pleasure to cascade down my body. They are way more sensitive than a normal body part had any right to be. I prayed to the Goddess to save me and could swear I heard her chuckle in response. She continued to ravish my body, banishing my thoughts and eventually sending me into blissful oblivion. Waking up the next morning, my body still feels sore and weak. ¡°Good morning, Lilia.¡±~Sophia ¡°...¡± ¡°Oh, a little grumpy this morning are we? Didn¡¯t you have fun last night?¡±~Sophia ¡°That was abuse! I claim animal cruelty!¡±~me [Checking for abuse. Claim denied.] I dumbfoundedly stare at the notification from my curse. It seems to have popped up just to have its turn to mock me. ¡°Bath?¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes please! I will get it ready right away, Mistress.¡±~me I try to get up from the bed and promptly end up sitting on the floor, legs sprawled out beside me. I give Sophia one last glare, then proceed to crawl into the bathroom with my tail flicking from side to side in irritation. I choose to ignore the giggling I can hear behind me. Using my magic, I clean and heat the tub, a bit hotter than usual. I slip into the water as soon as I¡¯m done and immediately start to feel better. Sophia joins me shortly, still thoroughly amused by my behavior. After soaking and getting cleaned up, I¡¯m now able to walk, albeit slowly. I get our meals and we start the day. Chapter 9: Day before the party Chapter 9: Day before the party ¡°Are you still sulking about last night?¡±~Sophia Sophia decided to break the silence between us as we made our way to her magic lesson. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m not staying silent for a reason other than I don¡¯t really have something to say. ¡°Not sulking, Mistress. Last night was...strenuous, but not really bad. I do wish you would let me assist you during the night as well, it bothers me that I¡¯m the only one receiving such intimate treatment.¡±~me ¡°Geh, don¡¯t you already find enough opportunities to take liberties with my body?!¡±~Sophia ¡°This and that are different things. You¡¯ve never let me take you all the way. I feel stifled.¡±~me ¡°Wow, that was brutally honest. And why is it that I¡¯m wearing heels today instead of my usual flats?¡±~Sophia ¡°I threw them away. They didn¡¯t look good.¡±~me ¡°Even so, I remember that I surely had more than one pair of flats. They couldn¡¯t have all look bad.¡±~Sophia ¡°All bad. A princess should always be stylish.¡±~me ¡°Hoh, you¡¯re just trying to get back at me for laughing at you earlier, aren''t you. Two can play that game! From now on, we¡¯ll both just have to suffer being stylish.¡±~Sophia ¡°Ah!¡±~me I just about tripped over and fell thanks to my newly remodeled three inch heels which are also much narrower now in back. Quickly adjusting my steps, I rush to catch up. It was a spur of the moment decision just as she said, that has definitely backfired. I do my usual cultivation while Sophia is doing her training with Sven. It is looking good on my cultivation progress, but the sp is coming in way too slowly. Surprisingly few deaths happen in the vicinity of the castle, I¡¯ve learned that the dungeons(prison) are actually located in the guard barracks in the noble district with a tunnel connected for secret visits. I should hit stage two for mind cultivation on the same day that the hero party leaves. Getting the required sp to increase my attributes after that is the issue I¡¯m worried about. Done with the lesson, we head back for lunch and I take the time to ask a question I¡¯ve worried about since I was told I would be attending the party as an attendant. ¡°Mistress, will attendants be required to dance at the party?¡±~me ¡°Only if you want to and I don¡¯t recommend you accept any invitations to do so.¡±~Sophia ¡°Good, I don¡¯t actually know how to dance. You shouldn¡¯t have known that though, so why did you say I shouldn¡¯t dance with anyone?¡±~me ¡°You¡¯ll be my dancing partner for my next two etiquette lessons, so you will learn to dance. The tutor decided to give a refresher lesson when she heard that I will be attending the party tomorrow night. Likely, you will get invitations to dance from numerous young men. Accepting their invites will lead to potentially disastrous results for them. Remember what happened to those two foolish apprentices?¡±~Sophia ¡°Ah! The effects of my clothes, I didn¡¯t even bother to check them last night during our dress up session.¡±~me ¡°Thankfully for you, I did take a peak. I don¡¯t actually have any control over the effects, those just kinda happen depending on the purpose of the clothes. The outfit for the party from last night all have the self-cleaning effect and one other. Pretty much all of the items in similar places as your current attire have the same exact effects. Necklace takes place of collar and the dress¡¯s effect: dress for success(increased ability as a maid) became: party girl(drop the beat). If party girl is anything like what I think it is, you¡¯ll do fine with any party related stuff including dancing. The gloves give you elegance(wearer¡¯s mannerisms are optimized), the earrings give enhanced hearing and the set of hair pieces give you a clear headed effect.¡±~Sophia ¡°Wow, does that mean I can chug down the wine and can¡¯t get drunk?¡±~me ¡°I think you¡¯d still feel it, just that you will still make sound decisions regardless. The hangover would probably suck more than usual. Time for archery.¡±~Sophia Sophia heads to her archery lesson while I cleaned up lunch and meet her there shortly after. Along the way I ran into the other girl hero, not the one I had pointed out as the smart girl. She cornered me and started asking me questions about why I was different from the rest of them, why I chose to serve the princess and how I was doing. She seemed genuinely concerned for me so I wrote out some simple answers about the curse, that I deemed Princess Sophia the only one worthy of the royal family¡¯s females and that she treats me well. She suddenly hugs me and tells me in a low voice that if I have any problems, I can tell her. When she releases me, I give her a nod. A sudden thought occurs to me and I grab her hand, pulling her along to the archery range. ¡°Who¡¯s this?¡±~Sophia ¡°My name is Alice, Princess.¡±~Alice ¡°Why did you bring her here with you?¡±~Sophia ¡°Ran into her on the way and spontaneously decided to bring her along. She seemed nice and I wondered if she could join for your dance lessons. She might need it more than me.¡±~me ¡°You are only telling half the truth, trying to conveniently get out of dancing at all. Not gonna happen! She can join us today, but you still have to practice dancing with me.¡±~Sophia ¡°Can I wear the party dress?¡±~me ¡°No. That wouldn¡¯t be your own skill.¡±~Sophia ¡°Wow, I really didn¡¯t expect that your relationship is so good that you can talk with your eyes. I¡¯ve gotta say that I really saw you wrongly, imagining that you had somehow tricked her into some sort of slave contract behind our backs. I apologize for my slight.¡±~Alice ¡°Apology accepted. Did my father not tell the other heroes anything? You saw her status after your summoning, right?¡±~Sophia ¡°I do remember that she had much lower status than the rest of us including some curses, but I was too confused myself at the time and didn¡¯t pay too much attention to other people.¡±~Alice ¡°With just her low status alone, she would have made a lousy hero, yet she had a hidden curse as well. One that required her to designate a master for her to serve. From what she told me, the curse locked her attribute control at one until she activated the curse by choosing a master.¡±~Sophia ¡°What, that¡¯s awful! Why is such a good girl stricken with so many curses?!¡±~Alice ¡°We¡¯ve gotten a bit off topic. I was going to ask why you are here? I think perhaps she brought you to be my dancing partner in etiquette lessons, perhaps for you yourself to learn?¡±~Sophia ¡°Geh! Why is everyone trying to teach me how to dance. I don¡¯t want to dance with anyone!¡±~Alice ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t hurt to learn, even if you refuse to dance at the party. And if you don¡¯t learn with me, Lilia here will be forced to be my partner for lessons instead.¡±~Sophia ¡°Huh, wait. Are you telling me that she brought me here to pawn off her responsibility on me? She¡¯s not troubled in the slightest by her situation is she?¡±~Alice ¡°Exactly! Let alone being taken advantage of, she takes every opportunity to get what she wants on the sly. Well, we¡¯ve already talked through most of my archery time. Let¡¯s head over to my etiquette lessons, the tutor should already be there if we¡¯re only this early.¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh fine. Maybe I¡¯ll end up stepping on her toes.¡±~Alice ¡°I wouldn¡¯t, not on purpose at least. She¡¯d find a way to get back at you.¡±~Sophia While the two are chatting we arrive at our destination. Dancing goes pretty well. None of us stepped on any toes, although me and Alice did stumble quite a lot at first. It was actually pretty fun. We danced while they chatted. I managed to get the low down on the other heroes and their abilities. Alice is set like the typical rogue with numerous detection skills and terrain buffs. Her primary weapon is a crossbow with daggers for backup. The other girl¡¯s(smart girl) name is Maria. She is a mage of course, has magic related skills and uses a staff. Idiot trio(the boys) all agreed when one of them said ¡®swords are romance¡¯ and they all ended up as melee fighters regardless of skills. One uses a two-handed sword, another has a shield-sword combo, and the last one is fumbling around trying to dual-wield two swords. The crown prince, who is going with them, is skilled with a bow and magic. He¡¯s pretty much a mage-archer. Not a magic archer, that would suggest he knows how to combine magic with his archery, not just doing two things. ¡°That was more fun than I thought. See you tomorrow Sofy. You too Lilia, thanks for inviting me.¡±~Alice ¡°Mm, see you tomorrow Alice. Bring some heels tomorrow so you can practice with those. It¡¯s a different feel and I don¡¯t want you to trip if you end up dancing at the party.¡±~Sophia I wave Alice goodbye and head over to bring dinner back to the chambers while Sophia goes back before me. I¡¯ve been escorting her everywhere less and less to be more efficient. It¡¯s not like I could walk from place to place for her. There¡¯s no trouble along the way, rumors seem to have spread not to mess with me. We finished eating and head to the bath. She drops a bomb once we have scrubbed ourselves clean. ¡°It¡¯s your turn tonight.¡±~Sophia ¡°My turn?¡±~me ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about what you told me this morning, so I decided that we will do whatever you decide on for tonight. I won¡¯t try to stop you at all.¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes! We¡¯ll start with a massage.¡±~me ¡°Okay, maybe not everything. I still need to be able to attend my lessons on time.¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh, I know. I obtained lesser heal days ago!¡±~me ¡°Crap! I had forgotten you are a priestess. Wait, if you had lesser heal this morning, why didn¡¯t you use it? I¡¯ve been tricked!¡±~Sophia Chapter 10: Frivolous enjoyment Chapter 10: Frivolous enjoyment I have Sophia lay on the massage table and dig out the special oil I discovered that housekeeping stocks. It¡¯s a medicinal oil containing a nerve stimulating compound and a mild aphrodisiac, basically makes you feel things much more intensely while heating the body. It¡¯s a favorite of her male family members, but I¡¯m not so hung up on that detail that I won¡¯t use it myself. I start with her back and go much slower than I had in the past, keeping the intensity of the massage low so she won¡¯t pass out again. By the time I¡¯m finished, she is hot and bothered all over, yet too limp to raise her arms. Just how I planned it. I princess carry her to bed and set her down. As I wonder how to remove my nighty, I decide to just try and am relieved that it successfully compressed into its usual flower form as soon as I tried to lift it off. I guess the compressed flower form is still technically worn. Done prepping myself, I hop into bed and begin to caress her body. I massage her boobs, tease her nipples and plant kisses all over her body. The constant moans and begging for release just turn me on more. At this point, I¡¯m pretty needy myself because I¡¯ve used my hands so much. I take her to the brink with my teasing and continue until I¡¯ve reached my limit. Helping her to cum multiple times in a row, I join with her on the final orgasms so I can release my frustration as well. With Sophia successfully sent into a deep sleep, I crawl my own exhausted body back up to her side and snuggle into a deep slumber myself. I of course did not forget to pray just before, as I will need the energy to heal her tomorrow morning, lest I suffer a late princess¡¯s wrath. ¡°...¡±~Sophia ¡°Good morning, Mistress. I¡¯ll go prepare the bath.¡±~me ¡°Okay, I think I now understand what you meant yesterday saying it was strenuous. Although you were truthful about your desires, you tricked your mistress. You need some punishment. I have just the thing.¡±~Sophia ¡°?¡±~me ¡°You will find out soon.¡±~Sophia I shrug my shoulders and carry her to the bath. Despite her protests, I proceed to take full advantage of her disabled state and wash her myself. After we have finished our bath, I carry her to the table and go fetch our meals. I once again spoon fed her, sampling the delicacies that are her pouty lips. Finally time to head to her lesson, I pretend that I intend to once again carry her and she finally loses her patience. We are quickly on the way after I¡¯ve healed her. ¡°You didn¡¯t need to issue an order to heal you. I was only teasing.¡±~me ¡°There¡¯s no way for me to just know that! With you, it¡¯s entirely possible you would have decided to follow through with your ploy and actually carry me to lessons.¡±~Sophia ¡°A tempting prospect. Would it be a violation of some rule if I did?¡±~me ¡°Yes! My rule of not being embarrassed to death!¡±~Sophia We arrive at Sven¡¯s study and I am on the receiving end of a long appraising look. The kitchen staff also looked at me funny. Did another strange rumor about me crop up? ¡°I must say, your maid is much prettier than I had thought she would be.¡±~Sven ¡°Isn¡¯t she! I finally found a reason to show her off.¡±~Sophia Why does he say I¡¯m pretty when my face is covered by my...it¡¯s gone! I¡¯m so used to it always being there that I hadn¡¯t even noticed. ¡°Mistress, why is my veil gone? You do realise that this will create trouble, right?¡±~me ¡°You finally noticed? I removed it from your outfit. Removing it a day earlier than I had planned is your punishment for tricking me. It will be pointless to wear after the party tonight anyways. Those lust for brains assholes won¡¯t forget about you simply because you put a veil on after the party. If anything, it would only serve to entice them further.¡±~Sophia ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have just said I was someone else at the party? Mysterious beauty appears, then disappears?¡±~me ¡°Wouldn¡¯t work. Even if they¡¯ve never seen your face, they definitely have an idea of what you look like. I know that you are smart enough to not count on that maid keeping any secrets for you. The palace maids are all under a loyalty contract.¡±~Sophia I have no case to argue further. We both get to work with our training and things go as planned through lunch. Today¡¯s archery is cancelled to allow for an early etiquette lesson before the big night. Alice meets us there wearing more appropriate clothes than yesterday including heels as suggested. She even dragged Maria here to join us as well, who surprisingly already knows how to dance. Both are somewhat astonished when they see my face and I ended up spending a few minutes being fawned over like a cute pet. We proceed to dance and I listen in as they chat. The idiot trio are not doing well with their sword practice, barely able to defeat opponents at the same level, some times. I have Sophia pass a message from me, telling the girls to not trust the prince or count on any of the guys. They shouldn¡¯t let themselves be dragged to their deaths by those idiots. We said our goodbyes and headed back to our rooms to rest before tonight. There are two packages waiting for us when we return. One delivered by the boutique containing the party clothes and another that Sophia immediate hid away that I suspect came from that novelty store. Sensing my overwhelming curiosity, I¡¯m immediately ordered to not peak. As the time draws near, I take out a luxury body cream and apply it after wiping down her body. She instructs me to apply it to myself and I do so without complaint. I then proceed to arrange her hair, do her makeup and nails. My own face requires no makeup because I¡¯ve already maxed out my natural beauty. Fully dressed, we make our way to the castle ballroom. The ballroom is decked out in luxurious, overly gaudy fashion. Buffet tables of fine food and wine are set up around the sides with servers walking around with dishes and wine sporadically. There is a band sequestered into their own area overlooking the dance floor, playing a light waltz out of sight. Okay, I will admit that it is actually somewhat impressive. The king arrived after everyone else and gave a speech, mostly promoting the crown prince, not the heroes this send off was officially for. I spend the night following Sophia around while ignoring dance invitations. A few try to drag me to the dance floor and end up fainted on the ground. One of the younger princes approached me while I was alone getting food. I followed my order, immediately returning to her side where she proceeded to kindly ask the prince following me not to interfere with my duties. He eventually left in a huff. Sophia didn¡¯t dance at all, only spending time talking with a few of the women present about simple things. I stopped drinking after three glasses of wine. Not because I was being a good girl, but because someone had slipped me something. Lesser cure didn¡¯t work at all, so it isn¡¯t a poison. Letting Sophia know, she said we had stayed long enough, so we left for her chambers. My body was starting to heat up, so I took a cold bath before helping Sophia with her¡¯s. She had brought that unknown package into the bathroom with us. The bath only bought me a little time and I ended up pouncing on her when she laid down for a massage. She had to use an order to stop me. ¡°What has gotten into you?¡±~Sophia ¡°An aphrodisiac, I think. Someone slipped it into my drink at the party, but I can¡¯t figure out when or how.¡±~me She grins in a gloating manner that reveals exactly who is the culprit. I hadn¡¯t been on guard against a certain ally¡¯s debauchery. ¡°That makes this a perfect time for some revenge. This is an order. For the rest of the night, you will only do what I tell you to do. You are not allowed to complain.¡±~Sophia ¡°...¡±~me ¡°Good. We can finish my own massage later. Dig out that oil from last night from wherever you have hidden it and thoroughly apply it to yourself. Then go wait by the bed.¡±~Sophia Dread! Incomparable dread starts to waft over me. I start to regret my own resourcefulness as I retrieve said oil and proceed to lather my body with it. She watches me from the side while humming to herself happily, carefully observing as I dutifully push myself further into obscenity. I notice her pick up that box as I leave the bathroom and wallow in my molten body as I wait for her. She comes out a few minutes later wearing a light brown halter corset that has nothing covering the breasts and only a mini skirt-like flared bottom to cover the nethers. It is complemented with high heel boots covering up to her thighs that look soft enough to fall to her ankles if not for the leather garters extending from under her skirt. She holds a short soft-tassel whip in her hands. So dom! ¡°You¡¯ve been a bad kitty recently and need to be punished.¡±~Sophia ¡°YES! Please punish me, Mistress!!!¡±~me ¡°My shoulders are stiff from wearing such trendy clothes for hours in a rigid posture. Start your repentance by massaging them to work out the kinks.¡±~Sophia ¡°YES MISTRESS!¡±~me I¡¯m so excited at this point that I can no longer tell if I¡¯m complying due to her order or if I¡¯m taking the initiative myself. She sits on the bed and I position myself behind her to begin my massage ¡°That massage was pathetic, present your rear for your punishment.¡±~Sophia It was not pathetic, maybe a little rushed due to my excitement, but still passable. I promptly present my rear and receive several hits to my butt. A weird sensation surged through my body as my molten heat turns the pain into something much more pleasurable. ¡°My feet are sore from standing all night at the party. Help me out of my shoes and massage my feet.¡±~Sophia I remove her boots and massage her feet while being extra careful to do a good job this time. I¡¯m punished anyways, presenting my back with the arms up as she whips me around my sides. A few tasks later, I¡¯ve figured out that the punishment will come regardless and I¡¯m finding myself eager to receive. My frustration from the continuous use of my hands has long since reached boiling and the pain that transforms into that strange pleasure is somewhat reducing my inner heat. ¡°I¡¯ve gotten wet. Clean it up.¡±~Sophia I proceed to thoroughly eat her up! I was so proficient with my work that she couldn¡¯t think straight during the process to form a coherent thought. I finish to find her in a pleasing mess, just a small push from being forced over the edge. ¡°Pleasure your mistress.¡±~Sophia She issues this last, very open to interpretation command and strips off the rest of her clothes. Our romp in the sheets thereafter would cause even a succubus to blush. Neither of us is going to move well in the morning. NightOps Chapter 11: Heroes’ departure Chapter 11: Heroes¡¯ departure Waking up the next morning, I can feel a burning sensation and pain all over my body. It may have felt good last night, but it stings like hell the morning after. I use my lesser heal and most of the pain fades away. Using another would probably rid me completely of the aftermath, but I only have enough energy to use it three times in a day. I still want to cultivate my divine energy a little later today. Sophia wakes up and has me immediately heal her as well, not letting me get away with anything today. We get cleaned up and eat. Then I help her get dressed up for the send-off parade. She is wearing a white dress with the silver jewelry set from last night and a decorative green waist cincher. I do up her hair in a princess style, slightly less complicated than last night and place some strappy green heels on her feet. We quickly find our place among the official send off party when it is time and head directly to the mage quarters after for lessons. ¡°Mistress, I¡¯ve achieved the next level of my mind cultivation.¡±~me +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(17%)}{Mind: 2(0%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0(36%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 23/23}{Mana: 50/100}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 4/10} Attributes: Str: 15(50%) | Vit: 25(50%) | Agi: 30(50%) | Int: 100(70%) Soul Potential: 22 {passive} [Sense Mana 1] -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Presence(activate: 9sp)], [Sense Intent 1] {active} [Mana Control 1], [Mana Shaping 1] -[Contract(activate: 19sp)], [Shadowmeld(activate: 49sp)] ¡°Mmm, good job Lilia. Though it looks like we will need to get you some mana crystals to help you improve further.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mana crystals?¡±~me Sophia explains to me the uses of the various crystals found in dungeons and I can¡¯t help but feel frustrated at my stupidity, using all that sp before to increase my attributes. Qi and mana crystals are more than just extra reserves of energy that can be used to cultivate or use skills. When used to cultivate one¡¯s attributes, it can directly raise the cultivated attribute without the use of soul potential. You still have to circulate your own energy, so there is actually a double energy loss, but it saves those precious soul potential points. Skill crystals will of course grant skills, but they also give the appropriate amount of raw soul potential if the skill is already possessed. Spirit cultivation isn¡¯t normally cultivated and the locals have very little knowledge of what they could do with it. Contract is one example of a soul skill that utilizes spirit to perform. Max spirit also determines how effective a person¡¯s prayer is, one spirit gives the person one faith power which can be converted into divine energy when directed to the Goddess. The Goddess usually takes twenty percent off the top of what you give her. Ten percent as the necessary energy to do the conversion and another ten for payment. I currently have a backlog of faith energy from when I first started praying with a mere one divine energy. Which gives me an idea. ¡°Mistress, could I ask a favor from you?¡±~me ¡°Oh, this is rare. You hardly ever ask for anything from me. Go ahead and make your request, we will see whether I will grant it or not.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mu, you didn¡¯t need to say it in such a cautious way. I just wanted to ask you if you would pray with me each day. It helps me to cultivate my divine energy when I can lead others in prayer or have them pray for my sake.¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t I have to be baptized as a priestess to offer prayers?¡±~Sophia ¡°You don¡¯t. The goddess can receive all prayers, it¡¯s just that priest and priestesses are the only ones who gain tangible benefits from their prayers.¡±~me ¡°So how do I perform a prayer?¡±~Sophia ¡°The simplest way is to simply will your thoughts to reach her, much like we do with our link when speaking to each other.¡±~me ¡°That simple? ...Done?¡±~Sophia ¡°Mm, thank you very much.¡±~me ¡°You can tell? How?¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes, I can feel a kind of warm, fuzzy feeling energy gather on me.¡±~me Sophia asked her mentor for some mana crystals for me and we both resumed our training. Qi and mana crystals are readily available for the use of the royal family members. The only reason she isn¡¯t rapidly increasing her attributes to the max is because she hasn¡¯t mastered the spells at the current stage. Even if she promotes herself to the next stage, she would be unlikely to be able to cast any spells at that level. Later at the archery range, Sophia acquires a bag of qi crystals for me at my request. There¡¯s only a week left before she has to depart for Belgra to be wed. I have a rough plan in mind on how to stop it without causing her mother to be harmed, but I¡¯m not yet confident that I can successfully carry it out. My memory makes me really good at magic. I just need to get up to the level that can make an impact on the situation. I need to get to stage three before we depart. There will definitely be elites in our party¡¯s escorts, stage three practitioners. Finding myself a goal, I proceed with dedicated training. I only take breaks at night and when serving Sophia. It takes me only four days to max out my intelligence, special thanks to my glass cannon curse. I would also take some time to gain some physical attributes as well, but only managed to max out my agility. I¡¯ve held back on my massage technique in order to conserve my divine energy for cultivation as well. Today, we are going shopping again due to my insistence that she have proper travel wear. ¡°I still don¡¯t see why I need a set of clothing specifically to travel with. We will travel by carriage the entire way and the towns along our route are close enough that we will stay at inns each night.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, you can never be too careful for things like this, besides I have no intention of delivering you to Belgra. I¡¯ve been planning to spirit you away ever since I heard about your engagement.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m thankful for the thought, but the king has my mother under a slave contract. She can¡¯t escape and he will hurt her if I run away. Have you thought about this?¡±~Sophia ¡°I have and if things go as planned, he will think you¡¯re dead. He¡¯ll have no reason to harm your mother over a dead girl and every reason to keep her well. That prince is going to want a half-elf princess from him after all and he has more than enough time to wait for one to grow up.¡±~me ¡°That¡¯s horrible, you want me to pass on my responsibility to a sister who isn¡¯t even born yet? I can¡¯t do something like that.¡±~Sophia ¡°No. I want to buy ourselves some time to grow strong enough to take your mother out of here by force. Magic contracts can be broken, you merely need to find somebody with a higher level of skill or enough spirit energy to break it directly.¡±~me ¡°Wait, that can be done? You really aren¡¯t lying to me, are you.¡±~Sophia ¡°Do you remember those legends about great people taking treasures into the central mountains and returning free from their burdens? Dragons are born naturally gifted with spirit energy. It¡¯s a simple thing for them to break a human¡¯s contract.¡±~me ¡°So why the need to get stronger ourselves? Can¡¯t we just go get a dragon to help?¡±~Sophia ¡°Did you not hear the parts about great people or treasure? If we aren¡¯t strong enough, the dragon is more likely to just eat us and where do you suppose you can get a treasure a dragon would want beside perhaps the king¡¯s personal collection? I doubt he¡¯d give you a share.¡±~me ¡°Um, so how do you plan to fake my death?¡±~Sophia ¡°I¡¯m still working on it, but I¡¯m thinking that it should be possible in the dungeon city of Kellor, near the border. We just need to show an interest in the dungeon and push ¡®too deep¡¯ inside. As long as it appears impossible for us to have survived, the guards will report us dead.¡±~me ¡°Yeah, that''s a great idea. Only leaves the problem of delving too deep into a dungeon and avoid really dying.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mmm, which is why I¡¯m hoping instead for bandits along the way to overwhelm our escort party while we slip away in the chaos.¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t forget the little detail about not getting caught by those same bandits. If they overwhelm our escort, there¡¯s very little chance we could defeat them should they come after us.¡±~Sophia ¡°It¡¯s still a work in progress.¡±~me With all that said, we had arrived at a high-end leather work and tailoring boutique. I pick out a supple yet durable grayish brown colored leather for the leather work to be done in and a deep forest dark green for the travel cloak, clothing and embellishments to be done. Then I hand over the drawings of what I want crafted, explain any details the worker has questions on through Sophia and hand over the payment before we head back to the castle. I¡¯ve already managed to acquire travel funds, bags and camping gear for the two of us under the guise of being prepared for anything. We will unfortunately just have to see how things turn out and jump on any opportunity. Chapter 12: Leaving Parnam Chapter 12: Leaving Parnam Over the next three days, I continue to dedicate myself to practice in anticipation for our departure. I¡¯ve received three books from grandpa Sven which contain the next two stages of runes. Two for stage three and one much smaller book for stage four. He even gave me a sack full of stage two mana crystals, which earned him a light peck on the cheek and a big smile from me. Don¡¯t underestimate the value of that sack of small crystals. There¡¯re more than one hundred of them in that sack and each one represents one hundred points of increase of my intelligence attribute. The stage one crystals I¡¯ve been using up till now can only be used for ten points each. During the past three days, I¡¯ve been persistently bullied by a certain prince¡¯s lackeys whenever I would leave Sophia¡¯s side to carry out my duties. What she had said about them using such tactics came true, to absolutely zero success of course. He even tried to entice me by using Sarah, who has had her personality completely rewritten by merit of her contract. No longer is she the shy little girl I once knew. I will kill him, just not until I¡¯m strong enough to get away with it. We will leave the city heading directly west toward the capital of Belgra, located near the northern edge of their border with the kingdom of Norvac. Morning of departure. ¡°Good morning, Lilia. Ready to go?¡±~Sophia ¡°Good morning, Mistress. Would it matter if I wasn¡¯t?¡±~me ¡°Not at all. Help me clean up and get dressed, I¡¯ll wear the gown from the party for the departure and change in the carriage into something more comfortable.¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes, Mistress. I will get some light food from the kitchen for breakfast, but be sure not to eat too much or the ride may become unpleasant.¡±~me ¡°Thank you for the reminder.¡±~Sophia The morning goes smoothly and I take one last look at my status before we depart¡­ +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(20%)}{Mind: 2(32%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 1(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 100/100}{Mana: 1000/1000}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 30/30} Attributes: Str: 100(50%) | Vit: 100(50%) | Agi: 100(50%) | Int: 1000(50%) Soul Potential: 3 {passive} [Sense Mana 1] -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Presence(activate: 9sp)], [Sense Intent 1] {active} [Mana Control 1], [Mana Shaping 1] -[Shadowmeld 1], [Contract(activate: 19sp)] Sophia shares her current status with me with a thought¡­ Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1}{Mind: 2}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 100/100}{Mana: 600/600}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 100 | Vit: 100 | Agi: 100 | Int: 600 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 2], [Sense Danger 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 2] Sophia had been practicing hard as well when she noticed how much effort I had been making on her behalf. I used up nearly all of my sp to activate the shadowmeld skill. From what I have read about the skill, I¡¯m hoping it will be useful to make us disappear. Although the skill uses mana to activate, it leaves no trace. It uses one hundred mana per second of use, but practically turns the user into a shadow. The mana usage increases with additional ¡®loads¡¯ and can only be used in places with shadows present. We are sent off with little fanfare, escorted by twenty royal guards, four of whom are elites. I won¡¯t feel safe using up all my energy to cultivate while we are on the move, so I plan to cultivate half my energy in the morning and another half in the evening, giving it time to fully recharge between sessions. Sophia said she is near her breakthrough in qi, so she will be using most of the time to advance her body to stage two. We are scheduled to arrive at the border city, Kellor in two weeks time. Along the way, the escorts kill any bandits too dumb to hide or arrogant enough to directly challenge them. I managed to get a number of sp as well as the sense danger skill. We ran into our first major annoyance on the night of the fourth day. ¡°Welcome, Princess, to my humble abode.¡±~Lord Grisley Earl Grisley is the lord of the region we are currently in and this city, Kardu, is his home. As per tradition of nobility he has graciously arrange rooms in his manse for our stay tonight and hosted a banquette in the princess¡¯s honor. ¡°Princess Sophia, what do you think about my home, anything lacking or inadequate?¡±~Lord Grisley ¡°It doesn¡¯t compare to the castle of course, but is much more accommodating than the inns we have stayed in along the way.¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh, yes. It must be dreadful to stay in the shabby inns of those run down towns. Unfortunately, the economy of my territory has suffered due to the constant border conflicts. I¡¯m looking forward to the mending of relations that your impending nuptials will bring. My territory has much to gain from the opening of trade with our neighbor once again, however short it may last.¡±~Lord Grisley ¡°Lilia, what does he mean? I heard the words he said, but I somehow feel that he has a hidden meaning in them. What could Belgra have to trade that would warrant such extensive measures to ensure trade?¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, he is referring to the quick rate that your fiance tends to go through women. He believes that trade will only resume for a short while. Please do not show any reaction to my next words. As far as I know, the only trade to ever come from Belgra that is unique, is demi slaves.¡±~me ¡°Perhaps. I¡¯m feeling tired from my long journey. Thank you for the meal, but I would like to adjourn to my quarters now to rest.¡±~Sophia ¡°Of course. You have a long journey ahead of you. Have a pleasant night, Princess.¡±~Lord Grisley We make our way to the room and prepare for bed. There is something wrong. She has been acting way too quiet and compliant to my groping. Checking on her condition more carefully, I notice that she is nearly asleep on her feet. She has been drugged! Clarity is immediately restored once I cast a blessing on her. ¡°Mistress, you were drugged. I used a blessing on you. How do you feel now?¡±~me ¡°Thank you, Lilia. Why target me with a sleeping drug though?¡±~Sophia ¡°I don¡¯t believe you were the intended target. Earlier when I was given my own food, I sensed danger from it. I of course didn¡¯t eat it. Dosing you with a sleeping drug is probably the backup plan. Most likely, someone will come for me during the night while you sleep.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m not going to be sleeping when they come now though. What do we do? Should we gather the guard and leave tonight?¡±~Sophia ¡°You should sleep. I will wake you when they come. There is no guarantee that your guard don¡¯t already know about this. When they come, pretend to be asleep. If they merely intend to capture me, let them.¡±~me ¡°Why would you agree to being captured and what if they intend to kill you?¡±~Sophia ¡°They most likely will not kill me in the room. Too messy for them to cover up the truth that way. I will probably be taken to a cell or something and if I¡¯m lucky, the lord will come explain things to me in order to boast. This is an opportunity to find out the truth behind these matters. These actions are a little too bold for this little lord to do on his own initiative.¡±~me ¡°How do you plan to escape once you are captured? Your energy will undoubtedly be sealed with sealing manacles.¡±~Sophia ¡°I have my ways. Once you are no longer under your father¡¯s thumb, I will tell you everything I have kept from you.¡±~me ¡°I have always suspected that you are just hiding your true power. Very well, but if things go south, I¡¯m coming to get you.¡±~Sophia They come for me just as the night turns darkest. I wake Sophia as planned and she remains in bed, pretending to sleep. A light knock on the door was the method chosen to separate me from her. Answering the knock, a maid informs me that they have noticed a problem with our carriage and it requires my attention. I¡¯m ambushed in a corridor on the way to the carriage and placed in magic sealing manacles after a brief, weak struggle. My attackers are a team of three lady knights, they were obviously informed about my clothes. I¡¯m dragged to the basement and thrown in a cell. A short while later, the lord dropped by as predicted. ¡°You weren¡¯t nearly as much trouble as I was told you would be. I was a little worried when you didn¡¯t eat the meal specially prepared to weaken you, but it ended up being me overthinking things.¡±~Lord Grisley I scrunch my eyebrows to indicate my confusion. ¡°Ah, I almost forgot that you can¡¯t talk. Well, I don¡¯t mind clearing up your confusion seeing as how you will never see the light of day again. We can¡¯t have a summoned hero falling into the hands of an adversary. I was suppose to kill you and make it look as though you ran away, but I can earn an enormous sum of money for a pretty thing like you, even if men are unable to touch you.¡±~Lord Grisley When he then turns his back to leave, I use my shadowmeld skill. Since it is a skill that doesn¡¯t require me to control my mana, the typical sealing techniques are useless. The material of sealing manicules only causes energy to become unresponsive to your control. Shadowmeld uses mana directly once activated. I materialize behind him while covering his mouth with one hand and kicking the backs of his knees causing him to kneel. Grabbing the back of his head, I snap his neck. I prepare a few spells internally, ready to externalize and activate at a moments notice, and then move out the door with shadowmeld. Taking the lady knights from earlier by surprise, I simultaneously cast silence and multiple icicle spells, swiftly ending their lives. I then use my magic to clean up the bodies and erase all traces. Quickly, I locate the maid from earlier. To be thorough, I dispose of her and the butler who was waiting with her. Then I make my way back to our room and snuggle up with Sophia to rest. Chapter 13: Preparing to dungeon dive Chapter 13: Preparing to dungeon dive We get up early and prepare to leave. There was no indication of alarm for the rest of the night, so it would seem that my cleanup operation was thorough enough. Sophia tells the guards that a maid stopped by the room last night informing us that the lord was drawn away last night on an urgent matter and that he apologizes for not being able to see us off. I give Sophia a run down of last night¡¯s events once we have set off. ¡°Did you really have to kill the maid, she was most likely forced?¡±~Sophia ¡°Her contract was likely also forced on her, how long do you think it would take for someone to force her to tell them that I was successfully captured last night. It would give them all they need to know to determine that I can somehow escape from captivity while sealed.¡±~me ¡°And how did you manage to escape? Also, did you get any useful information from the lord?¡±~Sophia ¡°I have the shadowmeld skill. I¡¯m hiding it and some other things with a status disguise skill. That lord told me that he was acting on orders to not let a hero fall into the hands of their adversary. This was most likely arranged by your father. Based on their lack of expressions this morning, I don¡¯t think anyone in the guard knew of last night¡¯s arrangements. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised however, if they were arranged to deal with me some point before we reach our destination. Last night was improvised by that lord for his own greed, not within the plans that had been arranged. He had intended to sell me, rather than kill me as ordered.¡±~me ¡°Whoever gave him his orders clearly didn¡¯t tell him everything. Perhaps that lord was merely a probing attempt and the worst has yet to come. I hate feeling so helpless.¡±~Sophia With that last statement, I nodded my head in agreement and we both restart our training. Three days later, I managed to hit stage three in mind and Sophia hit stage two in body. +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(90%)}{Mind: 3(0%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 1(36%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 50/100}{Mana: 200/1000}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 80/100} Attributes: Str: 100(50%) | Vit: 100(50%) | Agi: 100(50%) | Int: 1000(50%) Soul Potential: 41 {passive} [Sense Mana 2] -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Presence 2], [Sense Intent 1], [Sense Danger 1] {active} [Mana Control 1], [Mana Shaping 1] -[Shadowmeld 1], [Contract(activate: 19sp)] Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 2}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 130/130}{Mana: 600/600}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 100 | Vit: 100 | Agi: 190 | Int: 600 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 2], [Sense Danger 2] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2] I told Sophia to focus her efforts on raising her agility, then to work on her vitality because it will help us if we need to run. I¡¯m going to do the same once I stage up and I¡¯ve activated my agility boost trait with some of the excess sp from my earlier kills. I seem to get extra sp for having been the one who made the kill. Having the entire day to cultivate makes it very easy to focus. Another week passes uneventfully, these escorts are way too focused. I have had zero alone time with Sophia the entire time. One of the elites is either driving the carriage or standing guard by our door at the inns at night. My stockpile of faith energy has run out, I¡¯m now keeping my divine energy at about seventy percent full since I can only gain sixteen divine energy per day from the two of us. I¡¯ve figured out my cultivation limit for progress each day when I got to stage three. I can only cultivate about sixteen hundred attribute points in intelligence for each day if I spend the entire day doing so. Which means my daily limit at the same stage for training physical stats will be about four hundred. And my other normal cultivation for divine energy will be about eight hundred. Every stage increases the time needed to cultivate each unit of improvement. I will likely be reduced to eight hundred intelligence gain per day at stage four. We have successfully arrived at the dungeon city of Kellor on the border. Our progress is¡­ +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2(0%)}{Mind: 3(0%)}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 1(46%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 100/200}{Mana: 8000/10000}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 70/100} Attributes: Str: 100(50%) | Vit: 100(50%) | Agi: 400(50%) | Int: 10000(50%) Soul Potential: 32 {passive} [Sense Mana 2] -[Soul Devourer 1], [Sense Presence 2], [Sense Intent 1], [Sense Danger 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 1] -[Shadowmeld 1], [Contract(activate: 19sp)] Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 2}{Spirit: 0}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 200/400}{Mana: 500/1000}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 100 | Vit: 300 | Agi: 800 | Int: 1000 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 4], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Danger 2] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2] Our status may seem incredible, but the actual increase in ability isn¡¯t reflected by the numbers seen. True growth in ability seems to operate at declining rate, each new point of attribute gives less actual ability than the last. The cultivation stage acts as a multiplier, someone at the bottom of stage three is much stronger than someone at the top of stage two. We arrive at the border town as scheduled and Sophia informs the guard that she intends to experience what it is like to raid a dungeon, to please select four other team members to accompany us. Somehow, there is absolutely no argument from the guards and the four elites nominated themselves for the trip. I can¡¯t help but think that something isn¡¯t quite right and that my plan to disappear in the dungeon is a bust. We have an entire week of extra time in our schedule and we are set to arrive at Belgra¡¯s capital in only two more weeks. The guards tell us to take a rest at the inn, that they will buy appropriate supplies to raid the dungeon tonight and we will set out first thing in the morning. Even though Belgra is a large dungeon city with a lord present, Sophia rejected the lord¡¯s attempt to invite her to his estate for her stay. We instead checked into a very high class inn that caters specifically to nobles and rich merchants. Being a dungeon city, Kellor is much wealthier than any stop we have made prior. I unload some of the luggage that contain a few luxury items and am able to give Sophia her first real bath and massage in almost two weeks. We methodically cleaned ourselves from the road dust, messed around in the sheets and cleaned ourselves again. Later in the evening, the guards bring us the information on the dungeon that we will be raiding tomorrow and I am able to discover why I had the feeling that they agreed too easily. It¡¯s shallow! Even though it is supposedly one of the older dungeons, it only goes as deep as nineteen floors. Dungeons typically raise in difficulty at a rate of one stage after every ten floors, starting at stage one. The nineteenth floor of a dungeon is only as difficult as a high level stage two cultivator, not even close to being a challenge for these elites. After going through the information, we snuggle together on the bed and go to sleep. ¡°Going on your first dungeon experience are you?¡±~Kat ¡°Yes. Though I am somewhat curious as to why this particular dungeon is so shallow.¡±~me Once again I¡¯ve found myself chatting with the Goddess in her divine realm. Although I¡¯m starting to get curious as to why I¡¯m always naked here. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call a thirty-six floor dungeon shallow and you¡¯re only naked because you don¡¯t know how to wear clothes with your astral form.¡±~Kat ¡°You¡¯re not going to tell me how to do that are you? The humans only have up to floor nineteen known to them, seeming to believe that is the extent of the dungeon. Could you tell me why?¡±~me ¡°The tunnel leading to the twentieth floor is somewhat obscured. I won¡¯t directly tell you, but I will give you a little hint. It is disguised as something commonly found in a dungeon, yet it is easily avoided because it is not hidden at all. Since the lower floors have never been entered, there are many undiscovered treasures within. You may even find something that would be very useful in the near future.¡±~Kat We chat for a little while longer. However, she completely ignores any attempt I make to understand how to wear clothes on my astral form. I bring up the issue of how magical contracts are leaving very little opportunity for anything to affect the established order, stagnating cultural growth. She thanked me and tells me that she will look into placing limits or restrictions on it in some way. I ask her about my declining speed of cultivation and she only tells me it¡¯s possible to increase, but I¡¯ll likely soon discover it on my own. ¡°Sweet dreams, Lilia.¡±~Kat Chapter 14: First dungeon Chapter 14: First dungeon We get up early the next morning and prepare our gear for dungeon diving. Sophia and I are wearing our usual clothes. The travel gear we had prepared is tucked away in our backpacks and she has manually selected my maid attire to prevent my battle attire being seen due to auto-equip. I¡¯m given a simple dagger to use by one of the guards and we retrieved Sophia¡¯s bow from the carriage. Once we enter the dungeon, we start killing through the mobs in the upper floors. I take it upon myself to retrieve any crystals we find and the cores from our kills and presenting them to Sophia. One of the guards even lent me a special knife meant for cutting up prey when he noticed my actions, nodding in approval. Sophia keeps all of our gains in a sack tied to her belt since the guards said they would not take anything from such a low level dungeon. We easily make it to the nineteenth floor in just three hours. At my suggestion, Sophia insists to the guards that we explore the entire floor. None of the usually brutish adventurers make any moves towards us due to the overwhelming aura of power the guards give off. The four elites make a great team with complementing skills. One is set up as a typical offensive mage with some healing spells, another is set like a rogue with detection using a short bow and daggers. The other two are equipped as a shield-spear defensive tank and a two-handed axe-hammer user damage dealer. After an hour of exploration of the nineteenth floor, we take a break to eat lunch. I lead our group in a certain direction when we have finished eating. I¡¯m certain that I¡¯ve discovered the entrance to the next floor. It¡¯s a pitfall trap or at least that is what people think it is. The only problem with that assumption is that, according to the map, it is always there and it isn¡¯t even hidden. Standing over the hole, I throw a simple fire spell to the bottom and expand it. As the mana in my fireball expands, I notice it flow easily in one direction. Even if I can¡¯t see it from above, I know there is a tunnel leading off in that direction. ¡°Mistress, I believe this is the entrance to the twentieth floor. There is a hidden tunnel at the bottom of this hole.¡±~me ¡°How are you so sure that it is the next floor instead of just a hidden room?¡±~Sophia ¡°Don¡¯t you find it odd that this dungeon is so shallow when similarly old dungeons are much deeper? It¡¯s possible for it to just be a hidden room, but I doubt it.¡±~me ¡°Is this the reason you had us explore the entire floor? Your certainty makes me think this is more than just a hunch. Is this another secret you have been keeping from me?¡±~Sophia I can feel her annoyance for being kept in the dark as I give a nod in confirmation. Then I scoop her up in a princess carry, eliciting a little yelp and adorable pouting. I cast an air cushion spell around the two of us and jump in. After the guards recover from their surprise, they jumped in after us, expertly making their way down. In front of us is the expected tunnel leading deeper into the dungeon. ¡°Princess Sophia, we should turn back and report this place to the guild. This doesn¡¯t seem to be a simple hidden room, but the hidden entrance to the next floor. Nobody has ever gone this deep in this particular dungeon, it could be dangerous to proceed.¡±~rouge guard ¡°That just gives us more reason to explore it ourselves. The dungeon resources that have built up down here and never been touched are sure to be abundant. We will move slowly, creating a map as we go. It would be unfair if I were the only one to benefit from the coming riches. As such, we will split the loot equally. I just want first pick when dividing the spoils.¡±~Sophia The guards discuss among themselves for a few minutes, then decide to proceed under certain conditions that are agreeable. We have to stay at the back, close to the mage and we will immediately turn back if they think it is getting too dangerous. Moving forward, we encounter various mobs that are dispatched quickly. I resume my loot gathering along the way, picking up far more crystals than we had found in the upper levels which puts the guards in a good mood. Things slow down significantly when we reach the thirtieth floor. The guards are starting to expend some effort at this point and even I have to use the occasional spell to ensure our safety. I limit my spell use to beginner second stage spells however, not intending to show my hand. We came across a particularly useful skill crystal on the thirty-second floor. Pocketing it myself with a little sleight of hand, I deposit one of my own stage two mana crystals into the loot bag. We¡¯ve been in the dungeon for nearly ten hours now and it has been decided that we will rest on this floor for the night. I unpack our camping gear from the packs and set up a tent and bedroll. The guards make quick work of an earlier boar type beast and start preparing dinner, the mage using a fire spell for the cooking. Inside the tent, I conjure a water ball and use a rag to wipe down our bodies. Sophia changes into a clean set of clothes and we exit the tent to eat. When we have finished eating, we turn in for some rest. It would seem that the guards will keep watch in pairs, alternating through the night. The way to keep time in a dungeon is the use of light orbs, special crystals occasionally found embedded in dungeon walls that emit light when supplied with mana. Once they are shaved down to the standard shape and size, they can stay lit for approximately one hour before needing to be recharged. Another type of unique crystal that can be found are the status orbs. They are also a type of crystal found in the dungeons, already existing in an orb like shape. We spend two more days in the dungeon exploring, making it all the way through the thirty-sixth floor before heading back. That night at the inn, we divide the spoils. The guards take away some stage two and three crystals, a few common skills and a large bag of gold. We got the gold by selling the majority of the cores I had retrieved. My own portion as a servant would be zero if not for the three skill crystals I had squirreled away. Inventory, tamer, and assess were the three rare skills I had managed pocket on the sly. Inventory is the famous storage skill, merchants often pay fortunes to obtain this skill. It creates a subspace for the skill holder to use to store non living items. Plants can also be stored but will not grow, instead wilting quickly. Every level in the skill increases its three dimensions by one meter each. Mana is used when storing or retrieving items, determined by the item¡¯s mass. Tamer is a skill that allows its user to tame beasts as familiars. At levels six and ten, they can gain an additional tamed beast slot. Assess is a lesser version of appraisal that only works with items. It does have the rare ability to evolve when it reaches completion of level ten. At that point it evolves into the appraisal skill. When we return to our room, I pull out the three skills and show them to Sophia. ¡°Why you little thief. I was wondering why you were so quiet when the guards declared that servants do not get a share. I should have guessed that you wouldn¡¯t be willing to take a loss. So, what should we do with these? Also, what happened to your grand escape plan?¡±~Sophia ¡°I¡¯d like you to take the tamer and assess skills, allowing me to acquire the inventory skill. I decided that ¡®dying in the dungeon¡¯ wouldn¡¯t work. The guards were too powerful and we are too weak to escape the lower level safely on our own without being detected by the guards.¡±~me ¡°By the value in gold for each of these skills, that is a near even split. Very well, we¡¯ll split them as you¡¯ve said. I guess I¡¯ll need to reward you for this, though I¡¯m not sure it wise to reward such dubious actions.¡±~Sophia I¡¯ve managed to gain over one hundred sp during our little sojourn in the dungeon which puts my total at one hundred sixty-four. I use up one hundred fifty to activate my dragon¡¯s perception trait, putting me back down to fourteen. It¡¯s a little disorienting at first, but I quickly got used to it. This trait is awesome! It lets me perceive my surroundings in a three meter radius like radar for energy. It seems to depend on my spirit to determine its effectiveness. I can easily see the different energies flowing within things. Specific patterns of energy are indicative of certain skills and I am confident that if I were to study the information obtained by this skill over enough time, it would eventually surpass the appraisal skill. Once our skills have been absorbed, we take a little time to study them and proceed to have a memorable night to celebrate. I get to try out a new massage oil and Sophia took advantage of my furry equipment. She used various methods she discovered in a new book she bought when we had gone out to sell the cores. Cores by the way refers to the physical condensation of qi, mana and spirit that forms in non-sentient life forms. Even some herbs will form a core, usually at its base near the roots, if it is high grade or old enough. We once again fall asleep content in each others arms. If only these blissful days could continue forever. Chapter 15: Escape Chapter 15: Escape The next morning, we once again set off early in the morning. I take some time to investigate the strength of energy in each of our escorts. So as to not overlook anything, I made sure to check even the normal guards, verifying they are indeed at the levels they should be. I confirm the strength of the four elites that I had guessed from our time in the dungeon. They are all firmly in the lower end of stage three. They can handle themselves well against mid stage three opponents with their teamwork. I can¡¯t help but get the feeling that they are an experienced unit. Before I analyze things deeper, I conduct my morning cultivation routine. I¡¯m brought out of my meditation when Sophia asks me a question. ¡°Want to explain why your sp which was going up abnormally fast in the dungeon yesterday has suddenly dropped to almost zero this morning?¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes, Mistress. I was planning to reveal everything in the near future anyways. Take a look at my status. I¡¯ve temporarily deactivated my skill. It shows only the whole truth. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.¡±~me ¡°What is a vampire? Also, the soul devourer skill explains why your sp increased rapidly, but I still can¡¯t understand why it dropped so much again.¡±~Sophia ¡°My sp dropped because I used it to activate one of my traits last night. As for vampire, you understand why you can¡¯t absorb cores, right?¡±~me ¡°Hmm, I see. Yes, sentient beings can¡¯t absorb the chaotic energies inside the cores safely. We will go insane or turn into an abomination.¡±~Sophia ¡°There is a very small chance for such abominations to stabilize into a new race. One such race was vampires. They were hunted to extinction long ago, feared due to their need to feed on others¡¯ blood to live. As a half vampire, feeding on blood will strengthen me, but I do not require it to live.¡±~me ¡°Would it benefit you greatly to drink my blood?¡±~Sophia ¡°Yes, but it would leave you drained of energy. You currently need your energy to cultivate. I would like permission to drink from you should I deem it is necessary to protect us.¡±~me ¡°That¡¯s fine with me, but I want to experience it once, so I know what to expect.¡±~Sophia ¡°Before bed tonight. I will drink from you then.¡±~me With my status now completely revealed to her, I continue to recount my story. I tell her about the summoning ritual being underpowered and that my curses are actually self inflicted, for the most part. She is particularly fascinated by Kat¡¯s meddling and begins to contemplate whether she should acquire the priestess blessing herself. These two girls are definitely cut from the same cloth. It would undoubtedly spell trouble, should ever they meet. I somehow convince her that me having it is enough, that she shouldn¡¯t waste time on it at this point since it will reduce my own divine training if she did so. Speaking of cultivation, even though I have a perfect body for cultivation due to being summoned, I am now only able to get about one percent mind cultivation per day at my current stage. As such, I decided to devote half my time to physical attribute cultivation until they are maxed at their current stage. Our procession has finally crossed the border. The border guards on the Belgra side barely checked our possessions when learning that the princess was traveling to wed the prince. You could see the clear looks of pity on their faces as they saw us off. We didn¡¯t travel much today, stopping at the city just across the border barely in the afternoon. Apparently, the next closest town will take until late in the evening to reach, even when setting out at first light the next day. I use my shadowmeld skill to sneak out undetected and roam around the city until bedtime. I picked up a pair of female corpses from the slums into my inventory, where I have also store most of our important belongings. The contents of our luggage has been stuffed with random pre-bought goods that I conscripted the inn staff to gather for me. It¡¯s time to separate ourselves from the guards and my latest plan is straightforward enough that it leaves very little to chance. I¡¯m going to place the two bodies on the bed of the inn and use shadowmeld to bring us away. We will commence my plan in the next town since the border city is risky due to being too well guarded. We get a good night¡¯s rest and set out early the next day. However, we would never arrive at the next town. At sunset, we are attacked by bandits just a short distance from the next town. ¡°Sophia, we appear to be under attack by bandits again. Those elites are acting unusual this time. They aren¡¯t helping to keep the casualties down.¡±~me ¡°Do you think they are secretly members of this group of bandits?¡±~Sophia ¡°No, I think they should be hoping that the normal guards and bandits mutually kill each other. I think we will need to act here to make our escape. If I¡¯m not wrong, these elites intend for us to ¡®die by the hands of bandits¡¯ here.¡±~me After a while, I my theory is confirmed when I notice the elites secretly killing off members of each side, keeping things largely in favor of the bandits¡¯ side. When both sides have been slaughtered, they tell us that it is safe to come out now. ¡°Why then does my sense danger skill still make my spine feel cold? Did you think I didn¡¯t notice the four of you secretly killing my other guards?¡±~Sophia ¡°There¡¯s no point in hiding it, we were instructed to kill your servant before we are too deep into Belgra and to kill you as well if it should be deemed necessary. We will make it quick since you were generous in the dungeon.¡±~mage elite ¡°Did you deem it necessary to kill me due to the extra loot I carry? You¡¯ll have none of it! Lilia, do it.¡±~Sophia I use my magic to cut the horses free and set the carriage ablaze. The rogue elite actually yelled ¡®princess¡¯ and ran up to the carriage, supposedly to save her. I blasted him away with a fireball, holding nothing back. That one attack won¡¯t kill him, but he will be unfit to fight for some time. Pulling out the corpses, I light them and the rest of the carriage on fire. Picking up Sophia, I use shadowmeld on the shadows by my feet, then merge into the night outside. The earlier fighting lasted more than long enough for the sun to completely set. Fleeing to the wooded north, I continue using shadowmeld to move until my mana is nearly exhausted. We briefly stop and equip our travel gear, mine being upgraded with the catkin disguise set to enhance our disguise. That excuse is Sophia¡¯s story anyways. It does indeed make things simpler since our eventual destination is the Magic Forest where the demi races live. First we will need to travel north into the next kingdom of Norvac which is much more friendly with demi races. They are on friendly enough terms to trade between them and have several places that can be used to cross the border. I¡¯m now wearing my travel gear for only the second time. This is different from the battle preset, that is way too impressive for simple travel. My travel gear was fashioned after Sophia¡¯s when she had tried on her own. My own colors are a leather of dark gray with obsidian black as the secondary. Our clothes include a top of a durable leather, form fitting cuirass with tight fitting long sleeved turtleneck undershirts. The bottom is a knee length leather battle skirt with thermal pantyhose and thigh high, fine leather boots. Yes, the boots indeed have three inch heels, I was still caught up with my whole, ¡®a princess must be stylish¡¯ thing at the time we ordered the clothes. They aren¡¯t so bad once you get used to them and it won¡¯t seem strange since female adventurers tend to dress for looks more than protection anyways. Another thing that can be blamed on past heroes. There are form fitting leather pauldrons, arm guards and gloves. The cuirass, boots and arm guards have slots where throwing knives are stored. Everything is covered up with warm and water resistant travel capes, mine having an obscure effect that makes me less perceivable and cloaks my face in shadow when the hood is worn. My gear has a matching collar and everything with the same placement as the maid uniform has the same effects. The top and bottom combo has the effect: foxy which enhances my ability to dodge. Can dance through a battlefield unharmed, was the exact phrase it used to describe the effect. Resist impact is applied to the pauldrons and arm guards. My gloves have the effect: slip-proof. I won¡¯t ever drop my weapon or loose my hold while climbing. Next are my weapons which consist of a dagger and mini crossbow¡­ [Vampiric dagger] {restricted user: Lilia} Effects: life steal, bleeding [Repeating crossbow] {restricted user: Lilia} Effects: auto-load, bolt retrieval Don¡¯t go thinking my crossbow is some sort of cheaty machine gun. There is only one bolt, so I have to wait for it to lose its inertia before it¡¯s retrieved and reloaded. The thing sucks up some of my mana whenever it does so as well. We steadily head north, avoiding the wildlife whenever possible and only set up camp when dawn has come. After we eat breakfast and do our morning cultivation, we sleep until lunch. Wanting to get out of Belgra as soon as possible, we set out for a few more hours during the day, stopping for an early dinner, evening cultivation and a few hours rest. Then we set out through the night once again. We continue our grueling pace for three days straight until a road appears in front of us one afternoon. This should be the east-west road at the southern part of the kingdom of Norvac. After traveling west until evening, we let out our collective sighs and spend the night resting in the woods just out of view from the road, opting to travel by day from now on. Chapter 16: Bandit troubles Chapter 16: Bandit troubles While we are walking westward the next day, I take the opportunity to interrogate some bandits that attack us. It was basically a one-sided slaughter. The foxy effect allowed me to almost literally dance circles around them as I sliced them up. Sophia was content to stand back and watch what she later described as a beguiling dance of death. My movements were deceptive and difficult to track while being viciously cunning. I gathered up the coin they have and burned up the bodies. From what they told us, I¡¯ve learned that we are indeed on the road I expected and that we are less than a day¡¯s walk from the next town. As evening comes around, the town is finally in view and we stop for the night. We plan to bypass this town the next day to be sure that there is no trail to follow if anybody is trying. There is no need to stop other than for the safe comfort of an inn anyways and neither of us would really feel comfortable in an inn from a small town, nor would we feel safe staying there. The next stop is three days walking distance to the dungeon city, Rork. There are plenty of demi adventurers there, so we will likely not stand out should we enter the city from the west gate. For the next three days, we did very little from our normal routine except kill a lot of bandits. Two pretty women walking down the road seems to attract them like bees to flowers. ¡°I think we killed more bandits in the last few days than our escorts killed the entire time we were with them.¡±~Sophia ¡°It¡¯s to be expected, Mistress. Royal guards tend to send most bandits into hiding, while two pretty women draw out even the most cautious sorts. At least we won¡¯t have a shortage of the local currency. I don¡¯t want to use the coin from Parnam unless I have to, it¡¯s too unusual for a demi to have gold from such a human-centric kingdom.¡±~me ¡°We should try to swap it out if such an opportunity occurs.¡±~Sophia ¡°We¡¯ve just about reached the city, we¡¯ll circle around to the west gate and have a real bath tonight. Should we buy some horses or a carriage? Although walking with my effects doesn¡¯t tire me at all, you aren¡¯t used to it and the pace is tedious.¡±~me ¡°Let¡¯s first see if we can take up a guard job through the adventurer¡¯s guild to act as escorts to the next town. Maybe we can get lucky and the employer will let us ride with them. We can only use our real names, but you should hide a big portion of your status. Pretend to be half catkin and only show your mana skills and one detection type skill.¡±~Sophia ¡°Were you always this smart?¡±~me ¡°Bad kitty! I¡¯ve always been smart, just hiding it from my father.¡±~Sophia We are stopped by the guards to pay the entry toll and required to remove our hoods before entry. The number of times my sense intent go off due to sinister, lust-filled intents is impressive. I don¡¯t think our stay here will be entirely peaceful and let Sophia know about what I sensed. ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, we will head straight to the guild to register and look for a hire.¡±~Sophia We get directions to the guild easily enough and our applications are processed in a very straightforward manner. I held back most of my status and we are both listed as stage two adventurers. There was no cliche bullying of the new girls, although some groups of guys tried to pick us up. I didn¡¯t bother much with them, simply using a force spell to knock them out. We managed to find a merchant task heading out tomorrow morning and signed ourselves up. Staying at a high class inn tonight, we get a room with a bath and bed and spend the night relaxing. When we get up in the morning, we quickly get ready and head to the meeting point near the west gate. ¡°Are you Mr. Arkin?¡±~Sophia ¡°That¡¯s me. You must be the newbies, Sophia and Lilia, who signed up as escorts yesterday. Could you show me your guild papers, it¡¯s always best to be sure.¡±~Arkin ¡°Sure, here they are.¡±~Sophia ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve verified them. You can take your pick from the carriages that don¡¯t already have any adventurers in them. Just sit wherever you can find space. We will depart as soon as the last groups show up.¡±~Arkin We hop into one of the first carriages and start our morning cultivation. I decided last night that I would be focusing on spirit whenever we happen to obtain some spirit crystals. We currently have thirty-one from our dungeon diving in Kellor. Spirit energy can only be increased by using an external source, sp doesn¡¯t work. The spirit stage is increased the same way you would increase any other except it is more difficult to cultivate than the others. I quickly use up half my available spirit and notice that my dragon¡¯s perception has been reduced, confirming my earlier hypothesis that it is dependent on spirit. I also discovered that my usual cultivation speed in other things is also much slower with my spirit in a reduced state. Spirit will be cultivated last from now on. My progress these days has slowed to a crawling daily grind. The night watch is covered by the merchant¡¯s personal guards. Each of the merchants in our caravan has their own personal guard, sometimes two. One guard is enough to escort them around a town or city but not enough to protect them out here from bandit attacks. Which is why they will hire adventurers as extra muscle. We set our bedroll beneath our carriage and go to sleep after setting up a divine skill called alert ward. It is just something that will ward off most wildlife and alert me if anything crosses the established boundary. It cost almost all my daily income of faith, but is worth it. No one disturbs us during the night and we continue our journey the next day. This day we aren¡¯t so lucky as to avoid bandits and it¡¯s a rather large group of them too. The merchants choose to try to negotiate with them instead of immediately risking a fight. ¡°We¡¯ve successfully negotiated a price. Let¡¯s go.¡±~Arkin ¡°How much did you have to pay?¡±~Sophia ¡°Not too much, bandits in this area understand that the merchants would stop coming at all if they try to take too much. There is only one group that is somewhat difficult to deal with. We won¡¯t run into them until the final week, if at all.¡±~Arkin ¡°Thanks for the information.¡±~Sophia The rest of the day, we only ran into some small groups of bandits that either died or fled. I would go around after every engagement and heal the wounded, gathering a large amount of faith as I did. I quickly started to be known as the mysterious, quiet healer in the group since I always keep my hood up. No one dared to make trouble with Sophia and I after I had started healing people. Insulting or otherwise getting on the bad side of a healer is never a good idea. They are not common and always very much needed. I managed to sneak around during the nights, exchanging my gold with the local kind. We successfully arrive at the next town and the merchants went about their business for a day before we set out again the following morning. These days will repeat themselves for nearly two months before we will finally reach the border trade city, Legrace. Legrace has a toll bridge that crosses over into the Magic Forest, territory of the demi races. The city sitting on the Magic Forest side of the bridge is named Wynfel and is primarily populated by wood elves. Six weeks flash by like a blur and we inevitably ran into that group that Mr. Arkin was worried about. Of course we would run into them with such an obvious flag event. Well, not that I would mind a good fight. Sophia and I have made great progress in our cultivation for the last six weeks, I even activated my regeneration trait¡­ +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 3(55%)}{Spirit: 2}{Divine: 2(25%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 1566/1666}{Mana: 5000/10000}{Spirit: 170/170}{Divine: 700/1000} Attributes: Str: 1000(50%) | Vit: 1000(50%) | Agi: 3000(50%) | Int: 10000(65%) Soul Potential: 140 {passive} [Sense Mana 2], [Sense Presence 2], [Sense Intent 1], [Sense Danger 2] -[Soul Devourer 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 1] -[Inventory 1], [Shadowmeld 1], [Contract(activate: 19sp)] Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 3}{Spirit: 1}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 900/1000}{Mana: 3500/4000}{Spirit: 100/100}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 1000 | Vit: 1000 | Agi: 1000 | Int: 4000 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 4], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Danger 3] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2], [Tamer 1], [Assess 2] We¡¯re already expecting a battle, even before the negotiators come back to report their failure. ¡°They want too much, and if that isn¡¯t bad enough, they told us to leave the women behind. I¡¯m not fool enough to believe that anyone here hasn¡¯t received a heal or blessing from our little priestess here. None of us would be so ungrateful as to suggest we adhere to their demands.¡±~negotiator ¡°The problem is that they have an elite stage three mage in their midst. We need to have our best fighters target that individual or we will definitely lose.¡±~Arkin ¡°You can leave the mage to the two of us. I¡¯ve broken through a number of days back and should be able to at least hold on for a while.¡±~Sophia ¡°There¡¯s a big difference between just broken through and an experienced stage three. Plus, it would be irresponsible to put a healer on the front line.¡±~Arkin ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem, priestess is only a side job for her. She also recently broke through in body to stage 3. So long as she can get close to the mage, he won¡¯t stand a chance.¡±~Sophia ¡°Damn, you little girls are monsters. Having such cultivation at your age is ridiculous. Okay, we¡¯ll arrange things like this. Now the rest of you...¡±~Arkin After Mr. Arkin finished arranging everyone''s battle plans, we get into position. Chapter 17: Battle and spoils Chapter 17: Battle and spoils ¡°Lilia, how do you want to confront the mage? He has several stage two guards by him, will you be able to get close?¡±~Sophia ¡°We won¡¯t immediately attack him. Just intercept his spells with your own to start with. Focus on conserving your mana. You can use water blast to safely redirect his fireballs, shatter his ice spears with fireball, earth spike with wind blade and so on. Remember what you were taught about element affinities and use the most efficient method to reduce his impact on the battle.¡±~me ¡°What will you be doing in the meantime?¡±~Sophia ¡°I will bide my time for him to exhaust himself or an opportunity to present itself. I¡¯ll use stage two strength to defend you while trying to minimize our side¡¯s casualties.¡±~me *BANG* WTF! Some idiot on the bandit side just decided to start things off by fireballing the freaking goods. That¡¯s your prospective spoils you...oh, he just got decapitated by an angry boss. ¡°FIRE!¡±~Arkin That was not called to put out the fire on the carriage of goods. With that command, the mages start casting air cushion around members of our side and our range weapon users start barraging the bandits with arrows and crossbow bolts. The mages start lobbing their own offense spells over as well. Whenever I¡¯m waiting for my crossbow to reload, I¡¯ll send a blessing or heal to whoever needs it most. ¡°Hurry and kill that priestess!¡±~bandit ¡°No, capture her. That¡¯s a fine woman even if I can¡¯t see her face.¡±~another bandit ¡°Someone deal with that mage behind the priestess, she keeps intercepting my spells.¡±~elite bandit mage Woah! We just became the targets for like a third of the bandits. ¡°Mistress, have Arkin bring a few groups to support us from the side. Once we are set, we will start retreating to draw them in and use quake to throw them all off balance. We can then finish off the lot of them with minimal risk.¡±~me Sophia agrees and conveys my plan to Arkin who makes the arrangements. As soon as we are set, we begin. Very soon we have slaughtered about half the bandit forces at minimal losses to our own side and begin to push our advantage. Sophia starts directing spells directly at the mage and I kill off his protectors when they are busy avoiding her magic. A fireball explodes directly in front of him, sending his last two protectors flying to the sides and knocking him on his rear. Exploding forth with my stage three agility and double speed from my trait, I¡¯m next to him faster than he¡¯s able to regain his footing. I sink my dagger into his heart before he¡¯s able to start casting a spell and swiftly retreat as my sense danger skill starts blaring in my mind, narrowly avoiding a sword strike that likely would have severed my arm. ¡°You weren¡¯t supposed to have any elites in your group. I¡¯m going to rip your limbs off and impale you to pay for killing my mage.¡±~bandit leader I assume he¡¯s the leader due to the speed of his attack earlier which clearly surpasses stage two. I¡¯ve been suspecting for a while now that there was at least one other elite in this bandit group due to the fact that the mage was only referred to as being a member, not the leader. An elite mage of that level would not be willing to subordinate himself to a stage two cultivator. ¡°This wasn¡¯t how things were supposed to go, but I can still make a fortune by capturing the two of you for my client. Just obediently surrender and you can keep your limbs, you¡¯ve already exhausted yourself fighting by now.¡±~bandit leader Evildoers never fail to amaze me by how stupid they truly are, revealing their motives in such an arrogant manner whenever they feel superior. Hey, I¡¯m not really complaining, it¡¯s convenient for me to have them willingly reveal their sinister plans without expending any effort. Oh, he¡¯s attacking again. I fire off the wind blade spells I had readied during his rant and slice off his limbs, thus resulting in him falling on his face and tumbling forward a few times. Karma¡¯s a bitch, named Lilia in this case. Using a few fire spells to seal the wounds, I then help the rest of the group deal with what remains of the bandits. ¡°Lilia, why did you leave that man alive?¡±~Sophia ¡°He seems to be the bandits¡¯ leader and said some interesting things I need to clarify.¡±~me ¡°Arkin, we finished up over on our side, taking their leader captive. Need any help with the cleanup?¡±~Sophia ¡°The leader huh, wasn¡¯t that mage the leader? I guess that explains why the remaining bandits started to flee a minute ago. You two worked hard, go ahead and retreat to the rear. Can I trouble the little lass to see to the wounded though?¡±~Arkin I nod my head and get to work on the wounded. After we¡¯ve tidied up the bandit remnants, we count our casualties. We lost twelve from our side of less than one hundred and have many more wounded, but managed to defend against a bandit force of nearly two hundred. The spoils are divided up and our companions buried. We torch the bodies of the bandits, not caring enough to bury so many. From interrogating the leader, we found out that they are sponsored by several rich nobles throughout the region. The stolen goods are fenced through the merchants under the nobles at a good price and the bandits don¡¯t target them, also doing the occasional job for them. We were meant to be one of those jobs. One such noble had passed on a request for our capture when he had seen our appearance entering the city of Rork. We advise everyone to keep quiet about the nobles¡¯ involvement. There is no proof and they would probably be silenced by such people if they started any rumors about them. By the time we are done with the cleanup, it is already beginning to get dark, so we set up camp for the night. I leave Sophia at the camp and stalk off into the woods, following the traces the fleeing bandits left. Soon enough I found what I was looking for, the bandits¡¯ base camp. After waiting in the woods a few more hours, letting my energies recover a bit before making my move. Utilizing my shadowmeld skill, I assassinate the patrols and guards. Then I make my way through the new leaders and eventually down to the grunts. By the time the sun begins to peak over the horizon, every bandit in the camp has a slit throat and I¡¯ve emptied out their treasuries. There were several hidden caches, but my dragon¡¯s perception found them all. Energy from crystals gave them away. Inventory stuffed to the brim with gold, jewels and many other luxury items, I make my way back to the camp as the sun breaks past the horizon. ¡°Mistress, I¡¯m on my way back. Would you let the others know that there are some women and goods here for them to collect. I took the good stuff for us, but the merchants can definitely make a profit on the stuff that I¡¯ve left behind.¡±~me ¡°You intentionally left something for the rest? More likely it didn¡¯t fit in your inventory, right? I¡¯ll let Arkin know once you¡¯ve returned, I don¡¯t want to hint that we can somehow communicate over a distance. Get anything good?¡±~Sophia ¡°Lots! They had a big pile of crystals, including more than enough of the spirit variety to get us both to stage three. There were no skills though, probably used them all if they had any.¡±~me It doesn¡¯t take me too long to get back to the caravan, then Sophia leads me over to talk to Arkin. ¡°Arkin, you have a minute to talk?¡±~Sophia ¡°I see the little miss is back. Does this talk include an explanation for where she disappeared to last night by chance?¡±~Arkin ¡°So you noticed that she left. It does indeed concern her activities last night. She scouted out the bandits¡¯ base camp. The goods they have stored there would help make up for your losses and give the rest a nice bonus. From what she has told me, you won¡¯t really face any opposition and there are nearly three dozen women that need to be rescued.¡±~Sophia ¡°I only noticed she was gone after she vanished from the camp. Little miss snuck out without any of the night watch seeing her leave. Since she already scouted them out, I see no reason we shouldn¡¯t follow up. Give me a few minutes to round up a group to clear them out.¡±~Arkin A short time later we¡¯ve trekked through the woods and arrived at the bandit camp. We pile up the dead bodies and hitch up a few carriages the bandits had pilfered. The women are arranged into some of the carriages while the salvageable goods are piled into others. Along the way back, I overhear a conversation between some of our companions. *whistle* ¡°Remind me to never piss off that little lass.¡±~rogue-type ¡°Why¡¯s that? I know not to mess with her friend because she¡¯s an elite mage, but why that little girl? Isn¡¯t she only a stage two rogue like you, why be so fearful?¡±~ignoramus ¡°Fool! There were absolutely no signs of struggle. That little girl as you call her, slaughtered that entire camp without them being able to even fight back, by herself! Although I¡¯m certain that some of the bandits from earlier never returned there. However, there were still nearly forty that did return.¡±~ranger-type ¡°Perhaps we should give her the biggest share of the spoils from the camp. She did most of the work after all. We just helped her carry it all away, It wouldn¡¯t feel right to take too much.¡±~fighter-type This comment was followed by majority agreement and discussion of nicknames to be used for me. Sophia had to agree when the subject was brought up for the sake of not revealing my inventory that was already hoarding the best of the loot, but managed to argue down the amount we received and even promised most of the rest of it to the female victims we had rescued. We then sold what remained to Arkin at a fair price. Chapter 18: Arrival at the Magic Forest Chapter 18: Arrival at the Magic Forest We didn¡¯t have any further challenges with bandits for the rest of the journey. Only a couple groups even challenged us. It makes me think that some of the survivors from before must have warned the smarter groups off. The city of Legrace was a sight to behold. Although, it was big enough to be considered a city, it did not have a particularly high static population. Most of the people present were transient. Merchants that were there to trade or adventurers passing through the checkpoint. The city of Wynfel just across the river is a very old dungeon city that is said to exceed fifty floors. This is something that hasn¡¯t been confirmed due to the normally low level of adventurers that enter it. Knowing that some scum in the city may have been informed of our arrival ahead of time, we quickly collect our escort fee and proceed to the bridge checkpoint. We plan to find tonight¡¯s accommodations on the other side. Although the intents I feel when we are asked to lower our hoods are still filled with lust, there is a much less sinister tint to them than I had experienced before. We pay the fees and walk into a wondrous elven city. The first thing we decide to do after securing an inn for the night is to go shopping. I spent a big chunk of our gold stockpile to obtain enough crystals to get the both of us to peak of stage four in each energy type. Then I buy some local products that attract our attention as well as every available beauty products that I don¡¯t yet have, enough to last for a long while. Sophia once again managed to find one of those novelty shops that had escaped my notice. She only bought a single bottle of something this time, well several bottles of the same thing anyways. She would only tell me that I would find out later what it is. From the look of it, it seems to be some kind of body oil. Finished with our shopping spree, we head back to the inn for the night. After dinner and a bath, Sophia asks me to use her new oil for tonight¡¯s massage. It has a seemingly familiar minty herb scent, but I can¡¯t quite place it or figure out why it would result in such a buying frenzy. That is, until we stepped out of the bathroom. I found myself instinctively clinging to her while a purring sound erupted from my body. Though the mute curse prevents me from talking, embarrassing animalistic responses still seem to work just fine. The effects of my catkin disguise set are stupidly realistic. ¡°Suddenly, I feel light-headed, like I drank too much wine. Our meal may have been poisoned, Mistress, but my cure doesn¡¯t seem to affect it.¡±~me ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t think cure will work on this particular poison. It¡¯s just a natural reaction after all.¡±~Sophia ¡°Catnip! You dosed me with catnip somehow. No, wait. You had me massage you with it!¡±~me I managed to only say that last line before my catnip induced euphoria awakened some baser feline instincts I never knew I had. We somehow manage to get into the bed where I proceeded to caress her entire body with my tongue, indulging in my desire for the substance. With the assistance of the nighty¡¯s effect, my actions were enhanced into eliciting numerous moans of pleasure. I ended up licking or sucking on every inch of her skin before she had a chance to actively participate herself. My frisky, drug laiden actions only stopped when we both were utterly exhausted. Even in my altered state, I somehow manage to make use of my blessings to enhance stamina which led to us completely losing track of any semblance of a lucid thought. When we woke up the next day and we manage to recover some semblance of walking ability, we discovered that it was already just past noon. ¡°Mistress, perhaps you should use that oil sparingly from now on? Only occasionally, when we have plenty of free time?¡±~me ¡°Ye-yeah. Not going to complain? That¡¯s unusually accepting for you.¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh, I will make sure to return the favor in kind. However, I will need to buy some things first.¡±~me ¡°Hmm, I will look forward to your revenge.¡±~Sophia Ugh, I can¡¯t wait to wipe that smirk off her face as I¡­you¡¯ll have to wait until I¡¯ve prepared everything. After we¡¯ve eaten lunch, I stopped by the novelty shop and place an order for some quality goods. I¡¯m not willing to let her suffer by using the lower quality, ready-made goods. Things like this are worth the extra price needed to get luxury tier materials used in their crafting. They reported that it would be delivered to our room at the inn about four days later. Once I¡¯ve finished placing my order, I meet up with Sophia at the guild. We get information about the dungeon here and look through the requests they offer. The guild in this world is, of course, an existence brought over by heroes, though each guild operates mostly independent from the others. They will ensure that rewards are given when a request is completed from any guild branch, but the guild branch in each location usually belong to whoever is running the place. Requests can only be transferred between locations by request takers themselves in the form of contracts. Magic contracts are not normally used though, except for higher tier requests, as it is too expensive to issue each and every request in such a way. I make a mental note of any unlimited requests for materials from the dungeon. Since the day is already mostly gone, we spend one more, much more restrained, night at the inn before setting off for the dungeon the next morning. We once again dive into a dungeon. The experience is completely different this time without the elite guards. Before, the guards would deter any unwanted attention simply by glaring at others. This time however, we got accosted at every turn. Usually, Sophia would simply tell them to bugger off. Those who were genuinely wanting to assist the two beauties with the hope of getting into our skirts as a bonus, would generally back off. Anyone who wouldn¡¯t take no for an answer were ended by my blade and incinerated. I have to say that being a melee type fighter is really very messy. Some people make it look easy, but it¡¯s terribly difficult to keep your clothes from being splashed by blood and other disgusting things. Makes me especially thankful that my clothing all has the self-cleaning effect on them. I run out of room in my inventory fairly quickly and am forced into keeping only the most valuable resources for a time. Once my inventory level went up, I resumed my usual hoarding. We make it to a mid level thirties floor in three days before things start to get a little too difficult for us. It takes us only two days to make the trip back to the surface, eliminating a few more pests along the way out. The entire five days inside, neither of us were able to really cultivate anything except skill levels. I¡¯ve long since activated all my traits except the two new ones I gained when Sophia let me drink her blood. Delicious! Seriously, elven blood is incredibly delicious or perhaps it¡¯s the virgin element. I may need to investigate this for future reference. As we are making our way back to the inn, we notice that there is quite a bit of chatter and the whole city seems to be in a state of alert. There is an especially noticeable decrease in human presence throughout the city. We ask the inn clerk if she can tell us anything about it. ¡°How could you possibly not know? You are not humans are you? No, you smell different, halfs?¡±~clerk I look to Sophia and she gives me a nod. We pull down our hoods to reveal her slightly pointed ears and my special features. ¡°Half wood-elf and catkin by the looks of you, though I can¡¯t recall a tribe with such beautiful fur. Four days ago, something happened with magical contracts. A new curse was discovered by everyone who held any sort of magical contract called: Contract¡¯s burden. After a few days of investigation, it was revealed that anyone who is under a servitude type contract had lost all spirit energy, unable to replenish it, even by using crystals. Their cultivation speed was negatively affected greatly by the lack of spirit energy. Anyone who is the master of such contracts also had a small amount of spirit energy missing. The amount doubled with each additional servant they had under contract and they started losing servant contracts each day until their spirit was adequate for the number they had. Contracts with only exchange of services by a mutually beneficial agreement were discovered to require only one spirit energy for each contract.¡±~clerk ¡°Was this the fix that the Goddess had told you about before?¡±~Sophia ¡°Probably, she didn¡¯t let me know what it would be, but this sounds like it fits. The curse part is especially telling, she has been experimenting more with curses recently when she saw what I had managed to do with them. Ask the clerk about the humans.¡±~me ¡°That explains the reason things feel different around here, except for the apparent alert state and the missing humans. Why is there a sudden lack of them?¡±~Sophia ¡°Some nobles who depended on these servitude contracts lost most of their servants. Most of these types of nobles ended up killed by their former servants. It was discovered that some humans had forcibly captured demi servants and had them smuggling more demi servants over to the human side. The city lord decided to close the border, evicting the humans, until further notice.¡±~clerk Chapter 19: Tied up in Wynfel Chapter 19: Tied up in Wynfel We got a little more information about what was happening and extended the reservation for our room. Then we went up to the room finding that my package had been delivered as scheduled yesterday and was already placed in our room. ¡°The human kingdoms are definitely in chaos right now. I¡¯m worried about my mother.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, I don¡¯t think you need to worry about her too much. Your mother isn¡¯t a strong warrior or mage, right? This may actually be an opportunity for her to regain some freedom. Your father will probably use force to retain her in his harem, rather than use up valuable spirit energy to keep her there. It won¡¯t do us any good to worry about it and we won¡¯t receive any word about the fate of Parnam for at least two months, and that¡¯s only if people are still willing to travel during this time.¡±~me ¡°We couldn¡¯t really leave the city right now anyways. You heard the clerk, the city is on lockdown. We¡¯re kind of stuck here until the situation becomes more stable. It will probably be much longer than two months for the border to reopen. A few days to multiple weeks for the city gates to open allowing travel within the Magic Forest. What should we do in the meantime?¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh, I can think of a few ideas. After all, it¡¯s a servant¡¯s desire to entertain her mistress with various techniques to ward off boredom. Please allow me to satisfy your every need.¡±~me ¡°Why do I get the feeling that I¡¯m not all you desire to entertain and that your idea of techniques might be what truly needs warding off?¡±~Sophia I lift the package up with my delivery inside it to make my suggestion obvious. We take a long bath to relax and clean our weary bodies and then I proceed to massage enhancing oil into her body. By enhancing oil, I¡¯m of course referring to the one with the mild aphrodisiac and sensitivity increasing drug. To make sure I¡¯m not discovered while bathing, Sophia decided that my bath apparel needed some adjustments. I¡¯m no longer just in my birthday suit in the bath. My disguise set and a lace choker with two flowers on it representing my undies and nighty are present. I pull her out of the bathroom with both of us still naked and proceed to unwrap my goodies. The first item I withdraw is a cotton rope specially treated to prevent rope burn. First I tie her ankles together. Then using the same rope, I secure her hands behind her back. Once that is done, I loop it over her shoulders, between her breast, down under and once again back to her front from around her sides. I place several knots on the down under portion and use the remaining length to firmly tie up her breasts. At this point, she¡¯s a tightly bound lump on the bed, unable to resist me. To finish things off, I remove the rest of the items from the box. A blindfold is placed over her eyes, some soft material in her ears to serve as earplugs and soft wooden ball secured with a leather strap into her mouth. ¡°I¡¯m now all there is to your world. You can only hear my voice, feel my touch and experience only what I allow you to.¡±~me ¡°Wow! Is this how you feel, like all the time?! It feels strange to be so controlled by another person, but it¡¯s not so bad knowing that the person in possession of my body is you.¡±~Sophia ¡°We haven¡¯t even gotten to the good part yet, the bindings are only the first step. It gets better.¡±~me With that, I start to knead my fingers into her sensitive areas, paying special attention to her breasts which are now inflamed with increased sensitivity from being bound so tightly. From time to time I give the ropes a little tug and tighten them up. Not too long later, her ropes are tight enough to put my knots to work. She is constantly squirming around, rubbing her thighs together and cumming from time to time, all by herself. I give her an occasional stamina blessing and make sure the ropes don¡¯t cut off her circulation while I caress her inflamed skin. The morning comes and goes with her none the wiser and I only pulled off her bindings when the evening comes around. I join her in her ecstasy by initiating the scissoring position. At this point, she¡¯s so exhausted that I can only do this myself to help rid my body of the frustration it has built up. When we are both satisfied and Sophia has once again run out of stamina, we fall asleep in each others¡¯ arms until the next morning comes around. *Knock knock* ¡°Mistress, please wake up. It¡¯s breakfast time.¡±~me ¡°Huh, how is it breakfast time? We definitely should have slept through breakfast after last night?¡±~Sophia ¡°Hehe, we did indeed miss breakfast. We missed lunch and dinner as well.¡±~me ¡°Seriously?! How did we miss so many meals?¡±~Sophia ¡°Sensory deprivation can do that to you. You only experience what is allowed. It makes time very difficult to keep track of and makes you wholly dependent on your captor. Please let the inn staff outside know to bring up two meals for us.¡±~me ¡°Please bring two meals to my room.¡±~Sophia ¡°They will be up in just a few minutes.¡±~inn staff ¡°Arg! My body feels terrible. Lilia, please heal me before they come back.¡±~Sophia ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I wouldn¡¯t allow anyone else to see you in such a vulnerable condition. I won¡¯t heal you until you¡¯ve eaten however. Even if I cast a spell on you, the body still needs energy to mend itself, which you are severely lacking at the moment. You¡¯ll just have to let me feed you.¡±~me ¡°Which you will no doubt enjoy! Fine, I should have known something like this was going to happen when I gave you control of our fun last...two nights ago.¡±~Sophia The food arrived and I gleefully fed it to her. She wouldn¡¯t let me feed her mouth to mouth for the most part, but relented with the fruit juice that came with it as I tended to let it spill down her neck so I could lick it up if she didn¡¯t. Once she was fed, I cleaned us up in the bath and ultimately had to heal her to the point of moving on her own. We relaxed in our room until lunch, deciding to try a local restaurant for once. We got a recommendation from the clerk and proceeded to a place called Dragon¡¯s Roost. Taking a private room and ordering their two best dishes, we got to experience food that surpassed even the fine food from the heroes¡¯ departure banquette. On our way out, we were stopped by a pretty female elf. I immediately stepped in front of Sophia and tensed my body, ready to meld into the shadows at a moments notice. ¡°No need to be so wary, I was only a little curious about the two rich young ladies that I seem to have not yet had the opportunity to meet. My name is Ellen, the city lord of Wynfel.¡±~Ellen ¡°Why are you so defensive? She doesn¡¯t seem like a bad person.¡±~Sophia ¡°A good person perhaps would not use some sort of skill to probe us. She likely already knows exactly what we look like, even down to our measurements.¡±~me ¡°My name is Sophia and this is Lilia. We are currently staying at the Phoenix''s Nest inn. We were inside the dungeon exploring when the recent change came about and seem to now be stuck here. I wonder if the lady may be able to tell us when the gates might be open?¡±~Sophia ¡°Two weeks at the soonest, dear. I¡¯ve sent messengers to investigate the surrounding cities and that is the soonest they could make it back. Let¡¯s not stand around in the street talking all night. Come back to my place for some drinks so we can get to know each other better.¡±~Ellen ¡°Thank you for the invitation. We accept.¡±~Sophia ¡°Why did you have me accept? I thought you didn¡¯t like her?¡±~Sophia ¡°Wary of her because she¡¯s strong. Really strong! Probably a mid level stage four warrior by the energy fluctuations. Stage three or at least peak stage two mage as well. She did not invite us either, she was clearly ordering us to join her. Her intent doesn¡¯t contain any hostility, but it was very firm when asking us over.¡±~me ¡°So that¡¯s why. What do we do if she turns hostile?¡±~Sophia ¡°There is very little we can do. I¡¯m pretty sure she could kill one of us in an instant if she decides to strike and the other would likely die the next moment. That probing skill could very likely find me even in my shadowy form using shadowmeld.¡±~me We arrive at her residence shortly. It is a fairly simple building in the higher end part of the city. Not at all where you would expect the city lord to live. She prepares some simple snacks and wine for us. Then we all take seats in her foyer and we remove our hoods. The moment that Sophia dropped her hood, Ellen is hugging her crying. ¡°I found you. You aren¡¯t dead, I never believed you were dead. I¡¯m so happy to see you again, Camille.¡±~Ellen ¡°Isn¡¯t Camille the name of your mother?¡±~me ¡°Yes, and mother has mentioned an Ellen to me before, but I didn¡¯t connect the two until just now.¡±~Sophia Chapter 20: Family reunions Chapter 20: Family reunions ¡°Um, Aunt Ellen, I¡¯m not my mother.¡±~Sophia ¡°Aunt...Mother? You, your my niece? Since when has little Camille had a man in her life?¡±~Ellen ¡°Before you start spilling your soul to her, ask her for a drop of blood.¡±~me ¡°What in the world do you want that for?¡±~Sophia ¡°To confirm her identity. My sense for blood as quarter blood demon will allow me to compare it to your own blood. If she is truly your aunt, the blood will tell.¡±~me ¡°Aunt Ellen, could I ask you to please give Lilia here a drop of your blood. Her senses are good enough that she would be able to confirm your identity from the similarity to my own.¡±~Sophia ¡°Why are you so cautious, even after knowing I¡¯m your blood relative? Just what sort of life have you lived till now? Could that human father of yours be some bastard like some of the nobles that were recently brought to light? Just a drop of blood to earn some trust, fine here you go.¡±~Ellen She takes out a small knife, cut her finger and then presents it in front of me. I don¡¯t bother to sniff it, just taking her finger into my mouth and running my tongue over it. ¡°Hot! Kind of sexy in a way. I think I can use this later.¡±~Sophia ¡°Quarter relation. Same grandmother, different grandfathers.¡±~me I make a few hand signs that look like I¡¯m communicating the results. Ellen who was still focused on her finger until now, finally snaps out of it. ¡°What is she doing?¡±~Ellen ¡°She can¡¯t speak so she makes gestures as best she can to communicate. If it still isn¡¯t understood, she will write it out. In this case, I believe she is trying to tell us that there is only a quarter relation between the two of us.¡±~Sophia ¡°Wow, she can tell that much with just a drop of blood? I¡¯m impressed with her...technique. My sister and I have the same mother, but had different fathers. Now let¡¯s talk about your mother, where is she?¡±~Ellen Sophia explains who she is and that I was actually one of the summoned heroes. At my request, she leaves out some details about me for now. We cover the basics of the curse and that I¡¯m actually just wearing a disguise set, conveniently provided by the curse when we entered demi territory. The discussion about my special equipment elicits her interest in it, which quickly devolved into Sophia demonstrating all of its sensitive spots and the best techniques to use. Ellen taught her a few extra things she didn¡¯t know and I ended up as a hot mess on the sofa. They chat for a bit longer and we ended up staying in one of her spare rooms for the night. The next morning, we come out of our room to find Ellen humming to herself while cooking breakfast. ¡°As soon as things calm down around here, I¡¯ll send a team to extract your mother from that man¡¯s harem. Likely, he didn¡¯t choose to keep her under contract over some of his more valuable people. If he did, I¡¯ll make the trip and kill him myself.¡±~Ellen ¡°My mentor, grand mage Sven, is the only fourth stage cultivator that I know of in Parnam. That doesn¡¯t really mean there isn¡¯t more, my father definitely did not trust me, but I would appreciate it if your rescue of my mother didn¡¯t result in any harm to Sven. He has been my magic teacher since I was a little girl and treats me like his granddaughter.¡±~Sophia We enjoy breakfast together and it is ultimately decided that we will check out of our inn to move in with Ellen. She basically decided it herself. We found that she had had our bags brought over while we were still sleeping. ¡°Sofy tells me that you have been taking good care of her and that you plan to clear the dungeon here in Wynfel. The last people who succeeded in clearing it reported that it was forty-two floors deep. That was nearly ten years ago. Stage three to stage four is a gulf, the quality of energy is too different. To clear the dungeon, at least one of you needs to break through. The two of you can follow me to city hall today, I¡¯ll make arrangements for both of you to train with some experts.¡±~Ellen Some time later, we all return to her house. I¡¯m sore from my workout with my assigned trainer and Sophia is so mentally worn out that she is nearly asleep on her feet. With such a good opportunity presenting herself, I heal my soreness a little bit by taking ¡®good care¡¯ of Sophia in the bath and put her to bed, snuggling up next to her. We resume our usual cultivation practice, mixed with training with Ellen¡¯s experts and some much less vigorous night time activities. I¡¯m pretty sure Ellen suspects our relationship is a bit more than master and servant, but we keep things toned down since we are currently staying with her. Two weeks after the change, the city gates reopened and Ellen sent a covert team to Parnam to rescue Camille. Every person in the team was stage three except the leader, who was a stage four mage. They left with an outline of the castle and the harem drawn by me and Sophia. After about three months, we had received word about the surrounding kingdoms. Although some nobles within the Magic Forest region were killed or arrested, there were no major damages. The kingdom of Belgra was thrown into utter chaos. The enormous number of freed slaves grabbed whatever goods they could and fled, mostly to the west. They left murdered masters and burned properties in their wake. The royal family was usurped by a lower noble and eliminated. Parnam wasn¡¯t much better except the royal family kept their power after some reorganization. Our daily cultivation grind keeps up for four months before we finally received word about her mom. Sophia is especially excited today because we received word that her mother had been successfully rescued and would be arriving later in the evening. We¡¯ve both made some great progress in the last four months especially in techniques... +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 2(5%)}{Divine: 2(58%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 20000/20000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 700/1000} Attributes: Str: 10000(50%) | Vit: 10000(50%) | Agi: 10000(50%) | Int: 20000(50%) Soul Potential: 196 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Intent 2], [Sense Danger 2] -[Soul Devourer 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 2] -[Inventory 2], [Shadowmeld 2], [Contract(activate: 19sp)] Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 3}{Spirit: 2}{Divine: 0}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 1000/1000}{Mana: 10000/10000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 1000 | Vit: 1000 | Agi: 1000 | Int: 10000 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 5], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Danger 4] {active} [Mana Control 4], [Mana Shaping 3], [Tamer 1], [Assess 4] I managed to break through to stage four, but I insisted on waiting for Sophia to also break through until we make our second attempt on the dungeon. I¡¯ve noticed the large difference between our skill increases. Spirit is only able to be cultivated about twenty percent per session before it would slow my speed to inefficient levels. Spirit only regenerates after a night''s rest making it impossible to do multiple sessions per day. Sophia had increased her spirit cultivation as well, which resulted in a noticeable increase of her cultivation speed. She told me that she still has a ways to go until she hits stage four. Late into the evening, there¡¯s a knock on the door. Ellen excitedly opened the door and stepped through it. ¡°Elder sister, how did you ever find me? Thank you for rescuing me.¡±~Camille ¡°You have your daughter to thank for that.¡±~Ellen ¡°Sophia? Wasn¡¯t she killed by bandits when that bastard sent her off to marry in Belgra. How could she have anything to do with this?¡±~Camille ¡°She has a very dedicated servant.¡±~Ellen ¡°Has? Not had? She¡¯s alive?! Where is she, where is my daughter?¡±~Camille ¡°From what I was told, her servant was too important to give away with her to another kingdom. Her father tried to kill the both of them when separating them proved too difficult. Well, let¡¯s continue things inside with everyone.¡±~Ellen With that said, Camille rushes in the door and hugs Sophia. They talk through the night and I busy myself serving food and drinks for them to enjoy. We ended up with an extra in bed with the two of us. The mother and daughter were unable to be separated when time for bed came around. Sophia and I were treated like little girls by her mother. A week was spent with everyone getting reacquainted, by which time Sophia had become fed up waiting to break through to stage four and spent one more week to familiarize herself with her current power from training before insisting that we clear the dungeon now. Her mother was very much against it and had to be reassured by Ellen that we had adequately prepared. Chapter 21: Celebrating dungeon conquest Chapter 21: Celebrating dungeon conquest The dungeon wound up being forty-three floors deep and we didn¡¯t wait for Sophia to get to stage four. At her current speed, we were much too eager to wait until she could advance. It was pretty easy down through floor thirty-nine, from floor forty and on, it took us an entire day. The whole trip took ten days total, there and back. We ended up with lots of crystals, including two new skill crystals. One of the skills we got was a perception type called second sight and the other was synergy. I took second sight that gives me a panoramic perception of my surroundings as though I¡¯m looking everywhere at once even when my eyes are closed. Sophia took synergy which gives her a boost to her energies from the surrounding energies when using skills, techniques and casting spells. ¡°Ah, fresh air at last. This was a good experience, but let¡¯s not be doing this again for a while.¡±~Sophia ¡°Sure, Mistress. Shall we return to your aunt¡¯s residence?¡±~me ¡°Not just yet. Let¡¯s check into an inn for the night and return tomorrow. I want to vent and I can¡¯t help but feel a little stifled at my aunt¡¯s place, especially with my mother there as well.¡±~Sophia ¡°Excellent idea, Mistress. Since it¡¯s nearly dinner time already, want to head over immediately or have dinner first?¡±~me ¡°We¡¯ll have dinner first. Can¡¯t have us running low on energy while having fun.¡±~Sophia After eating dinner at another restaurant, not the Dragon¡¯s Roost, we made our way to the same inn we had been staying at in the past. We might have run into Ellen if we went to that restaurant after all. We just finished cleaning up in the bath when... ¡°It¡¯s my turn this time, after searching through the list, I¡¯ve found just the right items for the occasion.¡±~Sophia ¡°Just exactly how much thought have you given this?¡±~me I¡¯m ordered to do nothing but allow myself to be manipulated after taking out the catnip oil and enhancing oil from my inventory. After mixing the two together, Sophia laid me down on the massage table and thoroughly rubbed it in. She mimicked my deep tissue massage technique fairly well for her first time. By the time she finished, I¡¯m already feeling euphoric and I don¡¯t think my muscles would work anymore, even without the order. Taking a little time to caress my ears and tail, she lifts me up and takes me to the bed. There, I¡¯m equipped with items she has never used before. Before I knew it, I¡¯m wearing a very strappy leather body harness with cuffs on my upper arms and ankles. I¡¯m lifted up into a seated position and my arms are placed through leather loops on my back. The arm cuffs on my upper arms are secured to the body harness along my side, preventing me from pulling out my hands. I¡¯m laid back down on the bed while Sophia once more goes into the attire menu. When she¡¯s finished, my world has become much smaller. Checking things out in my equipment tab, I found out something I hadn¡¯t known before. Apparently my makeup is also a function of the attire menu. I¡¯m now wearing some earrings on my ears which have a silence effect and eye-shadow which has the blindness effect. Just as I closed off her senses during my last fun time, she decided to take revenge on me during her turn. ¡°Getting revenge?¡±~me ¡°Of course, and then some. You are ordered to shut off your perception skills except sense danger and sense intent until I¡¯ve freed you.¡±~Sophia She starts to tease my body, slowly tightening the various straps on my body as I became more pliable under her hands. My legs are bent back alongside me and the ankle cuffs are secured right next to the cuffs of my upper arms. Now splayed open in my full glory, my clit is given special attention. She begins with gentle touching which quickly degenerates to licking and sucking. It doesn¡¯t take long before I¡¯ve been thoroughly eaten. I¡¯ve been exhausted and Sophia has had her fun after a while. I find that a ball gag has been pushed gently into my mouth and secured behind my head. The effect is...sensational taste...which along with making it tasty, causes my body to experience spontaneous pleasurable sensations. I can¡¯t help but gulp deeply when I finish reading the effect description. My saliva enters my stomach, turned into a warm energy and spreads out to seemingly random places in my body causing ripples of pleasure to spread out from the affected areas. I realize that this is the ¡®and then some¡¯ she had mentioned before as I start to writhe around in my bindings. After an unknown amount of time in oblivion, I¡¯m stirred from my mindless bliss when my legs are repositioned around up near my head, tied to the straps over my shoulders. ¡°Mistress?¡±~me ¡°Aunt Ellen and mother found out we already left the dungeon. I¡¯m not willing to let our time be cut short, so I had the inn staff bring me a trunk to put my dungeon loot. I told them that I sent you out to sell some things already.¡±~Sophia ¡°Are you leaving me here then? You¡¯ll come back to check on me later, is that why you put my legs in a more comfortable position?¡±~me ¡°Haha, I¡¯m obviously taking my loot back with me. You wouldn¡¯t be able to fit with your legs splayed out like that however. I¡¯ll have you back in proper position in no time, just bear with a little stuffiness for a bit.¡±~Sophia After our little chat, I¡¯m loaded into a trunk and can feel the motion of being carried somewhere. We arrive and I get unloaded onto a bed and once again put into the more embarrassing position. My straps are checked and tightened as needed and I¡¯m once again left to stew under the covers. ¡°My mother wants to take me out for some mother-daughter bonding. I can¡¯t say no. My aunt has the day off and is staying home to read through some backed up paperwork. You¡¯ll be safe where you are for a while until I get back, but if you start feeling bad, let me know and I¡¯ll rush back.¡±~Sophia ¡°It¡¯s kind of exhilarating being left so vulnerable by myself! Have fun bonding, Mistress.¡±~me Some unknown time later, I can feel the sheets lifted from my body. A few seconds later, my body is gently caressed and my ears are rubbed in a familiar way. ¡°Mistress, Is my perception of time just that messed up or did you return from shopping really quickly?¡±~me ¡°What do you mean? I¡¯m still out shopping with my mother.¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh! Well if the familiar way of rubbing my ears is any indication, I think your aunt found me.¡±~me ¡°Huh, she isn¡¯t rushing to free you after finding you like that? I¡¯ll rush back to explain things.¡±~Sophia ¡°No rush! Rushing back will only result in your mother finding me like this as well.¡±~me ¡°Then, are you just going to continue laying there in that state with my aunt rubbing your ears? Are you interested in my aunt or something?¡±~Sophia ¡°You know that is not how I feel. Her touch is starting to become uncomfortable however. I need you to please allow intimate contact with her before her touch starts to become painful.¡± ~me ¡°Why would intimate touching ever cause pain. I don¡¯t think my aunt behaves that way.¡±~Sophia ¡°Remember that bit in my curse dedicating my body to you? Making what should be pleasant into pain is the curse¡¯s way of ensuring this detail.¡±~me ¡°I hereby declare that intimate contact between you and my au...no, between you and other women is not in violation of your dedication to me, your master. Did that work?¡±~Sophia ¡°Mmm, I feel much more comfortable after that. Why not only allowing your aunt, why change it to women in general and not anyone? Ah! Ahhh!¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m at least a little bit greedy. I¡¯m not at all willing to share you with a man. What was that last bit?¡±~Sophia ¡°Your aunt got a bit more, Ahh, daring. She¡¯s started to finger me now. Have fun shopping with your mother.¡±~me After a bit more teasing, she tries to untie me only to find that she can¡¯t. I can only imagine her astonishment and confusion as she tries. My current bondage wear has the subdued effect. It makes my body more pliable without causing any harm. All my attire from the curse has a restriction for the user, me and the only exception is that Sophia is able to manipulate my attire at will. I could sense her starting to use that perception skill of hers to start looking at my gear. She even fiddled with my earrings and took a long close look at my eye-shadow. Her breath was close enough to feel it on my skin as she held my head between her hands. When she stopped for a while, I thought she had given up and left. Some time later, I¡¯m lifted up and moved. I still believe I¡¯m somewhere inside her home as the time spent moving wasn¡¯t long. Not long after, I start to feel a warm rag being used to wipe down my body. I¡¯m left placed on a bed that, by the feel, has dry sheets, unlike the previous sweaty ones. ¡°I¡¯m back, where are you? You weren¡¯t in our room when I checked and it¡¯s time for dinner.¡±~Sophia ¡°I think I was moved to another room in the house somewhere. Just have dinner with the three of you. Your aunt will probably mention something covertly over the meal since she hid me. Just go along with her if it doesn¡¯t cause any trouble. You didn¡¯t want to let your mother know just how close we are quite yet after all.¡±~me ¡°Are you sure you aren¡¯t just having too much fun with my aunt? Fine, I really am not ready to let my mother know that her daughter is...intimate with another woman, one even that is supposed to be her servant.¡±~Sophia After a while, I once again can feel someone moving my body around. ¡°So, how did dinner go?¡±~me ¡°It was a pretty normal meal. Aunt was looking at me with a wry smile from time to time. She said that she would be borrowing you for a little while, that she had already gotten your permission to assist her with something.¡±~Sophia ¡°Oh, she probably wants some time to research my attire. She seemed quite interested in it after she failed to remove them.¡±~me ¡°Let me know if you start to feel too weak. If what I heard from my mother about her magic research, she can get quite carried away sometimes.¡±~Sophia Apparently I¡¯m going to be spending some quality time tied up with Sophia¡¯s aunt. Chapter 22: Discussions on magic Chapter 22: Discussions on magic ¡°Lilia, are you still sore? I thought you had already healed yourself.¡±~Sophia ¡°Three days! You left me in that state for a little over three days before finally freeing me on the morning of the fourth. Even if I heal myself, my body just doesn¡¯t have the nutrients available to make any real difference.¡±~me ¡°I didn¡¯t realize that my aunt would keep you for that long. I did manage to get you back this morning. Aunt Ellen¡¯s eyes nearly popped out when I simply untied you and the attire vanished. With all the questions she asked me about it afterwards, I don¡¯t think she is going to be satisfied with the few days of research she has already had.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, maybe we should find our own little place, just somewhere to stay at night on our own. Your mother would still be able to see you every day that way, but we would have some privacy. Ellen isn¡¯t an innocent young lady, her experienced hands wandered around from time to time, doing things other than simply investigating my attire.¡±~me ¡°Oh really?! How was it, did she manage to keep you satisfied? My mother insists that I am too young to be on my own. A wood elf¡¯s natural lifespan is about three hundred years, I¡¯m still just a toddler in comparison. Even with my father¡¯s human blood, my own natural lifespan is nearly two hundred years and lifespan increases for each stage of cultivation. Anyways, why did you ask me to keep the eye-shadow on?¡±~Sophia ¡°Training. I¡¯m forced to depend on my perception skills in order to get around without my sight. You don¡¯t know that you will always be able to see an enemy. They could try to sneak up on you or you could end up fighting in the dark.¡±~me ¡°No comment on my aunt¡¯s technique, huh? Well, at least the eye-shadow looks good on you. It¡¯s a clear sparkly look that makes your eyes seem to shine whenever you blink.¡±~Sophia ¡°Toddler huh. That means we probably won¡¯t be able to have much time on our own for several decades. Did you try to explain that my outfits are part of my curse and that she is unlikely to gain anything from studying them?¡±~me ¡°I did. My aunt is obsessed with enchantment research though. Well, any kind of magic research is likely to draw her interest. Mother wants us to go meet my grandmother in the capital. Aunt Ellen insisted on not losing her again and delayed her until she can make arrangements here to leave with us.¡±~Sophia ¡°I suppose this is just one of many conversations I¡¯ve missed? What else have I missed?¡±~me ¡°Most of the conversations with my aunt ended up with talk about magic and enchantments. A mage can scribe their spell runes on a suitable material and directly cast that spell by infusing their mana into it. It can decrease the time needed to cast, but the power is dependent on the material. Another mage could use the same enchanted material and get a completely different result. The reason seems to stem from the mage¡¯s understanding of the inscribed runes. If the mage using the enchantment doesn¡¯t fully understand it, it just won¡¯t work well. It has something to do with the fact that mana is mind power and the runes need the mage to understand them in order to properly guide the mana into the correct form. Otherwise the mana is incompatible. The spell could simply not work or in the worst case, blow up in their face. Most enchanted things currently available only have basic elemental runes which seem to work regardless of understanding. A flaming sword that will singe its user¡¯s eyebrows off, an arrow that shocks, and many other simple things. They are expensive to the degree that only nobles wanting to show off or researchers would ever buy them and they are usually too unwieldy to be useful.¡±~Sophia ¡°You sound pretty interested in the subject yourself considering how much you remembered. Perhaps enchanting isn¡¯t meant to be a thing in this world. Was it perhaps a hero who first came up with the idea to grant magic to items and call it enchanting?¡±~me ¡°Yup, it¡¯s interesting. Got it in one. A lot of the ideas from heroes bring improvements to our lives, but some of these ideas cause adverse situations as well.¡±~Sophia ¡°This seems broken somehow. A hero shouldn¡¯t be able to influence development too drastically since their memories are fuzzy and incomplete. I should ask Kat about this next time we talk. If she intends for magic to be the prevalent technology power route for her world, then some form of enchanting seems like it would be necessary. Maybe they just haven¡¯t found the correct method yet.¡±~me We spend about a week relaxing and making preparations for the trip to the elven capital. The capital of the elves is near the center of the forest. I managed to learn a few interesting things from Ellen. Not surprising, elves were the first to follow the mage path. They learned their first runes by studying the residual magic left in beast cores. For some of the magic inclined beasts, they would leave a vague image of the runes from the last magic they had used before death. The elves discovered this and began by copying, then developed their own combinations of runes. Their magic techniques were stolen by humans and eventually stolen from the humans by the demonkin. Me and Sophia spent our free time cultivating and shopping in the time we have before leaving for Aerylothniir, the capital of the elves. The capital of the dwarves is only a little farther to the north, in the Boknar mountain range. The beastkin don¡¯t have cities, they are more nomadic and only tend to gather into small tribal communities. Even when they choose to stay in a city, it is usually only because they have been cast out or they were chosen to represent them for trade because their tribe is nearby. The fairy race is elusive and rarely seen. Very little is known about them. It takes a few nights of prayer, but Kat finally invited me for a chat. ¡°It¡¯s exactly how you think. They just haven¡¯t figured out the proper method yet. I¡¯m not going to tell you the specifics because I want them to discover it on their own to build a solid foundation. Actually, there seems to be some progress happening in the elven capital on this matter. The magic of my world is able to be modernized into workable technology much more directly than some of those fantasy worlds you once read about. I spent a lot of time structuring my world¡¯s rules on magic to have scientific methods as a necessary part of development.¡±~Kat ¡°Guess that answers that. I had an idea for a new dungeon crystal you might find entertaining. I was also confused as to why the heroes all seem to be from the same generation of Earth even though they are summoned in intervals of no less than fifty years.¡±~me ¡°Oh, that¡¯s an interesting idea. I can definitely work something out that does that. The reason heroes all seem like they are from the same generation is because they are. The administrator of the Earth traded some of his excess souls to me a long time ago. Newer souls from a more mature world are stronger than souls born from a newer world. I¡¯ve been adding heroes to the world since its creation through my priests via summoning rituals in order to boost the quality of the inhabitants soul pool.¡±~Kat ¡°What do you mean a long time ago? How many souls did you trade for and do you mean that you use us as high quality breeders?¡±~me ¡°I got a few million souls from that trade. I performed the trade right before creating Aetheria, about four millennia ago. Although breeding is a fast method to produce numerous higher quality souls, it isn¡¯t required. Souls will be affected by those they interact with. Just having a higher quality soul in proximity is enough to give other souls a boost.¡±~Kat ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that; wasn¡¯t sure how I was supposed to tell you no otherwise. I figured that going back to Earth would be a no go, but I hadn¡¯t realized that so much time could have passed.¡±~me ¡°It¡¯s not impossible for you to go back if you really want. You just have to become powerful enough to make the trip. Anyone you knew would be long gone and it undoubtedly isn¡¯t the same as you remember.¡±~Kat ¡°Is there any possible use for sp beyond just using it for skills, traits and attributes? I hadn¡¯t known of crystals before, but now that I do, I can¡¯t help but think that I¡¯ll eventually be overflowing with sp.¡±~me ¡°Honestly, you pick one hell of a skill to acquire. The soul devourer skill draws its power from the laws of soul and assimilation. Because of that skill, you will have a shortcut into understanding those particular laws. There is no negative effect from having too much sp and I¡¯m certain you will find a use for the excess some day.¡±~Kat ¡°Thanks for the guidance. Would it be alright if I make it known that a great deal of time has passed to other heroes? Maybe not tell them the specifics, but let them know that enough time has passed that there is no point in them returning?¡±~me ¡°Sure. It might let them settle in more easily that way. About time for you to wake up. This is the second time you¡¯ve given me some useful information; I¡¯ll prepare a little something as thanks. Please look forward to it.¡±~Kat Chapter 23: Elven Capital Chapter 23: Elven Capital I can¡¯t help but be wary of what my reward from the Goddess might end up being. We left for the capital on a pair of domesticated wind wolves, a magical beast that is much faster than a horse and is capable of navigating the forest with ease. They are really comfortable to ride as well. A trip that would take a month on horse at a severe pace would only take us three weeks at a relaxed pace on these mounts. I only got to spend the first day riding behind Sophia before she forced me to ride in front so that I wouldn¡¯t be tempted to ease my boredom by feeling her up. I ended up admiring the wolf¡¯s fur that we were riding. I¡¯ll need to investigate these wolves a bit in secret once we arrive. Maybe it has some sort of soft fur trait I can acquire. From what I¡¯ve been told, I won¡¯t be particularly welcome in the elven capital. The surrounding elven communities have plenty of beastkin trading with them, but the capital precludes them for the most part from being present by enforcing rules that disallow them from buying property or gaining employment within the city. It isn¡¯t set this way as a form of discrimination, but to create an environment for the elves to develop their own culture without too much external influence or dependence. The only exceptions were servants under strict magical contract. My own curse more than met the minimum requirements for such contracts. When the city finally came into view, I couldn¡¯t help but be impressed. Everything looked elaborate and elegantly put together. When you live for a long time, good planning I guess is just in their nature. Before departing the inn from a nearby community, they each changed their outfits into some comfortable dresses to look nice for meeting Sophia¡¯s grandmother. I as well was wearing my maid uniform. ¡°Anything I should know before meeting grandmother?¡±~Sophia ¡°Nothing in particular, I don¡¯t believe she will dislike you due to your father. Sending an assassin to kill him is a possibility however, once we tell her about what happened to your mother all those years ago. Lilia would be welcomed as well, mother always was partial to cute furry animals. In fact, you may have to be somewhat vigilant of...well, you¡¯ll see.¡±~Ellen ¡°Mille!!! My daughter finally came back to me!¡±~grandmother A young looking woman suddenly appeared hugging Ellen and crying tears of joy as soon as we passed into Sophia¡¯s grandmother¡¯s estate. When we had passed through the city gates, I didn¡¯t get nearly the same sense of danger from the guards as I experienced right now and those guards were definitely mid stage four gauging by their energies. This elf seemingly teleported in front of us and sent my senses haywire. I¡¯ve never seen anything near her level of power and can¡¯t make an accurate estimate from her energy levels. Looking around the estate I think I¡¯ve managed to figure out what Ellen had meant earlier. There are at least a dozen house cats lazing around the property that I can see from the entrance. After much hugging and crying on both their parts, Sophia finally gets her introduction. ¡°Mother, it¡¯s good to see you once again. Let me introduce you to your granddaughter, Sophia. The little one hiding behind her is Lilia, her servant.¡±~Camille ¡°WHAT!! You are not nearly old enough to be making babies. A half-human? Given the recent events, why do I have a bad idea about just where you have been all these years. Oh, sorry dear. I¡¯m not at all unwelcoming of my own blood. Let me get a good look at you. You can just call me nana if you please.¡±~nana With that, nana hugged her warmly and I could see Sophia finally relax her tension about meeting her nana for the first time. My happy thoughts at seeing a family reunited plummeted when I saw that nana had noticed me while her hug put her head over Sophia¡¯s shoulder. Nana¡¯s eyes were glistening with a similar fanatical gleam that I had seen before. Now I know where Sophia inherited that particularity from. Just as I was about to seek a new hiding spot behind one of the others, my instinct told me to run, but it was already too late. Before I could even take my first step, I had been secured from behind firmly and my ears were being thoroughly stimulated. ¡°You said this cutie is called Lilia? She can stay as well. Let¡¯s all go into the house and have a long conversation about what has happened these past years you were missing, shall we?¡±~nana Nana only gave me a brief respite when she grabbed my and Sophia¡¯s hands to guide us into the house with a giggling sister duo following close behind. We end up in the sitting room, all three of us on a long couch with me in the middle. I¡¯ve been practically laid out on the couch between them. My ears are being mofu¡¯d by nana while Sophia has decided to stroke my tail. I tried and failed to offer to gather some refreshments and snacks. Ellen had done so instead with the incontestable reasoning that I didn¡¯t yet know where things were stored. She did so while wearing a smile that seemed to be laughing at my attempted escape. They talked for several hours about the things that had happened to them over the years. Somehow without my conscious notice, Sophia had scooted up next to her nana and I ended up laying face up over both their laps. Her nana had continued to mofu my ears and Sophia had switched to rubbing my belly. All while I was purring contentedly. I only noticed my new position when they finally decided to stop and rest for the night. ¡°You don¡¯t need to be so embarrassed. It was actually very cute how you ended up and it¡¯s not like you didn¡¯t have help getting to that position.¡±~Sophia ¡°No comment! Just go to sleep.¡±~me We drifted off once again in each others arms. Her nana didn¡¯t even make an attempt to show me to a separate room. She seemed to have convinced herself that I wouldn¡¯t need one of my own long before showing us our room and I am sure this wasn¡¯t a topic of their conversation. She had just smiled at us like she knew something and told us that this would be our room in her house from now on and to feel free to make any changes to it that we wanted. Since I had already revealed my inventory skill to her family, I pulled out the various luxury items I already had and redecorated the room. When we got up the next morning, I helped with breakfast preparation while managing to avoid mofu attempts other than the occasional head rub to reward my efforts. I convinced the others through Sophia to allow me to clean up on my own and that they should discuss what plans they might have moving forward since all they did last night was to talk about the past. It was decided that Sophia would need to attend the academy and that nana would guide Camille to focus on catching up on the years of missed training time during her captivity. Ellen would have to return to her post at Wynfel in a few days. After eating lunch, we went shopping to collect the necessary supplies Sophia would need for school and to get some missing essentials for her room. The aesthetic sense of elves was exceptional, perfectly fitting the cliche that elves love art. We ended up almost completely replacing her entire wardrobe. Once again, we also ended up in a novelty shop that Sophia noticed during our shopping spree. She bought something secret again and I managed to purchase some sound isolation enchantments that would work as long as the person charging the mana understood the runes involved. It is impossible to maintain a functional isolation spell while your mind is being sent into blissful oblivion. These crude enchantments would continue to operate so long as the mana is correctly charged. We would finally be able to get some privacy. At the very least, it would no longer matter how much noise we made while having fun. When the shopping was finally done, we stopped by the academy to register Sophia as a new student. Unlike most human schools that have age requirements, the academy only has lectures of various levels on a fixed schedule with time for questions included at the end of each. The only requirement is to pay the fees for each lecture that you attend. She took a placement exam to evaluate her current understanding and then signed up for the recommended lessons. I¡¯m given permission to attend alongside Sophia as her servant for a small additional fee and the understanding that I am not allowed to actively participate in the lessons. The lessons she signed up for included stage three magecraft, cultural studies, introduction to magescript, and basic math. Three of those courses are exactly what you think. The one about magescript is very interesting. Magescript as they call it, is the runes being written as a language of their own, using the same shape that the runes have to create language characters that can be used in writings that represent the intent of that rune. Runes written without being imbued by magic can be seen, but not comprehended in a way that would be helpful to a mage¡¯s comprehension and development. This is something the elves have developed as a means to more easily familiarize their young to the runes before they can even comprehend its intent as a mage. Simply brilliant! Highest level courses are purely theoretical and don¡¯t require a large fee to participate, but do require all lower level courses of that type be completed. There is even one for enchanting theory that would most definitely be the furthest along the correct path to true enchanting that Kat had mentioned in our last chat. I can only look forward to the time that Sophia can achieve that level. Chapter 24: Sophia’s birthday Chapter 24: Sophia¡¯s birthday The next set of lectures at the academy won¡¯t begin for a couple days. During this time, Sophia and I made use of the enchantment that I had bought and I found out that her birthday was the day before her lectures start. It was planned to be a family only party. The only living members of her family are just her nana, mother and aunt. What father? That fool is as good as dead. Ellen wasn¡¯t joking about nana sending an assassin to kill him. She really did send one and made no attempt to hide her actions. As luck would have it, Sophia¡¯s mystery purchase from that novelty store is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, just in time for her birthday. I found a possible gift that I will most likely regret later. It turns out that I was right about those wind wolves. I manage to sneak into their kennel one night for a taste. They did indeed have a trait for exquisite fur. It will only take me twenty soul potential to activate the trait. The answer as to whether it would affect my disguise set, is yes. It¡¯s integration with me is stupidly perfect, thus it will in fact be enhanced by this trait. I¡¯m slightly worried about my fate once activated. Sophia¡¯s nana has captured me for mofu time every day. I will end up curled up next to her during her afternoon tea while she pets my head and ears. When I tried to ask Sophia to remove the equipment when in the house because it wasn¡¯t necessary since her family all know I¡¯m not truly a catkin, I was met with a resounding NO! She didn¡¯t even bother to give a reasonable excuse such as someone might see. On the day of her birthday, various people showed up. Apparently, nana is not an ordinary person. Various important individuals either came themselves to offer a happy birthday to her granddaughter or sent a gift with their regards. Numerous pests began to hover around her. Her grandfather was actually a member of the high council. There are only three members of the high council that rule the elves at any given time. Nana herself once held a position as the council¡¯s magic advisor. She was, at one time, the best mage of the elves in other words. The present that I found for her was a young female winged wolf. An evolved version of the wind wolves we rode here on. A stage four magical beast. It had been domesticated since young, making it very easy for her to tame with her skill. The higher spirit energy played a significant role in the power of the taming skill just as I suspected. Normally, tamer at level one would not be able to tame such a high stage creature, even if it is docile to that person. It wasn¡¯t cheap either. I spent all of the money I had stored up in my inventory, even having to sell some of the luxury goods to supplement the missing portion and then selling a few more to have some spending money again. Once the party was concluded and the guests were sent away, me and Sophia retired to our room and she proceeded to take out the package from the novelty shop. ¡°What the hell?! Since when did this world possess silicone products?¡±~me ¡°What¡¯s silicone? This was made with an alchemy material called slime residue. They combine it with several other ingredients to make it firm yet pliable and squishy yet solid.¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, why is such an item here? Nevermind. It¡¯s definitely something a hero introduced.¡±~me ¡°Actually, the elves have been creating products that female couples could use for ages. It¡¯s not uncommon that during the long life of an elf, they might get curious. The whole marriage thing to a single dedicated partner just doesn¡¯t happen. When they desire a child, they will simply seek out a willing partner. Pleasure is similarly very open, although elves tend to lack the intense desire to procreate of humans. They tend to just satiate the desire when it occurs and then go back to business as usual.¡±~Sophia ¡°That still doesn¡¯t really explain where that came from. There weren¡¯t any items like that displayed in the shop.¡±~me ¡°Well, this one was actually custom made. I got the design from your attire¡¯s toy menu and asked the clerk if it could be made and what materials could be used. She introduced me to that alchemy material and showed me a catalog that contained her back room stock. Even such a shop won¡¯t put such indecent items out for display.¡±~Sophia Just in case you still can¡¯t figure it out, she had bought a dildo. The strap-on kind that has a small protrusion on the wearer¡¯s side meant to push against her clit whenever she thrusts by using the strap part as a lever. This design is meant so both parties can have a fun experience. We proceed to set down the sound isolation enchantment and clean our bodies. She brought out a second item from the package which is a new oil to try out. I¡¯m told to go all out with a deep tissue massage, but to heal her after so that she can move immediately. I had thought that she would be in an incompacitated state after receiving my massage, only to learn that the oil she had bought had properties to increase circulation, amplify stimulation and adds warmth to the body without being overwhelming. In other words, she is in great condition and I¡¯ve become a frustrated mess from using my hands so much. She helped me to rub enhancing oil onto my own body and took me to bed. I couldn¡¯t help but slightly tear up when my hymen was broken. Sophia gently caressed my head to comfort me and then showed an expression of confusion? ¡°I saw how much you liked to pet those wind wolves. The fur was so soft that I suspected that they had a trait that made it like that and I was right. I acquired the trait so that you could experience that fluffiness from me as well. Happy birthday. Do you like my gift?¡±~me ¡°Ah, were you jealous? I LOVE IT! The only problem with it is that my nana and perhaps even my mother will love it as well.¡±~Sophia ¡°Not that I don¡¯t enjoy the feeling of you petting my ears, but you were in the middle of something and I¡¯m no longer feeling any pain. You have school tomorrow, so you shouldn¡¯t stay up all night. Even though I can heal away our tiredness, it does not replace the need to get proper rest.¡±~me ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll send you into a dreamless sleep soon enough. Classes don¡¯t start immediately in the morning, giving us plenty of time for recovery.¡±~Sophia Slowly starting to rock her hips, she begins to send small jolts of pleasure into my body. She starts to experiment with alternating our positioning but seems clueless as to which is best. No doubt because she has no experience with the positions first hand, something I¡¯ll need to find an opportunity to rectify. After failing to find a better pose, we settle into missionary and she slowly begins to increase her speed, occasionally changing the angle. We only managed to finally go to sleep when Sophia could no longer rock her hips after a particularly intense orgasm. I¡¯ve long been incapable of moving on my own and we end up sleeping in each other¡¯s arms with her still inside of me. Waking up the next morning, I¡¯m still unable to move. Not due to still being beat up from last night, but because Sophia has her arms locked around me and I¡¯m still impaled by her toy. Once she finally wakes up, she slides out of me causing me to whimper slightly due to how sensitive and sore I am. Just before I can start healing myself, she warns me not to do so. Apparently, healing the body immediately after your first time will cause my hymen to also be healed. I have no choice but to endure the soreness or experience my first time all over again. Resigned to my fate, I settle for a small stamina blessing to boost my energy somewhat. Although it won¡¯t heal me quickly, the increase of energy will allow me to naturally heal faster. ¡°Mistress, did you remember that just now or was that something you could have told me before now?¡±~me ¡°Well, I knew beforehand, but I may have underestimated just how sore you truly would be. You can stay home for today if you wish.¡±~Sophia ¡°Not a chance. If I let you go to classes on your own, those flies that showed up at your party last night would be all over you. While I¡¯m not against you finding a mate to have children in the future, I will not allow those parasites to manipulate you into a political marriage.¡±~me ¡°What are you even saying. We are lovers aren¡¯t we? Why would I need to be with somebody else? Do you not want me anymore?¡±~Sophia ¡°Nothing of the sort. I really do enjoy being with you as your lover. It is only that I don¡¯t want you to feel confined by me or unable to bear children due to our relationship. My lifespan isn¡¯t limited like your own. You may one day wish to carry on your bloodline through children, while I can simply carry on living.¡±~me With that said, I¡¯m given a hug by Sophia and told that she is not worried at all about children. I accept her decision and we make our way to her first class after breakfast. Escaping nana once she discovered my exquisite fur was somewhat troublesome. Chapter 25: First day of lessons Chapter 25: First day of lessons ¡°Based on how intense nana¡¯s eyes were sparkling, you are in for a rough time from now on. Starting to regret getting that trait now?¡±~Sophia ¡°No. Just somewhat annoyed. Even I can admit that my fur and hair is really nice to touch now. What exactly are we supposed to learn in your first class. I thought your mother had already taught you Elven culture when you were young, including the language. Though I am not yet fluent with the language, I can read it after studying a few books from your father¡¯s library. It is only a matter of time until I can understand it completely.¡±~me ¡°Parents are expected to give their children that much of a basic education. Cultural studies is a class for etiquette and mannerisms. It teaches a formal way of using the language as well as how to present oneself.¡±~Sophia ¡°Ugh. I thought you would be done with such things now that your father is out of the picture.¡±~me ¡°Nana is apparently an important person. Mother told me that I should take the course so that I would not be easily put down by others. I also don¡¯t have any aversion to such lessons, unlike some people.¡±~Sophia ¡°Maybe they have a library I can visit during your lesson?¡±~me ¡°Nonsense. You will obviously have to attend with me to stave off parasites. Especially since I went to the trouble of obtaining permission. Who else could possibly be my dance partner otherwise?¡±~Sophia ¡°Dance...partner¡­...¡±~me *giggles* ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much and have fun with it. You are a great dancer and you learn really fast.¡±~Sophia We make it to the first lesson just before the teacher shows up. The classroom is a large room with some chairs along the walls. There are various instruments off to one side and each of the students receive various books. They are asked which instrument they wish to play and given the corresponding book, also receiving books for formal dress, dining, speaking and dancing. Much to my relief, only after the first few have gained an acceptable mastery with an instrument will the dancing lessons begin. There are eight students in the class, three boys and five girls. While Sophia is trying to learn how to play what appears to be a harp, I sit off to the side and memorize her new books. It isn¡¯t necessary to remove my eye-shadow to read. The second sight skill gives vision in meters at a radius of the square-root of, its level times my spirit energy. Then square-root that number again for the range that the skill operates at perfect clarity. Vision gradually degrades as it gets further out. At level one I could see perfectly at about five meter distance and thirty-one meters max with the skill. My current level two allows me to see perfectly for about six meters and out to forty-four meters max distance. It doesn¡¯t work like some sort of x-ray vision either. I can¡¯t see through obstructions, although once the skill evolves I¡¯ve read that it does so long as the obstruction doesn¡¯t have an energy boundary. In other words, I would be able to see through ordinary walls, but not through walls saturated with one of the five energy types or even clothing since it tends to saturate with excess qi and mana from the wearer. The following class, basic math, is quite boring. I make sure to memorize Sophia¡¯s books on the subject so that I can help her with it, but math has been advanced quite a lot already due to the numerous heroes that have been summoned. I¡¯ve been able to remember basically everything math related up through high school level; addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, powers, roots, basic algebra, basic trigonometry, basic geometry, and even some basic physics. After the math lesson is an hour long lunch break. Stage three magecraft is the third lesson for the day. I managed to learn a lot more stage three runes that I hadn¡¯t known before from the provided books. The books for this particular class were the most expensive, multiple times more than the other classes combined. This is due to the fact that only a stage three mage could scribe such books containing complete runes. Introduction to magescript is just as amazing as I had thought it would be. I notice from the lesson books that there are some runes I haven¡¯t yet learned from stage four. There are at least a dozen stage three runes I am missing even after memorizing the runes from the last lesson¡¯s books. Several dozen stage two runes are also unknown to me as well as many more stage one runes. ¡°Mistress, I think I would enjoy using this magescript as my primary language from now on.¡±~me ¡°Seriously? I think it¡¯s probably a good thing then that I can always just understand your intent. I absolutely hate magescript. It isn¡¯t even a complete language yet.¡±~Sophia ¡°That¡¯s true, but you can somewhat see what the language is missing because of that, which allows you to predict to a certain extent what the magic runes we use currently are lacking.¡±~me ¡°I don¡¯t follow. Why is it a good thing to know what is lacking?¡±~Sophia ¡°The primary thing lacking in the language is descriptive characters such as numbers, shape, and actions. Right now we can only determine the scale of a magic by how much mana we pour into it, its shape is determined by mentally manipulating the mana, and the action such as moving a fire towards the target by positioning are mana in that direction. All of these extra things use up more mana than the spell itself cost to cast and places a heavy burden on the caster¡¯s mind.¡±~me ¡°Wait. Aren¡¯t these factors also the reasons why an enchantment won¡¯t work for a person that doesn¡¯t properly comprehend it?¡±~Sophia ¡°Bingo! Last time I talked to Kat, she told me that there are things missing from current enchantments that would allow them to work for anybody. I already had an idea of what was missing before, but this lesson about magescript made things incredibly obvious. The only thing that has me confused is how we¡¯re supposed to figure out the missing runes without an example given.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m sorry. You may have to wait until I reach a higher level so that you can attend some of the highest level lessons with me. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that you must be an elf to attend the lessons here, you could definitely skip much further ahead.¡±~Sophia ¡°It¡¯s no trouble. If there is one thing I have more than enough of, it¡¯s time. Can we purchase the lesson books for the lower levels of magecraft? I noticed that I was missing quite a few runes while reading through the books on magescript. It will benefit you as well to learn the missing runes that Sven did not know.¡±~me ¡°Do we have enough money? You must have spent quite a lot on that birthday present, right?¡±~Sophia ¡°There¡¯s enough. To supplement our pocket money after I purchase your birthday presents, I exchanged a few of our more common luxury items that can be bought again through local merchants. I¡¯m surprised that there weren¡¯t nearly as many flies buzzing around you during the lessons as I had thought there would be.¡±~me ¡°You may have a lot of time, but elves aren¡¯t that lacking in time either. I¡¯m certain they are just biding their time to approach at the most ideal moment. Don¡¯t let them have any openings. I¡¯m sure they would approach me to help in any small way: let me share their book during a lesson, let me copy their notes, or correct my mistakes.¡±~Sophia ¡°We should ask your nana if she has a library or at least if she happens to have some books that would be relevant to your current lessons. She has read from a different book every day at each of her tea times, so I¡¯m sure she has books somewhere in her house.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯ll be sure to ask nana about the books when we get home. Let¡¯s wait on buying the lesson books for now. We might be able to fill the gaps with the books at home.¡±~Sophia Having decided on a plan, we make our way home for the day. As expected, I¡¯m almost immediately dragged off by nana to accompany her for her daily tea time. Sophia tags along and learns the locations of nana¡¯s library after having tea while chatting with nana for a short time. I¡¯m left with nana while Sophia leaves to find the library. She kept me informed about what she found via our link. From her description, the library is quite large. I¡¯d expect nothing less from an elf that is several hundred years old. Shortly after nana¡¯s tea time, I helped to make dinner and then me and Sophia spent the rest of the evening in the library after dinner was cleaned up. I immediately started memorizing the sections about magic and other useful topics while Sophia seems to have found the drama story section. Epics, legends, romance novels and other such material doesn¡¯t interest me much. I¡¯ve read plenty of such novels in my previous life. What I found somewhat strange was that Sophia had started practicing a spell she found in one of those books. From what I could deduce after memorizing the spell while she practiced, it seemed like a peculiar, vigor-type healing spell. When I asked her what it was for, she would only tell me that she would let me know later. Yeah, I would find out all right! Tonight would be interesting¡­ Once again that night, I¡¯ve been positioned in an awkward pose while equipped with a familiar bondage harness complete with gag, silence effect earrings and cuffs. She placed the spell she had learned earlier on each of my breasts. When I didn¡¯t notice any immediate change, I assumed that it must have some sort of touch enhancing effect. I didn¡¯t focus on it too long as Sophia managed to distract me from thinking further by playing around with the rest of my body. It was only after she had already started pounding me with her strap-on that she finally confirmed my earlier assumption. When she finally touched my breasts during intercourse, I finally noticed that they were much more tender and enlarged than any previous occasion. I only found out that the enhanced sensation was just a side effect when I experienced some strange new sensation as she brought her head down to suck on my nipples. My attempt to question her about the new sensation is blown away as she induced me into my next round of orgasms. Chapter 26: Making friends Chapter 26: Making friends My consciousness begins to stir the next morning, snapping me out of oblivion. Due to the fact that I¡¯m still bound, I can only make that assumption based on the fact that my curse is indicating that Sophia is about to awaken. She must have fallen asleep last night without releasing me. ¡°Mistress. Misss-stresss. Mistress!¡±~me ¡°Mmm, wha..? Why are you so noisy this morning? Let me sleep for five more minutes.¡±~Sophia ¡°Good morning, Mistress. Did you sleep well?¡±~me ¡°Except for the rude awakening, yes.¡±~Sophia ¡°Well, that makes one of us then.¡±~me ¡°...OH, MY, GOD! I¡¯m soooo sorry. I really didn¡¯t mean to leave you like that. Before I even realised it, I had already fallen asleep. I¡¯ll get you out of that immediately.¡±~Sophia It doesn¡¯t take long to release me, as she has become adept at using my attire menu. I take a minute to heal myself and gave both of us a stamina boost before inquiring about the spell used last night. It¡¯s just as I had suspected before I was interrupted from having any further thoughts by Sophia¡¯s intense affections. ¡°So, I can see that the spell you used managed to induce me to lactate and fairly quickly too. Might I ask why you decided that it was a good idea to do that? Did you read some sort of book about motherhood and wanted to experiment?¡±~me ¡°NO! I¡¯ve already told you that I won¡¯t even consider such things for at least one hundred years. It was a romance novel I¡¯ll have you know, about a mother and her child¡¯s wet nurse. Wet nurses are extremely common for elves, we just don¡¯t produce much milk naturally. After some time, a mage developed a spell to induce lactation. For some reason, they decided to include that spell in the book using magescript. I already knew the runes and just wanted to see if I could use a spell learned through magescript without first writing it out as runes. When you got nosy about what I was doing, I decided that you needed a bit of punishment. Trying the spell out on you was a thought that only occurred at that moment. However, I didn¡¯t expect it to be so tasty¡­¡±~Sophia ¡°Ugh, dropped a rock on my own foot there. It¡¯s nice to know that even spells can be taught with magescript though. That gives me a good idea of how to restructure your mage lessons. I guess ¡®tasty¡¯ means that the spell will be a frequent event during our nights together?¡±~me ¡°Oh, yes! It had a delicious nectar-like sweetness that caused my whole body to become hot and full of energy when it reached my stomach. The consistency was like hot honey that tantalized my tongue and soothed my throat. Basically, it was simply a very luxurious snack! There¡¯s no way I could deny myself that. What is your idea for my mage lessons?¡±~Sophia ¡°It was probably my vampire and blood demon bloodlines that cause you to feel hot, a result of increased blood circulation perhaps. Dragon bloodline probably gave it the thicker consistency and dryad probably made it sweet. The nutrition value is undoubtedly absurd, probably why you fell asleep so easily last night. I¡¯ll jot down my idea about the mage lessons and let you know when it¡¯s completed. It won¡¯t really do you any good to think on it for now. Just focus on your current lessons.¡±~me What I want to do with the mage lessons is to compile runic almanacs for each stage of runes and a grimoire for each element of magecraft that details the basic spells for all stages of that element. Each elemental grimoire would include at least one spell at the appropriate stage for each rune of that type to demonstrate the usage of them. The almanacs would be indexed with page number and alphabetised using the elven translation for each rune. An entire page would be dedicated to perfectly depicting each and every rune. Grimoires would be written with magescript replacing the runes in each spell and include detailed descriptions of what each spell is intended to do and how each rune affects it. This would drastically reduce the amount of magic ink that is used when creating mage spell books. It would be a simple matter to create specialized grimoires this way for things like household magics, auxiliary spells, crafting essentials and so on. The basic lesson would include a primer for the six basic elements and how they interact with each other: fire, air, water, earth, light and shadow. Intermediate level would be focused on individual elements at the higher stages leading to specific spell branches: earth terrain magics, water healing, sound spells, etc. Advanced would start to introduce multi-elemental spell branches such as: illusions, magma, explosion, swamp, etc. Master level would be tri-elemental or even more complex magics: lightning, ice, nature, mind, etc. This way a mage can learn theory long before they have the actual ability for the stage of magic they have learned opening up the more advanced magics to be analyzed and theorised by a much larger number of people. I had planned to start creating the books for my reorganization of the magic system during Sophia¡¯s lessons, but I ended up being volunteered by the culture instructor to participate. Student participation is not what he had in mind however and Sophia had agreed before she found out what had been meant. Tea server is my role in today¡¯s etiquette lesson. I¡¯m to prepare and serve tea to the class in order for them to practice proper mannerisms for a tea party. Sophia wanted to object, but I told her that it was too late and improper to recend her agreement. I didn¡¯t want her to be criticized for such a small matter even though I can tell that the instructor had planned this by his smirking face. As expected, he started to barrate me as soon as I started serving tea. Something about serving the most powerful person in the room first was his reasoning. Sophia took great pleasure insulting him while telling him how very wrong he was. ¡°Teacher, I don¡¯t think that you are the most powerful in the room, not in raw power or prestige unless you are saying that your position as teacher places you higher than the rest of us.¡±~Sophia ¡°Nonsense! I am the nephew of a current city lord of one of the capital¡¯s satellite cities.¡±~teacher ¡°Oh wow. City lords must be very influential. So I don¡¯t make another such mistake, could you tell me how my status as the granddaughter of two previous council members including a high council member and the council¡¯s magic advisor compares?¡±~Sophia ¡°Uh, well...that would definitely be the highest prestige of anybody in this room, but raw power is what a servant that doesn¡¯t know the status of people being served should decide the order by. I am the highest in this regard as a peak third stage mage. The mana levels I can sense from the rest of you is mid third stage at most.¡±~teacher ¡°If raw power is the deciding factor, then Lilia can serve in whatever order she likes or at least in whichever order I decide. After all, she is a fourth stage mage and as my servant, she can be considered to be an extension of my own power.¡±~Sophia ¡°FOURTH STAGE?!!!¡±~the whole class I completely unsuppress my strength which results in many wide eyed exclamations and I watch on as the teacher fumbles with his next words before finally admitting his defeat. With the battle of words being won and Sophia adequately appeased with a smug smile on her face, the rest of the lesson proceeds smoothly without any further attempts to belittle the servant, whom they have now discovered to be much stronger than all of them. When I overheard one of the boys muttering something under his breath about his task of courting a certain girl being much harder now, I take special note of the individual and warn Sophia about his intentions via our link. The next lesson on math goes smoothly. I can be considered one of the most talented people in this world in regards to math just due to the memories I¡¯ve retained on the subject. I can feel that I once knew even more advanced math, but everything that hasn¡¯t yet spread in this world was erased. What I retained has allowed me to tutor Sophia well beyond what the instructor is teaching the class. Sophia is ¡®snipe invited¡¯ by the other four girls from her culture class to have lunch together. Unable to give any good excuse to turn them down, we make our way to a nearby restaurant together. The girls asked many questions, some that somewhat annoyed Sophia: ¡°How did you get such a powerful servant, was she a gift from your grandmother?¡± ¡°Did you have to spend a lot of time training her?¡± ¡°Does she know any tricks?¡± ¡°Why haven¡¯t I ever heard her say anything?¡± ¡°Could I buy her from you?¡± ¡°Can I touch her ears?¡± Sophia is turning red in anger and embarrassment. ¡°Now now, Mistress. Don¡¯t get too angry at them. Their questions may seem rude, but I can sense no maliciousness from their intents. They really are just curious and a little bit jealous.¡±~me ¡°Fine! How do I answer their questions, though. Some of them are personal for you.¡±~Sophia ¡°Answer the first simply saying that I trained and that I¡¯ve been cursed to either be a servant or suffer being as weak as a baby forever. The next one can be answered with a simple yes or you could even be suggestive with your answer by saying that you spent many nights training me. I know many tricks to make you happy and satisfied. Mute curse and unable to be sold. As for the ears, I¡¯ll leave it up to you. However, if the answer is yes, I suggest you invite them over during one of the days off from lessons instead of allowing it here. We may not be on time to our next lesson if they¡¯re allowed right now.¡±~me The girls are somewhat saddened when they¡¯re told about me being cursed which lets Sophia release some of her earlier anger. Surprisingly, she followed my advice to use the much more suggestive phrasing which puts many glimmering stars into their eyes. Much more relaxed than before and right after telling them they can¡¯t pet me right now, she invites them all over during the next day off. With matters regarding myself out of the way, Sophia managed to enjoy her lunch while chatting about various other topics such as fashion, the latest romance novel and which shops have the best things. The remainder of the day breezed by. It would seem as though word has spread that Sophia has a fourth stage guardian by her side and not to mess with her. We only had to deal with a few incidents of pests that are too dumb to matter anyways. Sophia was ready to let me have my way with her that night as an apology for the previous night¡¯s matter. I ask that it be moved to another night of my choosing and tell her that I just want to cuddle for tonight and get some much needed sleep. She agreed and we soon arrived in dreamland while holding each other. Chapter 27: Sleepover bonding Chapter 27: Sleepover bonding The next two days are spent in much the same manner as the last. We spend lunchtime with the girls each day now and it was decided that Sophia will be hosting a sleepover during the two free days instead of just spending one day off together. She has taken a questionable liking to my breast milk and suckles from me nearly every night. Today is a day off. The weeks here are only six days long. There are five weeks in a month and three hundred sixty days in a year. Time in a day is divided just like my old world and sundials are a thing here. Humans have stubbornly stuck to the calendar brought over by heroes with seven day weeks. I prefer the Elven version of the calendar because it¡¯s much simpler to remember. I¡¯ve been here a little more than nine months now. We had been in the last days of winter when the summoning took place and Sophia¡¯s birthday is the last day of fall. Lessons are twelve weeks long each season, leaving a three week break between. The names of the days are the same as the six basic elements. Work days in order are: Earthday, Waterday, Airday, Fireday and the free days are Lightday and Darkday. Months and weeks are simply described as which month of the season it is or week number. Year is just a number since the system was implemented a little more than nine hundred years ago. Today¡¯s date would be the first month of winter, first week, Lightday of the nine hundred twenty-first year. Me and Sophia are shopping this morning to pick up some things for the sleepover. I want to get some sweets from a local bakery and some games from an entertainment shop one of the girls had mentioned. We also stopped by the novelty goods store so that I can place an order. I want to replace her ball gag with that silicone-like alchemy material of a harder variant. I also drew up something new and was relieved when the shopkeeper confirmed that it could be made. It would take some time however, so I told her to just deliver the items when they were both completed. Sophia bought the beastkin sets for wolf, fox, bunny, deer and pony. She picked out the wolf set for herself that was based on the variant wolf known as a poison fang. They have green fur and a poisonous bite. It matched her hair well. Our sleepover tonight was now a costume event. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Lilia? You¡¯ve been frowning ever since we left the shop just now. Aren¡¯t you happy to get new things?¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, it¡¯s not that. We are starting to run low on funds again and I¡¯ve nearly run out of the more easily obtainable luxury items to sell.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯ll just ask nana for some spending money then. She already told me to do so if I find myself needing it. If you feel bad about using nana¡¯s money then we can use the three weeks of break to visit the local dungeon city to the north. It would normally take two weeks just to get there and back again, but we could cut it down to one day each way if we ride Trixy.¡±~Sophia Trixy is the name she gave to her winged wolf. It would be cold to fly during the last couple of weeks of winter. I¡¯d have to spend even more money on winter gear. No matter what, I¡¯m going to have to use some of nana¡¯s money to get us through. ¡°That sounds like a good plan. As long as the girls can use flying mounts, why not invite them to join us? We¡¯d have a typical full team of six that way.¡±~me ¡°OH! I like that idea. Let¡¯s make sure to find out their specialties when they come over. Both of us are mages and archers as well. You could fill the role of rogue if necessary.¡±~Sophia We make our way back to the house and Sophia¡¯s classmates arrived shortly after. It doesn¡¯t take long before they¡¯ve settled in and I end up sprawled across their laps so they can all get to pet me. My rescue comes in the form of Camille telling them that lunch is ready. I had been ready to prepare the meals for their sleepover, but Camille insisted that I wouldn¡¯t have time to cook while seeing to the girls¡¯ needs. Her words had confused me until I realized what she really meant just now after having been incapacitated for the last several hours by those ¡®needs¡¯. We all settled on the floor of Sophia¡¯s room with a low table and pillows all around to play some games after lunch. My rescue at nana¡¯s tea time didn¡¯t come. She apparently already decided to forfeit me for the day so the girls could enjoy. The one day I actually wouldn¡¯t mind, of course she would decide to give me a break. Things started to mostly settle down after dinner. Normal conversation about everyday life, classes and shopping had taken place until it was time to dress for bed. I had set out a large bedding spread on the floor so the girls could all sleep together. We all got into the bath together and I ended up giving each of them a massage after Sophia, when she bragged about how good it felt. They each picked out a massage oil from the shelf and I ended up more frustrated than ever before, not even noticing which oils the last couple girls had picked. Sophia stayed behind with me, giving the excuse of needing to reward me. After giving such a suggestive remark, the girls reluctantly left the bathroom and she helped me relieve my pent up frustration. Sophia put on her night-wear as well as the wolfkin set she had purchased before we left the bathroom. The girls can¡¯t help but squeal in delight while asking where she managed to find it. Smiling, she pulled out the remaining four sets and handed them out while telling them all about the novelty shop she found them in. One girl frowned, seemingly familiar with what that shop truly was, but still wore the foxkin set presented to her. As we started to make our way over to the bedding, I caught a whiff of something that caused me to go wide-eyed. Before I could even warn Sophia, my body is already acting on its own. I pushed the fox ear girl down on the bedding and started thoroughly licking up that tantalizing scent. From the corner of my eye, I notice that pony and bunny have started to touch themselves and deer is looking on stunned with a beat red face. Sophia is only surprised by my actions for a moment before she realized what had happened. She quickly takes out the sound isolation enchantment and sets it up, not even slightly tempted to stop things. ¡°Sofy, why did she suddenly jump on me and start licking?! I¡¯m starting to feel strange. Can you have her stop?¡±~fox ¡°It¡¯s your fault for picking out the catnip infused massage oil. How do you propose I make her stop? She would be miserable if I pulled her off you while you smell like that. She¡¯s unlikely to regain her senses until tomorrow morning and is the strongest person in this room.¡±~Sophia ¡°Wait! You aren¡¯t going to just let things happen are you?!¡±~fox ¡°The bottles of oils were clearly marked. If you bothered to read them, you would have noticed that your bottle as well as the bottles of the other two making out next to you were clearly marked as pleasure oils. You might want to take your clothes off yourself before she ends up ripping them. She won¡¯t be satisfied until every bit of that oil has been licked off your body.¡±~Sophia She makes a few attempts to get away before she noticed that I¡¯m much stronger than her and reluctantly shed her clothes to save them from my fervorous actions. Deer girl has long since been affected by our actions and is now touching herself. Sophia gently kisses her while guiding her to the bed and partners up with her for the night. I wake up the next morning to the sound of someone opening the door saying, ¡°breakfast is rea...OH!¡± Then she shut the door and I drift back to sleep until Sophia starts to wake. I get up after healing myself and quietly help her get ready. ¡°Lilia, why aren¡¯t we waking the others and sneaking around by ourselves?¡±~Sophia ¡°Mistress, they¡¯ll probably need another hour to wake up on their own. That was likely their first time after all. Don¡¯t you remember how sore you were the first time we made love? I helped you get ready first because we missed breakfast.¡±~me ¡°I suppose it can¡¯t hurt for them to sleep a little bit longer. Do you think they will be mad when they wake up? Why is it significant that we missed breakfast? We wind up missing meals all the time when we¡¯re together.¡±~Sophia ¡°The girl you were with has no reason to be upset since she picked a normal oil, cat-bait had it coming so should only get frustrated with me, and the other two might be upset for a little while until you find a way to appease them. As for why missing breakfast is significant. Normally when we skip meals, we tell them so from the covers of the bed. This morning, your mom walked into the room to invite us to breakfast and witness her daughter and five other naked girls laying around the room, apparently having had an orgy the previous night. Good luck in the coming conversation.¡±~me ¡°OH SHIT! Not how I wanted mother to find out about us, but at least now I have a great excuse to start the conversation. Let¡¯s go down and talk to her before the others wake up.¡±~Sophia Chapter 28: Aftermath Chapter 28: Aftermath The conversation with Sophia¡¯s mother went surprisingly well. She had apparently had her own fun with girlfriends when she was young as well. Without even batting an eyelash, she gave Sophia a few tips and pointed out the existence of some specialty shops as well. When Sophia mentioned that the events last night had been an accident due to the girls not being careful picking out massage oils, she simply shrugged her shoulders and said that she would inform nana so she wouldn¡¯t be taken unaware of any blowback. Sophia went back to her room to look after the girls and I started making some food. I reheated the food from breakfast and made some sandwiches with it and left it on the stove to keep warm. ¡°Mistress, I gotta say, your family is much more...nonchalant than I could have imagined.¡±~me ¡°I did tell you that elves were very open about sex. Your jaw dropped expression while we were talking was amusing.¡±~Sophia ¡°If it is as simple as that, why all the reluctance to tell her before?¡±~me ¡°It¡¯s still an embarrassing thing to talk to my mother about.¡±~Sophia ¡°Food is ready. I reheated the food from breakfast and made brunch for all of you.¡±~me After Sophia informed me that the girls are waking up, I make my way back to them. I go through them one by one and give them a light healing. We all get into the bath to get cleaned up from last night and I show each of the girls just what it was they had picked out from the oil shelf. Once again, I give each of them a massage. They are careful which oils they pick out this time however. When it comes time to reward my services, none of the girls are willing to leave. Sophia ends up telling them about another one of my curses and I end up being rewarded by all of them. I communicate with Sophia to leave me here to recover and have them all go down to eat brunch. After some convincing, they all leave the room to go eat. I take a moment to recover as I lay on the massage bench, currently unable to move. Right before I start to heal myself, fox girl came back in. She looked at me for a minute as though debating something in her mind. Then she came over and sat down beside me with a slight blush. I noticed her eyes gain a look of determination just before she leans down to give me a deep kiss. Her tongue reaches into my mouth that was already hanging open from shock and proceeded to dance around in my mouth. When I start to feel as though I might suffocate, she finally comes up for air. As I lay there shocked with a blank expression she whispers to me, ¡°I¡¯m not mad about last night. Let¡¯s do it again some time.¡± I snap-to when I hear a whooshing sound as she flees, and I am once again left alone in the bathroom. ¡°Mistress, I don¡¯t think you need to worry about fox girl being mad.¡±~me ¡°Really, why do you say so? She disappeared on me when we all went for brunch. Thanks, by the way. They all really enjoy it. Her name is Tiffany, just so you know. The one who was wearing the pony set was Amy and the younger girl with her last night was Britney, Brit for short. Jill is the other girl.¡±~Sophia ¡°Tiff was just here. She gave me a deep kiss, said some suggestive things and then ran away.¡±~me ¡°Wow! Giving her a nickname already, huh? Did you just get a new girlfriend? Should I be worried? Speaking of nicknames, is it fine to call you Lily from now on? I¡¯d also like you to call me Sofy.¡±~Sophia ¡°Ha ha. I can feel your teasing tone. I¡¯m good with Lily and I can agree to think of you as Sofy, but I insist on continuing to address you as Mistress, or Miss if you like?¡±~me ¡°Still can¡¯t win that argument, huh? Well at least I¡¯ve made progress. We don¡¯t need to worry about the other three either. Jill has been quite clingy with me since she woke up and it turned out that Brit had picked out those oils for Amy and herself knowing full well what they were. It¡¯s been quite fun watching the two of them sorting things out during our meal. Ah, Tiff just came back.¡±~Sofy ¡°Sounds like everything worked out okay. Want to go ahead and invite them to explore the dungeon during the break? Three of them have larger qi pools than mana. Odds are we can at least get one more fighter and a couple archers. That would leave us with two mages and myself.¡±~me ¡°Wait a minute, I¡¯ll check.¡±~Sofy ¡°We¡¯re all set. Brit and Amy are trained in the use of sword-shield combos, Jill is from a notable family of archers and Tiff is a mage. I can complement the roles of mage/archer and you can fill the roles of scout/healer. They all are at stage three and have access to flying mounts. All of them are excited to go and said their families will have no problem with it since there will be a stage four going with them.¡±~Sofy ¡°Have them confirm things with their families. Let them know that I¡¯d be willing to prove my ability if it is necessary and that they should make adequate preparations for the trip. Up to three weeks in the dungeon and two days of travel in the cold air on flying mounts. They should prepare small packs with a few essentials that they will each need and let them know that they¡¯ll all be allotted one cubic meter of inventory space for extra gear.¡±~me ¡°You¡¯re willing to let others know about your inventory? Well, I guess it isn¡¯t too uncommon and a stage four having one does make it less unusual than when you were stage three.¡±~Sofy During our conversation, I¡¯ve healed myself and once again bathed. I think this is my third bath in less than twelve hours or is it my fourth? Now that she mentioned it, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d particularly mind having another go with Tiff, in a proper state of mind of course. She has a soft body with an average six foot height, cute round face, generous cleavage, curvy waist, slender toned limbs, sexy long legs, wavy blue hair and the most startling piercing blue eyes. The other girls have pretty good looks as well. Jill is much more reserved than the rest, a shy and quiet type of girl. She has a small lolita build, but is still taller than me by a lot and isn¡¯t flat as a board like the term lolita would usually make you think. Her crimson red hair spells trouble though. I somehow get the feeling that crimson is this world¡¯s version of gingers. As close neighbors, Amy and Brit grew up together having looks a little above the average with spry athletic bodies. Amy has pink colored hair and eyes. Brit¡¯s are purple. I can¡¯t help but associate her with the typical isekai stories that depict purple-haired beauties as chaotic troublemakers after what she did to Amy last night. On the next free day after our sleepover, I had to duel with Tiff¡¯s father to prove my ability before he would consent to our trip. Sofy had the other girls each invite over one of their parents so we might only need to do this once. Tiff¡¯s father was also a fourth stage mage, but had much higher attributes than myself. He¡¯s probably at the peak of fourth stage. Using my dragon¡¯s perception to watch his energies, I was able to accurately predict what spells he was going to cast. I could only just barely hold him off by using spells of the right counter-element for his spells. The duel only ended when we had both used up most of our mana. He gave me a slight nod and turned to Tiff, voicing his approval. Tiff shrieked with glee, gave him a hug and then ran over to me. She practically threw herself on me while rambling about how amazing our duel was and then proceeded to press her lips to mine while locking me in place by holding the back of my neck. I couldn¡¯t help but stare up at her dazed for a time, even after she had already released me. When I managed to come back to myself, I¡¯m currently being pet by a beaming Tiff as the parents are conversing with each other about the duel, seemingly not at all concerned with our earlier display. It takes me another week to finish with my redesign of the magic system. That evening in the library, I show it to Sofy and explain how it works. She read through a few pages and skims through more before closing the books and dragging me out of the room. ¡°Mistress, where are we going and why the rush?¡±~me ¡°To see nana. Sorry for pulling you along so fast. I¡¯m just excited.¡±~Sofy ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡±~me ¡°Argh! That comment makes me want to pinch your cheeks. What you made is amazing. This could revolutionize the whole magic system, not just helping me study. Hold on for a second while I speak with nana.¡±~Sofy *knock knock* We arrived at nana¡¯s study and Sofy knocked on the door. I stood to the side rubbing my now sore cheeks. She had followed through with her earlier words. ¡°Come in.¡±~nana We stepped inside her office and Sofy starts to explain that I¡¯ve created a new system for magic learning to nana, who simply raises her brow and looks to me. As I hand over the first couple of books, she takes a few minutes to look through them before looking up at me to ask if there is more. I pulled out the almanacs for the stages of runes up through the fourth and the various grimoires that I had written. She finishes skimming through them and looks up at me again with sparkling eyes. There¡¯s no more books written yet, so I respond with a small shake of my head before pulling out the diagram I¡¯ve made that details the books still needing to be written. It outlines each stage of knowledge including a sort of tech tree that describes what prerequisites are needed and even has a section off to the side reserved for the missing runic knowledge that I¡¯ve labeled as manipulators. My precious work was confiscated by nana with the promise of returning it after a few days. ¡°Don¡¯t look so glum. Nana is only borrowing them for a little while, not stealing them. She likely wants to have copies for herself made through the magic department¡¯s resources. Although she retired from her position as the council¡¯s magic advisor, she still works in the department as one of the leaders. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if your books begin to show up in my mage lessons in the future.¡±~Sofy ¡°But now what are we supposed to do for the rest of our night, Mistress. I had planned to start teaching you with those books during our free time until class resumes on Earthday. It¡¯s only the evening of Fireday now.¡±~me ¡°You are just looking for an excuse to use the new toy that got delivered today. The one you ordered the last time we were out. I already would have agreed without the roundabout way of asking. It must be something special since they even returned our money with extra as a thanks for the design.¡±~Sofy ¡°YAY! Fufufu...don¡¯t expect to get out of bed until Earthday!¡±~me Chapter 29: Sofy’s lament Chapter 29: Sofy¡¯s lament Sofy¡¯s POV: I had no idea what sort of monster I had just given my permission to. I already knew she was deadly with a rope and yet, here I was once again giving her the go ahead to use some unknown new toy on me. I was somewhat relieved when she opened the package to reveal a new ball gag that was made of that slime alchemy material and a strap-on with a slightly different design from the one I had made. She placed the items next to the bed along with her rope, blindfold, earplug material and my strap-on. Then she pulled me into the bathroom. Once I¡¯ve been cleaned up and lathered with enhancing oil, she carries me back to the bed. She doesn¡¯t immediately pick up the rope. Instead, she wears my strap-on herself and proceeded to solicit my weak points, gently building up my lust. When I¡¯ve become adequately prepared, she positions the tip at my lower lips and starts to slowly penetrate me. As I gasped in pain from my hymen tearing, she seals my lips with her own while playing with my breasts. Every time my body adjusts to the pain and slightly relaxes the muscles below, it slides just a little further into me. After a while, I can feel her hips flush against mine. She begins to rock gently with the now completely immersed toy, gyrating her hips in small circles. It starts as being a bit painful as my hymen is stretched to the limit. The pain is soon replaced by pleasure and I can¡¯t help thinking that someone will hear my moans despite knowing the sound barrier is in place. I scream in pleasure over and over again as she increases the rhythm and depth of her thrusts every time I orgasm. Just before I feel that I will faint, she stops and pulls out. I can¡¯t help a small whimper escaping my lips, immediately longing for her to keep going. ¡°I can¡¯t have you passing out on me just yet, Mistress. This was just to prepare you for the real fun.¡±~Lily ¡°What do you mean real fun?! How could you possible pleasure me more than that?¡±~Sofy ¡°You¡¯ll just have to see for yourself. For now, have a drink of your favorite things to regain some energy.¡±~Lily She presents her nipples to my lips and I start to drink. It really is my favorite. I¡¯ve been drinking from her basically every night since discovering that spell. We tried using it on me once, but it took hours to have any effect and she said that it didn¡¯t really leave her wanting for more. While I was drinking my fill, she started rubbing in a new oil using her deep tissue technique. From the aroma and effect it has on me, I can tell that it¡¯s the same oil I¡¯ve had her use before that increases blood flow, enhances sensitivity and warms the body. She finishes her massage on the rest of my body once I¡¯ve finished drinking and grinds with me for a round to settle her frustrations. The next thing she does is sit me up and picks up her rope to start tying up my breasts. Between our earlier romp and the deep tissue massage just now, my body feels like a puddle, completely unable to move. Different from the previous times she¡¯s tied me up, it seems much looser. When she is satisfied with my breasts, she lays me down on my belly and folds my legs back until my feet are tucked up next to my sides. The rope ends that had been loosely hanging at my front are used to secure each of my ankles causing the slack to be drawn out as my legs try to reflexibly collapse back down. My arms are then secured behind my back with the remaining rope in such a way that it will pull on the ropes on my breasts if I struggle, but not pull my feet. Satisfied with her work, I¡¯m flipped over onto my back and immediately start to realise the purpose of her new technique. As my legs try to move apart, into a more comfortable position, it causes the ropes on my breasts to be pulled tight. Struggling with my arms has the same effect. Getting used to my new predicament, I think to myself that it I am fortunate those little knots from our previous nights are absent this time. I would find out just how wrong I am and would wish for something as mundane as a knot over what would soon come. My eyes, ears and mouth are soon blocked by the other toys and my world has once again become Lily¡¯s voice alone. I can feel her press into me once more with the strap-on. It feels a bit different from before, should be the new one. The weird thing is that she doesn¡¯t begin thrusting with it, but instead secures the straps around me instead. I can¡¯t help but ask, since it won¡¯t work like that. ¡°Lily, that¡¯s the wrong way to use it. Even if you left me like this, it would be no different than being in a very uncomfortable sleeping position.¡±~Sofy ¡°Hehe, this one is special, Mistress. I had them add a little something extra from my enchantment research when making it. A weakened variation of the quake spell was inscribed onto a couple small orbs that were encased in it as it was formed.¡±~Lily ¡°What exactly do you meEAN!!! AHHH! AH!¡±~Sofy ¡°I¡¯ve imbued it with enough mana to last a while, have fun!¡±~Lily INTENSE! Seriously, way too intense. The toy suddenly started to shake violently at the tip and pulsated near the base. My insides are being stirred into soup while the base is relentlessly stimulating my clit. I urgently try to tell her to turn it off, but my thoughts are interrupted to the point that mental communication is impossible. Losing count of the number of orgasms I¡¯ve had, it doesn¡¯t take too long for my thoughts to stop completely. By the time I recover from my state of oblivion, I can feel myself being bathed tenderly with a soft rag. Weakly opening my eyes, I find that I¡¯m currently being cleaned by Lily in a bath of hot water that feels absolutely blissful on my exhausted body. Lily notices that I¡¯ve woken, telling me to drink and rest to recover my strength. She lines up her nipples with my lips and I obediently take my fill before promptly falling back asleep. My next lucid thought is followed by my complete awakening. ¡°Good morning, Mistress. I¡¯ll go retrieve breakfast from the kitchen.¡±~Lily ¡°How long did I sleep?¡±~Sofy ¡°Not long. If you remember the bath, that was still only just last night.¡±~Lily ¡°That¡¯s...your telling the truth. Wait! Let me reword that. How long was I in an orgasm-induced oblivious state?¡±~Sofy ¡°Uh, maybe...perhaps two days?¡±~Lily ¡°Exactly what day¡¯s breakfast time is it?¡±~Sofy ¡°Um um. It¡¯s Earthday. We still have a few hours before class.¡±~Lily ¡°WHAT! How am I supposed to move around today after experiencing something like that for the last two days? You will definitely have to be punished, really truly punished, if I miss any of my lessons.¡±~Sofy ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that bad! I took good care of your body last night. Although I can¡¯t heal you after your first time, I still made sure to bless your body¡¯s natural healing after you drank last night. Your arms and legs were massaged while I moved them around. They should be able to be moved without much pain.¡±~Lily I try to move my limbs and discovered that she was right. The places that are truly sore are only my chest and lower body. My breasts and hips are sore, and my belly is still giving off a tingly sensation. I have little choice except to let Lily have some fun feeding me once again. Although I can move, it is only with much effort and slowly at that. I¡¯m just too weak right now to argue and end up letting her feed me a bowl of fruit, mouth to mouth. She carried me into the bathroom after eating and once again let me soak in the hot water. Her helping me to move around in the water restored most of my normal movement. We finish things up in the bathroom with a light massage using the mint oil which helps me to feel much more energized. Even after last night¡¯s fun, she still takes the opportunity to linger on my breasts and inner thighs! This naughty girl just doesn¡¯t have an off mode for her teasing! While I will never admit it to her, she really does take very good care of me. However, she still needs some punishment for taking advantage of me to such an excessive extent. I¡¯ve been debating for a while over using one of the punishments items, but it is linked to a toy that I just can¡¯t figure out what it would do to her. The punishment has a simple enough description that says it delivers a shock to the servant, it just words it funny by listing it as ¡®core jolt¡¯. Then there is that connected item that looks like a small ball called a ¡®core executor¡¯ which only has a description saying, ¡®actions have consequences, some good, some bad, some both¡¯. Oh, well. I¡¯ll just give it a try, she definitely deserves whatever might come. ¡°Haven¡¯t you had enough fun yet? Bad kitty.¡±~Sofy ¡°YEOW!!! What the hell was that?!¡±~Lily Lily immediately ended up doubled over on the floor while hugging herself in the fetal position. It didn¡¯t seem to be a lasting punishment though, as she got back on her feet soon after. ¡°Just some punishment for taking advantage of me. Where did the new item get equipped? I couldn¡¯t really tell by reading the description.¡±~Sofy She¡¯s silent for a moment, seemingly checking out what I had equipped her with in the menu. Appearing to have a moment of enlightenment, she starts to feel around her body, pressing her fingers into her belly from various angles. I have a bad feeling about just where that earlier jolt was delivered from. Perhaps I went a little too far. ¡°If I¡¯m guessing right, I¡¯m pretty sure the ¡®core executor¡¯ is in my womb, the core of females. I have a feeling that the earlier jolt is not all its capable of either. Consequences can be good as well after all and the description even says so. I¡¯m pretty sure something like this should have a controls sub-menu or something if you locate it in my equipment menu.¡±~Lily I find what she described as a controls sub-menu when I managed to locate the object in her equipped items¡¯ miscellaneous tab. There¡¯s many different intensities and durations that can be set for the jolt function. Another option is static discharge which will apparently shock both her and anybody she comes into contact with. My eyes lit up when I noticed the shaker function. If I¡¯m right, this should do something like what I experienced the last several nights. Plans for my revenge start forming in my mind. Without too much thought I switched on the automatic option that I had found for it and show Lily what I found via our link. ¡°Y-you¡¯re already planning revenge, a-aren¡¯t you?¡±~Lily She knows me so well. ¡°If you get jealous of Tiff, you could turn the static func...OW!¡±~Lily This girl is simply incorrigible! ¡°You left it on automatic, huh? Please set low max values. I don¡¯t think either of us would like me to end up on the ground as a spectacle.¡±~Lily ¡°Valid point.¡±~Sofy NightOps Your comments here are also valued and I do read through them all. To all my readers, Thank you! ~NightOps P.S. A curse suggestion box made in google forms can be found here. Chapter 30: Limits and beyond NightOps Chapter 30: Limits and beyond After testing the limits of my new ¡®leash¡¯, I¡¯ve found that slight annoyance doesn¡¯t actually trigger a punishment. Either that or most of the time I¡¯ve been taking small advantages of her, Sofy has actually been completely okay with it. It starts to trigger from mild annoyance onward. Basically, I can still score some benefits as long as my actions don¡¯t interfere with her activities. Groping her a bit while putting on her bra is okay, but distracting her from her lessons by sneakily feeling her up is a no go. The punishments are immediate, but the rewards have a delay function that I can and did activate. The delay lasts until the next time I¡¯m sexually stimulated, then lets loose. It still gives me a small indication, a slight buzz, when I¡¯ve earned a reward by pleasing her. She ended up having to disable the static discharge function in automatic mode when Tiff got jolted during lunch. Tiff laughed it off, none the wiser and we made it back home after lessons without further incident. I did discover that it won¡¯t automatically punish me for annoying her with my words most of the time, the activation requirement for annoyance that way is fairly high. My constant teasing can still be continued with word play. ¡°Mistress, I told you that would happen. I know that you allow us to be close, but that doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t feel bad about it.¡±~me ¡°Fine fine. You were right. Happy now?¡±~Sofy ¡°Mmm, It¡¯s nice to know that you desire me to the point of wanting a monopoly over...YIP!¡±~me ¡°Just because you aren¡¯t usually punished for your words automatically doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t activate it myself.¡±~Sofy ¡°Muu, I should at least be able to speak freely to you, Mistress. And what is up with the additional equips? You saw that one questionable item was a success and decided to just go ahead and make it two?¡±~me ¡°HMPH! I consider speaking and teasing two separate things. Well, it worked out in the end, didn¡¯t it? We don¡¯t have to cast that spell on you any more.¡±~Sofy After finding out that the ¡®core executor¡¯ wasn¡¯t causing me any discomfort except when being punished, it only took her three days to get bored before she decided to try out another questionable item this morning. The new additions were aptly named ¡®lactaids¡¯. They take the form of small rings that are secured on the tubes between the glands and the part that stores milk. The effects they have are: topped-off and preserved. Translation: the tank is always full and will never spoil. I really want to cry about being turned into a dairy cow, but I¡¯m worried that Sofy might get an idea about changing my disguise into something far more embarrassing. It¡¯s a relief that it doesn¡¯t squirt out at least. I¡¯d break down and cry if that were the case. ¡°You are done experimenting, right?¡±~me ¡°I can go back to using only the well described objects for now. You do realize that today is Fireday, don¡¯t you?¡±~Sofy ¡°Mistress will finally get your revenge. I¡¯m looking forward to your efforts. Do you think Jill would consent to a threesome?¡±~me ¡°What do you mean by that exactly? Are you suggesting that I can¡¯t satisfy you by myself?¡±~Sofy ¡°Not at all. I just thought you might get bored after tying me up. If you have Jill there, she could keep you company while I¡¯m sent off to oblivion. Besides, we just got that new toy delivered. The double sided strap-on that has my quake beads embedded in both sides. It took them less than half the time they previously took. Must be due to being familiar with them now. The shop clerk even told us that they were now best sellers and arranged the order for free.¡±~me ¡°That¡¯s actually not such a bad idea. She¡¯s been getting pretty down lately anyways. I could tell that she was hopeful when last weekend came around, but I already had plans with you. Should I perhaps invite Tiff over as well?¡±~Sofy ¡°No. I¡¯m sure that I¡¯ll be occupied and I don¡¯t sense that she feels anything towards the two of you besides friendship.¡±~me Sofy succeeds in inviting Jill over for the weekend during lunch. She appeased the dejected Tiff by promising to invite her next week and the others just quietly shared a knowing glance. Jill was even more clingy after being invited over and wouldn¡¯t stop hugging her arm through lunch. The rest of the day goes smoothly and Jill shows up just in time for dinner. We make our way back to the room after eating and get cleaned up in the bath. Sofy and Jill are massaged with the stimulating oil, the one that has the increased circulation, enhanced sensitivity and body warming effects. I¡¯m then lathered up with our newest addition. We had found an extreme version of the enhancing oil last time we visited the shop and Sofy jumped to buy it. It¡¯s said to increase sensitivity by many folds and turn the body into a smoldering caldera without the mind clouding effect of similarly strong aphrodisiacs. I¡¯m led out of the bathroom and Sofy begins to bind me up in a no nonsense sort of way. Good thing too, since I¡¯m starting to discover just how effective that oil is. I¡¯m so sensitive that a mere grazing touch will elicit a pleasurable response and my body feels so hot that the disturbed air from Sofy¡¯s movements causes a pleasant cooling sensation on my skin. The body harness has some differences from the last time, no doubt taken from my rope technique the other night. Straps around the breasts will now tighten as my feet will inevitably pull outward once the ankles are secured to my sides. Once I¡¯ve been secured in my harness, she adds the additions of silence earrings, gag and a toy for down under. However, it isn¡¯t one of the store bought ones. She selected one from the menu that has the added effects of fitting and synced. Fitting causes it to change size to fit me perfectly, but I have no idea about the synced effect. ¡°Are you ready? If it¡¯s anything like I experienced previously, you won¡¯t even be able to collect your thoughts enough to speak once it¡¯s turned on.¡±~Sofy ¡°At this point, is there any reason to doubt. That oil is truly too effective. If you don¡¯t turn it on, I¡¯m certain I¡¯d be more miserable than having to deal with the aftermath.¡±~me ¡°Okay, don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you.¡±~Sofy I can feel her smirking while switching it on. Oh.My.GOD! Was I ever wrong. The instant she turned it on, I knew that I was in trouble. Synced effect became obvious in mere moments. It allowed itself and the ¡®core executor¡¯ to perfectly time their shaking to maximum effect. If that was all, it might not be so bad. Apparently, it syncs with me as well. I¡¯m driven to the edge by a gradual build up and then pushed over multiple times with intense bursts. Just before I can fall unconscious or have my mind blown to oblivion, it slows down for another gradual build up. I¡¯m trapped in a state of perpetual bliss with my mind fully aware. It¡¯s already too late to talk to Sofy as I am indeed unable to make use of the link in this state. The bindings are getting tighter and tighter. It appears that the tightening function is not only limited to the breast area. I could feel Sofy come over to resecure my ankles close to my sides whenever the fasteners became too slack. At some point in time, I noticed a certain two girls were drinking their fill from me. I can only hope that I don¡¯t end up with another addict. By the time I¡¯ve been freed, my heart is beating so erratically that I can¡¯t even gather the energy necessary for a lesser heal. My body is languid like a newborn baby and I end up being cleaned up by Sofy. I assume that Jill has already gone home to prepare for class. ¡°Lily, can you hear me? Please answer me, you¡¯re starting to freak me out here.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mis-tress¡±~me ¡°Thank god! You finally answered me. What happened to you? Why didn¡¯t you answer before?¡±~Sofy My response is slow and weak, but I¡¯m finally starting to recover some semblance of lucidity. ¡°Couldn¡¯t answer. Still weak. Heart pounding, energies chaotic.¡±~me ¡°Will you be okay? I had no idea that something like this could happen.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mmm, feeling much better now. I¡¯ll need a few minutes to regulate my energies before I can heal myself. As for why I¡¯m like this, it was the fault of that toy¡¯s synced effect.¡±~me I take a few minutes to explain the synced effect while I¡¯m calming my energies down. Once I had eaten and healed myself, we are able to get to class as usual. She had apparently freed me late last night, but I was unresponsive until this morning. ¡°I¡¯m sooo sorry. We should have tested it for a short time first before such a long session, but I wanted my revenge to be a total surprise and got caught up in it. I won¡¯t ever do that again.¡±~Sofy ¡°Testing new things first is indeed a good idea. If I was left like that much longer, my heart may have exploded. Though, maybe the curse would detect it as abuse before that could happen. Not something I want to test out, however. You don¡¯t need to swear off using that item, just don¡¯t use anything with the synced function for extended periods of time. While it was extremely effective at its job, being kept aware over a long period of pleasure is rough.¡±~me ¡°Scary! Please don¡¯t leave me. I promise to be more attentive from now on.¡±~Sofy Our day goes by mostly uneventfully. I couldn¡¯t help my inward cringe when I noticed that Jill had fixed her gaze on my chest during lunch. Nana returned my books today and even provided me with some of the more restricted magic texts from her department as thanks. The books I had finished in the time between were once again left with her to make copies. Chapter 31: All girls love dress-up dolls Chapter 31: All girls love dress-up dolls It is already the fifth week of lessons and time to begin dance practice. The class is already proficient enough with their instruments to keep tempo, even if it doesn¡¯t sound quite right. When it came time to decide partners, the girls all paired up the same as when we had our sleepover. Their instructor had tried to pair the three boys with the prettier girls and was thoroughly scolded by the angry ladies. I may have subconsciously release some killing intent as well. In the end, the instructor and three boys miserably danced with one another while us girls were having a delightful time frolicking around the dance floor. As soon as the boys had reached a passable level of skill, they volunteered themselves to play the instruments instead. Jill and Tiff came over on Lightday. We ended up on a double date for most of the day, looking through the various shops and eating out for lunch. The topic of my never changing attire came up and Sofy ended up telling them more about my curse. Tiff¡¯s eyes lit up when Sofy mentioned that I could be dressed in basically anything she could imagine. When we made our way back home after lunch, Tiff said she need to grab something from home, so we stopped by her house. She came back out carrying a large book and we made our way back home. Tiff¡¯s book turned out to be her sketch pad. Her hobby is designing clothes, but she¡¯s never actually made any as she isn¡¯t skilled at sewing. Three sets of eyes locked on me as they were discussing her designs. From that moment on, I became their dress-up doll. I ended up modeling the various designs in Tiff¡¯s notebook and posing for her to sketch any revisions made. It got to the point that even nana had decided to join in when she had come to find me for her tea time. I had momentarily thought that I was saved when I saw her. Sofy¡¯s mother seemingly appeared from nowhere and started to participate as well. Some of my clothing has been altered. My maid uniform now has a warm winter poncho made of black cloth with white fur trimming as well as black gloves with the same white fur cuffs. The winter gear is set to equip whenever I go outside wearing my maid outfit which includes the transformation of my heels into some thigh-high winter boots to match. All of my heels have also been promoted to four inches by Sofy, some additional revenge for my past misdeeds. I think she must have noticed that I¡¯ve been slowly swapping out her shoes for ones with higher heels. I can¡¯t help myself since she looks sooo much hotter when her sexy long legs are equipped with high heels. My hair has also suffered from her machinations. She found some sort of random mode for hairstyles that causes it to change every day. The hair ornaments change to match whatever I¡¯m wearing. Black ribbons with white lace are typical for my maid uniform and come with an OCD effect, but only with regards to Sofy¡¯s matters. I can¡¯t quite make up my mind as to whether that¡¯s a buff or debuff. I¡¯m finally saved from my dress-up session when dinner time arrives. Well almost, but not quite. The girls decided that I shouldn¡¯t be cooking with long sleeves and that I needed a cute apron while working in the kitchen. I ended up wearing almost nothing except the apron by the time they were through with me. The apron is variations of pink with flower embroidery and is excessively frilly. Armlets on the upper arms and two slender lengths of frilly lace between the center of the top of my breasts and the frilly lace choker are all that hold it up over my upper body. It reaches down to mid-thigh length and has excess material on the left that wraps around my back to tie on my right hip, forming into a ruffle skirt. My usual panties have turned bright pink and stockings a sheer light pink color. I am wearing some heels that have flower decorations and my hair is done up with lace flowers braided into it. Most of my items have the usual effects. The hair decorations have ¡®acquired palate¡¯ which causes me to instinctively know what my mistress would like to eat and causes my own taste buds to mimic hers so I can prepare it just right. The apron has the yummy effect which is basically a combination effect of sensual and dress for success(cooking). Sensing that ¡®eating me up¡¯ had become Sofy¡¯s number one choice through the acquired palate effect causes me to blush, adding even more pink to me. I end up preparing her third choice due to the fact that her second choice was my milk. It¡¯s somewhat weird getting to know the flavor of things by someone else¡¯s taste. With my kitchen performance finally over, we get cleaned up in the bath and start our night, enhancing oil thoroughly rubbed in. Jill and Sofy take her double toy, slipping over to the second mattress we¡¯ve prepared. I¡¯m left with Tiff and take out the first strap-on that Sofy had bought. By the time I turn back to Tiff, she is already wearing the same double toy Sofy had taken. Noticing that there are indeed two of the toys, I can only assume she must have bought one herself and brought it over. This girl is not so innocent. We ended up rolling around in the sheets trying to find each other¡¯s weak points. I eventually lost. This body was designed by me to be innately very sensitive and my erogenous areas are maxed out. She caressed my body until I could no longer compete, turned on the toy and loved me tenderly until she passed out from exhaustion. Sofy came over later and joined us on the bed, setting a sleeping Jill down beside her. Jill is wearing a brilliant smile on her face while drooling slightly, it''s a kind of cute and endearing appearance for her. ¡°Mistress, I just had an idea. Want to surprise Tiff and Jill when they wake up?¡±~me ¡°What do you suggest?¡±~Sofy ¡°Why not tie them up while they are sleeping and give them something more intense the moment they wake?¡±~me ¡°Tiff isn¡¯t as innocent as you thought or would like? She asked me about my purchases at that shop in private the last time she was here. You were making brunch at the time. We don¡¯t have enough rope for both of them, plus there¡¯s only the one gag and blindfold. Also, Jill doesn¡¯t seem to be the type to like that sort of thing.¡±~Sofy ¡°Perhaps I can just tie up Tiff then?¡±~me ¡°Wasn¡¯t that your goal from the start of this conversation? No can do. Tiff would find it difficult to get up tomorrow if I let you have your way with her and she told me that she had plans with her family for lunch.¡±~Sofy ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s only invite Tiff next time for the whole weekend. I can get my revenge then and we can play during her repentance.¡±~me ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a great idea. In exchange for my help, you can use her to model those rope tying methods you¡¯ve been using on me.¡±~Sofy ¡°Deal. I¡¯ll even try to write them down for you before then so you¡¯re not totally lost.¡±~me ¡°Now that that¡¯s settled, how about you tend to your mistress? Jill may be cute and fun, but she can¡¯t possibly replace you.¡±~Sofy ¡°Right away, Mistress!¡±~me I unstrapped the toy from Tiff that was still inside the two of us and strapped it to myself, removing it from her completely. Then I turned towards Sofy and began round two for the both of us while a beauty rests peacefully to each side. With this second round, we¡¯ve each been both the giver and taker on the same night. I woke up the next morning with my face buried in Tiff¡¯s breasts while her face was rubbing up against my ears. Sofy was hugging me from behind and Jill had somehow ended up sprawled over us while adorably hugging my tail to her face. ¡°Good morning, Lily.¡±~Sofy ¡°Good morning, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°My, aren¡¯t you popular. Want me to try to rescue your tail for you?¡±~Sofy ¡°Let me try something first. Though, we should probably buy a bigger bed.¡±~me I hit Tiff and Jill with a lesser invigorate blessing to bring up their energy levels and cast a light spell just above us, slowly increasing its brightness until they¡¯ve stirred awake. My tail was successfully rescued while Jill was still dazed while waking. We made our way into the bathroom and clean off last night¡¯s residual fun. I gave each of the girls a light massage with mint oil and they returned the massage and helped me get rid of my frustration. Even Jill helped me out, her little hands were marvelous. At Tiff¡¯s request, I brought breakfast for everyone to Sofy¡¯s room. Sofy and Jill took advantage of the privacy to have milk with their meal, but Tiff had a different desire. When they had finished eating, Tiff suggested that I model some nightwear for them, the one type of clothing that they had yet to have me try on the previous day. The other two quickly agreed and I ended up demonstrating every variation they could imagine until they had to leave near lunchtime. I¡¯m pretty sure that Sofy saved no small number of the more embarrassing designs for later use. When we asked Tiff to come over the next weekend, she regretfully already had plans, but we did manage to invite her over for the following weekend. Chapter 32: Lily gets sold?! Chapter 32: Lily gets sold?! I¡¯ve long since finished with the material in nana¡¯s library and am now borrowing books from her magic department through her every time I exchange new materials for the new magic system. I spend a lot of our free time tutoring Sofy and she¡¯s managed to surpass her current classes in a short amount of time. My tutoring sessions have become a lot more meticulous do to the additional OCD effect. It¡¯s somewhat annoying when I find myself perfectly arranging the items in her room and inspecting for dust with a white glove. Though, I¡¯m happy with the extra opportunities it affords me to fondle her. Stroke her sides and legs while straightening her clothes. Caress her cheek when I adjust her hair. Smack her ass free of dusk when she stands up. Okay, that last one she quickly put a stop to. It has since then been reduced to brushing actions only. If she continues to cultivate at her current speed, she should be able to skip a level of lessons during the next quarter. Getting to stage four is apparently much harder than I had thought. I didn¡¯t notice the extra requirement when I had advanced due to already having achieved it, but it¡¯s normally necessary to spend a lot of time reaching ninety percent control to successfully advance to stage four. Sofy has made it her goal to reach stage four before the end of the current season so she can attend the stage four lessons starting next academic season. A good half of my time each day is taken up with our daily activities, but I¡¯ve still managed to cultivate a bit each day for the last few weeks, not including the weekends. I¡¯m obviously too occupied on weekends to cultivate. I especially make sure to cultivate my spirit to the limit of being efficient near the end of each day, which is no more than twenty percent of my max spirit energy. Any more and my efficiency starts to drop drastically. During Sofy¡¯s lessons is where I find most of my cultivation time. I could get about six percent divine cultivation and fifty points of intelligence attributes each day for the first few days. Then I started cultivating one hundred fifty intelligence attributes and one hundred divine energy each day when my divine cultivation reached stage three. I got an ability from my priestess blessing when I crossed into stage three. It¡¯s nested in a new ¡®ability¡¯ sub-menu under the blessing. ¡®Soul divining gaze¡¯ allows me to perceive a person¡¯s soul aura. Along with being yet another perception sort of skill, it can give me a vague idea of someone¡¯s personality. When used in an active state, it works like appraisal by consuming divine energy. Sofy said that the passive makes my eyes give off an eerie feeling when looked into and that she had felt exposed when I activated it on her. It works well with my second sight skill, allowing me to perceive auras inside my perfect vision area. My status after the last six weeks of cultivation is¡­ +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 2(53%)}{Divine: 3(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 22900/22900}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 2500/2700} Attributes: Str: 10000(55%) | Vit: 10000(55%) | Agi: 10000(60%) | Int: 22900(50%) Soul Potential: 241 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Intent 2], [Sense Danger 2] -[Soul Devourer 2] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2], [Inventory 2] -[Shadowmeld 2], [Contract 1] Sofy¡¯s current status is¡­ Name: Sophia | Age: 23 | Sex: Female Race: {Wood Elf(50%)}{Human(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 3}{Spirit: 2}{Divine: 1}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 900/1000}{Mana: 6500/10000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 100/100} Attributes: Str: 1000 | Vit: 1000 | Agi: 1000 | Int: 10000 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 5], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Danger 4], [Synergy 2] {active} [Mana Control 4], [Mana Shaping 4], [Tamer 2], [Assess 5] As you can see, Sofy is now a priestess. After discovering that faith collection increases with the amount of spirit energy the offering party possesses, she insisted on becoming a priestess. She only waited this long because I had to reach stage three to use the induction blessing. It¡¯s currently Lightday of the first week of the second month of winter. We¡¯ve just passed the halfway point of the current academic season. Today, nana decided to show us where she works. The council mage department is right next to the main council building which is basically a palace with three spires behind it and a large building to each side. The spires in the rear rise up from the personal quarters where the three high council members reside. The building to the left is for the civilian council departments: commerce, city planning, revenue, etc. On the right is the building for the military and research council departments: war, defense, magic research, qi research, etc. All political council departments and a few others are in the main palace. Upon entering the military building, we are all required to have our status revealed by status orbs. Apparently, it¡¯s a measure put in place since the change with magic contracts to help insure that secrets aren¡¯t leaked. Someone controlled by another would have zero spirit energy and the contracts held can be seen under the new curse. Nana is obviously allowed and Sofy easily gains entry being her granddaughter. I got an eyebrow raised when my status is shown, permitted to enter only after nana informed the guards just how binding and permanent my service is under the curse. After another couple minutes of walking, we¡¯ve reached her office on the third floor. Her current project is apparently my new magic system. There are all sorts of different flow charts and spell pages spread out on the tables. Shelves of books line the walls and there are some of my books on one specific table with a half finished copy laying open next to them. ¡°There are four research rooms currently devoted to your little project. Mine is focused on making the initial copies of your books and creating new ones to fill in the lacking areas. Another is planning how to implement these new concepts into the military. The last two belong to the academy. One is devoted to implementing this method of teaching magic within their learning plans and the other is obsessing about that little side note you made about the missing ¡®manipulators¡¯.¡±~nana ¡°See, I told you that it is a big deal.¡±~Sofy ¡°Y-yeah, I can see that. No wonder she¡¯s been bringing me all those restricted books. I¡¯ve been used!¡±~me ¡°You don¡¯t seem at all upset with that big smile on your face. The overwhelming feelings of satisfaction wafting off of you are nauseating.¡±~Sofy ¡°Sofy tells me that you were looking for a way to earn some money. How about working here for a couple of days each week? You¡¯d come here with me in the mornings and could join Sofy by lunch for the rest of the day. Working here would give you access to our library. Introducing you as the creator of this would be much easier if my colleagues could see you writing the new additions in person. How about it?¡±~nana ¡°I get the feeling that I¡¯ve been baited. She must have shown me those books to draw me in at this time. She was trying to make it as difficult as possible to reject this offer. Bothersome! Mistress, could you somehow refuse and still get permission for me to read in the library here?¡±~me ¡°How about Waterday and Airday. This way you are in lessons with me on Earthday when I have dancing and on Fireday when the pests usually try to ask me out for the weekends. You will of course have vacation time during the academy¡¯s breaks. I¡¯ll make sure to negotiate a good price for myself for lending you out.¡±~Sofy ¡°Do I have to, can¡¯t we discuss this?! Fine! Let her know that you¡¯ll be loaning me on those mornings and that I would like to know if I could have access to the most current information about enchantment research?¡±~me Sofy does as I asked and proceeded to negotiate my selling price before asking about the information on the enchantment research. It¡¯s agreed that I¡¯ll be working for average daily wages and get a bonus for each new contribution I make. Only my time worked will be paid and there is no such thing as a paid vacation. Payment will be received by Sofy however, as I will be officially listed as being leased from her to the office as nana¡¯s secretary. Since I¡¯m not an elf, I can¡¯t be directly employed and I lack the reputation needed to take any role other than a secretary. I¡¯m told that if I can manage to alert the other researchers to my capability, she will have the clout needed to elevate my position for increased wages and possibly access to that enchantment information. ¡°Try to get noticed. Don¡¯t go immediately burying your nose in the books the whole time. Researchers¡¯ basic wage is many times higher than a secretary and nana truly does wish for you to have you recognized for your work. The bonus she mentioned is significant. She¡¯s already holding onto a sizeable sum that was paid by the department to whomever nana was getting those books from. A price for the knowledge was already determined when she brought in the first books.¡±~Sofy ¡°Really, did you have fun making it seem like you were just selling off excess livestock? How much are we talking about exactly? Why don¡¯t you just have me store it in my inventory?¡±~me ¡°I had to find some way to deflate your ego a bit. And it was fun! You really do pamper me a bit too much. It wouldn¡¯t be bad to have some time apart. The money you¡¯ve already earned could be spent to buy numerous luxury items for the next few years and still not manage to make a dent. You really do underestimate its value. We¡¯ll still go to the dungeon though because it¡¯s good to practice. I¡¯ll ask nana to deliver it to you when we get home.¡±~Sofy ¡°A-are you breaking up with me?! Some time apart is just how it starts! Next thing I know, you¡¯ll suggest we see other people. Then comes...Owowow! Was it really necessary to jolt me?¡±~me ¡°Hmph, you were once again getting carried away with your teasing! And it¡¯s time to leave. We¡¯ll continue your punishment later.¡±~Sofy On our way out, we stopped by the administration office and made my leasing official. When we arrived back home and finished lunch nana pulled my backlogged payment out of her inventory. Counting it would be troublesome to say the least. Chest after chest of coins, precious stones and rare materials were handed over to me. I can literally feel my dragon blood boiling at the sight of it all. Hoarding seems to be a thing for dragons in this world. Perhaps my dragon blood is part of the reason why I¡¯m always throwing good things into my inventory. If that¡¯s the case, then perhaps it also explains why I¡¯m much more lascivious now than I ever was on earth. I wonder if it¡¯s a problem that I don¡¯t find that at all disturbing or feel any regret for my actions up until now. Nope, not going to question it. Too late to regret it now anyways. I will fully embrace my inner dragon and any girl who takes my fancy as well. *giggles* Chapter 33: Lily’s obligations Chapter 33: Lily¡¯s obligations ¡°Time for your punishment.¡±~Sofy We had just gotten done with our nightly bath and massage when she entered the bedroom telling me that. ¡°Punishment for what, Mistress?¡±~me ¡°Your punishment for the teasing earlier. We¡¯re going to try something new.¡±~Sofy Oh, how I dread those words. Last time she said that, I became her own personal dairy supply. ¡°Huh, you¡¯re still on about that? W-what exactly did you have in mind?¡±~me ¡°It seems like a simple enough punishment. The name of the punishment is ¡®standing in time-out¡¯ and the description says that the servant will be forced to, under her own ability, stand on her tippy-toes for the duration or suffer the consequences.¡±~Sofy ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound so bad, how long did you want to punish me?¡±~me ¡°I had been thinking to go until breakfast. Just for that earlier comment, I¡¯ll be extending the time to double that. You¡¯ll be standing until dinner tomorrow. Don¡¯t worry about being able to stand that long, I¡¯ll leave you with permission to use your stamina boosts. You¡¯ll likely be sore by the time it¡¯s over, but it shouldn¡¯t be impossible that way. Let¡¯s add in your sensory deprivation gear to spice things up. Having that gag in your mouth stimulating your body will make it more interesting and be a constant reminder to tone down the teasing.¡±~Sofy After getting the order that disallows any possible cheats except stamina blessings, I stood beside the bed awaiting the punishment¡¯s activation. The first indication that it has started is the cuffs that appeared on my wrists and ankles. My wrists become attached to the sides of a belt around my waist and my ankles are dragged shoulder width apart by chains extending from my ankle cuffs into a shadowy whirlpool on the floor. A familiar object raises out from the shadow, aimed directly at my groin. Below the dong is a slender beam extending one foot forward and behind. The pole below it quickly pushes the toy into me and continues to extend until I¡¯m forced up on my toes as the beam I¡¯m straddling forces me up. A round disk appears around the bottom of the pole and has my ankle chains attached to it, leaving no chance to tip it over or jump off. Soon, I¡¯m wearing the standard ball gag and silencing earrings. Immediately after, the pole descends just enough that I¡¯m no longer sitting on the beam and the true punishment begins. I¡¯ve definitely underestimated this one by a lot. This was all I could think as the dong started to vibrate at varying intensity and I ended up trying to sit on the beam much to my regret. The beam between my legs shocked me as soon as I put any weight on it, requiring me to once again stand up on my toes. It hurt too, this wasn¡¯t one of those pleasant shocks or even just surprising. Even though it wasn¡¯t intense to the point of preventing me from speaking with Sofy, I still couldn¡¯t request it be stopped due to the wording of her order: ¡°I order you to take your punishment without trying to lessen it other than using stamina boosts.¡± Asking her to stop it before it finished would definitely be an attempt to lessen the punishment. After a while, I completely lost track of how many times I¡¯d been shocked off the beam. The most unnerving part of this was the inability to keep track of just how long I¡¯d been in this situation. It could be almost over or may have only just begun. I barely even notice when it had concluded. I had once again lowered myself down after standing for a long period and noticed that my feet managed to completely flatten on the ground, nor did I get shocked. Discovering that I was no longer constrained and punished, I let my body relax. As soon as I do so, my legs cramp up horribly and I spend several minutes rubbing them after falling to the floor. After I healed myself and cleaned up, we made our way out for dinner. She had left me that way for nearly a whole day just as she had said. Sofy wanted to play while I wanted to just sleep that night. ¡°Mistress, If you wanted to have fun together, you should have shortened my punishment. Did you not consider that I might not be up for it after being worn out since the night before?¡±~me ¡°Talking back to your mistress, perhaps you need some more punishment?¡±~Sofy ¡°No no, that won¡¯t be necessary! However, can we keep things casual and simple, pretty please?¡±~me ¡°Fine, but you have to do all the work. I want you to satisfy me until I fall asleep.¡±~Sofy With things decided, I gave myself a big stamina boost before diving in. Though I was fatigued, I made a genuine effort to do my best. We ended up falling asleep after a few rounds and woke up the next morning still joined together by a toy. Having recovered thanks to sleep, I was able to participate in Sofy¡¯s dance lesson this morning without problems and continued to train myself during her other classes. Ever since my hair began to have different styles each day since our last dress-up session, I¡¯ve been helping the girls to braid and style their own hair during our lunch break. It¡¯s gotten to the point that I¡¯ve started to record the methods and overall designs into a book for them. I would write up the current day¡¯s style during the morning and add pages to the book during lunch. The book would go home with one of the four girls each night so they would each be able to copy the six new additions each week. On the morning of Waterday, I accompanied nana to her office after breakfast that morning. I¡¯m introduced to the others in her office and she tells them a little about me. I noticed somebody I recognized in the group. Tiff¡¯s father is a member of nana¡¯s research office. ¡°Lilia here is my granddaughter¡¯s servant and is bound to her in a unique way, much more absolute than even a magic contract could achieve. There is no need to have any concern about her possibly leaking secrets. She¡¯s mute, but will write down anything she needs to communicate. Her ability to remember things is likely better than all of you combined. It only took her a few days to memorize the contents of my personal library and her magic ability is at the fourth stage. Anthony can attest to this since he had a practice dual with her just last week.¡±~nana ¡°The little lass is indeed strong. Though she isn¡¯t close to being as strong as me in raw power, she was able to accurately deduce each spell I would cast and perfectly counter them with the least effort. She forced our dual to a draw from mana depletion. Margarette, is she here as a scribe or will she be performing other duties?¡±~Anthony ¡°Although her current position is my secretary, her duties for the immediate future will be to familiarise herself with the books in the library and general daily tasks. I¡¯m hopeful that she will eventually work her way up to a higher position.¡±~nana(Margarette) She ended with a wink in my direction and I responded with an eye roll. I take a moment to get nana¡¯s attention after I write out a message to her. The message read: I¡¯ve been theorizing a possible new branch of magecraft that is very suitable for the military. I¡¯m calling it tactical spell casting. It uses the principles taught in my guide to elemental affinities and the introduction to multi-elemental spells. It won¡¯t require any additional preparation for me to write it now and I think it will surprise everyone here enough to warrant a promotion. ¡°It seems I may have underestimated Lilia a bit. She just informed me that she would like to add a new chapter to our current project and that she would like all of you to witness to prove her ability to you. Please kindly watch over her.¡±~nana A few discontented murmurs were heard, but no one had the courage to complain too loudly. The new book isn¡¯t too long, maybe thirty sheets and more than half of that was used to explain the principles of tactical magic. Tactical magic is employed by using several mages to complete multifaceted spells, at least one for each element or component. I included two example spells along with the basic set up in the book. First tactical spell formation is named lance barrage. The rear mage condenses water from the air, middle mage forms the water into ice spears and the forward mage uses a force spell to fling them into the enemy. It cost each mage a third of the time to cast their individual spells, each being only one third of the usual complexity of a normal ice lance tri-element spell. This allows the less capable mages to still be formidable when they combine forces as they can focus one hundred percent of their power on each stage of the spell forming instead of splitting their focus in three, tripling the overall power. I make sure to make a special note that such spells are only suitable to armies and a small individual team would not fair well using these magics. The second is firestorm which uses one fire mage to feed the flame and two air mages who strengthen and direct it. A devastating magic for any army. These magics are of course not limited to being used by only groups of three. They can expand indefinitely as long as the ratio of elements is good. After approximately two hours of writing, I put down my quill to see the amazed and jaw dropped expressions on the researchers¡¯ faces. Even nana seems to be deeply contemplating the pages I had just written. A few minutes tick by until a conversation starts and they begin to evaluate the plausibility and effectiveness of such magics. They came to the same conclusion as stated in my writings and their expressions turned serious. Questions were asked about if I had copied someone else¡¯s work, where I got the idea and if anyone helped me with it. In answer to their questions, I brought out several of the books I had written previously that they would recognize and wrote a note telling them to examine the handwriting. To give the final blow, I showed them several new books that I had not yet exchanged with nana. ¡°That happened faster than I had thought. As you all have already guessed, Lilia is indeed the creator and authored the first books for this new magic system. I¡¯m classifying her latest addition as a council military secret. You should all understand why. Lily, you remember where the library is, right? Good, head over and read some books until lunch. Then you can go meet up with Sofy. The rest of us have a matter to discuss.¡±~nana She basically just told me to scram so they can talk about me behind my back. Since I don¡¯t particularly care, I just nodded my head and walked to the library where I got to add quite a few books to my mental collection. Chapter 34: The high council Chapter 34: The high council By the time I was scheduled to leave and meet up with Sofy, I was eager to reunite with her. My tethering effect had done its job and made me feel a sense of wrongness from her absence. The feeling only increased in intensity as time passed. I didn¡¯t really notice it for the first two hours because I was absorbed with what I was doing, but I couldn¡¯t help being slightly distracted from my books occasionally by the feeling during my last couple hours in the library before lunch. It¡¯s more of a nagging sensation like you get when you¡¯ve forgotten something, not a feeling that causes me to feel that I must return to her. The insomnia debuff from being separated from her at night would probably affect me long before tethering could cause me problems. Though I don¡¯t know if increasing the distance could change the results. It still felt better without that feeling once I met up with Sofy. The rest of the day, following my first morning on the job, was quite ordinary. Though, I did get an interesting idea when I met up with the girls for lunch. Sofy was in a tissy because the guys had taken immediate advantage of my absence and I was trying to think of something to cheer her up. My idea came in the form of static shock when I was trying to help Tiff tie up her hair in a design she had picked out. It occurred to me that shocks don¡¯t always have to be painful. Sometimes they are just surprising and others can actually be pleasant. Later that evening I would ask Sofy to help me explore this in more detail. We experimented with the static discharge function a bit and found out a little more about how it worked. The static discharge basically makes my whole body like an electric source and any other body a receiver. There is a safety option that prevents the master from being shocked that can be turned off. While giving her a deep tissue massage, I had Sofy set the intensity to the level of localized muscle contractions and to have it pulse at regular intervals. The resulting massage caused her to moan in pleasure and left her completely limp on the massage table. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you had a bad morning, Mistress. I¡¯d like to make you feel good tonight to help you forget those annoyances and compensate you for my lackluster performance the other night.¡±~me ¡°Perhaps I owe you an apology as well. I knew you were exhausted and I still made you satisfy me. You didn¡¯t do anything wrong that night and managed to keep going by pushing yourself due to my selfishness. I¡¯m sorry, Lily.¡±~Sofy ¡°I¡¯ll forgive you if you...OW!¡±~me ¡°Hmm, if I what? Trying to take advantage of me when we were making up so well. Talk about a mood killer. You¡¯ve already got me immobilized from that massage. Go ahead and do what you want. You earned it, I suppose.¡±~Sofy ¡°Yay! Earlier, you said there is a synced option for the ¡®core executor¡¯. Turn that on please.¡±~me ¡°Done, now wha...AAH!¡±~Sofy Incidentally, that slime residue alchemy material is actually a conductive material. The synced mode in this situation causes a small shock every time I thrust into her and oscillates at its max, non-pain inducing level, every time we climax. This results in making our orgasms last much longer and be many folds more intense. A rule for not kissing deeply or play-biting with the feature enabled had to be established after we ended up biting our tongues and each other a few times during our engagement. Otherwise, our make-up sex was positively heaven-defying. We woke up the next morning once again still connected and confused why we were not getting shocked. When looking through the settings, we found that the master safety had turned itself back on at some point, probably when she had gone to sleep. That¡¯s good to know. Sofy turned the discharge function off so I wouldn¡¯t end up shocking other people and got ready. We were told to eat quickly and that Sofy would be coming with us as well. She had apparently arranged my promotion after I had left yesterday, but a council member got word and insisted that we be brought before them. I hate politics. This time when arriving in the administration area we entered the main palace. Nana informed someone of who we were and the purpose of our visit and we sat down to wait. Not too long later, we were told to enter one of the side chambers. We entered to find all three high council members present and already seated, one female and two male elves. One of the men actually looked old. He wears an amicable smile on his face, but his cunning aura and eyes betray his sly nature. Man-elf number two has a stoic expression and his aura is calculative. The female has a motherly aura and keeps glancing at my ears. Though, I¡¯m used to such attention by now. Sofy and nana made a formal curtsy and took seats across from them while I curtsied and stood behind Sofy. I was immediately pissed-off when I had entered the room and it showed. As soon as we had entered, I felt multiple skills start to scrutinize both Sofy and myself. All of which I could track back to the two men. I definitely just hissed at them and was currently oozing with killing intent. They realized they¡¯d been caught and retracted their skills not even bothering to feign embarrassment. ¡°Well, we certainly could have started things off with a better first impression. Please allow me to offer an apology on the council¡¯s behalf for their rude behaviour. She can sit down here, next to me. It isn¡¯t necessary that she stand.¡±~female councilwoman I look to Sofy and she gives the councilwoman an understanding look while nodding to indicate her permission, probably to both of us. For me to sit and for her...something else. I walked over to the councilwoman, who had been sitting by herself and sat right next to her leaving no room at all between us. This elicited a genuine smile from her and she started looking repeatedly from my ears to Sofy. ¡°We don¡¯t mind if you pet her ears. Please be gentle with them, miss?¡±~Sofy ¡°Ah right, introductions. I¡¯m Melony, the old fogey is Archer and the young brat is Norman.¡±~Melony She didn¡¯t stop her enthusiastic petting of my ears for a moment while talking which annoyed the other two. ¡°Who you calling an old fogey, girly?! Couldn¡¯t you bother to take your hands away for just a moment to point to us instead of giving us arbitrary titles? Surely, you shouldn¡¯t be that desperate to rub the child¡¯s head. Don¡¯t you have children of your own? What¡¯s so special about her?¡±~Archer ¡°HANDS OFF! I¡¯m not sharing her! My kids have already grown up and moved out. They don¡¯t let me cuddle with them anymore. What¡¯s wrong with my remarks anyways? Sophia was clearly able to notice who I¡¯d meant since she looked over at each of you as mentioned. Though, I¡¯m not certain if this one understood.¡±~Melony She had promptly slapped his hand away when he tried to touch my head. Then she lifted me up and moved to the far side of her couch, away from him. Sitting down, she placed me on her lap sideways with my back to the men while still facing nana and Sofy. As thanks, I took the opportunity to lean on her shoulder and purr which pleased her greatly. ¡°If you were paying more attention to things other than her ears, you might have noticed that she didn¡¯t look over at us. In fact, I¡¯ve yet to see her eyes moved at all. She should be using a skill like second sight to see.¡±~Norman After gasping, Melony turns me to her and tests out my eyesight by moving her finger around near my eyes confirming my current blind state. Thereafter, she proceeded to hug me close to her with one hand and continued petting with the other. ¡°Okay, now that the greetings are out of the way, let¡¯s get down to business. We can¡¯t have a non-elf running around knowing our secrets without a magic contract in place.¡±~Archer ¡°Always the shrewd old man aren¡¯t you, Archy? Lilia is already contracted to my granddaughter and I see no reason to let you impose a contract on either of them since the secrets you¡¯re talking about were originally thought up by her.¡±~nana ¡°Could you please not use my childhood name anymore. It¡¯s been what, four hundred years since we were young? We can overlook Sophia, but Lilia shouldn¡¯t be allowed to give such information to our potential enemies. Just a simple exchange contract. For keeping the information with just the elves, we can pay her a sum of money.¡±~Archer ¡°Um, can I say something?¡±~Sofy ¡°Of course dear. Don¡¯t let these grumps intimidate you. Say whatever you like, it¡¯s not like they can actually do anything to you with your grandmother present.¡±~Melony ¡°Thanks. First of all, Lilia can¡¯t sign a magical contract. I¡¯ve seen what happens if she tries, the contract will burn to ashes the moment she puts a quill to it. It has to do with how thoroughly she is bound to me. Anything that could be seen to possibly limit her service to me just isn¡¯t allowed. Also, my father once tried to have me sign a contract that would give him command of her through me and the contract turned to ash at that time as well.¡±~Sofy ¡°Could you show us that? I had a basic secrecy contract already drawn up before this meeting. It only states that you won¡¯t allow Lilia to divulge our secrets.¡±~Norman ¡°Hoping to catch her in a fib, Norman?¡±~nana ¡°Are you admitting that she¡¯s lying?¡±~Norman Sofy just holds out her hand to receive the contract Norman had pulled out. She read it over and set it on the table in front to sign. Norman provided an inkwell and quill. Poof. It turned to ash exactly as expected. ¡°That¡¯s a first. I¡¯d like to take a closer look at this servant curse, if the two of you don¡¯t mind?¡±~Melony Sofy is given a status orb by nana and Melony hands one to me. We showed our status together. I¡¯m not hiding much anymore. Just my race, the bloodline traits that wouldn¡¯t make sense as a catkin and a few skills I keep as trump-cards. Oh, and my status manager blessing. ¡°Even in bed...that sounds nice.¡±~Melony ¡°Orders and punishments seem pretty straightforward, but what does the empathic link entail?¡±~Archer ¡°That clause for reversal seems like it could be a problem, though only for a bad person.¡±~Norman ¡°Attire? What does that do?¡±~Melony Sofy only started telling Melony about the attire after giving Archer and Norman vague answers about the orders, punishments and link. Just that I can be ordered to do things against my will, simple punishments such as pain can be inflicted and that the link allows me to somewhat sense her needs. Our meeting thereafter quickly devolved into a fashion show. Archer and Norman excused themselves and I spent the entire rest of the morning trying on outfits with Melony, Sofy and nana. Sofy missed her morning classes which Melony was more than happy to send over an official note to exempt her. This meeting is apparently classified as work for nana and I. Though, I¡¯m not so sure that the last three hours should really count. We finally managed to leave at lunch time and met up with the other girls to eat. Chapter 35: Tiff’s special lesson Chapter 35: Tiff¡¯s special lesson When the girls saw us as we hooked up at our usual restaurant to have lunch, Sofy was immediately bombarded with questions. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you show up for class this morning? You¡¯re not sick, are you?¡±~Jill ¡°Calm down Jill. If she were sick then she wouldn¡¯t be here even now.¡±~Amy ¡°So, why did you miss morning classes?¡±~Brit ¡°Me and Lily had an appointment with the high council this morning.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ah. I remember my father mentioning something about that. So, little Lily is truly the one responsible for the new magic system. The one that will be implemented starting as early as the next academy season. Father brought home some copies of the basic materials for me to study wanting me to get a head start.¡±~Tiff ¡°Wow, really? This is the first I¡¯m hearing of this new system. What¡¯s it like?¡±~Brit ¡°It basically uses magescript to write all the magic books, including all the runes and spells. This way you can study the magic up to a higher level than you can actually cast. Separate books are used to compile an index of runes at each stage and you can simply add the runes to your repertoire later, long after completing your magic studies.¡±~Sofy ¡°That¡¯s pretty much how my father worded it.¡±~Tiff The girls continued to discuss while they ate lunch. We continued through the remainder of classes as usual before returning home. Classes the following day revealed numerous young and eager men wishing to help Sofy review the missed lessons. She managed to turn most away with words and I ruthlessly knocked out any who were insistent bastards. It started snowing that day. I have long been prepared for the bad weather and simply brought out a winter coat for her from my inventory. We cozied up together over the weekend to keep warm at night, although our time together ended up much hotter than simply sharing warmth. I had tried before the chill set in to create an enchantment to regulate the temperature in the room, but ultimately failed due to the lack of necessary control that could be incorporated into it. Air cushion could be used, but the air within would eventually become unbreathable since it didn¡¯t circulate at all. Fire runes would always be on and couldn¡¯t be set to a specific temperature, resulting in the enchanted area becoming scorching hot before long. A warm fire, cozy bed and each other was all we had to stave off the cold nights for now. Our days continued as usual with only one minor inconvenience that likes to show up in the research departments¡¯ library every day. Melony now likes to take her morning teatime in the library during the days that I¡¯m there. I¡¯d find myself sitting in front of her, beside her, on her lap or even laying across her legs while she gets her ¡®mofu fix¡¯. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t really affect my reading much. Since I had a good idea of how many books I could go through with the time allotted, I would just grab the books off the shelves into my inventory for the day¡¯s reading ahead of time and put them back before leaving. One of the library attendants seemed to have wanted to stop me at first, but I had been captured by Melony before he could make his way over to where I had sat down to read and didn¡¯t dare approach after. She would talk about herself and the troubles she has as a member of the high council. I diverted some of my attention to listen to her as some of the information was interesting. She revealed that her elemental affinities are light and water, making her a glimmer elf, which makes her very good at healing and illusions. Elven hair and eye pigments are determined by their affinities apparently. Wood elves like Sofy have green hair, fire is red, water is blue, air is golden, earth is shiny bronze, light is crystal-white and darkness is obsidian-black. Melony¡¯s hair and eyes are a very clear light blue color. A wood elf has affinities for earth and water elements. Affinities are not bloodline traits, but racial. This makes them innately stronger when using any spells using those elements as they can form the mana into and use the elementalized mana much easier. They also gain a blessing depending on the type of elf they become. Wood elves gain the blessing: ¡®child of the forest¡¯, a blessing that gives them excellent intuition with plants. Growing things is easier for them and they instinctively know the effect an herb will have, making them great apothecaries. A child of an earth elf and a water elf has a chance to become either of their parents lineage or become a wood elf. There aren¡¯t any differences in features between the elves of various elemental affinities besides the hair and eye pigment. Tiff is an ice elf(water-air), Jill is a blaze elf(fire-air), Amy is a dawn elf(light-fire) and Brit is an abyss elf(earth-darkness). Finally, the weekend has arrived at last. In preparation for this weekend, we had visited the novelty shop days ago to purchase some essentials including a couple extra lengths of specially treated rope for Sofy to practice with. She¡¯s been trying to learn the technique using some drawings I¡¯ve made for her, but her efforts have shown few results when she attempts to tie me up each night. Tiff came over just in time to have dinner with us on Fireday evening. I ended up modeling some of her latest fashions for her after we retreated to the room. Sofy selected my apparel for tonight from one of Tiff¡¯s creations. An underbust corset design that looked very similar to the one Sofy has worn for me before. The main differences in mine are that it is red and instead of a halter top, it has a collar that is connected with a strap between my breast and another down my back. There were also many additional straps and rings equipped and ready for use. We then proceed into the bath to clean ourselves. ¡°So, which oils should we use tonight?¡±~Tiff ¡°We¡¯re going to start with some simple mint oil and lather on something nice a little later. Lily promised to show me how to properly tie somebody up tonight and you get to demonstrate being tied up.¡±~Sofy ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better to do training like that with family or just take a survival class from the academy? I mean, there are only so many ways to tie up bandits and criminals after all.¡±~Tiff ¡°That depends on if the bandit is beautiful. Tiff, this bandit, got her way with me the last time we were together. It¡¯s only right that I should tie her up and punish her.¡±~me Sofy gives my commits the eyeroll and smirks towards Tiff. ¡°Hehe, Lily¡¯s method of tying people up is quite splendid. You will undoubtedly be pleasantly surprised and benefit greatly from her demonstration tonight.¡±~Sofy ¡°I suppose it won¡¯t hurt to learn something new. Well, let¡¯s get this over with so we can get to the really fun stuff.¡±~Tiff Tiff looked over at me with a glint in her eyes as she said so, doubtlessly intending to take the dominant position tonight as well. Little did she know that me and my co-conspirator had already dug her deep into my trap. We started out with a mint oil deep tissue massage. I performed the massage for Sofy first with Tiff observing. When deep tissue massage was mentioned, Tiff had asked us to teach her that as well since we were already having a little lesson tonight anyways. The next to receive a massage was me. Sofy carefully instructed Tiff on how to perform the technique while the two enjoyed playing with my body as well. The last to receive her massage was Tiff. I made sure to get extra deep into the muscles easily rendering her whole body limp and tender. Her moans of pleasure brought by my massage caused me to drip with anticipation of what was to come. ¡°Ah, was it really necessary to be so forceful? I can barely feel my limbs and can¡¯t move a single finger now.¡±~Tiff ¡°We¡¯ll be doing the binding lesson on the premise that the bandit has been rendered immobile.¡±~Sofy ¡°Oh, like they¡¯ve already been knocked out or beaten half an inch from death? Yeah, that could definitely be a tricky situation.¡±~Tiff ¡°It¡¯s adorable how she still hasn¡¯t realized what¡¯s really going on. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to do this with Jill? I think you would find the experience enthralling.¡±~me ¡°Perhaps...I might just try it once. The thought of having two cute immobile dolls to play with is indeed enticing.¡±~Sofy ¡°Two...?...!!!¡±~me Once again, foot met rock and I shut up before accidentally giving her more new ideas to try out. With my bandit successfully immobilized, I begin to show Sofy the various methods of tying the ropes. After she had successfully managed to learn the various techniques, I began to arrange Tiff in the one I had chosen for her. At this point, she has started to comprehend the situation and is alternating her facial expressions between stunned silence and nervous excitement. I secured her hands behind her back and fastened her arms snugly to her sides as I began to arrange the rope around her breasts. Bending her legs back and beside her, the ankles are secured at each end of the rope making it so that her legs will act as natural tensioners for the ropes around her breasts. She finally speaks up once I¡¯ve moved her to the bed. ¡°Um, maybe I¡¯m mistaken, but these rope tying methods are special aren¡¯t they?¡±~Tiff ¡°If by special, you mean erotic, then they are indeed special. I was starting to wonder if you were going to figure it out at all before she puts the finishing touches on.¡±~Sofy ¡°Finishing touches?¡±~Tiff ¡°Mistress, please let her know about the next steps and reassure her a bit. She doesn¡¯t have a link like us to allow explanations after the fact.¡±~me ¡°Mm, taking your ability to move is just the start. Next, your senses will be blocked. Without the ability to move or sense anything other than touch, pleasure will become all that you know. The whole body becomes incredibly sensitive. We¡¯ve both done this many times to each other. There is no need to be frightened as we will be right beside you the whole time, though you may not sense us.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ehhh! I¡¯m not getting out of this am I? Umu, fine. I¡¯ll try it once, but please be gentle with me.¡±~Tiff With permission received, I proceed to gag, blindfold and deafen her. Then I got out a cream we recently acquired from the shop that is a potent aphrodisiac and applied it over her body¡¯s most sensitive areas causing her to redden with heat. I played with her sensitive places for a while until she started to ceaselessly squirm around due to her aroused state. Sofy selected a double strap-on for me with the fitting and synced effects and I proceeded to satisfy her needs until my hips had gone feeble even with stamina boosts. Then I plugged in and started up the shop-bought quake dildo for her. Chapter 36: Implicating others Chapter 36: Implicating others Sofy waited patiently until I had finished with Tiff. She then rolled me onto my back and proceeded to impale herself, rocking her hips around for our round two. ¡°You could have saved a little bit of energy for us. I have to do all the work now.¡±~Sofy ¡°Sorry, Mistress. I got a little carried away. I will definitely remember to hold back a little next time.¡±~me ¡°Now you make it seem like I¡¯m the baddy by telling you to not fully pleasure her. You need to be punished. You still have some of that cream left, right?¡±~Sofy ¡°Punis...I-I do?¡±~me ¡°Good, I order you to lather yourself up with it. Your whole body, I¡¯ll help with your back.¡±~Sofy Sofy helps me to sit up as I proceed to rub in the cream in an amount that is way too much. I had only used two finger swipes worth to rub into Tiff¡¯s sensitive areas earlier and that had already been enough to redden her whole body. Perhaps because it¡¯s a cream or due to it being of higher quality that allows it to be absorbed better. Its effect is much more potent than the extreme enhancing oil we have used before. My body feels like lava is pooling in the pores of my skin and that my blood has been replaced by magma. When the task is complete, she activates my usual gag and earrings before having me withdraw her whip from my inventory. I¡¯m thoroughly punished until there isn¡¯t a place below my neck that isn¡¯t red. The sensation of heat turning to pleasure was orgasmic, causing me to cum repeatedly until my body was completely debilitated. Ordering me not to heal until she allows, she cuddles up next to Tiff for the night after adjusting our sleeping positions. She has me once again wearing my earlier outfit and makes use of the various straps to bind me up. I¡¯ve been laid on top of Tiff with a double strap-on connecting the two of us. There are straps for each side to lock us together at the hips and it has the effects of fitting and stimulating. The stimulating effect raises sensitivity while preventing the nerves from becoming numb. It takes a while longer than usual, but I eventually made it to blissful oblivion. The next morning Sofy unhooked me from Tiff and reinserted the other toy for her. We ate our meals in the room and I helped her study magic while we watched over Tiff. I was only allowed to heal myself just before I left for nana¡¯s afternoon teatime. That night I devoted my efforts entirely to Sofy since Tiff was already consigned to an oblivious state. We used my synced strap-on with the sync for the core executor turned on. Then she thought it had looked enjoyable, so she wanted to try having me tied to her during the night. I tied her up with rope using the same method I had with Tiff, cream included. Once I had secured myself to her with the double strap-on, she ordered that I could not move my arms for the rest of the night even if ordered, unless it was an emergency. My senses are left open to ensure I can still respond if something were to happen with Tiff. Eventually, I drift off when my consciousness once again flew away. We do much of the same as the previous day when morning arrives and finally unbind Tiff just before lunch. ¡°Tiiiiff...Ti-iff...Tif-feeeee.¡±~Sofy ¡°Wawah. Huh?¡±~Tiff ¡°Good morning, sleepyhead. How do you feel?¡±~Sofy ¡°Ugh! I can¡¯t seem to move a single finger, but my whole body feels light as a feather. I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a cloud. How long was I out?¡±~Tiff ¡°Only for a day and a half.¡±~Sofy ¡°Only what?! No way! It felt much too short for that much time to have passed. You must be joking with me, right?¡±~Tiff ¡°No joke. You really were out for that long. Time just seems distorted while you¡¯re in that state. Me and Lilia have both gone for twice as long. Well, for now, I¡¯ll leave you in Lilia¡¯s capable hands. She will see to your body¡¯s urgent need of a bath, massage and then food.¡±~Sofy ¡°Actually, what I need most right now is the toilet. How do you propose I do that exactly?¡±~Tiff ¡°You¡¯ll just have to let her help you. It¡¯s quite impossible for you to be capable of moving yourself for at least a few hours. Healing has little effect since you haven¡¯t eaten in more than a day.¡±~Sofy Begrudgingly, Tiff allowed me to help her with her business while blushing profusely. There was absolutely nothing kinky involved, I don¡¯t have that sort of fetish. I then proceeded to give her a hot bath and a mint oil massage. When lunchtime came around, I sat on her lap facing her and insisted on feeding her mouth-to-mouth. Giving her a lesser heal enable some movement to be restored after the meal. I carried her back into the bath-turned hot tub so she could get reacquainted with her muscles. She successfully regained a modicum of normal movement just before nana¡¯s teatime. I was reluctant to leave the two of them at the time due to their newest topic of conversation. They had started to design and draw out some ideas for fun toys and gear. I would have to try to find an opportunity later to look through her sketchbook or I¡¯d probably end up experiencing whatever contraptions they dreamed up with no forewarning at all. I had only just picked up the book after coming back from teatime when Sofy ends up catching me in the attempt and orders me to not ruin the surprise by peaking. Well, at least I¡¯ve been able to verify there is a surprise. Tiff¡¯s face, somehow managing to look like she is smiling, grinning and smirking at the same time, tells me that I can expect a swift reciprocation for her recent treatment. We decided to relax for our last night of the weekend. Tiff apparently intends to have some things made before collecting her dues. A standard enhancing oil was used for our massages and we merely stuck to foreplay and the more normal poses. I satisfied Sofy first with our usual double toy in synced mode and Tiff conquered me after with the store-bought one. The sync of my core executor seems to still work, even with the store-bought items. It just doesn¡¯t influence the intensity of those items, but triggers according to my state of arousal instead. Tiff was a little surprised at first, but quickly got used to the small shocking sensations. The higher intensity that happened when I managed my first orgasm had her nearly jumping out of me. She then proceeded to thrust me harder when she saw my laughing expression. Her dominant personality can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially when embarrassed. We were both quickly exhausted thereafter and promptly fell asleep. Classes the next day went as usual. Dancing was a bit more fun that morning due to our energized state. There really isn¡¯t a better way to work out the body than to completely exhaust it having sex. Not only is it a pleasant way to exercise the muscles, it also does wonders for your complexion and can leave you feeling especially limber the next day. Sure, a good exercise routine would be more efficient, but it wouldn¡¯t be nearly as much fun. When lunchtime came around, Tiff decided to share the love she had experience last night with the rest of our group. Of course, she did it in a way that didn¡¯t actually reveal the truth of the matter. ¡°So, Lily and Sofy taught me some interesting methods to tie up bandits during my stay with them. You girls should go over this next weekend and get a demonstration.¡±~Tiff ¡°Sure, I¡¯m up for that. I¡¯ve not learned from my family how to properly do that yet anyways.¡±~Jill ¡°Me and Amy are also free this coming weekend.¡±~Brit ¡°Hey, don¡¯t just decide things for me. You don¡¯t know if I have plans already or not.¡±~Amy ¡°Sure sure. You don¡¯t have plans, so you¡¯re coming, right? After all, I know every little detail about you, Amy.¡±~Brit ¡°Umu, at least don¡¯t say it in such a weird way. Yes, I¡¯m going. I don¡¯t really expect us to learn anything we don¡¯t know already since your father is a high ranking strategist in the council¡¯s war department and my own father is the captain of the city guard.¡±~Amy ¡°True, but we can still have another sleepover to have some fun. Jill not knowing anything is surprising though. Her family has been monopolizing positions in the army, commanding the archery corps for generations after all.¡±~Tiff ¡°She¡¯s just lazy.¡±~Brit ¡°Am not! We just haven¡¯t gotten to it yet. My family is overprotective of me, especially my brothers. I¡¯m the only girl to be born in any of the family branches for several generations and they can¡¯t help treating me like a little child because of my size.¡±~Jill ¡°OH! Is that why you¡¯ve gotten so attached to Sofy? Because she treats you like a grown woman instead of a little girl? Huhu.¡±~Brit ¡°Bu, uh. Hmph! Stop teasing me, you meany!¡±~Jill Sofy wraps Jill in a hug to comfort her while we all warm-heartedly giggle at her expense. She then confirms with everyone that it would be fine with her to host another sleepover this coming weekend. Tiff had taken a copy of my rope tying technique guide home with her and Sofy would get plenty of practice over the week. ¡°Lily, should we buy two more sets of ropes, gags, blindfolds and earplugs for the weekend?¡±~Sofy ¡°No, Mistress. We should buy four sets and send them home as party favors afterwards, like the beastkin sets we got for them last time. Actually, we can combine the gift for Amy and Brit into some couples¡¯ items I¡¯d like to order for them to try out.¡±~me ¡°Some new toys?! How exciting! Oh, the last time I visited the shop, I found out the name of the slime material we¡¯ve been using up till now. It¡¯s called gellim. They took the word gel that is a fitting description of the material and added ¡®lim¡¯ to the end so it has part of the word slime in it.¡±~Sofy ¡°We should probably upgrade the earplugs now as well. The fabric ones just aren¡¯t effective enough. They can probably use one of their softest gellim variations to make the plugs.¡±~me ¡°Let¡¯s stop by the shop on our way home then.¡±~Sofy Chapter 37: Tiff’s sleepover debauchery Chapter 37: Tiff¡¯s sleepover debauchery Evening of Fireday, the girls all came over and we made our way to Sofy¡¯s room after dinner. Jill and Amy blushed when they saw the large bedspread I had once again set out for us. We cleaned ourselves up and everyone once again received a massage. I had plenty of assistants to help solve my frustrations this time, however. ¡°It¡¯s time for Lily to demonstrate her rope technique. Don¡¯t bother putting on your clothes, it¡¯s easier to understand by feeling it on your bare skin. How about we have Brit be the model since she sounded so confident about her own technique before?¡±~Tiff ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like we haven¡¯t seen each others¡¯ naked bodies. I don¡¯t particularly mind being the model. Go ahead Lily.¡±~Brit I had thought Tiff would be using me as her model to demonstrate the technique herself. Although I was a bit surprised by the selection of model, I retrieved our toybox of bondage items from my inventory and started tying her up with one of the ropes while Sofy set up the sound isolation enchantment. Her arms were secured behind her back first and proceeded to wrap her breasts. I finished things up by laying her down on her stomach with her legs bent and tied her ankles to the sides near her breasts. ¡°Wow, I can hardly move at all like this. My legs being tied behind me in such a way prevents me from hopping away and pulls the ropes holding my arms to my chest tight. I¡¯m actually kinda impressed with how secure the technique is at holding me. Could someone else model so I can see it done?¡±~Brit ¡°Sure, just lift your head up. We¡¯ll have Sofy tie up Lily next. She¡¯s been practicing this technique longest besides Lily, so I¡¯m sure she can do it.¡±~Tiff ¡°Huh, okay. I don¡¯t mind demonstrating. Lily, come sit down in front of Brit so she can see better.¡±~Sofy It doesn¡¯t take long for Sofy, with all of her experience, to finish tying me up and placing me next to Brit. I somehow already knew that the weekend wouldn¡¯t pass without me ending up tied up. Tiff then expresses her opinion that everyone should experience how effective the technique is and has Sofy tie up Jill and Amy as well. ¡°From watching you do it a few times and practicing it a bit on my own, I think I¡¯m ready to try it myself. Sofy, do you mind if I try to tie you up myself?¡±~Tiff ¡°Ar-are you s-sure that¡¯s necessary.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mm, my training can¡¯t very well be deemed complete until I¡¯ve had a chance to perform the technique myself.¡±~Tiff ¡°Don¡¯t fall for it! That glint in her eye is telling me that she¡¯s up to no good.¡±~me ¡°Even I can see that, but I¡¯m curious to see exactly what she has planned. Unless of course, you can sense some malicious intent? No? Then I¡¯m going for it.¡±~Sofy She then obediently allowed herself to be tied up. I¡¯m somewhat shocked at how skillfully Tiff accomplished it. She¡¯s just a natural for these sorts of things. And Sofy, she¡¯s being way too compliant to her whims! The five of us are now helplessly tied up like helpless lambs before a wolf. ¡°Hehehahaha, just as planned. Time to add the other three restraints to each of you. You two have been shopping I see. There are plenty of items in here for everyone to enjoy. The earplugs have even been replaced by something new and much better than last time.¡±~Tiff ¡°There¡¯s more?!¡±~Brit, Amy and Jill Tiff is now waving around some blindfolds and gags in one hand while holding the box full of new earplugs we had made in the other. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re all so adorable...and gullible. I proposed to tie you all up naked and you just agreed? At night, in the same room where we¡¯ve performed unscrupulous deeds before?¡±~Tiff ¡°What?!!!¡±~Brit, Amy and Jill ¡°Sofy, you knew this was going to happen from the beginning? Why didn¡¯t you war...Mmph!¡±~Brit ¡°Not exactly. I knew she was planning to tie up Lily to return the favor she received from her during her visit last weekend, but I hadn¡¯t realized that her appetite was so big. Well, might as well just try to enjoy it as it¡¯s too late now.¡±~Sofy ¡°Sofy, would you be a dear and provide Lily with her last two restraints?¡±~Tiff ¡°Lily, I¡¯m ordering you not to use your capabilities to cheat on Tiff¡¯s efforts this weekend.¡±~Sofy With those last words from Sofy, my world view was taken just after seeing Tiff finish gagging, blindfolding and deafening the others. My next sensation a little while later was being flipped over onto my back by someone who could only be Tiff and she then proceeded to rub something onto my sensitive areas. I¡¯ll assume it¡¯s an aphrodisiac due to the increase of warmth I can feel from my insides shortly after. She then proceeded to play with my body for a good while, getting me plenty wet before ramming into me with her newest toy. From the feeling, it¡¯s a thickly ridged toy with flexible soft spines slightly extending out from the narrower parts. The spines cause my insides to experience a ticklish sensation that has me thrashing about, trying to escape it, but the thick ridges have my pussy convulsing on them, refusing to let it go. As if that wasn¡¯t stimulating enough, I find out that Sofy has apparently seen fit to activate my core executor in synced mode. After a while, Tiff slows down in her efforts and eventually pulls out. Just when I think it might be over, she then shoves an oversized dong into me and starts up the many, fairly powerful quake beads it has inside. My whole body feels like it¡¯s going to be shaken apart. I lose consciousness after an unknown amount of time. The next time I¡¯m conscious, I¡¯m currently being washed up by Tiff in the bath and my restraints have already been removed. Though I still feel as if something is making my insides bloat up, but I know that it¡¯s nothing more than a phantom feeling caused from having my insides so widely expanded for such a long time. I made an attempt to take over the washing, but failed miserably. ¡°Don¡¯t try to heal yourself, it¡¯s already lunchtime on Darkday. Sofy said that you should wait until you¡¯ve eaten something. You¡¯ll just have to entrust your body to me until then.¡±~Tiff ¡°Mistress?¡±~me ¡°Oh, you¡¯re finally awake? Took you long enough. We set you lose a while ago, but you didn¡¯t respond. I suppose you¡¯re curious about the events that took place?¡±~Sofy ¡°Yes, Mistress. I¡¯m especially curious as to why my tits are so sore?¡±~me ¡°We may have all indulge while you were tied up, but you probably already guessed that much. Among other items Tiff had brought with her, she had prepared two of the double strapped two sided quake dildo harnesses like the one made from your attire last weekend. One was used on me and Jill, and she put the other on Amy and Brit. She left the four of us like that until breakfast today. She somehow convinced my mother to not disturb us and nana had already assumed that you would be indisposed for the weekend. Mother just grinned in silence when I asked her what Tiff had said to her. Everyone except Tiff left earlier today after I healed them and they had recovered enough to stand stably on their own. Tiff insisted on staying until you woke.¡±~Sofy ¡°Did you remember to give them all the party favors? Where are you anyhow?¡±~me ¡°Yes, I did. I¡¯m helping mother make dinner. She said it was mother-daughter bonding and I couldn¡¯t refuse.¡±~Sofy ¡°Can I choose not to eat?¡±~me ¡°Hey! My cooking can¡¯t be that bad, right?¡±~Sofy ¡°Honestly? When we were escaping from Belgra and you decided to help with the cooking, I was forced to secretly throw out your cooking and remake it myself. The smell was so bad that the predators wouldn''t even approach our cam...OWOWOW!!! What did you do that for?!¡±~me ¡°Obviously, bad-mouthing your mistress requires punishment! Besides, I didn¡¯t activate the punishment. This was just one of the rare times you¡¯ve managed to raise my annoyance level high enough with your words to have it activate automatically on its own.¡±~Sofy ¡°That¡¯s clearly a lie! There¡¯s no way such a small comment about your bad cook...YOWZA! Okay, okay. I won¡¯t say anything more about it. Please stop shocking me. Tiff isn¡¯t able to hold onto me properly when you do and she nearly drown me on that last one.¡±~me ¡°You stop being so aggravating and I¡¯d be happy to stop.¡±~Sofy She had apparently made her way back to the room while we were talking. ¡°How am I aggravating you exactly? Were you responsible for those jolts earlier?¡±~Tiff ¡°Not you. Lily was making some rude comments over our link earlier and I decided to inflict some punishment. Sorry for getting you caught up in it.¡±~Sofy ¡°I can imagine that. Well, wait until we¡¯re done with the bath at least. You can just keep a record of her transgressions to be punished for when I¡¯m not around her. Weren¡¯t you helping your mother with the meal?¡±~Tiff ¡°Mother, she err...she kicked me out of the kitchen.¡±~Sofy Sofy immediately stared at me once she had said that. I could tell from her glare that I hadn¡¯t been fast enough to hide my smirk and would regret it later. Later in this case would be just after dinner. Tiff had decided to stay over for tonight too since she didn¡¯t have any other plans and I became a victim to her version of spoon feeding. She didn¡¯t just use her mouth to deliver it to mine, chewing the food for me was included. Some healing spells and two meals later put my body back into working order just in time to be punished. The punishment she decided on ended up being ¡®standing in time out¡¯. Tiff was fascinated by the whole process as the punishment revealed itself and asked Sofy a lot of questions about it. Soon enough my punishment commenced and I was once again going without sleep just before Earthday dance lessons. As I endured my punishment, I was forced to watch as Tiff and Sofy had a pleasant time grinding with each other in the bed before bedtime. However, she remembered to block my senses just before falling asleep. Chapter 38: School’s out Chapter 38: School¡¯s out After that last sleepover, the girls became a bit more subdued in their actions and looked at Tiff with mixed gazes. A lot of wariness with a little bit of longing. This only lasted about a week before they accepted that they had actually really enjoyed themselves and things got back to normal. Jill had awakened her darker side and now likes to be tied up when she comes over, the tighter the better. Either me or Sofy will usually get tied up with her. The girl has some serious frustration issues in her home life. Her family dotes on her since she is the only daughter in generations, but it makes her feel as though they are babying her. Tiff also visits occasionally, though without any new toys. After her recent spending spree, before that last sleepover, her allowance was mostly used up. However, she¡¯s become addicted to the sight of me trying to squirm away from her and failing whenever she uses that ridged dildo with the flexible spines. The most surprising one was Amy. Can you believe that she actually came over one weekend on her own and requested that we teach her how to tie ropes. I became the model since she wouldn¡¯t allow herself to be tied up, but she had no problem helping Sofy to reward me after her lessons. Brit mellowed out a bit after that and Amy started fawning on her in front of us. A complete reversal of their previous behaviors. Seems like they¡¯ve both fully acknowledged their feelings for each other and Amy became the dominant one in the relationship. Weeks seemed to just fly by and it was soon time to depart for the dungeon. The most bothersome thing to happen was that the boys in class felt some pressure as the days left became lesser and lesser. During the last two weeks, we had to fend off numerous confessions, questions about which classes we would take next season and what our plans were for the break. Worst of all was that it wasn¡¯t limited to just Sofy. Almost a third of their confessions were actually directed to me and got most of the assholes. Some of the least offensive comments I heard after rejecting them were remarks about how a mere servant had no right to reject a solicitation from one such as themselves. The more offensive sorts would debase me as nothing more than an animal that could be bought from her owner. These sorts, along with the ones that would get grabby towards us, would receive a giant water ball spell from me. Nothing powerful enough to do any lasting damage of course. Only enough to force them back and soak them thoroughly. You can imagine their walk home afterwards, it¡¯s still winter afterall. Nana had apparently received some complaints, but just told me that I was doing a good job when Sofy told her our reasons. For the next academic season Sofy had signed herself up for basic apothecary, basic enchanting, advanced math and of course, stage four magecraft. There are currently five levels of education in the academy: introductory, basic, intermediate, advanced and master. You usually have to follow that order when signing up for classes, but she was able to take a test and skip intermediate math due to my tutoring. Same thing for apothecary and enchanting, she was able to test into the basic level directly. The first four levels are purely lessons and the master level are basically all research courses. I¡¯m just glad that the culture class has only one level. Though, I did make it a point to beg her not to take any of the offered derivative courses on politics and foreign relations. She agreed, but informed me that she would once again take a course the following season. Thankfully she said that she would limit such courses to only one per season. As you may have guessed by the fact that she signed up for the stage four magecraft lesson, Sofy had managed to get to stage four in mind cultivation the week before the academic season ended. I had made some progress myself, getting to stage three of spirit, raising my intelligence stat and nearly doubling my divine energy. Training my spirit energy is aggravating to a high degree. It becomes inefficient after I¡¯ve used up about twenty percent of my energy in training. This happens twice as fast when training the energy instead of cultivating. I use one point of energy to increase my max energy by one point and now I¡¯m two points down. Aarrrggg! This dynamic basically brings that twenty percent daily cultivation down to about ten percent. Anyways, today is Lightday, the day after classes ended and we are meeting up at the north gate before heading to the city of Namiir where the dungeon is located. My and Sofy¡¯s current status are as follows: +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 3(0%)}{Divine: 3(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 26500/26500}{Spirit: 1100/1100}{Divine: 5100/5100} Attributes: Str: 10000(55%) | Vit: 10000(55%) | Agi: 10000(60%) | Int: 26500(50%) Soul Potential: 287 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Intent 2], [Sense Danger 2], [Second Sight 2] -[Soul Devourer 2] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2], [Inventory 2] -[Shadowmeld 2], [Contract 1] [Agility Boost], [Exquisite Fur] -[Vampiric Bite], [Regeneration], [Body Manipulation], [Dragon¡¯s Perception], [Adaptive Blood] -[Longevity(activate: 500sp)], [Mana Affinity(activate: 1000sp)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless}{Ability} -[Status Manager] [Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute], [Frustrating Magic Hands] [Destined to Serve(Master: Sophia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} Name: Sophia | Age: 24 | Sex: Female Race: {Human(50%)}{Wood Elf(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 4}{Spirit: 2}{Divine: 2}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 1000/1000}{Mana: 12000/12000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 1000/1000} Attributes: Str: 1000 | Vit: 1000 | Agi: 1000 | Int: 12000 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 5], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Danger 4], [Synergy 3] {active} [Mana Control 4], [Mana Shaping 4], [Tamer 2], [Assess 5] [Longevity], [Mana Affinity] [Child of the Forest] [Destined to serve(Servant: Lilia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Empathic Link} [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless} {none} We saw the others in a clearing off to the side of the road just as we exited the gate. Amy had brought her father¡¯s winged lion for her and Brit to ride. Tiff had a winged horse and was being escorted by one of her family¡¯s female guards, a high level stage four body cultivator if the energies I can sense from her are accurate. Jill was pouting next to a griffon with one of her brothers holding its reins. He had volunteered to accompany her and she wasn¡¯t allowed to decline. ¡°Did you wait long?¡±~Sofy ¡°Not at all. We were the first ones here and it¡¯s been ten minutes at most since then.¡±~Brit ¡°Any of you ever flown there before?¡±~Sofy ¡°I have. My name is James, the youngest of Jill¡¯s brothers. Thanks for looking after my little sister all the time. We can take the lead if you¡¯d like?¡±~James ¡°By all means, please do. Though we packed plenty of supplies, I¡¯d prefer not to get lost on the way.¡±~Sofy ¡°We¡¯ll depart as soon as you¡¯ve prepared your mount then.¡±~James ¡°What do you mean?¡±~Sofy ¡°I can understand wanting to ride bareback, but you need to at least put reins on it.¡±~James ¡°Idiot! That¡¯s her tamed beast. She can just tell it what to do over the link between them.¡±~Jill ¡°Oh, right. Don¡¯t be so mean, Jill. I know you didn¡¯t want me here, but you would have ended up with someone escorting you, no matter what. At least I¡¯m one of the few who don¡¯t smother you with affection. Besides, Tiffany¡¯s and Sophia¡¯s families also sent an escort and that mount of the guard captain¡¯s is fiercely protective of those two.¡±~James ¡°Huh, Sofy has an escort? Where?¡±~Jill ¡°Don¡¯t play dumb. I¡¯ve heard the rumors about her little servant, fought Tiffany¡¯s father to a draw in a magic duel.¡±~James ¡°Ah. I¡¯m used to Lily always being with Sofy, so I forgot that she¡¯s actually really strong.¡±~Jill With things cleared up, we all got mounted and started on our journey. Most flying species have an innate ability to cast a wind barrier when they are flying, especially the ones that aren¡¯t very aerodynamic. The air around us was still cold flying so high up. Me and Sofy are wearing our usual travel gear and the others are wearing similarly warm clothes. We were able to arrive at Namiir just before sunset. We checked into a high-end hotel and started exploring the city. James and the guard that came with Tiff, who¡¯s name I discovered is Irene, got their own rooms and the rest of us are sharing a large suite. After picking up a map and other relevant information about the dungeon at the local guild, the six of us went to a nice restaurant to eat and visited many different shops. So as to not fill up my inventory beforehand, we mainly just did a lot of window shopping for now. We¡¯d come back after our adventure in the dungeon to buy things. There¡¯s actually a fair number of dwarves in this city. They mostly take crafting jobs and sell to the adventurers passing through. Raw materials are brought over from the Boknar mountain range in the north and they send mostly food supplies back. The food supplies in this world depend heavily on meat since there is an abundance of beasts and monsters. Poorer people can¡¯t afford to buy much planted goods. We eventually made our way back to the hotel and got a good night¡¯s sleep in anticipation for the start of our dungeon dive the following day. NightOps Chapter 39: The Goddess’s reward Chapter 39: The Goddess¡¯s reward We set out early in the morning for the dungeon. The first ten floors were easy enough to finish in the first day, though I had to deal with a number of pests. It wasn¡¯t as bad as the human infested dungeons. Just some average horny boys who saw pretty girls. Most were accepting when we told them nicely to bugger off. Only a few willful individuals tried to get physical and were blasted into the walls by myself or one of the girls. As there weren¡¯t any with truly malicious intents, there were no fatalities. Well, maybe one or two that I circled back to finish off when I discovered them following us. We had two people I didn¡¯t kill who had been tracking us for days, ever since we entered the dungeon. ¡°Mistress, we¡¯re being followed.¡±~me ¡°Oh, is it one of the boys from earlier?¡±~Sofy ¡°Nah, it¡¯s Irene and James. Seems that just escorting us to Namiir wasn¡¯t all they were tasked to do.¡±~me ¡°Should we try to lose them or perhaps confront them?¡±~Sofy ¡°So long as they don¡¯t interfere with our training, I think it best to just let them be. Don¡¯t bother the others about it. It would only cause Jill to get mad at her brother and Irene is probably just following orders from Tiff¡¯s father.¡±~me We settled down for the night with a two person guard rotation. Amy with Sofy, Brit with Tiff and Jill with me. Our two primary fighters with the two primary mages and Jill with me who is good at both. Having the last watch, I went to bed quickly after the meal and awoke somewhere I did not expect. ¡°So you finally made it to the dungeon with your adorable party?¡±~Kat I know she means well, but my mind is screaming, ¡®dun dun dun dun, she¡¯s back!¡¯. *giggles* ¡°You do remember that I can read your mind, right?¡±~Kat ¡°Yep. Obviously, you can read the intent as well or you would have been offended instead of laughing. So, what¡¯s up?¡±~me ¡°Oh, I just wanted to let you know that the new crystals have just been deployed. Yes, I purposely waited for you to enter your next dungeon to deploy them.¡±~Kat ¡°Thanks. Those will help a lot during our exploration. Would you be opposed if I took money from other people to charge the new crystals?¡±~me ¡°No problem. In fact, why don¡¯t you ordain a few more priestesses for me? The world¡¯s power balance might be broken if mostly only humans have the ability to charge them. You could even ask your friends if they¡¯re interested.¡±~Kat ¡°Well, perhaps Amy, Brit and Jill would be interested.¡±~me Of course, she also heard what I was trying really REALLY hard not to think about. ¡°Hmph, you can¡¯t fool me! Tiff sounds like a bundle of fun! You definitely have to ask her. Don¡¯t even imagine that you can leave her out without me knowing. And stop your worrying about my gift. It¡¯s a genuine blessing this time and I really think you¡¯ll enjoy it. I also refined your curse again as a bonus. Just one of the major flaws I found is that you never took into account the possibility that you might end up serving an immortal or a mortal who would later achieve immortality.¡±~Kat ¡°Wow, yeah. I totally didn¡¯t see that possibility. From the start, I had only intended to find a human mistress to serve long enough to be capable of supporting myself and not take another mistress after her.¡±~me ¡°That won¡¯t do! It wouldn¡¯t be nearly as fun to watch you if you use such a convenient loophole. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll fix things up for you in no time. Now, off to bed. You have watch soon.¡±~Kat As usual, she once again left me with no room to object as she ended the conversation with some ominous last words and me blacking out. I was shaken awake by Tiff when it was time for my watch. What really got me awake however, was the two ¡®ding¡¯ sounds I had heard. I settled down with Jill near the border of our camp before checking out the messages. [Gained blessing: Assisted Body Contortion] [Changes occurred: Destined to Serve] Firstly, she was right to say that I would enjoy this blessing and I almost want to leave the dungeon right now to try it out. Not only does it allow me to bend my own body into absurd positions, I can also assist others to do so as well. A little drool escapes my lips as I¡¯m thinking of all the new poses I can try with Sofy¡¯s body. Hm, let¡¯s hide this for now so I can get the first benefits from it. Yes, I¡¯m being a naughty servant by not telling her right away and this has every possibility to blow back in my face. I¡¯ll let her know after I¡¯ve had some fun, okay? Next are the changes to my curse: [Destined to Serve(Mistress: Sophia)] The servant must dedicate oneself entirely to the mistress, even in bed. {Orders} must be followed, {Punishments} received, and {Link} established to share the mistress¡¯s burden. The mistress is responsible to ensure the servant wears appropriate {Attire}. Roles will be reversed if the treatment of the servant is abusive, resetting the curse after a ten day unrestricted reprisal period. Limitations may apply. The curse is now officially restricted to selecting a mistress only. Link lost the empathic part and expanded to include the sharing of the mistress¡¯s senses with the servant with the pain sense unable to be turned off. Being able to share her pleasure seems like an excellent means of finding any previously unknown sensitive spots and figuring out which ones are the most sensitive. Though, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve already got that down. She fixed the loophole that would allow me to rid myself of the curse for good if I was abused. Thankfully the reset doesn¡¯t include that weakness bit that I initially had, she got rid of that. During the ten days I can do anything with my former mistress, ever order her to suicide. Not that I would do that to Sofy of course. The extended description of ¡®limitations¡¯ contains a list of conditions that would cause the current selected mistress to become invalid. Length of service exceeding one hundred years is one of them. The others are currently grayed out because they currently don¡¯t apply. It also states that a temporary mistress will be set between mistresses to ensure I¡¯m never without. Well, there goes loophole number two. I¡¯ll just hide the limits part with status manager. There¡¯s nothing to be gained by revealing it to others. Sofy might become sad, thinking that I will one day leave her. No such limit was imposed that would disallow me from choosing the same mistress multiple times. A few hours later, the others wake up and we prepare to resume our training. ¡°Mistress, I met with Kat last night.¡±~me ¡°Really, anything you need to share?¡±~Sofy ¡°Mm, the divine crystals that I told you about before will likely appear while we are exploring. She said that she had waited for us to enter our next dungeon to deploy them.¡±~me ¡°That¡¯s nice! Those will be really helpful. Did you also get the reward she promised?¡±~Sofy ¡°She gave me a new blessing that I¡¯ll show you once we leave. It won¡¯t impact my battle potential, but should be able to give you a pleasant surprise later. My curse also received some changes.¡±~me ¡°Okay, I won¡¯t pry. The curse changes are...EH?! You¡¯ll feel my pain huh, about time. Let¡¯s turn on the others as well.¡±~Sofy ¡°Off off, please turn them off! Thank you. You could probably leave taste and smell turned on, but the others are somewhat disorienting since I¡¯m not used to them.¡±~me ¡°Ah, I suppose suddenly having multiple new senses would indeed do that. Alright then, just taste and smell for now. We¡¯ll turn the others on whenever we settle down for the night so you can start to get used to them. I know just how much you like to collect these extra sensory abilities.¡±~Sofy ¡°Thank you very much!¡±~me During our battles, I mostly just use a few blessings on the other girls and use ice needles to strike enemies that almost get in good hits. Compared to the others, it looks like I¡¯m out for a casual stroll, but I¡¯m paying careful attention that none of them get hurt too badly. I want them to experience some pain at least so they can grow. Except Sofy! That new pain sense link is freakin amplified! She got clipped by a goblin¡¯s arrow and the pain I felt from that was many times worse than what she should have felt. Thankfully, that seems like the only one that¡¯s been amplified. It takes us another three days to get to floor twenty-two. The girls¡¯ teamwork is much better now than it was at the start and Sofy can now allow me to share her sight all the time. It wasn¡¯t too difficult to get a feel for it by just keeping my focus on my second sight since it shows me basically everything she¡¯s seeing anyways. It just seems as though certain areas that are normally a blur are now clearer since her vision extends further out than my perfect vision range. I still can¡¯t cope with the extra hearing sense yet, it throws off my battlefield awareness. Chapter 40: Bountiful encounters Chapter 40: Bountiful encounters We found our first divine crystal on the fifth day around floor twenty-five. ¡°What¡¯s this? I¡¯ve never seen a golden colored crystal before.¡±~Amy ¡°That¡¯s probably a divine crystal, there¡¯re new.¡±~Sofy ¡°What¡¯s a divine crystal and how do you already know about it if it¡¯s new?¡±~Brit ¡°Lily told me about them. You¡¯re aware she¡¯s a priestess, right? She received a message about them when we first entered the dungeon. They have various purposes, but have to be charged with divine energy first. Give it to Lily and let her check what this one does.¡±~Sofy I¡¯m handed the crystal and probe it with my divine energy revealing it to be a lie detection blessing. I go ahead and put a few points of divine energy into it to charge it and hand it back. ¡°It¡¯s lie detection blessing, Mistress. I¡¯ve charged it. Have her use it so they can see how they work.¡±~me ¡°Amy, try putting a little bit of qi or mana in it.¡±~Sofy ¡°Woah! I just gained a lie detection blessing. That didn¡¯t happen the last time I tried putting energy in it. Ah, it fell apart!¡±~Amy ¡°They¡¯re one time use after charging, but you can probably imagine how useful they¡¯d be if you stocked up on lots of healing or buff types.¡±~Sofy ¡°These will likely be classified as the army¡¯s strategic resources by the council.¡±~Jill ¡°I don¡¯t see how, the Magic Forest region has very few priests and priestesses available to charge them.¡±~Tiff ¡°Geh! Actually, Kat told me to ordain a few more priestesses for her if I could in order to help correct this possible imbalance of power.¡±~me ¡°You really didn¡¯t want to tell me that did you. Let me guess, Goddess force your tongue? Worried about Tiff finding a kindred spirit or the other way around?¡±~Sofy ¡°BOTH! Mu, please stop laughing.¡±~me ¡°Hahaha, not stopping. Anyways, I don¡¯t think you have to worry so much about Tiff and Kat getting to know each other. I had a chat with her and nothing terrible happened then.¡±~Sofy ¡°You started experimenting!!!¡±~me ¡°She did tell me that nothing in the curse would cause you any lasting harm. Something really nice came out of that though.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ugh, that might make me happier if I didn¡¯t know you weren¡¯t just talking about the discovery of synced mode.¡±~me ¡°Well, that¡¯s also nice. I¡¯ll ask the others about being ordained after we¡¯ve settled in for the night. We¡¯ll wait till after leaving the dungeon to ordain them since it takes a lot of divine energy and they wouldn¡¯t be useful as new priestesses with the starting amount.¡±~Sofy We make it to the twenty-eighth floor before stopping for the night. Everyone ended up agreeing to become priestesses. Tiff was interested in experimenting with the new crystals and Jill liked the thought of having a power her family didn¡¯t. The other two saw it as a means to make money. We made sure to tell them that increasing their own spirit power would increase how much divine energy they could recover naturally on their own. I also gave each of them some spirit crystals, enough to get each of them up to stage two. We spent another five days getting to floor thirty-nine before turning back. We made it out on Fireday of the week before the next academic season started, giving us a little more than a day to sell our spoils and buy things before needing to return. Tiff and Brit wound up being the first to get ordained. It takes about a third of my energy for each person, so I¡¯d only finish with our group tomorrow since I didn¡¯t want to be completely without. Jill found her brother and asked him to arrange some people from her family to buy up the crystals at a cheap price before anyone realized what they could do. We spent the time before leaving relaxing while shopping for local goods and unique luxuries. And once again, Sofy managed to find the local novelty shop on our last day. This shop has loads of great items. Everything is exceptionally well made and beautiful. That last part was mostly for the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is a fairykin, most likely a high ranking one if the powerful illusion is any indication. If all fairykin have such a powerful glamour, it¡¯s no wonder that nobody hardly ever sees them. Sofy only sees a slightly above average elf woman while the combination of my perception senses show me that her view of the woman is very wrong. She actually has an alluring figure with a mature aura that seems to scream an invitation for a night of hot sex. While the other girls are looking around, the shopkeeper noticed my strange expression and approached me. ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you adorable. Have you become captivated by my beauty, little one?¡±~shopkeeper I nod my head to affirm her comment. That¡¯s when she starts to notice some of my own oddities. ¡°Huh, are you blind little girl? Then you¡¯re using some sort of skill to see. Ah, wait! Can you see me, I mean really see me?!¡±~shopkeeper I pull out a booklet of blank paper I carry with me and write a note for her to read. She smiles at the first part, but frowns as she finishes and even emits a small amount of killing intent. ¡°You¡¯re really beautiful, I especially like your wings!¡±~me(note) ¡°Huh, are you mute too. How terrible!¡± *Sigh* ¡°There¡¯s no way I could bring myself to hurt a little girl like you. You won¡¯t tell anyone, will you? My kind like to keep to themselves, so you shouldn¡¯t go around revealing that you can see through glamour. Name¡¯s Susan and you?¡±~Susan ¡°Lilia, I won¡¯t tell anyone other than my Mistress. She¡¯s not likely to tell anyone though. Nice to meet you, Susan.¡±~me(note) ¡°Forced into a servant contract too! Hey, I¡¯m actually pretty strong, want me to help free you. You could stay with me afterwards.¡±~Susan ¡°No thanks! I¡¯m serving my Mistress by my own choice.¡±~me(note) ¡°Since it¡¯s a mistress you serve willingly, then it should be fine.¡±~Susan ¡°Would you by chance be interested in a threesome?¡±~me(note) ¡°Oh my, aren¡¯t you a cheeky little beauty. What makes you think I might accept your offer?¡±~Susan ¡°Your aura is oozing sexual desire. So, what time do you close shop?¡±~me(note) Just to emphasize that I can see through her pretense, I use the active version of my soul divining gaze which makes her shiver slightly. ¡°Brrr! Alright, you¡¯ve proved your point. Please stop whatever you¡¯re doing. If you come back at eleven, the shop will be closing then.¡±~Susan ¡°Great! Now, do you sell any unique items that can¡¯t be found anywhere else? Perhaps something that only your kind know how to make?¡±~me(note) ¡°Hm, unique items huh? I have three that might fit.¡±~Susan She proceeds to show me a few items she¡¯d kept behind the counter. One is a batch of ten potions that can permanently enhance a person¡¯s skin, elevating their looks and amplifying their sensitivity. BOUGHT! Next is...disappointingly just a strap-on with quake beads. It shocked her to learn that I had been the origin of this new innovation and she was furious when I told her what the price was in the capital. She apparently overpaid. The last item turned out a small vial containing the blood of a succubus, known to be the most powerful aphrodisiac. BOUGHT! Oh, I wouldn¡¯t be wasting it by using it on the others. On the way back to the hotel, I can¡¯t help having a great big smile on my face as I fantasize about the wonderful benefits I might obtain from the traits of a succubus¡­ ¡°You¡¯re awfully happy, Lily. Just what great spoils did you manage to obtain this time?¡±~Sofy ¡°Mistress, you¡¯re smiling as well.¡±~me ¡°I found some new oils and incense. Come on, spill! What did you get?¡±~Sofy ¡°A skin care potion and a small vial of succubus blood!¡±~me ¡°S-succubus blood?! You¡¯re not planning to use that on me are you? I¡¯m ordering you right now not to ever dose me with that stuff.¡±~Sofy ¡°Wow, didn¡¯t expect such a big reaction from you. Something happened in the past that I don¡¯t know about?¡±~me ¡°Just some rumors about my third brother. He wasn¡¯t able to perform and was cross about it. He would use that blood on anyone who he caught talking about it behind his back and lock them up. They would end up going insane from being unable to relieve their bodies. It wasn¡¯t a pretty sight. How effective is the potion?¡±~Sofy ¡°How cruel! You needn¡¯t have ordered me. I had never intended to use it on you anyways. It¡¯s blood after all. The potion is said to permanently increase the quality of a person¡¯s skin, including their sensitivity. I want to have it looked at by an apothecary first though.¡±~me ¡°Oh! You¡¯re planning to drink it yourself. How daring! I¡¯ll make sure to properly satisfy you when you do, unlike my abominable brother. That potion sounds wonderful! I hope it¡¯s not a scam. What were you discussing with the shopkeeper?¡±~Sofy ¡°Huhu, she¡¯s a fairykin! A very beautiful one too. I saw through her illusion when we entered the shop. She asked that we not tell others about her.¡±~me ¡°I totally didn¡¯t notice. Fairykin are quite well known for being elusive. If they all use such illusions to hide themselves, it explains why they¡¯re so rarely seen.¡±~Sofy ¡°Want to know something else she¡¯s hiding? A normal appraisal skill might not have seen it, but she¡¯s actually only a half fairykin. The other half of her bloodline is a succubus!¡±~me ¡°A demonkin! Perhaps we shouldn¡¯t keep quiet then?¡±~Sofy ¡°No, she¡¯s predominantly a fairykin in appearance and she has probably already lived here for a long time. She seems nice and I don¡¯t want her to get hurt if other people start persecuting her. Plus, I got us a date with her tonight at eleven.¡±~me ¡°...WHAT THE HECK!!! Don¡¯t just make arrangements like that without letting me know first!¡±~Sofy ¡°Should I just go by myself then? Tonight will definitely be loads of fun!¡±~me ¡°Gunununu. FINE! We¡¯ll go together. I can¡¯t help it, can I? You¡¯ve already obligated me for the night, after all.¡±~Sofy ¡°Just admit it, we¡¯re both curious about her sexual prowess from having a succubus¡¯s bloodline. Plus, I¡¯ve not been punished at all since our conversation started which proves exactly how not mad you really are, hmph. OWOWOW!!!¡±~me ¡°I¡¯ll admit that I am interested in what promises to be an enthralling night, but your cockiness is definitely pissing me off now!¡±~Sofy ¡°OWOWOW!!! SORRY! I¡¯ll behave, please stop! OWIE! Boohoohoo, Mistress is bullying me!¡±~me ¡°Little brat, come back here!¡±~Sofy A playful game of cat and mouse quickly ensued as I got chased around our hotel suite. We¡¯d long arrived back there during our conversation. It seems as though we¡¯ll end up having a session of foreplay before our date later tonight. Chapter 41: Attaining beauty Chapter 41: Attaining beauty After our pre-date lovemaking and a quick wash, we barely made it back to the shop in time for closing. Sofy just stared at her for the few minutes that were left until she closed her shop, trying to see through her glamour and catch a glimpse of the beauty underneath. Once she¡¯d led us up to her room on the second floor, she promptly dropped the glamour. ¡°Waaah! So beautiful! Lily really wasn¡¯t exaggerating at all. Can I touch your wings? Ah, my name is Sophia. Nice to meet you, Susan.¡±~Sofy ¡°You¡¯re a straightforward lady, aren¡¯t you? Just be gentle and don¡¯t touch near the roots where they¡¯re the most sensitive. Actually, I was hoping that you wouldn¡¯t really come tonight.¡±~Susan ¡°Wing roots are sensitive, huh? Mistress, make sure to remember that for later.¡±~me ¡°You¡¯re sure to remember for the both of us. I¡¯ve never known you to ever forget a girl¡¯s weak points, especially when they are revealed so easily.¡±~Sofy ¡°Why? Lily said you agreed pretty easily when she asked.¡±~Sofy *sigh* ¡°I suppose I should just be brutally honest with you. I¡¯m not a full blooded fairy. My father was a lust demonkin, an incubus. I¡¯m actually half succubus.¡±~Susan ¡°And? Is that suppose to send us running? Why tell us in the first place?¡±~Sofy ¡°Most people do. You would definitely find out once we got naked and you saw my tail.¡±~Susan ¡°Awww, a succubus with self esteem issues. How exciting! Mistress, ask her to stop hiding her tail, I¡¯ve heard that it¡¯s incredibly sensitive!¡±~me ¡°Down girl. Let us finish talking first.¡±~Sofy ¡°Tail? Can Lily touch it? She seems excited for some reason.¡±~Sofy ¡°Thank you, Mistress!¡±~me ¡°Su-sure, just be careful.¡±~Susan Puppy eyes for the win, YAY! ¡°Where were we? Ah, yes. Half demonkin, so what? We already knew about it. Remember experiencing a chilly feeling from Lily earlier? That was her appraisal skill. We came here tonight fully intent on having a good time with a fairy-demon half-blood.¡±~Sofy ¡°Huh, bu-wha...you knew all along? And here I was worrying for most of the night...ah Ahh AHHH! M-my tail is sensitive there! AHHH!¡±~Susan ¡°I think that¡¯s the point. Pretty sure she¡¯s trying to tell you to shut up and strip.¡±~Sofy With my affirming nod, she finally realized we were here to stay and obediently led us to the bed. The first thing me and Sofy did after we¡¯d all shed our clothes was to give her a thorough deep tissue massage while investigating her body¡¯s weak points. We¡¯d already applied an oil in preparation that would enhance our own pleasure and increase blood circulation. Her body was immobilized by our massage, but her tail was still an active participant in our lovemaking. Taking turns, one of us would equip with a strap-on while the other caressed her body with her tail plunged into them. The heart shaped end would lick around our insides while secreting an aphrodisiac. I¡¯ve got to get me one of those! We went round after round until she finally passed out, then we used up the rest of our energy together and cuddled up on each side of her. I barely remembered to sample her blood just before passing out myself. ¡°Ugh, turn out that light and let me sleep some more.¡±~Susan ¡°That¡¯s the midmorning sun coming in through the windo...OH CRAP! Lily, get up! We¡¯re late! Sorry Susan, we have to go home now. If you¡¯re ever in the capital, please stop by and visit us. I live with my mother and nana at the Sylva residence, just ask anyone in the capital where to find it. We¡¯ll probably come here again on the next academy time-off period, twelve weeks from now.¡±~Sofy I gave each of us some healing and we said hasty goodbyes as we rushed out the door. Arriving back at the hotel, we could see our group waiting out front with their mounts already prepared. ¡°Sorry! We accidentally slept in. Are we going to be alright getting back on time?¡±~Sofy ¡°It¡¯s fine. If we can¡¯t get there before dark, we¡¯ll just camp in the clearing near the gate. You¡¯ll be able to get to classes on time. On second thought, let¡¯s stay at the nearest town to the north of the city. It¡¯s still really cold outside at night and the flight from the nearby town should only take an hour. We can leave there just before sunrise and arrive at the gate when it opens in the morning.¡±~James Irene had given him the stink eye when he suggested camping out. Something must have happened between the two during the dungeon trip. That or he snores. With a plan in place we got on our mounts and started flying toward the north. ¡°So, what traits did you gain from Susan?¡±~Sofy ¡°You noticed that, huh? Glamour and pure yin essence. It would seem that the fairykin do indeed have an innate ability to hide themselves. The essence is...wonderfully annoying? It basically gives a girl¡¯s looks the spa treatment all the time. Skin is always blemish free, soft and protected from the sun. Fat goes to the right places keeping you from looking bulky. Your hair is glossy while the eyes are moist and bright.¡±~me ¡°That sounds lovely! What¡¯s the annoying part then?¡±~Sofy ¡°With the trait my body would naturally release alluring pheromones and the qi in my body would transform. It would be an increase in the quality of my qi, but it would also turn it into a nourishing type of qi. The kind that men would go to great lengths to obtain since it can help them to improve their own cultivation faster.¡±~me ¡°Meaning that you would just end up with a lot more solicitations? All you have to do is say no and the number of people who could force themselves on you is zero. Very few would be willing to take the risk offending my family in the first place, you¡¯re strong enough to defend yourself and if all else fails, you have that effect on your panties. In my opinion the pros outweigh the cons. Plus, it would be an insult to women everywhere if you have such a nice thing, but don¡¯t use it.¡±~Sofy ¡°Are you sure? You won¡¯t get jealous, right? Even when I end up with more confessions at the end of this next academic season? OW!¡±~me ¡°YIP!¡±~Trixy ¡°AHHH!¡±~me and Sofy ¡°That was dangerous! Trixy almost threw us off! Please don¡¯t do that while we¡¯re flying.¡±~me ¡°Me? That was your fault! You managed to earn that all on your own and set off the automatic. Hmph, since you¡¯re being so vain, let¡¯s have you go ahead and activate that trait. That¡¯s an order and you¡¯re not allowed to turn it off with your status manager.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ah, wait. Nooo! I couldn¡¯t stop it from activating at all, it just did it on its own once you gave the order. *sigh* It won¡¯t matter now even if I do turn it off. That would only stop the continuous benefits that I don¡¯t really mind. However, the changes already happening in my body and qi are permanent.¡±~me ¡°Oh, stop your whining. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be just fine.¡±~Sofy The capital city comes into view at the limits of our vision just as the sun dipped under the horizon. We had no other choice except to land at a nearby town for the night. I took the opportunity to ordain the other two girls and we all went to bed early at the inn. In the morning, we set off just before sunrise and made it to the city¡¯s northern gate as it opened, just as planned. We stopped by home to let them know we were all right and headed to class. Basic apothecary is Sofy¡¯s first class, followed by advanced math. After lunch is basic enchanting, then stage four magecraft. On the way home, we stopped by an apothecary¡¯s shop called Jasmin¡¯s potions, for which we had gotten a recommendation from the apothecary instructor. A bell chimes as we enter and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest, thinking at first that it was actually the ¡®ding¡¯ sound the system makes. There are various shelves that have potions, incense, creams, oils and more with neatly written placards with descriptions. An older female elf that is sitting in a rocking chair behind the counter glance over at us when we entered, then continued reading her book. Me and Sofy took a look at the shelf goods before approaching the counter for our true purpose. Though, we did end up picking up a few of the beauty products to purchase. We set our haul onto the counter and patiently waited for her to finish totaling it up before bringing up our request. ¡°Does this shop offer services to evaluate potions made by others?¡±~Sofy ¡°Yes, the price depends on what you want evaluated. The cost is minimal if you just want to know the effects and requires a small sample. If you want me to figure out the recipe, it would depend on the complexity and can require a lot more of the finished product. So, what did you need evaluated.¡±~shopkeeper I take one of the potions out of my inventory and hand it over while Sofy began to explain the effects it¡¯s supposed to have and that we only wanted to know if it would really do as promised with no harm to the user. The lady shopkeeper¡¯s eyes are gleaming by the time she finished with her description. By the way she¡¯s now clutching the vial in her hand, I¡¯m doubtful that she will give it back. ¡°Do you have more of these or is this the only vial?¡±~shopkeeper ¡°We have a few more.¡±~Sofy ¡°How about this then. If it really does as you say, the evaluation will only cost you this vial. Otherwise, you¡¯ll pay twice what you just spent on goods as the evaluation fee for wasting my time and getting my hopes up. Does that sound good?¡±~shopkeeper ¡°I¡¯m okay with those arrangements. How long will it take?¡±~Sofy ¡°I should be done sometime in the next couple of days before the weekend. It depends on how high is the complexity, which shouldn¡¯t be low based on what it¡¯s supposed to do. I¡¯ll send word when I¡¯ve finished, just tell me where.¡±~shopkeeper ¡°Thanks, I¡¯m Sophia Sylva. You can reach me at the Sylva residence. Even when I¡¯m not there, my mother, Camille, is usually at home.¡±~Sofy ¡°A Sylva huh? Got it. My name is Jasmin, I prefer Jaz. Until we meet again.¡±~Jaz Chapter 42: Counting our spoils Chapter 42: Counting our spoils Our trip was mostly a successful venture. Overall, from the perspective of money, we took a small loss. Another way to look at is that we paid just a little bit to get some wonderful items, even gaining a new friend and lots of benefits in the process. I¡¯m not just talking about our enjoyment with Susan. Although the succubus blood also wasn¡¯t cheap, that batch of beauty potions is what put us in the red. We had only sold the monster materials and cores. No new skill crystals were picked up and I held onto the few common ones we had found. The several dozens of divine crystals were all brought back with us. We decided to charge them up before selling them. Tiff will get some shelf space in one of her family¡¯s shops in Namiir and Jill will rope in her pandering brothers to ferry the crystals back and forth. While selling the charged crystals, the shop will also buy empty ones. Sofy also wrote a letter to her Aunt Ellen in Wynfel explaining about the crystals and to buy them up if the price is right. She can send them to us by courier. We might pull out of the red once the divine crystals are sold. I got two new traits and managed to level up some skills which are: [Inventory 3], [Second Sight 3] and [Mana Shaping 3]. My control also increased, though the current sixty-five percent control over my intelligence attribute will fall as I continue to increase it. Over the three physical attributes, I managed to raise a total of five percent. Then there¡¯s that new blessing from the Goddess I¡¯ve yet to try out. I¡¯m waiting for the novelty shop to finish something for me first. Sofy has been very patient while waiting for me to reveal it and I¡¯ve gotten completely acclimated to her sharing all her senses with me. Sofy¡¯s gains from the trip were only a little less impressive. She got three of her skills to level up and now has: [Tamer 3], [Synergy 4] and [Assess 6]. She also got some increase in control, but that isn¡¯t very important for her at the moment. The next day, while I was reading in the library at the research department, Melony was especially agitated while ranting about her recent problems. It turned out to be in concern of a new item that I happen to be quite knowledgeable about. ¡°First was the sudden change with contracts and now we have these new crystals in the dungeons that nobody seems to be able to use. Appraisal only tells us what they are and what they should do, nothing about how to actually get them to work. I tell you, it¡¯s like somebody is intentionally trying to make my life miserable.¡±~Melony ¡°You have to charge them with divine energy before they can be used.¡±~me(note) ¡°Divine energy, huh? I guess that explains why nobody can seem to use them, usually only the healer shaman of the beastkin tribes become a priest or priestess. Wait! You already know about them?!¡±~Melony ¡°I am a priestess after all. We also just came back from our trip to Namiir¡¯s dungeon.¡±~me(note) ¡°Can you teach me how they work in detail? I have a few with me and I¡¯ll give you a reward afterwards.¡±~Melony ¡°Access to the research data regarding manipulators?¡±~me(note) ¡°Sorry, that¡¯s pretty much the only thing I can¡¯t give you. That old coot, Archer, is in charge of that particular research team and has them all keeping tight lips. He¡¯s already sore at you because his researchers automatically adopted the manipulator term to describe their research when your books were first discovered. Is there something else you want?¡±~Melony ¡°A pet dragon?¡±~me(note) ¡°Haha, even more impossible. How about a skill crystal instead? I¡¯ve got an extra of the synergy, tamer and assess skills that your mistress has already. Interested in any of those?¡±~Melony Synergy is by far the least important of the skills she listed. It only boosts spells that you cast with the world¡¯s energy, not adding anything new to my repertoire. I could also do without assess since I already have an appraisal-like ability. But tamer without the dragon to tame isn¡¯t as much fun either. Yes, even I believe that, in a certain idiot trio¡¯s words, dragon mounts are romance. Maybe I should tame a dryad just to start things out. A first familiar to raise my level in the skill. They can be really helpful when raising a garden after all and Sofy is very enthusiastic about her apothecary class. Yes, I am indeed thinking of taming one of my own kind, sort of. Explanation time. My predominant bloodline is vampire which is classified as a race in this world. Blood demon is a type of demonic beast with a demon core. Dragons are a type of magic beasts, also having a beast core. Technically, Dryad is a type of monster. It¡¯s an agglomeration of the nature element energy of an area. They initially have what is typically classified as a monster core, like the cores found in dungeon monsters. Unlike dungeon monsters, dryads will gain a soul and grow. Their core will eventually become like any other magic beast¡¯s core. Like other races of the world, I don¡¯t have a core because my vampire bloodline is dominant. As Sofy explained it to me after taming Trixy, tamer works by inscribing a rune within the target¡¯s core. ¡°Tamer it is then. Want me to ordain you as a priestess so you can experience it yourself? I can give you a short lesson on how to properly train your divine energy.¡±~me(note) ¡°Don¡¯t you have to follow some sort of rules or something to be a priestess? I don¡¯t particularly have any degree of piety towards the Goddess either. I mean, I know she exists, especially with the recent changes occurring. Some powerful being has to be behind things like that.¡±~Melony ¡°No rules other than perhaps not intentionally offending her. Give her the same respect you would any powerful person. Piety is optional, prayer is more of an exchange of services anyways. You gather the faith, send it to her with a prayer and she sends back divine energy. Minus some lost during conversion and her cut.¡±~me(note) ¡°So simple?! Then why are those human priests always so fanatical about having faith and attending church? Even the beastkin usually build an altar of some sort in their tribes.¡±~Melony I explain to her the benefits for the priestess when other people are willing to pray with them. Her facial muscles spasm as she realizes that it¡¯s all a farce for the sake of greed, especially in the case of the humans. She accepts the offer and I proceed to write out the training method including the hint about the effects of spirit energy. I even decided to pray with her to give her a boost. Even if I also pray for myself, I¡¯ve enough faith stocked up that I can just draw on that to replenish my own divine energy. My reading time has been almost entirely used up by the time we¡¯ve finished. She decided to give me a little extra reward when she saw me sadly looking at my stack of unread books. I now have a library card! Not a literal card, but permission to bring books home with me. The librarian frowned as he looked at the long list of books I wanted to check-out for the day. When Melony question my ability to read them all before tomorrow, he reluctantly consented after I gave an affirmative nod. In the near future, the many empty shelves I¡¯d leave between my two work days would aggravate many fellow researchers. I practically skipped from the office, all the way to Sofy when meeting up for lunch. ¡°Lily, just what made you so happy?¡±~Sofy ¡°I got a library card, Mistress!¡±~me ¡°A what? Oh, I see. You finally got permission to take some books home with you?¡±~Sofy ¡°Yes! I also ended up ordaining Melony as a priestess today while explaining about the divine crystals to her.¡±~me ¡°You do realize that pretty much anyone that you ordain will definitely end up meeting the Goddess, right? Melony seems like the protective type to me and Kat, well, she¡¯s a bit of a pervert. I just don¡¯t see those two getting along very well.¡±~Sofy ¡°You¡¯re probably right, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯d start fighting or anything.¡±~me ¡°We¡¯ll probably find out soon enough. Anything else? I doubt that borrowing the books that you could already read in the library is all you swindled from her.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mm, got a tamer skill crystal as well. I¡¯d like to tame a dryad if I can, it would be of great help with making an herb garden to support your newfound love for apothecary.¡±~me ¡°You shouldn¡¯t base the familiars that you select based on my needs. Select something that would benefit yourself.¡±~Sofy ¡°I am thinking of myself too. Eventually, when inventory evolves into a pocket dimension, I plan to plant an herb garden in it.¡±~me ¡°As long as you¡¯re sure. We¡¯ll ask nana when we get back about where we can find one and go get it this weekend if possible.¡±~Sofy ¡°Thank you, Mistress! Oh, I just realized that I¡¯ve now been here a little over a year now.¡±~me ¡°You¡¯re right! And based on what you told me about how a hero is actually summoned into this world, your birth date would be the day you were summoned. Let¡¯s see, the last Sunday of the human calendar last year would be...the last Lightday of winter is your birthday. I guess, happy belated birthday.¡±~Sofy Chapter 43: Stretch before exercise Chapter 43: Stretch before exercise Sofy spoke to nana when we got home about the locations of any dryads nearby. As luck would have it, there is a glade in the forest to the west of the city that is well known for producing dryads. We plan to head there during the weekend to see if we can find one. Spring is the perfect time to find a newly born dryad because of the excessive amount of nature mana generated, but it¡¯s probably a little too early in the season. The next day in the library, I got to hear from Melony about how wonderful it felt when she showed up the other two high council members with her knowledge about the new divine crystals. I¡¯m glad that she is a lot happier today than the previous day. Just as Sofy had guessed, she had an encounter with the Goddess last night. She didn¡¯t say much about it though, only that they had a little chat. I can¡¯t help, but wonder if the tiny amount of catnip now present in her perfume happened to be a topic of their chat? It¡¯s not enough to throw me into a euphoric frenzy, but the smell does cause my body to become much more receptive to her petting. As I fell asleep that night, I couldn¡¯t help being a little annoyed at the Goddess¡¯s gossiping. ¡°Well, that¡¯s a rude thing to say about me.¡±~Kat I was once again pulled into her divine realm tonight. ¡°I didn¡¯t say it! If you¡¯re going to read my thoughts, at least don¡¯t blame me for having them.¡±~me ¡°I don¡¯t blame you. It¡¯s just fun to tease you. I have two reasons to call you here tonight. First, good job recruiting a few priestesses, though I¡¯m not too sure about that last one. After a bit of discussion, I¡¯ve decided to remove your magic hands curse to reward you. The girls talked me into it. Well, I¡¯d only given it to you in the first place to get things moving for the two of you anyways. I didn¡¯t realize the frustration thing would turn out to be such an annoyance later on. You could always go drink some dwarf¡¯s blood if you want to recover the small amount of dexterity you¡¯ll be losing. They have a finesse trait that you could gain.¡±~Kat ¡°Oh, thank you Kat! Having to stop and get myself some relief in the middle of our sessions was really irritating. What was the second thing?¡±~me ¡°Your first familiar is going to be a dryad, yes? A little tip for acquiring one, assist one as it¡¯s forming. Convert your own mana into the nature element and feed it into the process. If you imprint your mana with thoughts of how you imagine the dryad to be, you can influence what sort of creature is born. I¡¯ll make sure to assist with some of the finer details when it comes time.¡±~Kat ¡°Knowing you, you¡¯re not just going to be assisting with the details I want. You undoubtedly have some details of your own that you want to include.¡±~me ¡°Yes, I have my own intentions, but you¡¯ll still follow my suggestion anyways. Even in close proximity to a city, dryads rarely assume the humanoid appearance that you desire on their own. That was a mighty bold thing for you to say.¡±~Kat ¡°I figure that you will hear it anyways, so there¡¯s really no reason for me to hold back.¡±~me ¡°Fair enough. Well then, goodnight and good luck with the taming.¡±~Kat ¡®ding¡¯ Waking up the next morning, I think this might be the first time I¡¯ve ever been thankful to hear that sound. [Curse removed: Frustrating Magic Hands] I should probably add dwarven blood to my to-do list. Sofy took us up on Trixy after classes and we flew over to the glade that nana had spoken about. My dragon¡¯s perception skill revealed that the nature mana in the area is indeed very dense, but it had yet to become active after the winter chill. We stop by again after classes the next Fireday and notice only a little improvement. The shop finished my commission this week, so we¡¯re both eager to get back. ¡°So Lily, are you going to tell me about your new blessing yet or are you still going to keep me in the dark?¡±~Sofy ¡°Just a little longer and you¡¯ll know, Mistress. You just have to wait a little bit longer, then you can take a look at my unhidden status.¡±~me We quickly made it back and Sofy quickly became even more impatient when she decided to take a peek at the newly made harness that was delivered. She practically dragged me to the room after dinner was over and our bath time was shorter than usual. I guess she is a bit less patient than I had thought. ¡°Okay, let me help you put this on, then lie on the bed on your belly.¡±~me The new body harness has straps every few inches going down the sides and continues down the thighs with buckles every few inches on the sides. There is a special cuff for her ankles to keep them close together and it has additional cuffs on its sides for her wrists to be secured in. She ended up incorrectly assuming that she was supposed to lay on her belly on top of her legs while extending her hands to her feet. After correcting her, I helped her to bend her legs up behind her and strapped her wrists into place. I had her reach up over her head to attach her wrists because it will be more comfortable by the end than if she simply reached back from her sides. Then the real fun started. I gradually began to bend her thighs further back until I could attach all the straps along her sides to the buckles down her thighs. When I rolled her over so she was now facing up, she seemed astonished that her legs had bent that far. ¡°It¡¯s the work of my new blessing, I¡¯ve unhidden it now so you can take a look.¡±~me ¡°Oh, we are going to have loads of fun with this! Fufufu, a packaged up Lily. I can hardly wait.¡±~Sofy I try to ignore the ominous chill in my spine due to her words as I continue to press her body down and tighten the straps while she is fantasizing about my future. When I¡¯ve finished, her back is laying completely flat against the backs of her thighs. ¡°Mistress, it doesn¡¯t hurt, does it? How¡¯d it feel during the process?¡±~me ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel any different at all and I could tell when you moved them, but it felt like it was normal movement all the way. I didn¡¯t even realize how unbelievably far you¡¯d folded my legs until you flipped me over.¡±~Sofy ¡°Good to hear. Could you please supply me with a toy and turn things on for us?¡±~me She fulfills my request and we quickly lose ourselves to the usual fun. Her position makes any hip movement by her nearly impossible. Once I¡¯ve tired myself out, I strap in a toy to keep her occupied for a while which was somewhat difficult with her positioned that way. Hehe, need to test the effectiveness of my blessing and see how long the effect lasts. I leave her harnessed into that position for the entire weekend with no adverse effects, only occasionally swapping in to do the deed myself. Even after I release the straps in the evening of Darkday, her body seems to have adjusted to the position and doesn¡¯t immediately unfold. ¡°Mistress, Can you move yourself out of that position or do you need my help?¡±~me With a lot of effort, she managed to push herself up using her hands. And promptly fell back down to lay on her thighs. Interesting. I wonder if it takes time to wear off or if the blessing has some more lasting or permanent effects. I decided to help her unfold and then carried her to the bath. After spending some time recovering, I ask her to try to fold her leg back on her own. ¡°Why? We don¡¯t really have enough time left to go another round, Lily.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mistress, I just wanted to see if your flexibility has benefited from this experience.¡±~me ¡°Hm, oh wow! I can still bend them pretty far, a lot farther than before!¡±~Sofy ¡°Just as I suspected. It seems the effect is somewhat lasting. We¡¯ll have to keep checking to see just how long you remain that flexible or if perhaps it¡¯s a permanent benefit.¡±~me ¡°Maybe we can invite the other girls to help us figure things out. I doubt any of them would be gullible enough after the last few times to fall prey to our tricks again, but they can probably be convinced to stretch a bit with you to test out your new blessing.¡±~Sofy For now, we proceeded to perform many stretches and bent our bodies to the absolute limits of the new blessing. Having Sofy perform some poses, I make mental notes for how far she can now bend her body on her own before and after. I¡¯ll continue to evaluate her throughout the week to gauge just how long the effect lasts. As for her suggestion to spread the love, that will have to wait for tomorrow. Chapter 44: Spreading the love Chapter 44: Spreading the love The girls all agreed to come over after classes the next day. Our investigation last night revealed the limits of the blessing. I can bend the joints as though they are double jointed without any stoppage by soft tissues. Even if the muscle usually can¡¯t go that far, it can with my help. Making the joint do something that can¡¯t be done. Turning the ankles so their feet face backwards is impossible and would just be weird. Once the muscle has been stretched by me, they then have that same flexibility, but without being double jointed. ¡°Brit, would you mind demonstrating how flexible you are right now?¡±~Sofy ¡°Why is it always me being used for demonstrations? I¡¯m not planning to stay the night and I¡¯m not getting naked! Our parents will worry if we don¡¯t come home later.¡±~Brit ¡°*chuckle* You can keep your clothes on this time. Lily¡¯s new blessing that we wanted to show is a flexibility type that can work on other people too. I think that you¡¯re probably the least flexible person among us, so I wanted you to demonstrate.¡±~Sofy ¡°She¡¯s got you there. *giggles* Your body is about as limber as your sword.¡±~Amy ¡°Shush you! Fine, I¡¯ll do it. Just don¡¯t laugh at me like Amy.¡±~Brit Brit was horribly inflexible for a girl. She could barely get halfway down for the splits and her cobra pose looked more like a push-up. Cobra is the one where you keep your hips on the ground and only push your upper body up. I¡¯d seen enough and decided that she needed a little help. Taking her by surprise, I sat down on her butt and forced her back down. I then reached around her front and started pulling her chest up and back. She may have let out a little squeal as I did so, and I may have decided to use her breasts as handholds. ¡°Oh, stop your screaming already.¡±~Sofy ¡°Then stop Lily from forcefully stretching me! It hurts!¡±~Brit ¡°Does it, are you sure it really hurts? You don¡¯t seem to be in any pain.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ye...huh? It doesn¡¯t hurt? Then, is this the effect of her blessing?¡±~Brit ¡°Yep. Want to see how far she can bend you? Just tell her if you actually feel any pain and she¡¯ll stop.¡±~Sofy ¡°Okay, but does she have to grab me there?!¡±~Brit To respond to her complaint, I give her a little squeeze which elicits a small moan and promptly shuts her up. I then continued to pull her until her back is laying on the backs of her thighs, exactly how Sofy had been last night. We go through numerous other stretches and I perform the same service for the other girls after. The girls were given some special instructions from me via Sofy to stretch every day. ¡°Have someone help you with the stretches. We need to check how long it lasts, so we¡¯ll be counting on you. Especially Brit, you¡¯ve experienced the greatest change which will make you the best example to gauge by. Amy, please help her to stretch each day since you two live so close.¡±~Sofy ¡°You can count on it! She won¡¯t miss a single day.¡±~Amy She¡¯s drooling! Not really, but her thoughts certainly are. I have no doubt that she will see her promise through and that Brit is probably in for some rough nights ahead. Tiff and Sofy would see to my own rough nights in the future. Before they left, I handed each of them a bottle of that beauty potion. We had received a message from Jaz that it does what is intended and is safe to consume, but we shouldn¡¯t expect a sudden change. It will apparently take time to completely take effect. Besides us six girls, nana and Camille also got one. I¡¯m saving the last one in my inventory. The succubus blood ended up being a great time for Sofy. Apparently, I had been exceptionally frisky under its influence, but I can¡¯t remember. It had nearly instantly threw me into an intoxicated state as soon as I drank it. I got up the next morning with a heavy feeling, an aching body and a nasty hangover. The heavy feeling was the only thing that didn¡¯t go away after healing, thanks to some new jewelry I had apparently requested last night. A flower patterned set of silver bracelets and anklets. [Moody gravity cuffs] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: pressure, whimsical ¡°Mistress, please take them off. The sudden changes in weight caused by the whimsical effect makes it really difficult to walk. They¡¯d definitely endanger us if I should get into a fight or I could end up tripping onto the hot stove while cooking!¡±~me ¡°No way! Even though you don¡¯t remember, Lily, you had complained repeatedly last night about how slow your physical training was and that you needed such items. Those excuses won¡¯t work on me. I¡¯ve only set them up on your maid attire, not your fighting, cooking or anything else.¡±~Sofy ¡°Uh huh. That story might be a bit more believable if you weren¡¯t having so much fun laughing at me every time these wicked things trip me up!¡±~me I¡¯d only just barely managed to keep myself from falling over numerous times already. Not only did I have to maintain a low level of qi use in order to keep upright under the extra weight from the pressure effect, but the weight would suddenly increase or decrease at random thanks to the whimsical effect. It¡¯s seriously difficult to keep my balance! I can only take some comfort in the promising effects of my new trait, [Love Serum(activate: 500sp)]. It turns my body fluids into aphrodisiacs for others, once I¡¯ve accumulated enough soul potential to activate it of course. Thanks to my new blessing, Sofy was starting to get more creative and adventurous. One particular week, she was quite daring. She jam-packed me into a small backpack and carried me around with her while maintaining lightweight and sound isolation spells on the bag the entire time. I was in it from the afternoon on Airday until the morning of the next Waterday. Nearly an entire week! If I didn¡¯t have to work on those two days, who knows how long she would have kept me like that. Starvation was no longer an issue since we had long ago switched to ball gags with a hole in them for feeding. I got a little bit angry this time. Not because it was painful or anything like that. I got mad because the toy she¡¯d left me with made sure I was too occupied to be able to cultivate! I had missed an entire week¡¯s worth of cultivation time and it was really boring. Thankfully, she said that she wouldn¡¯t be doing it again, that she¡¯s already ¡®scratched the itch¡¯. After six weeks of spring, we finally saw a dryad born. We didn¡¯t grab the first opportunity since I wanted to see how much energy it took. I wanted to be able to pour as much of my energy into the creation of my own as I could. Even then, I couldn¡¯t get an accurate reading of the energy levels. After the mass of nature elemental mana reached a certain density, it changed slightly. Traces of some other kind of energy appeared within it and accelerated the process. If I had to guess, that new energy was probably the world¡¯s laws at work. I would only have a chance to contribute my own energy before that change occured. The energy needed for a dryad to form is at the level of a mid stage seven cultivator. Investigating the new dryad revealed that it had many of the features of the greenery that surrounded the area it was born. This gave me an idea. We had already started to plant a garden for Sofy, so we decided to just birth a dryad there. Sofy¡¯s garden only had the herbs and plants she was interested in experimenting with. Whether it be the trees, flowers or roots, they almost all fall into four categories. All of them, except one, produce some sort of stimulants(mostly aphrodisiacs), sensitivity amplifiers, beauty effects or male only targeted poisons. Many of them were not newly grown either. We had picked up many of her garden¡¯s plants during our excursions into the forest looking for a dryad. The exception was the feeder vine, a type of vine that can easily cover an entire forest with its roots. It¡¯s a type of mutually symbiotic plant that spreads its roots everywhere and into any plants it touches. Already processed nutrients are taken from other plants and it evenly distributes the area¡¯s raw nutrients to the plants in its root network through diffusion. I spent about two weeks dispersing my mana into the garden every day before the nature elemental mana started to converge on its own. It took another two weeks before the key change necessary to birth a dryad occurred. All the while, I continued to feed my mana into the garden, but it still only amounted to about two percent of the total. A lot of my mana was absorbed by the garden¡¯s plants as well. The final part after the energy changes is fairly quick, only taking an hour. I stood in the garden at that time feeding it my mana while imprinting it with the mental image of my desired dryad. At last, a beautiful humanoid dryad was born. Her waist-length hair is a forest green with small pink flowers budding in it, each with six heart-shaped petals. She has bright green eyes, the color of shiny emeralds. Since she¡¯s really a plant without any internal organs, I had imagined her with a certain doll¡¯s unrealistic yet beautiful figure. The face is cute and her height is the same as mine. If this were earth, she¡¯d be the perfect supermodel. Well, maybe if her skin wasn¡¯t tinted a light green color. Before she could become self-aware, I rushed in and inscribed my tamer rune on her core. Everything went smoothly and I succeeded with ease. ¡°You have been tamed by Lilia? Huh? What is this message and where am I?¡±~dryad I suddenly have a really bad feeling about what exactly Kat might have done. Chapter 45: Dryad complications Chapter 45: Dryad complications While I¡¯m waiting for my newly born dryad familiar to calm down, let¡¯s check her status. Name: ? | Age: <1 | Sex: Female Race: Dryad(Base: Feeder Vine) Cultivation Stages: {Body: 0(0%)}{Mind: 0(0%)}{Spirit: 0(0%)}{Divine: 0(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10/10}{Mana: 10/10}{Spirit: 1/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 10(10%) | Vit: 10(10%) | Agi: 10(10%) | Int: 10(10%) Soul Potential: 50 {passive} [Sense Mana 1] {active} [Mana Control 1], [Mana Shaping 1] [Green Thumb], [Multi-Form] [Dryad¡¯s Natural Gifts] {Fragrance}{Needles}{Symbiosis} [Tamed Familiar(Tamer: Lilia)] {Link} ¡°Why am I green...and naked!!!¡±~dryad Yep, way too cognisant for a normal newly born dryad. Let¡¯s wait a little longer to see if she¡¯ll calm down. I¡¯ll just study her status a bit more in the meantime. She¡¯s so weak! From what I¡¯ve seen before, dryads are supposed to be born with about mid stage one attributes. Her current status is equivalent to what you¡¯d expect from a newborn baby of one of the races. This is definitely somehow Kat¡¯s fault! Also, I may have severely understated how great my advantage is due to crafting my own body. Normal people don¡¯t have an innate ability to control at least half their current attribute points and their attribute control is a factor in deciding how much of their energy they can drive at a time. Right now she will only be able to circulate one energy for each cultivation cycle! At such an inefficient rate, she might not even make it to stage one before spring is over. As for other parts of her status. Green thumb gives her the ability to grow things exceedingly well and in a fraction of the time. All dryads have three forms they can take on with their multi-form trait. First is there base form, a feeder vine in her case. Second is a sprite form, a miniature version of themselves that usually has wings. The third form is their human form. Unless they are born with it, they usually only develop a human form after many years and it is usually not as pretty as one who is born with it from the start. Dryad¡¯s natural gifts are the things she¡¯s gained from the plants in the area she was born. In her case, she can customize the fragrance that she can emit, shoot needles and form symbiotic bonds. Tamed familiar will cause her to be loyal to me and obey me for the most part. The link subskill is a lot like my link with Sofy. Transmitting thoughts to communicate is one use. We don¡¯t share senses, but can feel each other¡¯s condition and mental state. She¡¯s currently freaking out. Ugh, she didn¡¯t calm down at all. I¡¯m now being shaken by her as she continues to demand answers. Time to test our link I guess. ¡°Can you please stop shaking me?¡±~me ¡°There¡¯s a voice in my head! That settles it, I¡¯ve gone crazy!¡±~dryad Thankfully, she stopped shaking me. ¡°You¡¯re not crazy. I think a lot of your questions might be answered if you just check your status. Think ¡®status¡¯ in your mind to take a look.¡±~me ¡°St-status?¡±~dryad Of course she would say it out loud for the first time, nearly everyone does. She takes a minute to study it and starts asking even more questions. I answer her to the best of my ability. I¡¯ve concluded that she is indeed another earth soul as suspected. For some reason, she¡¯s unable to remember her previous name. The good news is that she was actually a botanist in her last life and wouldn¡¯t mind continuing her work. Though, she¡¯s a little irked about the whole familiar thing, but quickly got used to using the link to talk. ¡°So, what should I call you?¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t you get to decide?! You have the naming rights as the tamer after all!¡±~dryad ¡°Don¡¯t get pissy at me, this is the Goddess¡¯s doing. I¡¯m fairly certain that your soul would have probably been sent into any dryad I chose to tame. If you don¡¯t come up with a name for yourself, I really will choose one for you and I¡¯m really bad at naming.¡±~me ¡°I know that in my head, but it¡¯s still really disturbing how the tamed familiar curse causes me to feel subservient towards you. Flora, name me Flora.¡±~dryad ¡°Flora, seriously? That¡¯s like naming a dog, Hound. And here I thought my naming sense was bad.¡±~me ¡°It works just fine! The name, Flora, perfectly fits my new existence as a dryad and I actually like flowery names anyways. Also, I am NOT your pet!¡±~dryad ¡°Flora it is then. Let¡¯s go inside the house and introduce you to everyone.¡±~me Flora was introduced to everyone and was given a bedroom of her own. She was quite happy to see her appearance in a mirror for the first time and even thanked me for my efforts to imagine her that way. This caused her to feel happy and content for the first time since she had ended up as my familiar. Some sort of unknown, subtle change in the bond occurred when she had these feelings. Only I seemed to have noticed it. Just one more thing I need to talk to Kat about. She gradually got used to her abilities as a dryad and managed to form some flowery clothes by weaving some hair-thin vines together. As she was admiring herself in the mirror, she started to ponder something for a moment before nodding her head and was then shrouded by a green glow. Apparently, she had decided to shift into another of her forms. CUTE!!! Her sprite form is absolutely adorable!! It¡¯s a chibi version of her human form! Her hair now falls to her ankles and her clothes are made from her heart-shaped petals which look huge on her now six inch tall form. The wings she now has are one of her heart shaped leaves which is now as large as her. It¡¯s attached to her back in the center and half of it extends to each side. It took her a few minutes, but she eventually managed to fly and settled down on my shoulder when she got tired. ¡°Whew, that drained my mana really fast! Hey, how can I increase my mana? Do I just go out and kill some monsters like they do in those game world transmigration novels?¡±~Flora ¡°That looked like a lot of fun. It doesn¡¯t work that way here. You have to put in the effort to cultivate in order to increase your strength. The methods to do so are¡­¡±~me I went into the details about how she could cultivate. Then I left her alone in her room until dinnertime with some crystals so she could try it herself. While she may not digest it like we do, she can still process normal foods. However, she can more efficiently gain the nutrients she needs by temporarily connecting with plants that share her base form. Kat probably already knew I would have questions and immediately responded when I said my prayer tonight. ¡°Yes, the soul was my doing. I also made it so the dryad would form according to your imprint without much variation even though you only contributed a tiny amount of mana to its creation. Congrats on gaining your first familiar and nice job with her appearance!¡±~Kat ¡°Thank you. Is there a way for me to give her back her freedom?¡±~me ¡°Not anymore. It might have been possible at first, but it¡¯s too late now.¡±~Kat ¡°Was it that slight change I had felt in the bond earlier?¡±~me ¡°Correct. That was your tamer¡¯s seal permanently fusing with her soul. Before that happens, it¡¯s still possible to remove it by throwing spirit energy at it. If there¡¯s a way to remove it after it¡¯s been fully fused, even I don¡¯t know it.¡±~Kat ¡°Why provide my dryad familiar with a human soul in the first place?¡±~me ¡°Because it seemed like fun! Plus, I wouldn¡¯t have ever used her as a summoned hero anyways. She has too weak of a soul. Not all the souls I received were of high level, a few weaker ones got mixed in during the trade. Even a couple broken souls ended up in my hands, hers being one of those. I¡¯d been wondering what to do with them and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.¡±~Kat ¡°Fun, huh? I had predicted that would be part of your reasoning, but why incarnate her at all if she¡¯s so weak and even broken? Her soul is not going to end up falling apart is it?¡±~me ¡°Remember how I told you how your soul will raise the potential of the souls around you? That goes doubly so for a soul linked to your own. A link such as the tamer¡¯s seal will provide her soul with enough strength to hold itself together and heal itself over time. A long time, probably decades in her case.¡±~Kat ¡°Whew, that¡¯s good to hear. Are you saying that she wouldn¡¯t have been able to live at all without a familiar bond? How did her soul end up damaged in the first place?¡±~me ¡°Yeah, I kept her soul dormant until you formed the bond to keep it from collapsing. Some sort of traumatic event is the usual reason for damage to a soul, especially in her case since your old world didn¡¯t have any form of soul attacks.¡±~Kat ¡°Well, I¡¯ll take good care of her until her soul heals up. Then I¡¯ll find a way to free her.¡±~me ¡°I expected nothing less from you. Though, I think it¡¯s adorable how you still think that she could ever be free of you. Now that the seal is fused, that tamed familiar curse is working its way deep into her being. The broken state of her soul makes the process even smoother. By the time the morning comes around, she¡¯ll have lost any desire to ever separate from you.¡±~Kat ¡°But that¡¯s like brainwashing her! Isn¡¯t there some other way you could have fixed her soul?! Or maybe you could give her the same don¡¯t mind me blessing I have?¡±~me ¡°That blessing only works on the mind, not the soul. All of the methods I know of involve someone having to donate spirit energy in order to help heal her. That energy would inevitably become fused with her soul and create an inescapable bond to that person. In other words, it was either this or the inevitable destruction of her soul.¡±~Kat With no other options, I¡¯d have to accept that the changed girl-turned dryad that I would wake up to find tomorrow morning is simply who she is now. We discussed for a bit longer and I managed to learn a few tricks to aid in the healing of her soul. I very quickly lost most of my concern for her the next morning when I was awoken by her very energetic chibi form dive bombing into me, all the while yelling that it was a beautiful morning and that she wanted us to go eat breakfast together. Okay, I¡¯ll admit that what she was doing is in fact super cute! And she knows it, if the smirk on her face was any indication. Apparently dryads will wake up at sunrise, every day! I am NOT a morning person! Chapter 46: Unexpected encounter Chapter 46: Unexpected encounter After being so rudely awoken, I got up and started making breakfast. Flora decided to sit on my shoulder in her sprite form and I took the opportunity to discuss some ground rules with her. She readily agrees to everything and I can only sigh at how obedient she has become. However, I am happy that my tamer skill managed to jump directly to level two, it would seem that the strength of the bond has a big influence on the skill¡¯s level. Probably due to her damaged soul having so little resistance, even now I can feel the bond becoming even stronger and the level rising. There¡¯s now only ten more days left until the end of the spring academic season. Me and Sofy are once again planning to visit the dungeon in Namiir. Our divine crystal trading there has done really well. The other girls have plans with there own families this time around, so it will be just the two of us going. Four actually if you count Trixy and Flora. We intend to work on our coordination in combat with our familiars for this trip. Though, whether Flora will be strong enough to actually participate is still debatable. I¡¯ve given her plenty of mana crystals and told her to draw energy from them when flying around so she can use her own mana to cultivate. It took her a long time to get just a few percent raised yesterday. The reason I let her waste the crystals for flying is because it¡¯s helping her to raise her control, and it also doesn¡¯t hurt that seeing her flying about in chibi form is really cute. As expected, my new shoulder ornament got lots of attention today. The girls were quite surprised that I had managed to tame such an intelligent and pretty dryad. Her shameless attempt to show off her ¡®skillz¡¯ in front of them nearly made us late for our classes after lunch due to how distracted they became from her adorable performance. The last two weeks of classes ended much in the same fashion as the last time. Something we ended up discussing as we flew toward Namiir on Lightday, the day after classes ended. ¡°Lily, you¡¯re a cheater! You definitely wouldn¡¯t have ended up with so many more confessions than me if you didn¡¯t bring Flora around everywhere with you!¡±~Sofy ¡°Mistress, it¡¯s not my fault! I really don¡¯t believe that Flora makes too much difference anyways, as she spends nearly half the time decorating your shoulder too. You didn¡¯t really lose anything since you got more confessions this time around than last time, I just got even more because of how beautiful I am. Starting to regret making me activate that trait perhaps?¡±~me ¡°Hmph! Not a chance! Oh, and don¡¯t think that you¡¯re actually getting away with teasing me just because I turned off the automatic punishments while we¡¯re flying. I just don¡¯t want Trixy to get mixed up in your nonsense and throw us off in midair. I¡¯ll be sure justice is delivered later.¡±~Sofy I wisely decided to shut up for the rest of our flight. Upon arriving at Namiir, we didn¡¯t first book a room at the hotel. Instead, we went to Susan¡¯s shop. We had already sent a message to her in the weeks before about our visit and she said it would be fine to just stay with her. ¡°Hello, Susan.¡±~Sofy ¡°Hi, Sofy and Lily. You¡¯re much earlier than I had expected. I¡¯ll close up as soon as these last few customers are done and we can go out to eat. Go upstairs to my quarters and make yourselves comfortable while you wait.¡±~Susan We are left to idle for less than an hour before she called us to go eat. Arrangements were made by Susan so that Flora could visit the garden of a nearby apothecary shop for her needs. I decided not to take her into the dungeon with us, a dark cave really isn¡¯t the best place for a dryad to be and she¡¯s just not strong enough to be of any help. She is going to be staying with Susan and cultivating while we are exploring. As compensation for the apothecary, she will be helping out with the gardening. I ended up immobilized in the submissive role during our shenanigans that night as a sort of punishment for my earlier teasing. Sofy didn¡¯t let me off easily and kept me quivering at the edge for a long time with Susan being more than willing to help. If only all of my punishments could be so questionably fun. I woke up early the next morning and made breakfast for everyone. ¡°That apron is wonderful! Would you mind if I were to sell that in my shop?¡±~Susan ¡°Isn¡¯t it?! Go ahead and sell it as much as you want. I can have her model some other things if you like?¡±~Sofy We only made it to the dungeon just after lunchtime in favor of a fashion show. The dungeon experience was smoother with just the two of us and Trixy. I fell into the role of rogue/healer, Sofy supported as a mage/archer and Trixy tanked for us. With three stage fours, we managed to get to the thirtieth floor in just a couple days. We had let Trixy just barrel through the first twenty floors while we rode on top, blasting anything in the way with magic. The thirty-first floor is where things got interesting. We ran into a couple of old friends. Mary, Alice and two little girls were fending off attacks by a group of five burly men. Mary and Alice seem to have progressed to stage four, but the two little girls and their attackers were all stage three. One of the little girls is a foxkin with a pair of daggers and the other is an elf wielding a spear and shield combo. They¡¯re doing a good job keeping the men from approaching, but it¡¯s easy to tell that they¡¯re getting tired and will lose soon. ¡°Hehe, don¡¯t be afraid, little girls. We¡¯ll make you feel real good, real soon. The sooner you give up, the nicer I¡¯ll stick ya. AHHH!¡±~thug That last part was me stepping out of my shadowmeld state while sticking my dagger in his back. I very quickly drifted around the fighting slicing flesh and severing tendons. They soon panicked with screams of phantom and monster amongst their death throes. Their bodies weren¡¯t fit for open caskets by the time I was done killing them. By the time I finished, Sofy had made her way over with Trixy dragging the corpse of a sixth man who had been hiding nearby. ¡°LILY!!! I¡¯m so happy to see you again! Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving us! I thought you were dead, the rumors said so. I¡¯m really glad you¡¯re okay though! Oh, why do you have ears? They¡¯re really fluffy!!! Sofy, you¡¯re here too?! I¡¯m so happy that you are safe.¡±~Alice Well, that¡¯s classic Alice for you. Nevermind the gore, she just rushed in and grabbed me into a hug before proceeding to rattle off everything in her mind in one fast stream of words. The scary part is that I couldn¡¯t even sense her approach. It¡¯s almost like girls in this world have some sort of secret skill that allows them to catch mofu¡¯able creatures unaware. While still embraced by Alice, I start to heal everyone present. ¡°Hi, Alice. Mary. I found this one hiding around the corner. Do you know him.¡±~Sofy ¡°Hi, Sofy. It¡¯s nice to see you. Yeah, he¡¯s some minor noble from Norvac that followed us across the border. He¡¯s been a real pain for a while, trying to get in our pants. I didn¡¯t expect him to go so far as this and set an ambush in the dungeon with some hired thugs.¡±~Mary ¡°Would you like to introduce us to your two friends? This big girl is Trixy, by the way.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ah right, introductions! The elf is Lauren and the foxkin is Brea. We met them on our way and have been together ever since. Oh, you probably could sorta tell, but our group of heroes fell apart when the contract changes occurred. We soon found ourselves no longer under contract and decided to make our way to the Magic Forest. Two of the guys died anyways. One ran too far into a group of monsters while shouting some nonsense about shield bashing and the other one that had tried to duel wield ended up dying while fumbling around with his swords. It was quite a pathetic end for the two of them. Anyways, the prince ran off with the last guy when he realized that his servants were escaping from their contracts. We just didn¡¯t bother to follow them and went our own way. So, what have you been up to?¡±~Alice I should build an auction house for Alice so she can show off her skill in talking. Mary could be the manager. We eventually got the mess cleaned up and made camp together on the next floor. Chapter 47: Mary’s journey Chapter 47: Mary¡¯s journey Mary¡¯s POV: Nothing has gone right since I was summoned to this world. First we ended up bound to that fat slob of a king by a magic contract. Except Lilia, I can¡¯t really figure out what that person is thinking or why she¡¯s so strange compared to the rest of us. Alice seems careless and doesn¡¯t appear to be bothered by anything, but at the very least she puts in an effort to be smart. She¡¯s just a happy-go-lucky, silver lining kind of girl. Then there¡¯s the stupid boys. None of the three boys took our situation seriously. We lost two of them in our first dungeon dive from sheer stupidity on their parts. One got stabbed in the back after pushing too far into the enemies with his shield and another was killed by mobs after injuring himself performing his ¡®cross slash¡¯. The idiot wound up chopping off his own hand because he crossed his arms instead of just the swords. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s not even a real technique anyways. The last of the heroes ran off with the prince when the contract situation happened, the two of them shouting about losing their ¡®precious¡¯ treasures. He¡¯d long ago became the prince¡¯s lapdog. All it had taken was the prince gifting him a rabbitkin slave girl. We had been instructed to stay at the inn while the prince went back to check on things. When we saw that our own contracts had suddenly vanished a few days later from the new contract¡¯s burden curse, I led Alice to flee toward the Magic Forest. Screw killing demons. I just want to open up a shop and live vicariously through the tales of others. I was a business school graduate fresh out of university before I ended up here. We had intended to pass straight through Belgra at first, but decided to detour north through Norvac instead when we realized how bad the situation was there. Along the way, we ran into our two new companions¡­ Flash Back Start After skirting the border between Belgra and Parnam for days, we had just entered into Norvac and were settling down for the night in a clearing near the road. ¡°I¡¯ll start cooking dinner and set up our camp. Alice, could you go find enough wood to keep the fire going through the night?¡±~Mary ¡°Sure, Mary. Just yell if you need me. I¡¯ll be back in a bit.¡±~Alice The camp was set up and dinner was just about ready when I noticed with my sense presence skill, a pair of presences approaching slowly. Thinking that they were just some local animals due to their weak life signs and attracted to the smell, I readied my spells and waited for them to appear. What came out was not what I expected. ¡°Hand over your food and I¡¯ll let you live!¡±~cute elven bandit I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever seen such a cute bandit before and we¡¯d killed plenty of bandits while traveling so far. She¡¯s a cute little elven girl who¡¯s probably still in her pre-teens by looks. A rusty kitchen knife is in her shaking hands and she¡¯s wearing rags without any shoes. I send my mana out behind me to evaluate the other one. By using my mana and mana sense like a feeler, I can tell that it¡¯s a young female foxkin with similarly poor gear that¡¯s hiding in the bushes behind me. ¡°Hurry up or I¡¯ll...I¡¯ll stick you!¡±~absolutely adorable elven bandit ¡°If I give you all my food, then I¡¯ll be troubled. How about you join me for a meal and then you can be on your way. Final offer.¡±~Mary Just as she was trying to figure out what to do now, I noticed that Alice was on her way back. When she got close enough to notice what was happening, her presence suddenly vanished and then reappeared behind the foxkin girl. Her speed at that instance was astonishing. I¡¯d later learn from her that when her excitement level gets high enough due to her pure love of ¡®fluffy objects¡¯, she actually gets a temporary blessing called: Mofu Addicts Anonymous. It literally lets her teleport to the source of her affection! Seriously?! Can I face-palm now? ¡°AHHH!!! Let me go you fiend!! I¡¯d rather die than go back to being a slave!¡±~captured ¡®fluffy object¡¯(formerly foxkin bandit) Alice easily disarmed the girl and carried her over to the camp. I gave them each a portion of dinner and walked over to the still blanked-out elf girl. Taking the knife from her hand, I led her back over to the fire while she is still dazed, sat her down and put a portion of food in her hands as well. She started eating even in her dazed state. The foxkin girl was the most stubborn one and decided to just glare at us for a while before she eventually gave in to her stomach and ate. Her mood seemed to jump up a few levels when Alice took a comb from her inventory and began to brush her tail. After some negotiations, we arranged for the girls to travel with us and learned that their names are Lauren(elf) and Brea(foxkin). They would be in charge of daily tasks and we would provide them with food and protection as we traveled to the Magic Forest. We also bought them some proper travel gear at the next town. It took us a while with a few missteps along the way before we eventually reached the dungeon city of Namiir in the Magic Forest. We were once forced to flee all the way back to town when we ran into our first somewhat large bandit gang along the way. Only then did we learn that it was best to travel with a merchant caravan for safety. We barely earned anything as caravan guards because we had two non-combat helpers accompanying us. And it took many times longer than it would have if we could travel on our own. Flash Back End Even now I, a frick¡¯n heroine, had to be saved by someone else like an ordinary damsel in distress. We were ambushed in the dungeon by a group of warriors who had been hired by some lecherous noble brat that had taken a liking to us. I¡¯m a little surprised when recognizing our saviors, Sofy and Lily who are rumored to be dead. Sofy is understandably more powerful than the last time we met, but Lily...what the hell is going on here?! Isn¡¯t she supposed to be really slow at physical cultivation? Yet here she is dancing around these warriors while slicing them into sashimi. Then there¡¯s the change in race to what appears to be catkin. I call hax! We made our way deeper into the dungeon, away from the bloody battlefield and set up camp. When we started catching up, I was able to learn that her ears and tail are actually disguise equipment that are supplied by her curse. I tell her that we¡¯ll keep the secret, though I¡¯m surprised that they¡¯re not real since Alice¡¯s ¡®fluffy shunpo¡¯ had no problem activating when she saw her earlier. Touching her absurdly soft ears, I realized just how high grade an item they really are while feeling their warmth and noticing them slightly twitch. I quickly became entranced with the task of petting her and only snapped out of it a long while later. Holy crap, that¡¯s addictive! With a grinning smile, Alice came over and teasingly congratulated me for my induction into the furry fanclub. Among the information we exchanged, I learned that four millennia had actually passed on earth before being ¡®summoned¡¯ here. Lily, as a priestess had been able to talk to the Goddess of this world and learned that the experience of our deaths was erased because it can cause mental instability and that we have actually been dead for four thousand years before being reincarnated here during the summoning ceremony. It¡¯s actually somewhat of a relief to realize that returning to Earth is meaningless at this point. Over the next few days, we moved deeper into the dungeon as one group. We made it all the way to the forty-fifth floor before it got too dangerous for Lauren and Brea. After another nine days, we had made our way out of the dungeon. I was shocked to learn that Sofy and Lily were actually only their third day in when they ran into us. My face couldn¡¯t help but to twitch when they told me how they¡¯d done it. Though they had been capable of carrying it out, their method of charging straight through enemies ended up reminding me of a certain shield-toting imbecile. We separated temporarily so we could head to our own lodgings to get properly cleaned up and then we would meet back up for dinner at a restaurant a few hours later. Chapter 48: Making advances Chapter 48: Making advances Running into my fellow heroines was an unexpected, but pleasant experience. The two once again asked me how Sofy was treating me in a pitying way. I ended up having to clarify my situation to them in a bit more detail. I don¡¯t really look at the servant curse as a sort of slavery. Firstly, the reversal from abuse safety measure that I put in place works to discourage unjust or severe treatment. I think of my curse as more of a work contract, except in this case it¡¯s enforced by the world¡¯s laws instead of societal laws. Secondly, I hid the curse at first and chose a female to serve so I wouldn¡¯t end up as some man¡¯s toy. Having an intimate relationship with Sofy is like ¡®friends with benefits¡¯, except we have a master and servant relationship. I totally don¡¯t mind being played with by beautiful women. From the time we entered the dungeon until we left, we had only used up fifteen days of our vacation. It¡¯s only the evening of Waterday of our last week of vacation time. We still have three days left to relax before needing to fly back on the fourth day. I brought Flora along with us to eat after we had cleaned ourselves up. Alice was immediately drawn to her presence when we met up at the restaurant. ¡°What is that?¡±~Alice ¡°How rude, I¡¯m not a that! I¡¯m miss Lily¡¯s dryad familiar, Flora.¡±~Flora ¡°Ugh, I¡¯ll never hear the end of it now until she gets the tamer skill.¡±~Mary ¡°If you can even find one in the shops, they¡¯re usually horribly overpriced.¡±~Sofy ¡°We¡¯re pretty broke right now. We just spent the majority of our savings on a small house to live in.¡±~Mary ¡°Why can¡¯t we just open a shop and make some more money? You were a businesswoman before, right?¡±~Alice ¡°Opening a shop here is much more expensive than buying a house. Otherwise I would have done that first.¡±~Mary Originally, my earlier inner thoughts about opening up an auction house were just passing remarks. Their money issues got me thinking that it might be a viable idea. After exchanging ideas for a while, we had hammered out the details. Since I was going to provide the startup funds, I would be listed as the owner and Sofy would put her Sylva family crest on the business. We would take ten percent for weekly auctions and five percent for monthly. Common dungeon materials would be bought and sold daily, uncommon items such as the less sought after skill crystals would be for the weekly auctions and the monthly ones would be for rare items. To help facilitate the sale of divine crystals, Lauren and Brea agreed to become priestesses. Alice declined saying that she had enough difficulty just practicing her qi and Mary was skeptical, saying that she would see how things went for the other two first. Later in the evening, after having a good time with Susan, Kat decided to answer my prayer tonight and thank me for the new priestesses. ¡°Don¡¯t you usually have a chat with my new additions before chatting with me?¡±~me ¡°Not this time dear. If I show myself to such young and impressionable girls, they might end up becoming zealous worshippers like you had initially worried about. Not because of any nefarious means, but just due to the sheer feeling of awe meeting me would inspire in such youths.¡±~Kat ¡°That might be bad. Hey, I noticed while flying that the horizon is pretty flat. Is this world perhaps a lot larger than Earth?¡±~me ¡°You noticed that, huh? It¡¯s actually not a proper world yet, just a lowest level plane with the potential to grow into a world. My parents traded their most precious treasures to obtain it for me. I won¡¯t tell you more about this unless you achieve at least divine stage cultivation.¡±~Kat ¡°Parents? Anyways, could you maybe help Mary and Alice with a little favor. They are receiving quite a bit of hostility due to being humans in the Magic Forest. Especially after the contract changes revealed some of the humans¡¯ more depraved practices. Could you give them disguise sets like mine or something?¡±~me ¡°Hm, I don¡¯t want to give them items that might eventually end up in the wrong hands. How about a disguise potion or a bloodline transfusion portion?¡±~Kat ¡°Could you mix the two into one? Disguising as a demi would be seen through if their status is ever seen and people would ask questions if two girls who used to be humans, suddenly weren¡¯t.¡±~me ¡°Sure, you¡¯ll find the potions in your inventory when you wake up. The pink one is for Alice and the milky one is for Mary. They just need to imagine the physical changes they want when they drink them. Not the race, I¡¯ve already decided that based on what would suit them best.¡±~Kat ¡°Are you sure that you really picked what suited them instead of what you think would be the most entertaining? Why do I get the nagging feeling that this world is just something your parents gave to their easily bored daughter to keep her occupied?¡±~me ¡°It¡¯s NOT! I¡¯ll have you know that refining a world¡¯s laws is an important part of cultivation for higher ranked beings! Ah! That was a trap to fish out some information, huh?¡±~Kat I think that this might be the first time that I¡¯ve seen her flustered. She¡¯s kind of cute whenever her parents are mentioned. Weak point discovered! Now, how should I go about finding more? ¡°Geh! Stop thinking weird things. You¡¯d have to reach god stage cultivation before we could even physically meet.¡±~Kat ¡°Before we can physically meet? That means you¡¯ve already given this some thought. I¡¯d been wondering why you never would tell me how to wear clothes in your divine realm. Fufu, I¡¯ll be looking forward to our meeting.¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m not falling for your tricks again! You can just continue to remain naked, I¡¯m not going to tell you even if you tease me.¡±~Kat ¡°Who¡¯s teasing? I mean every word. You should be able to see that I¡¯m not lying by reading my mind, right?¡±~me ¡°EH! B-but!¡±~Kat This is so much fun! Weak point two discovered. She can tease others with a straight face, but becomes flustered when teased herself. ¡°Y-you! It¡¯s just as Sofy said, you¡¯re incorrigible! Sofy also said that she has to punish you when you start teasing her too much or you¡¯ll only get worse. You just wait, I¡¯ll discuss this with Sofy and find the perfect punishment. Until then, good night!¡±~Kat I¡¯m summarily thrown out of her divine realm once again after an abrupt farewell. At least with Sofy being part of the punishment committee, it won¡¯t be too bad. Since it¡¯s Kat though, it will definitely be a new curse. Hehe, I wonder if I can manipulate what the curse ends up being if Sofy were to be subtlety told about some of the things I supposedly ¡®hate¡¯. The next day was spent looking at the available properties. We got a fairly good deal on a place within the middle range merchant area about midway between the dungeon and the wealthy residential area. I handed over to Mary some of my precious ores and gemstones along with enough funds for the auction house¡¯s initial purchasing from customers. My hoard was reduced to about half in a single day! Once again we are going to leave Namiir while only having our gains in control and skill levels to show for it. +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood Demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 3(0%)}{Divine: 3(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 59500/59500}{Spirit: 10000/10000}{Divine: 10000/10000} Attributes: Str: 10000(65%) | Vit: 10000(65%) | Agi: 10000(70%) | Int: 59500(62%) Soul Potential: 683 {passive} [Sense Mana 3], [Sense Presence 3], [Sense Intent 3], [Sense Danger 3], [Second Sight 3] -[Soul Devourer 2] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 3], [Inventory 3], [Tamer 3] -[Shadowmeld 3], [Contract 1] [Agility Boost], [Exquisite Fur] -[Vampiric Bite], [Regeneration], [Body Manipulation] -[Dragon¡¯s Perception], [Adaptive Blood], [Pure Yin Essence] -[Longevity(unlock: 500sp)], [Mana Affinity(unlock: 1000sp)] -[Glamour(unlock: 1000sp)], [Love Serum(unlock: 500sp)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me], [Assisted Body Contortion] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless}{Ability} -[Status Manager] [Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute] [Destined to Serve(Mistress: Sophia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link} Over the academic season, I had maxed out my divine and spirit energies at my current stage and nearly doubled my intelligence attributes. Sense intent reached level three in the last two weeks of the academic season because of the constant attention from those disgusting boys. If Sofy wants to hook up with one, that¡¯s fine with me, but I will refuse to have anything to do with them. I managed to get sense danger and shadowmeld to level up once. Tamer also broke through to level three just by merit of Flora¡¯s damaged soul constantly being dependant on our connection. Also, I¡¯ll make sure to activate the love serum trait later tonight. Name: Sophia | Age: 24 | Sex: Female Race: {Human(50%)}{Wood Elf(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 2}{Mind: 4}{Spirit: 2}{Divine: 2}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 1000/1000}{Mana: 24000/24000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 1000/1000} Attributes: Str: 1000 | Vit: 1000 | Agi: 1000 | Int: 24000 Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 5], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Danger 4], [Synergy 4] {active} [Mana Control 4], [Mana Shaping 4], [Tamer 4], [Assess 6] [Longevity], [Mana Affinity] [Child of the Forest] [Destined to Serve(Servant: Lilia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link} [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless} {none} Sofy has nearly reached stage three in body and will probably reach stage three in divine around the same time. Definitely before our next academy break. Tamer level four unlocked a useful sub-skill called dwelling. It lets her familiar be absorbed into her body. Trixy glows and then flows into her like mist. She said that it feels like another energy is circulating through her body and that it actually boosts her own power by having her like that. There¡¯s no discomfort to either of them and the only downside is that Trixy absorbs some of her qi for sustenance. Name: Flora | Age: <1 | Sex: Female Race: Dryad(Base: Feeder Vine) Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(10%)}{Mind: 1(10%)}{Spirit: 0(25%)}{Divine: 0(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10/10}{Mana: 10/10}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 100(10%) | Vit: 100(10%) | Agi: 100(10%) | Int: 100(10%) Soul Potential: 50 {passive} [Sense Mana 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 1] [Green Thumb], [Multi-Form] [Dryad¡¯s Natural Gifts] {Fragrance}{Needles}{Symbiosis} [Tamed Familiar(Tamer: Lilia)] {Link} Flora worked pretty hard while we were gone and got her body and mind to stage one with maxed attributes. Her spirit is going up at a much slower rate due to her damaged soul and according to Kat, she can¡¯t become a priestess until her soul has finished healing. She also managed to get her mana control up to level two from all of her flying around. As we were heading home that evening, I realized that I had completely forgotten to give Mary and Alice the potions today. I was too absorbed in thinking about my lost treasures and how to best use my new trait on Sofy tonight. Oh well, I¡¯ll give them the potions tomorrow. For now, I¡¯ve decided to apply my love serum with my tongue by kissing and licking my mistress into submission tonight. Chapter 49: Being human is overrated Chapter 49: Being human is overrated ¡°Good morning, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°Lily, what exactly happened last night? I remember getting into bed with you and Susan, then you started to barrage me with an intense kissing session and I blacked out at some point thereafter.¡±~Sofy ¡°Hehe, I activated my newest trait! You were quite interesting while in a drunk-like, euphoric state.¡±~me ¡°Love serum? Wait, didn¡¯t I order that you were to never dose me with succubus blood?!¡±~Sofy ¡°You did and I didn¡¯t. I only smothered you with my saliva drenched kissing techniques, not blood. It turned out to be a very enjoyable experience for both of us.¡±~me ¡°But I can¡¯t even remember it! At least tell me what we ended up doing last night that has you in such a good mood.¡±~Sofy ¡°No way! You never told me exactly what happened after I drank that succubus blood the last time.¡±~me ¡°Ah ha! So this is revenge for not telling you about that night? Fine, keep your secret. However, you are ordered to not make use of your new trait to the point that I can¡¯t remember from now on.¡±~Sofy Next, she tried to get Susan to tell what happened, but was only rewarded with a schadenfreude smile from her, to which I gave two thumbs-up. Seeing our antics, Sofy decided to try forcing the truth out of us by using tickle torture. Susan was immediately double teamed as I was ordered to turn on my ally. She put up an excellent fight though by expertly using her tail to strike our weak points. Her shop only managed to get opened up around noon thanks to us exhausting ourselves during the giggle fest and subsequent cuddling. Me and Sofy barely made it to the restaurant on time for our planned lunch with our new business partners. I told the girls about the potions and we discussed their desired changes for hours over lunch. We had to keep ordering snacks to keep from getting kicked out. They weren¡¯t at all reluctant to change race since they never wanted to return to the human kingdoms anyways and wanted to gain acceptance from the locals of the Magic Forest. After I revealed what the different hair and eye pigments mean for the demi races, Mary decided on having blue hair, similar to what Tiff has. She¡¯s hoping to get an increase for ice affinity by doing so. I helped out by sketching out her desired figure as she dictated her desires to me. We had to spend some time talking her down on the breast size though. Her current small size caused her to want way too big of an increase to be reasonable or manageable. She chose a dainty yet curvy frame with the looks of an ice queen. The final draft resulted in an icy beauty with an unapproachable vibe. Alice was a lot less picky and left most of the details for the rest of us to decide. The one thing she was annoyingly adamant about was her choice of hair and eye color. She chose a unique bright pink color, which doesn¡¯t even have a corresponding affinity! Her final sketch ended up with a supermodel build: slender and doll-like facial features, slim waist with a full rear and a chest size almost too big for a melee fighter, height taller than average for women in this world with legs that are nearly long enough to break physical body proportion rules. The girls were eager to take the potions immediately, but ultimately agreed to take a night to sleep on it and burn the images into their minds at the same time. It would be terrible if a mistake were to happen and they got stuck with some undesired features. A night¡¯s rest would also give them some more time to think up of any alterations that might have slipped their minds the day before. We would meet them at their place the next morning so they could take the potions privately, in front of Lauren and Brea who didn¡¯t come to lunch with us. It would be unfortunate if they couldn¡¯t recognize each other, after all. That night, Susan and I ended up completely ravaging Sofy. A little revenge from the both of us for her earlier tickle inquisition. After putting her to bed with an utterly satisfied smile on her face, me and Susan had our own little duel. I lost miserably and became her plaything for the night, not that I particularly mind. We were only evenly matched at the start since she was resistant to my love serum trait. My loss was because she¡¯s just too skilled with her tail! Really, really need to convince Sofy to get me one of those for my disguise, instead of my current furry one! We arrived at their little house in the morning, just after breakfast. All I could think when I saw it was that it was really shabby. It was literally just four walls and a roof. One side of the room had a fireplace with a chimney for heat and cooking. They didn¡¯t even have proper beds and were sleeping on their usual adventuring bedrolls at night. ¡°Good morning, Sofy and Lily.¡±~Alice ¡°Good morning, Alice. Mary. Are you two ready?¡±~Sofy ¡°Morning, Sofy. Yea, just a few small changes and we¡¯ll be good to go.¡±~Mary I quickly redrew their sketches to match the changes they wanted. Nothing major was altered, just a few touch ups on the finer details. Then they both took the potion together. Mary¡¯s new race turned out to be a half fairykin-human and she got a blessing to amplify her ice magic just like she wanted. She now has some very pretty clear butterfly-style wings like Susan¡¯s and gained the glamour trait. I had been expecting her to be half-elf, but fairy also fits well with her demeanor. Alice ended up with the race I¡¯d expected, rabbitkin. Nothing else could possibly fit better with her outgoing personality. She received the blessing, [Energizer], which enables her and allies near her to function at full capacity until their stamina is completely drained. Instead of getting slower during battle due to exhaustion, you can continue at full strength until you simply collapse. For some reason, I have this sudden urge to buy her a big drum. A great idea for the uniform of our soon to be auctioneer popped into my head, bunny girl costume with a real bunny girl! I started to sketch a butler vest styled leo with a short tutu skirt and shiny fishnet leggings. Fufu, excited male bidders won¡¯t stand a chance of keeping their money! ¡°After you get used to your new bodies, let¡¯s go find a nicer place for you to stay that¡¯s closer to the auction house. Lily has suggested to loan you the money and you can pay us back slowly.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mistress, Mary should use her glamour trait to pretend to be an elf. Also, we can introduce her to Susan later so that she can be exposed to the fairykin community in Namiir.¡±~me ¡°Good idea, Lily. What are those clothes you started drawing?¡±~Sofy ¡°Uniform for Alice. Rich idiots will definitely squander their money trying to impress a sexy auctioneer.¡±~me Sofy was reluctant at first to allow her fellow woman be objectified in such a way. That was until Alice came over to offer her own ideas on how to optimize the outfit, including making the back have a low plunging design. Thereafter, I ended up as the live model until Mary finished getting familiar with her wings and glamour. I actually enjoy trying on new clothes. It was just exhausting the first couple times until Sofy and the other girls got over their initial excitement. It didn¡¯t take long to find them a better place since they¡¯d already had a good idea of the available houses from their previous home shopping. The new place is a much nicer two-story home. It has a kitchen, sitting room, dining room, downstairs master bedroom, four upstairs bedrooms and a bathroom with a big bath dug out of the ground. We spent most of the afternoon furnishing the new place and said our farewells after eating dinner together. Our next meeting wouldn¡¯t likely be until the next academic season is over. I gave Susan the design for Alice¡¯s uniform when we returned to her place and asked her to deliver it in person so she could get to know the new half fairy in town, Mary. ¡°Can you get more of the potion I bought last time?¡±~me(note) ¡°Sorry, Lily. I thought you might ask about that, so I¡¯ve already checked with the apothecary who made it. She¡¯s missing the main ingredients which are extremely rare. However, I managed to buy the recipe from her since it¡¯s so difficult to gather the ingredients anyways.¡±~Susan ¡°I¡¯ll buy it!¡±~me ¡°Are you sure? Three of the rarest ingredients are things like mermaid pearls, flow from a virgin succubus and the core of a snow lotus. These three ingredients need to be of fourth grade as well.¡±~Susan ¡°Pearls aren¡¯t too rare since the merfolk frequently trade at the seaside towns. Succubi are uncommon north of the demonkin lands, but not unheard of since they¡¯re relatively harmless compared to other demonkin. Finding one that¡¯s still pure is the difficult part.¡±~Sofy ¡°A snow lotus core is the hardest one to get due to the fact that the lotus will die once the core is removed. The first two ingredients can be supplied repeatedly from the same sources, but the core will need a new snow lotus for each core needed and they only grow at winter temperatures.¡±~Susan ¡°We have a few snow lotuses growing in our herb garden¡¯s pond. It will be many years until they are ready, even with Flora¡¯s assistance. Might even take decades due to the usual warm temperatures most of the year.¡±~me(note) ¡°Couldn¡¯t we use freeze and barrier enchantments to help them grow better? Just leave a small opening in the barrier so that the pond doesn¡¯t eventually freeze completely.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ah, why didn¡¯t I think of that?! We could probably use the same work-around method to control the temperature in the house as well!¡±~me We finished our discussion and exchanged for the recipe. I then wrote a short message for Mary to keep an eye out for the rarer ingredients and asked Susan to give it to her when she delivered the uniform for Alice as we would be headed back to Aerylothniir early the next morning. Chapter 50: Lily’s embarrassment Chapter 50: Lily¡¯s embarrassment We arrived at the capital before dinner on Darkday and I¡¯m really not looking forward to classes tomorrow morning. Sofy picked out foreign relations, professional dance, advanced apothecary and advanced enchanting. She easily tested into the advanced classes and skipped intermediate for those last two. Technically, she did keep her promise to not get more than one etiquette or politics class since the dance class falls under the entertainment category in the lesson catalogue. I¡¯m also thankful that she arranged to take those two classes in the morning which will allow me to miss half of the lessons for them. Foreign relations class made me miserable. The instructor for the class was a stuck-up old-timer that insisted that everyone present would pay attention to his lecture, including me. He had some sort of skill or instinct that let him know whenever I¡¯d try to cultivate instead of listening to him. The dancing class is a female-only lesson and the instructor gave a demonstration first thing after her introduction. Her dancing involved a lot of delicate movements, fluid motions, flirty gestures and sexy gyration, all while wearing a provocative costume. It was like she had combined the moves of a ballerina, hindu dancing and modern earth grinding. She performed well and the dance was arousing, but I can¡¯t help feeling that it gives a similar appeal as a strip club. It¡¯s a performance that had the feel of something you¡¯d expect to see in some perverted king¡¯s inner court. A point of interest however is that the instructor is actually an elf/fairy hybrid. She has the longer ears of an elf, but the distinct wings of a fairy appear when you look past her glamour. I¡¯ve already told Sofy about her true appearance. For this class, I was once again forced to participate, this time by Sofy. I ended up making more mistakes than the rest of the class combined thanks to my moody gravity cuffs. It¡¯s really embarrassing, especially since Sofy is enjoying it a little too much. ¡°Hahahaha! Watching you try to dance was hilarious! Even the teacher couldn¡¯t help but smother her laughter.¡±~Sofy ¡°If it weren¡¯t for these annoying things, I¡¯d definitely be able to perform well! Mistress, why not remove them just for dancing class? Pretty please?¡±~me ¡°No way. You may not have noticed, but your physical control went up by one whole percent during the short time we were in class. If you don¡¯t want to be embarrassed, you¡¯ll just have to improve your control.¡±~Sofy ¡°Ugh, fine! I¡¯ll put up with it for now, but if she doesn¡¯t stop harping about how my movements aren¡¯t floaty enough, I¡¯m definitely ousting her for cheating!¡±~me ¡°Cheating?¡±~Sofy ¡°She was literally flying around the dance floor with her wings. You might not have noticed it with only sense mana, since a fairy¡¯s wings only use mana internally to allow flight, but my dragon¡¯s perception clearly noticed it. It¡¯s utter bull that she wouldn¡¯t let us cast a lightweight spell to make things easier!¡±~me ¡°Ah! So that¡¯s how she made it seem so effortless when she was performing. Since that¡¯s the case, I¡¯ll allow it. Just don¡¯t oust her as a half-fairy in front of the whole class. Only inform her that you can sense her using mana while ¡®floating¡¯.¡±~Sofy ¡°Thankfully, I can skip class twice a week.¡±~me ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve already fixed that.¡±~Sofy ¡°What exactly do you mean by that?!¡±~me ¡°You¡¯ll find out tomorrow. It¡¯s not like you were really doing anything important for the research department anymore, anyways. From what nana told me, you¡¯ve mostly been just reading books and serving as a living repository of knowledge. You¡¯ve recently been spending the vast majority of your time in the library while only occasionally helping your fellow researchers find the references they might need.¡±~Sofy ¡°The project was finished! It¡¯s not my fault that our department has yet to give me a new one!¡±~me ¡°Excuses, excuses! You can¡¯t fool me so easily. I¡¯m certain that you could propose any number of ideas for possible research projects. You¡¯re just being lazy!¡±~Sofy She is, of course, correct about my laziness. We finished the project quite some time ago and I¡¯ve only been using the time to delve into the research department¡¯s vast library. I found out the next day exactly what she meant by already fixing it. My work schedule has changed to be four days a week, but only during the time of her first lesson on politics. Which doesn¡¯t really help much since I¡¯m subjected to the dreary old man¡¯s lessons via our link¡¯s shared senses anyways. I¡¯d be off in plenty of time to attend dance lessons with her. When I called out the teacher in our dance lesson for cheating, she just shrugged it off and claimed that it only increases her distance and air-time since she¡¯s already reached the peak of what can be done without magic. Before I could argue further, she demonstrated her floating again without the cheating. Even I had to admit that she truly is as skilled as she claimed. My actions of calling her out ended up earning me special attention from the teacher thereafter. She nitpicked my dancing more than others and eventually noticed the strangeness of my unbalanced movement. Sofy informed her about my cursed items which caused her to immediately proclaim them as the best possible physical training aids. This also lead her to increase the intensity of my lessons to a whole new level without neglecting the others of course. After our second day of classes, Kat once again pulled me into her divine realm. ¡°Hehe, I suppose you can guess why I¡¯ve called you here tonight?¡±~Kat Maybe if I just don¡¯t play along and say it, she¡¯ll forget about it? ¡°No chance! It¡¯s time to receive your punishment for teasing me.¡±~Kat ¡°Oh? Perhaps I can propose a few ¡®punishments¡¯? Like this one pose¡­¡±~me ¡°Shameless!!! Stop with the dirty thoughts. I¡¯ve already decided before calling you, anyways.¡±~Kat Ahh, she turned bright red again. I¡¯ll need to add this expression to my sketchbook when I wake up. Is teasing really so bad when it makes her have such cute reactions? This is absolutely not a crime and I should not be punished! ¡°WHAT SKETCHBOOK!? BURN IT!!!¡±~Kat ¡°Never! I won¡¯t give up my treasures!¡±~me ¡°Uhg, fine. Just don¡¯t show it to anyone. Anyways, the punishment Sofy helped me come up with is a curse specially designed...Just. For. You. I¡¯ve very simply named it, Kat¡¯s Revenge and the effect is...well, I think you¡¯ll quickly figure it out.¡±~Kat ¡°It¡¯s somehow going to cause me embarrassment, isn¡¯t it?¡±~me ¡°Oh, most definitely! How¡¯d you guess?¡±~Kat ¡°Easy. Revenge for me embarrassing you, would be for you to embarrass me back.¡±~me ¡°Ah, so the title kind of gives it away. It still doesn¡¯t tell you how, which should be fun to watch you finding out.¡±~Kat ¡°Hmph. I¡¯ll have you know, I¡¯m not one easily embarrassed.¡±~me ¡°We¡¯ll see. By-the-way, how are things going?¡±~Kat ¡°Flora is a real bundle-of-joy. It¡¯s kind of scary how quickly she accepted things. Alice and Mary asked me to tell you that they are very thankful for the potions. Trying to dance while being encumbered is really annoying. Oh, that reminds me. Can you perhaps have the dungeons spawn items?¡±~me ¡°Hahaha. That seems interesting. Although your reason of wanting to ¡®share your pain¡¯ isn¡¯t exactly honorable, it seems like it would be quite fun to spawn some cursed items in the dungeons. I¡¯ll make most items on the first three floors to be more like gimmicks or training tools like you bracelets. The next three floors will have more useful stuff and I¡¯ll put the more intense items even deeper.¡±~Kat ¡°I can think of a few good items if you need any ideas.¡±~me ¡°Oh, you most certainly just did. That will be all for tonight, good night.¡±~Kat ¡°Good night.¡±~me ¡®Ding¡¯ [Curse acquired: Kat¡¯s Revenge] The next morning, I once again woke up to the most annoying sound that has ever existed. Immediately, I got up and checked for any obvious changes that could cause me embarrassment. I found none. Thereafter, I discovered that Sofy had already woken up and is just laying there on her side, while watching me inspect myself, with a big grin on her face. She definitely already knows exactly what the curse effect does and is just enjoying the show. However, there¡¯s likely zero chance that she will tell me without getting in a few good laughs first. I figured the curse out before even half the day was over. Sofy confirmed it during our lunch break, but only after she laughed until her sides hurt while listening to how my day was going. The curse just makes it so I will conveniently find myself in the midst of embarrassing situations. Like this morning when I went to grab some sheets from the linen closet and mistakenly opened the door of Camille¡¯s room instead. It wouldn¡¯t have been so bad if she hadn¡¯t been in the middle of a morning ¡®massage¡¯. The good thing is that Sofy¡¯s mother is hot, so there¡¯s no mental scarring. Another incident happened in the library during Melony¡¯s teatime. While distracted, she accidentally stoked my tail a little too close to the base where it is especially sensitive. This caused me to let out a fairly loud moan in the otherwise silent library. She apologized profusely afterwards. I also ended up walking in on our dance instructor while she was changing for class. That was more to her embarrassment than mine though since I just continued to enjoy the show. Extra: Memoir of an Ex-Slave Bunnygirl Extra: Memoir of an Ex-Slave Bunnygirl A short while ago, the contract that once bound me to slavery and controlled my mind, suddenly vanished. For the first time in a dozen years, my thoughts are clear and I can once again remember what freedom is, how it feels to make decisions for myself and what it means to truly hate a person to death. I found this blank book in the study and decided to write my thoughts down rather than keep it all bottled up. It feels nice to think and writing is helping to clear my head. What I¡¯d learn later, is that contracts now require a certain level of upkeep and will fail when it¡¯s not met. My former master is one of the recently summoned heroes and out of the three slaves he had, I was the only one whose contract was annulled. The other two are human girls, a pair of pretty twin sisters with golden hair and shockingly blue eyes who have served as his maids along-side me. They weren¡¯t as fortunate as me to be freed. Though, it seems that they also have their minds back, even if they are still forced to act in accordance with their ordered personalities. You can see it in the eyes, a rage that burns deep in the soul. I can remember now that my name is Petra. The village I grew up in was peaceful and united. My parents were loving and there were many siblings to play with me. It¡¯s been so long and I was so young at the time that it would be impossible for me to recall the exact location of the village. But the forest is unforgettable, I miss the forest. The slavers took me when I was young, only six or seven years old. My village was ransacked and the old or stubborn were killed. They rounded up the rest of us and forced us to sign slave contracts by means of starving and beating us until we complied. We were ordered to forget our previous lives and given personalities eager to serve. The men were sold as laborers and adult women were sent to brothels. Young or especially pretty girls were brought to their headquarters where we would be trained in methods to please a master, etiquette, housekeeping, numbers, reading and writing. When my training was complete, I was sold. I was a little more fortunate than my sisters at first. My first master was a prince who bought me exclusively for the purpose of gifting me to his supporters and I was much too young to be of any immediate use. Household chores were assigned to me in the meantime, so that I wouldn¡¯t be a burden until a master would select me. I lived out a near invisible and repetitive daily existence for a little more than a decade before that swine of a man chose me. The prince returned to the manor one day with a strange looking man who had black hair and eyes. Servants who were still virgins were gathered up and he was told by the prince that he could take any three that he wanted. He first picked the twins and debated his last choice for a while before ultimately deciding on me. All it took was a simple order from the prince and we were given to our new master. It makes me nauseous to think about how eager I was to please him. My warped personality made me do things with him that no one should ever be subjected to. The twins weren¡¯t any better off. In his manor, which was another gift from the prince, he had an entire room dedicated to performing unspeakable acts and made use of it often with one or more of us. For reasons I still find impossible to understand, he insisted that I use the sound, ¡®pyon¡¯, often when speaking. I was also subjected to a torturous exercise of hopping around the room on both legs as fast as I could while he slowly chased after me. It seemed to give him some sort of weird satisfaction to catch me just before he¡¯d violate me. After about three weeks of abuse, the hero party left the capital to train in a nearby dungeon. I was dolled-up in order to attend the sendoff party with him. We are left with simple orders to take good care of his property while he is away. Not just the manor, but our own selves are implied by that statement. For quite some time, it is just the three of us here performing the daily chores and keeping our bodies in top shape for when he returns. He had even left behind some qi crystals so that we could enhance our stamina. Then one day, at the sound of two concurrent ¡®dings¡¯, I was free. I had received the following messages from the world: [Contract Annulled: Slavery] You are now freed from your slave contract. Your personality has been restored and maturity enhanced in case of mind-body mismatch due to length of servitude. [Gained Blessing: Slave Revolt] Having been freed from forced slavery and regained your true personality, you have garnered fierce negative emotions towards your captors. Never again! Kill!!! The details of the blessing are as follows: [Slave Revolt] While fighting against those who would enslave you, you will exhibit three times your usual strength, agility and magic power, while qi and mana will deplete at twice the normal rate. Wow! Even I know that this blessing is quite good. If even half of the freed slaves in the city right now possess this, things are about to get really ugly in the capital. My prediction comes true. Freed slaves are killing their masters and pillaging what they can before trying to flee the city, even some of the people who used to be guards have joined in. It¡¯s much too dangerous to even try to leave the manor for the time being, even though I¡¯m free and also wish to flee. The slaughter continues for days before some groups start to establish themselves with a small semblance of order. A number of ex-slaves or other opportunists have come to the manor to take what they can. We¡¯ve hidden what we can of the food and have tried to hide ourselves the best we can when they come. When we are discovered, I¡¯ve taken it upon myself to fend them off. I started out with just a kitchen knife and killed a would-be thief when he tried to have his way with us. By the time the hero returned, I had a decent sword, some shoddy bits of armor and there was a disturbing number of corpses piled up right outside the front door. The fact that the twins were still being forced to keep the manor clean, even in this sort of situation only stoked my fury further whenever I¡¯d have to deal with these lowlifes. The prince had rushed back to the capitol with a hero in tow after only a few days. With the hero¡¯s assistance and what was left of palace guard, he had managed to reestablish some semblance of royal authority. As a modicum of normal order was starting to emerge, the king jumped out to snatch control. He had apparently been hiding in the very sturdy palace treasury with a few key and powerful people he had managed to maintain his control over. This included the head of the palace guards and the head mage. When the hero saw that all three of us had managed to survive and that I was still here despite being freed, he was ecstatic. I immediately wanted to gut him at first sight, but also realized that I wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against him, even with my blessing. Seeing how strong he was while assisting the prince, I knew that I couldn¡¯t win against him in a direct confrontation. It took all my self-control to keep myself from gagging as I told him that I was happy here and pretended to still have my subservient persona. He had said some nonsense about how it was the morally correct decision to treat his slaves well. Such nonsense! No matter how you fancy it up, a slave is still a slave. And this lady has no desire to serve you or anyone else ever again. Perhaps my last chance to make a run for it will be tonight. The city has mostly quieted down and the forces they managed to muster today are currently only enough to guard the palace, leaving the city gates wide open and unattended. According to the hero, they plan to increase their forces on the following day which will undoubtedly cause me to be trapped here. Mustering my courage and throwing away that last shred of dignity that I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ve ever really had, I proceed to lead the hero into some night activities. His already worn out body due to the fighting of the day is further exhausted and he quickly falls into a deep, dreamless sleep. To make sure that even his sense danger skill won¡¯t be able to wake him, I¡¯ve burned a special incense that has a sedative effect. Pulling the dagger out of the place I¡¯d hidden it earlier, I slit his throat. For good measure, I then plunged it into his heart. He wakes up while grasping his bloody neck just in time to see the dagger hit the mark. As he struggled during his last moments, blood splashed all over my body. I sat entranced at the sight of him dying, not looking away till the light faded from his eyes. I¡¯ve done such a wicked deed all while wearing a blissful smile on my blood splashed face. It¡¯s perhaps my first real smile since before I became a slave, even if it¡¯s oozing with traces of insanity. The twins soon came barging into the room, their contracts disappearing with his death. As though they¡¯ve planned it out beforehand, one grabbed his junk while the other sliced it off with the dagger. After shoving it down his throat, they proceeded to further mutilate his corpse until they¡¯re both panting. While covered in his blood and some bits of flesh, they proceeded to cry in each other¡¯s arms after having used up their stamina venting their hatred. The sound of their sobs are heart-wrenchingly sad. I proceeded to embrace them as well while rubbing their backs and wound up crying with them a bit myself. We went to the bathroom to get cleaned up once our tears had dried up. The blood had already started to dry and was difficult to remove. Considerable effort was needed to get it out of our hair. His inventory had spilled out into the room when he died, so we took what was needed for traveling along with all the crystals and some money. The three of us changed into some stableboy clothes that were left by the previous manor¡¯s occupants and finally left. Mina and Yumi, as I¡¯ve learned their real names are, have decided to follow me to the Magic Forest. They think it would be safer to move as a group and don¡¯t really have anywhere to return to since their parents had actually sold them. I can¡¯t help agreeing with them and it would be useful for me as well to have human companions who can go into towns or villages along the way to buy things. Under the cover of night, we¡¯ve successfully fled the city and headed west. I¡¯ve now re-equipped my shoddy armor and weapons. I had stored them before because I didn¡¯t want them making noise or causing me to stand out as we were leaving the city. We travel as far as we can during the night and well into the next morning. Around mid-morning, we are forced to stop and rest. To avoid pursuers, we leave the road and make camp in the woods. I¡¯m pretty sure they wouldn¡¯t pursue us long, if at all due to the current state that the capital is in. But it is better safe than sorry. Over the next few weeks, we spend the majority of our time cultivating as we travel slowly through the woods running parallel to the road. I¡¯m using qi crystals to increase my physical attributes while the twins are using a few to increase their agility and vitality, but mainly focusing on raising their intelligence attribute with mana crystals. The hero had some magic books in his inventory that we brought with us to study. Yumi ended up surprising both of us with her priestess blessing and ability to cultivate divine power. She had apparently learned how to offer prayers from the priest in the village and had been praying every night since. Apparently, even with her personality altered, that aspect of her remained a constant throughout the years. She had gained the priestess blessing shortly after slaves began to be freed. Most of her mana crystals were given to her sister as she decided to focus on divine cultivation in order to get us a healing skill as soon as possible. We bump into other ex-slaves and some bandits occasionally. The ex-slaves will usually go their own way without any confrontation, unless they¡¯re desperate. If they left the city while in a panic and are currently starving out here, all bets are off. I¡¯ve sadly had to kill a number of such people. Is it okay that I don¡¯t really feel remorse when killing anymore? Bandits are actually much smarter than people give them credit. They don¡¯t even bother with us for the most part, some even invited us to join them under pretty good terms. Our little group is obviously made up of ex-slaves and they don¡¯t stand to gain much, if anything, by attacking us. Given our past experience as slaves, it¡¯s very easy for them to understand that we would rather die than submit if they try to force the issue of us joining them. Plenty of our former colleagues have joined up with the various groups in the area already and have spread the word. There were a few insistent bastards along the way. These types would only back off after realizing that they could only end up gaining a few bloody corpses and might even lose their lives in the process. Yumi has had to fix me up quite a few times and my armor has been scrapped long ago. My current clothes are a patchwork mess of fabrics we¡¯ve scavenged from the dead. Many weeks of travel later, we finally arrived at the dungeon city of Rork, in the kingdom of Norvac. We managed to purchase some decent clothes from a few villages back. News brought back from the border cities of the Magic Forest says that the elves have closed the borders until further notice. We¡¯ve decided to stay here for the time being and make a living by diving into the dungeon for materials while enhancing our own strength. A few days into our stay, I met the ¡®Crazy Lady¡¯ again. She¡¯s the heroine named Alice who has this strange hobby of clinging to anything with fur. I was targeted by her during the hero send off party and was subjected to her questionable ¡®inspection¡¯ of what she likes to call my ¡®fluffy features¡¯. Her level of absurdity even seemed to have increased by a notch. Even at my current stage of cultivation, I was completely unable to avoid her. She just sort of appeared next to me. In an instant! Then she proceeded to pet me. When the couple of heroines showed up, I had thought that we were doomed. But it turned out that they were also released from their contracts at the same time that I had been and decided to abandon that screwed up kingdom. They didn¡¯t stay long and headed to the border before us. Sometime later we heard the news of the border reopening and signed up as guards for a merchant convoy heading that way. On the morning of departure, we reported to the convoy leader, some man named Arkin. When he saw us, we were told to hop into one of the lead wagons while he was mumbling something about strong, cute girls being some sort of lucky charm for his convoy. Like, what¡¯s that about? Anyways, I¡¯m looking forward to finally returning to the Magic Forest! NightOps Just got done with the college quarter and I''m finding myself cooped up in the house with nothing to do. Rather than beat my head against the wall, I decided to write. I''ve decided to focus my chapter releases on the Creative Novels website because it gives me a little extra cash by doing so. I''ll be still releasing on SH, but that will be happening after the views for chapters has peaked over there. https://creativenovels.com/novel/cursed-heroine/ Chapter 51: Ups and downs Chapter 51: Ups and downs Over the next few weeks, my new curse continued to assert itself. After a few more incidents with Sofy¡¯s mother, an awkward silence can now be felt between the two of us. One time, Melony accidentally put too much catnip into her perfume and I was especially clingy with her during her teatime that day. The only reason it didn¡¯t devolve into an outright licking session is due to the other components of her perfume tasting bad. I was totally late to meet up with Sofy that day. Also, I completely lost my balance during dance lessons one day and fell on top of the instructor, straight into a typical kiss scenario with my hands bracing my fall by latching onto her breasts. As you can probably guess, I very much enjoyed the opportunity and took full advantage of our situation. Her lips were delicious, by-the-way. Amazingly, she didn¡¯t get offended and the only comment she made about the incident was that my tongue is surprisingly flexible for someone who doesn¡¯t speak. Sofy dragged me off her before, in my excitement, I could finish writing the instructor a note requesting specific extracurricular activities. Aww, she¡¯s so cute when jealous! I had thought that the new curse was manageable and sometimes even fun at first, until a certain accident that happened during Sofy¡¯s apothecary class. Due to the flame being way too hot, her experiment basically vaporized in my face while I was stirring it for her. I ended up as high as a kite due to the effects of the concoction and sexually assaulted every female in the class, including our very hot instructor. As I started coming down from my high, the instructor finally managed to restrain me and I ended up purring myself to sleep on top of her lap. Sofy wound up being admonished by the somewhat mortified instructor for cooking up such a dubious substance during class in the first place. But that wasn¡¯t that bad part, that came after. The bad part was that one of the boys in the class, some musclehead moron named Ethen, became infatuated with me after seeing my girl-on-girl action. That numskull insisted that my silence was a form of consent to his attempts to woo me. I¡¯m mute, you DIP$#*T!!! He even believed that any physical harm that I caused him while fending him off was merely a show of affectionate bullying, but the level of injury that I¡¯ve inflicted on him goes well beyond what even the most ferocious beastkin would consider courtship. The freak¡¯s body was just way too sturdy to allow me to put him down for long. Imagine it, a brawny elf-boy! Picture it! Now *barf!!!* I definitely would kill him if Sofy hadn¡¯t explicitly forbidden me from killing him in time, though she did briefly reconsider her decision the first time he got close enough to us to smell his exceptionally bad breath. Don¡¯t get worked up thinking that he¡¯s growing on me just because I¡¯ve put in the effort to actually learn a guys name. For me, that just means that he¡¯s on my hit-list. On the very top in his case. It¡¯s a real list that I¡¯ve actually made and keep in my inventory. The fat king, his foolish sons, and the three stooges are also on the list. Though, I¡¯ve crossed out the shield freak and the dual-sword moron since they already did themselves in. I¡¯m really not into the whole persistent and endearing love thing. Those types of perverts are just creepy stalkers in my opinion. Not that I¡¯m even into men in the first place. The novels that have a male lead constantly hovering around the female lead while ingratiating himself to her, honestly just makes me want to puke all over the book. That kind of annoying, selfish and shallow love story isn¡¯t even dog-food anymore, it¡¯s just dog-crap. After a couple of days of using various means to fend him off, I seriously tried to kill him regardless of the order Sofy gave me. The order was to not kill our classmates, so I tried to convince myself that since he was no longer attending class due to injuries, he¡¯s no longer a classmate. It didn¡¯t really work and I now realize that I have to follow the ¡®essence¡¯, not the ¡®letter¡¯ of an order. Nearly half-way through the quarter, I¡¯d found a way to put him down for several days at a time. I¡¯d put my hand on his shoulder until he¡¯d pass out and then keep it there, draining him until he was nearly dead, yet not enough to actually kill him. Kat got mad at me for that exploit and quickly applied a hot-fix for my attire. My undies will now only cause harm to men who intend to rape me. Since she was already modifying it anyways, she decided to go ahead and normalize it a bit for the sake of fairness. First, my attire can now be removed manually and the removed items will disappear once no one is paying attention to them. Though, I am still not allowed to decide what I put on or to remove any items arbitrarily. Items like these darn Moody Gravity Cuffs! Second, attire sets will only automatically equip if my current situation allows for it to do so. For example, my weapons won¡¯t reappear in my hands if I had just been disarmed and locked up in a dungeon cell. Lastly, my non-combat effects will always apply for whichever set is selected, even when it is physically removed from my body. Getting back to the present time. After six weeks of dance lessons, I¡¯ve finally managed to get my physical controls all up to at least ninety percent and began to cultivate towards the next rank of body. I¡¯m a little peeved that all that work will get reset as soon as I rank up, but at least I get to keep fifty percent of it. Inventory and most of my sense skills also managed to level up. +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood Demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(1%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 3(0%)}{Divine: 3(4%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 10000/10000}{Mana: 64900/64900}{Spirit: 10000/10000}{Divine: 10000/10000} Attributes: Str: 10000(90%) | Vit: 10000(90%) | Agi: 10000(95%) | Int: 64900(65%) Soul Potential: 183 {passive} [Sense Mana 4], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Intent 4], [Sense Danger 3], [Second Sight 4] -[Soul Devourer 2] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 3], [Inventory 4], [Tamer 3] -[Shadowmeld 3], [Contract 1] [Agility Boost], [Exquisite Fur], [Regeneration] -[Vampiric Bite], [Body Manipulation], [Dragon¡¯s Perception], [Adaptive Blood] -[Pure Yin Essence], [Love Serum], [Longevity(unlock: 500sp)], [Mana Affinity(unlock: 1000sp)] -[Glamour(unlock: 1000sp)], [Green Thumb(unlock: 1000sp)], [Multi-Form(unlock: 2500sp)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me], [Assisted Body Contortion] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless}{Ability} -[Status Manager] [Glass Cannon], [Slow Learner], [Mute], [Kat¡¯s Revenge] [Destined to Serve(Mistress: Sophia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link} I took an opportunity one day to get the dryad traits from Flora. The required soul points to unlock multi-form is insane, most likely having something to do with how unsuited the skill would normally be with my body unlike a dryad. Her blood or rather sap tasted wonderful, like the most delicious juice ever. Due to the nature of the plants in the area of her birth, her sap got me high and very aroused. Her expert use of vines that night was envious. On another note, Flora is making pretty good progress, considering her issues. Name: Flora | Age: <1 | Sex: Female Race: Dryad(Base: Feeder Vine) Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(10%)}{Mind: 1(10%)}{Spirit: 0(60%)}{Divine: 0(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 100/100}{Mana: 100/100}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 100(15%) | Vit: 100(15%) | Agi: 100(20%) | Int: 100(30%) Soul Potential: 50 {passive} [Sense Mana 2], [Synergy 1] {active} [Mana Control 2], [Mana Shaping 1] [Green Thumb], [Multi-Form] [Dryad¡¯s Natural Gifts] {Fragrance}{Needles}{Symbiosis} [Tamed Familiar(Tamer: Lilia)] {Link} Due to her race, she actually managed to gain the synergy skill without having to use a skill crystal. She got a little carried away with cultivating her body and mind cultivation before I kindly reminded her that increasing her spirit cultivation would make things faster in the long run. Speaking of spirit cultivation, Sofy has finished getting her body and divine cultivations up to stage three and is now focusing on spirit cultivation. Name: Sophia | Age: 24 | Sex: Female Race: {Human(50%)}{Wood Elf(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 2(30%)}{Divine: 3(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 1000/1000}{Mana: 31000/31000}{Spirit: 1000/1000}{Divine: 1000/1000} Attributes: Str: 1000(10%) | Vit: 1000(10%) | Agi: 1000(10%) | Int: 31000(35%) Soul Potential: 120 {passive} [Sense Mana 6], [Sense Presence 5], [Sense Danger 4], [Synergy 5] {active} [Mana Control 5], [Mana Shaping 4], [Tamer 4], [Assess 8] [Longevity], [Mana Affinity] [Child of the Forest] [Destined to Serve(Servant: Lilia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link} [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless} {none} Sofy¡¯s skill progression speed is as envious as always. She increased multiple skills by one level and assess even went up by two levels. At her current speed, she¡¯ll have no problem evolving the skill into appraisal before our next dungeon dive. The other girls won¡¯t be coming with us again because of their own family training. Sofy¡¯s mom decided to go with us though. She¡¯s become interested in the auction house business that we opened and wants to take a look. Tomorrow is the first day of the second half of the academic quarter. The instructor is holding a group evaluation for our dancing skills. I just hope that I don¡¯t mess up too badly. *sigh* My expectations for success have greatly fallen due to ¡®Kat¡¯s revenge¡¯. When will she get over it?! Chapter 52: Body art Chapter 52: Body art ¡°Hahaha, that was hilarious!¡±~Sofy ¡°Yeah, real funny. Haha. Of all the dances she could pick for the mid-quarter evaluation, why¡¯d she have to pick the ribbon dance of all things?!¡±~me ¡°You nearly completed the dance and only messed up the ending. At least you didn¡¯t have to start over like some people. How you looked after accidentally tying yourself up with the ribbon was adorable! Yes, we definitely need to buy some ribbons on the way home.¡±~Sofy Ugh! She always does this whenever she finds something new and interesting. Completely blows it out of proportion! I¡¯m going to have ribbons everywhere for at least the next week!! ¡°Mistress, can we not buy ribbons?¡±~me ¡°Ah! You¡¯re right! I can just set them up in your attire menu. How silly of me to forget.¡±~Sofy Not what I meant!!! *Sigh* It¡¯s a hopeless, lost cause. ¡°Quite sassy today, aren¡¯t you?¡±~Sofy ¡°No comment! Plus, why didn¡¯t you quickly help to untie me?¡±~me ¡°Isn¡¯t that because I was picked next to perform? The instructor even offered to untie you herself so as to not damage the equipment.¡±~Sofy ¡°Like I¡¯d believe her excuse! Clearly, she had an ulterior motive. She spent the entire rest of the class with me on her lap, ¡®trying to untie me¡¯. While she watched the performances, her hands wandered all over my body and she didn¡¯t bother with the knots at all until the very end!¡±~me ¡°Oh? Maybe she wanted a little payback for the kiss from your falling incident? Or, even better, she might have wanted to repay you for that incident? You¡¯re only upset because you were the one getting played with and not the other way around. Besides, based on the few little moans that you let escape, you were actually enjoying it. You could have broken those ribbons at any time if you didn¡¯t like it.¡±~Sofy Because of my small size, I end up being ¡®pushed down¡¯ a lot, but I prefer being the ¡®top¡¯. I tend to just think meh, it¡¯s still fun either way and just give in. This is my truth, but I¡¯ll never say it. As we were chatting, we had arrived at the restaurant for lunch. While we ate with our small circle of girlfriends, I got to relive my embarrassing episodes all over again as Sofy tells the rest of the girls about my latest blunders in what they¡¯ve taken to calling the daily incident report. Most of the time it¡¯s just small things. Since we just finished a weekend, there¡¯s plenty to tell and the girls end up out of breath by the end of it. Thankfully, there¡¯s really only one other incident in this retelling that can be considered major. It was an incident that happened yesterday morning: Sofy and her mother were sitting at the table as I was making breakfast. Yea, it¡¯s yet another incident with Camille. For some reason, I have an unusually high blunder rate around her. Anyways, my apron got stuck on something while I was turning towards the table with a couple of dishes in my hands. As I was trying to get unstuck, the apron just vanished. Like my nighty does when I take it off at night. Somehow, the attire function felt that I was trying to undress! I ended up fumbling towards Camille and only regained my balance because my breasts ended up planted in her face, giving her a bloody nose. This incident allowed me to learn that healing skills do NOT work on ¡®that¡¯ type of nose bleed. I made it through the rest of the day without any more major incidents and once again prayed to Kat. She hasn¡¯t been answering at all and I¡¯ve already waaay overpaid what I owed to her. Tonight, she actually answered! ¡°Okay, okay. There, the curse is gone. I¡¯ll admit that I got a little bit distracted while implementing the dungeon items feature you had previously mentioned. If you¡¯ve really suffered as much as you¡¯re currently thinking that you have, I¡¯ll make it up to you. You¡¯ll have to wait for me to watch the recordings though.¡±~Kat ¡°Oh, how is that going? Are the items ready yet? The recordings are your way of getting back at me for my sketchbook, aren¡¯t they?¡±~me ¡°Just finished and already active. The craze over the changes should die down a bit before your next dive. This time you probably won¡¯t end up having to deal with an overcrowded dungeon. As for the sketchbook...since I was developing cursed items anyways, it¡¯s no longer an issue.¡±~Kat ¡°NOOOOooooo! My treasures!! What did you do to my sketchbook?!¡±~me ¡°Relax, I just made it a soulbound item with infinite capacity, but only viewable for the owner.¡±~Kat ¡°Oh. Well, that¡¯s fine then. Is there any way to get rid of some of my curses?¡±~me ¡°Getting harder to cultivate, huh? Well, I suppose I could give you a removal price for the two that are slowing down your cultivation and skills, but I get to add something in exchange.¡±~Kat ¡°Wait, I have to pay to remove them, yet you¡¯re still adding stuff?!¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t worry so much, it¡¯s just a small item for one of your submenus that I thought Sofy could enjoy with you. I randomly thought it up while I was making the dungeon items.¡±~Kat ¡°I agree! Somehow, I feel like you¡¯d add the item even if I didn¡¯t agree.¡±~me ¡°You know me so well! Anyways, I¡¯ve got an epic blunders reel to make. So, tata for now.¡±~Kat Waking up in the morning, I can¡¯t help but groan at the thought of this ¡®blunder reel¡¯ being shown to the various priestesses I know. Knowing Kat, she¡¯d probably hold an astral projection theatre showing in her divine realm if I should get on her bad side again. The good thing is that I can now get rid of those two annoying curses. Bad thing is that it¡¯s EXPENSIVE! She set the price at ten times the original gain that I received by having them. I can¡¯t afford to remove even the cheaper one right now and it¡¯s the other one that I want to remove first anyways. [Glass Cannon(remove: 200sp)], [Slow Learner(remove: 500sp)] ¡°Good morning, Lily.¡±~Sofy ¡°Good morning, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°Huh, I got a new item? Is it something that Kat newly developed?¡±~Sofy ¡°Yea, I spoke to her last night. She said that it¡¯s something she thought up while implementing the dungeon items idea. Which is now active. What exactly did she give us, I can¡¯t see it from my side.¡±~me ¡°She added a tattoo section to the attire menu. Some even have magical effects.¡±~Sofy ¡°That¡¯s actually pretty useful. And cool! I could use them to enhance my combat ability.¡±~me ¡°Not exactly. The magical tattoos currently only have a single category available.¡±~Sofy ¡°...¡±~me ¡°Not even going to guess?¡±~Sofy ¡°I¡¯m hoping it will go away if I don¡¯t acknowledge it. Knowing her, there¡¯s only one possibility anyways. Not something that really requires any guesswork.¡±~me ¡°Haha, that¡¯s so true! It¡¯s exactly as you¡¯ve surmised, only the lust category of magical tattoos are available.¡±~Sofy As Sofy started to experiment with the tattoo submenu settings, the tattoo manifested itself on my lower belly as expected. There are design selections to control the sensitivity of various parts, wetness values, arousal baseline, pleasure intensity level, climax build-up requirement and there¡¯s even an option for an instant climax pattern. That last option just needs some mana inserted and bam! And it keeps repeating as long as mana is supplied. After two weeks of experimenting, Sofy finally settled on a tattoo design. My ¡®optimal settings¡¯ as she calls it. My skin is now three times more sensitive overall with the usual sensitive areas being doubled again. She set the arousal baseline fairly high though. That way I¡¯m not turned on with a simple caress. Of course, she also opted for the instant climax pattern so that she can easily get me going with my ¡®on switch¡¯. As for wetness values...Well, I¡¯m starting to wonder if it would be a good idea to waterproof the mattress. Pleasure intensity is increased by four and build-up requirement is increased fivefold. That basically means that it takes five times more effort, but when I do get there, it¡¯s five times longer and four times more pleasurable. I made sure to record the tattoo designs as she was experimenting. Each setting basically controls one specific element of the tattoo. The tattoo starts off looking very ordinary and each element of the design gets more intricate as something is enhanced more. I now basically have drawings for every variation up to ten times for each of the settings. Ten times is already too much to use for any of the settings, so there¡¯s no reason to go further. It¡¯s pretty much a sensory overload when used. If I didn¡¯t have my mental protection blessing, I might have experienced ¡®mind break¡¯ several times during Sofy¡¯s experimentation period. Though, I think that same protection might also be preventing my abuse clause from triggering. I¡¯m hoping that the magic tattoo isn¡¯t something that can only work on me through the attire submenu. Otherwise, I would have wasted my time and money to record Sofy¡¯s experimental results and make some semi-permanent magic ink. Things will be much more lively when I finish drawing one on the rest of the girls. And the ink I mixed up can only be removed with a specific solvent. Muhahahahahaha! *Cough cough* I promise not to break them...hopefully... Chapter 53: More art Chapter 53: More art We¡¯re now a little over two weeks from the end of the academic quarter. At the beginning of each week, we receive a report from the auction house. It includes sales statistics as well as a list of items uncommon grade or above items that had been bought the previous week. Auction items are always taken from the items brought in the previous week which gives us a chance to have Mary bid on items for us. This also makes the customer more likely to outright sell an item at a lower price, rather than wait for it to be auctioned the following week. From the weekly lists, Sofy and I have managed to reserve some items for ourselves that we¡¯ll just pick up on our next visit: [Woundless Tasseled Flog] Effect: damage negation [Circlet of Dark Sight] Effect: [Dark Sight 3] [Adventurer¡¯s Cape] Effect: temperature control [Dexterous Gloves] Effect: increased dexterity [Quiet Boots of Waltzing] Effect: silenced, comfortable That first item is a training type item like the edgeless blades that also drop. However, this one is going into my ¡®toybox¡¯. The rest are for Sofy to use. With Sofy now able to have dark sight, we won¡¯t need to use light crystals anymore to see in the dungeon. Temperature control will keep her body comfortable regardless of the environment. Her archery will benefit from the increase to dexterity. The boots apparently have a female design and it was a group of male adventurers that had looted them, but they needed quick money. Otherwise, with those effects, they would definitely not directly sell them. Those boots are the only item bought by the auction house so far with two effects. Other items were always put up to be auctioned by their owners. Kat also added a very convenient resizing crystal that is a fairly common consumable loot. It¡¯s a pretty smart alternative to adding a resizing effect to all the loot items and it apparently works for normal clothing as well. Mary had already reserved a few dozen of them for us. She also managed to obtain an inventory skill crystal from last month¡¯s monthly auction. Now Sofy will have the skill as well. Though, it did cost me most of my profits so far for her to get it. Currently, Sofy and I are deciding on what sort of tattoo I will be giving her while getting ready for bed. I plan to convince the other girls to get one as well if it¡¯s successful in functioning as a magical tattoo. ¡°Mistress, why are you so reluctant to try the tattoo?¡±~me ¡°Won¡¯t it hurt to get a tattoo?! Sure, yours just appears, but don''t you need to use a needle to repetitively insert the ink normally?¡±~Sofy ¡°Nope. I used what I know about alchemy to make a magic ink that is nontoxic and then I took what I¡¯ve learned about apothecary to make the ink into a sort of stain that is easily absorbed deep into the skin. And before you say some nonsense about what would happen if I mess up, I¡¯ve already prepared a solvent that removes the ink just in case.¡±~me ¡°Fine, but no instant pattern. I don¡¯t have self-cleaning clothes like you after all.¡±~Sofy ¡°Just because I won¡¯t make a mess, does NOT make it okay to do that during classes!¡±~me ¡°But it¡¯s been so boring lately. Not having you embarrass yourself everyday anymore has left a void in my daily routine.¡±~Sofy ¡°Just get used to it! Geeze, and Kat thinks that I¡¯m the naughty one?¡±~me ¡°Ah, speaking of Kat, did she explain to you why the other categories aren¡¯t currently available and why you couldn¡¯t use what you learn from manipulating the tattoo in enchanting with magic runes?¡±~Sofy ¡°Yea, she said that we¡¯d have to earn the others as rewards from her or by discovering them ourselves. As for why the tattoo technique doesn¡¯t work for enchanting, that¡¯s because they¡¯re fundamentally different. The tattoo is a symbol for the lust concept, whereas runes represent the principles of laws. You can expand or narrow the concept that a symbol is for, but a principle is fixed.¡±~me ¡°That¡¯s too bad. You were so excited when you first thought that you had found a way to create better enchantments. Do you think Kat didn¡¯t tell you this first on purpose? To tease you?¡±~Sofy ¡°Ah! That¡¯s possible, no it¡¯s probable in Kat¡¯s case. No wonder she was laughing so much! Enough procrastinating, let¡¯s get back to designing your tat.¡±~me Sofy eventually agreed on a tattoo design that increased her sensitivities by four, increased pleasure intensity by three, tripled build-up requirement, doubled lubricant, minimized spray, and halved her arousal baseline. The baseline being lowered was her compensation to me for absolutely refusing to have the instant climax feature. Tonight¡¯s lovemaking was epic. The tattoo worked! Because of her new tattoo, I could once again somewhat dominate the sheets. Though, she could annoyingly immediately regain the lead by pushing that darn ¡®button¡¯! The next day was already Fireday, so during lunch we invited the girls over for the weekend to get their own tattoos done. They were a little peeved that we kept such a good thing from them for so long, but decided to forgive us when we told them that we only managed to confirm last night that it doesn¡¯t only work for me. ¡°So this is why I¡¯ve heard rumors in school that a certain couple have been naughty lately. Sofy has been playing around again, huh?¡±~Tiff ¡°So perceptive! She got you there. One point for Tiff, zero for...ahhHH!!!¡±~me ¡°Seems that Lily said something sarcastic.¡±~Tiff ¡°She¡¯s got your number as well.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mm, two poin-¡±~me ¡°Hmm, what was that?¡±~Sofy "N-nothing!"~me ¡°Heh. Based on Sofy¡¯s raised eyebrow and lack of movement from Lily, it would seem that a second punishment was just narrowly avoided.¡±~Brit ¡°What do you mean second? This is like her nth time being punished. It¡¯s only a matter of time before that number is plus one more¡±~Amy ¡°Sofy, you said something earlier about personalizing the tattoo to have specific effects?¡±~Jill ¡°Ah, yes. Here are the details that Lily wrote down for you. When you come over tonight, you can let her know what you want and she¡¯ll draw out the matching tattoo for you.¡±~Sofy ¡°I¡¯ll just leave it up to Lily. At this point, she practically knows my body just as well as I do and she has more experience with the tattoo effects. Pick something good for me, okay Lily? I trust your judgement.¡±~Tiff Oh, I will! It¡¯s so tempting to just sock-it to her, but she played the trust card! I can see you smirking! She¡¯s so manipulative and...EVIL! I¡¯ve no choice but to nod in agreement and smile bitterly in defeat. Jill was the second to decide. She decided to go with five-fold skin sensitivity, four-fold build-up, triple pleasure and half the arousal baseline with the ¡®on switch¡¯ included. From a girl who likes to get tied or wrapped up, the large increase to her skin sensitivity was expected. The other two hadn¡¯t decided before we left for the afternoon lessons. I spent a good portion of my free time until bedtime figuring out what I wanted to give Tiff. My final revision was to give her five-fold intensity, four-fold sensitivity, triple build-up, double lube and half arousal baseline with an ¡®on switch¡¯ of course. That night, I drew Jill¡¯s first. She and Sofy went off to play immediately after. Amy and Brit were next. They had decided on a five-fold increase to their normally sensitive areas, four-fold pleasure, triple arousal baseline, and half build-up with an ¡®on switch¡¯ included. They both got the same and ran off to play as soon as I finished. And I mean play. Little brats made a game out of causing each other excitement, taking turns at blocking or reaching for the other¡¯s ¡®score zones¡¯. So childish! Now for Tiff. She got a five-fold pleasure increase, four-fold arousal baseline, triple sensitivity, double build-up and an ¡®on switch¡¯. The best part of the instant climax option is that it doesn¡¯t work with your own mana. That would be bad after all since your mana is ever-present in the body, even where the tattoo is located. With the four-fold arousal baseline, she¡¯ll have a difficult time of achieving ¡®self-service¡¯ in the future. A little punishment from me. If she wants to have fun from now on, she¡¯ll either need extra effort or a partner for a boost to ¡®switch¡¯ her on. Considering how many times I¡¯ve walked in on Camille¡¯s ¡®morning exercises¡¯ during my blunderfest, I might just give her a similar setup while she¡¯s sleeping one night. I don¡¯t mean to be mean, but to push her into finding someone to be with her. It¡¯s kind of sad to see her trying so hard on her own. Chapter 54: Camille’s escapade Chapter 54: Camille¡¯s escapade I did it! A couple days after the girls got their tattoos, I infiltrated Camille¡¯s room at night and tattooed her using a special new magic ink. I¡¯m really proud of this ink because it has a mood effect. At normal body temperature, it¡¯s invisible. It turns pink, then red as the body heats up. Of course, that¡¯s now particularly difficult for her since I adjusted her arousal baseline to five-fold. I also made her four-fold more sensitive, tripled pleasure and doubled the build-up. The instant design is also there, but she can¡¯t see any of it. Camille was looking kind of ragged with red eyes by the time she came down for breakfast on Darkday. I felt really guilty and Sofy must have sensed it. Sofy dragged us back to her mother¡¯s room after eating. ¡°Mother, do you happen to have a mark on your lower belly?¡±~Sofy ¡°No, why do you ask?¡±~Camille ¡°Alright, fess up and I¡¯ll only give you a light punishment. I know my mother¡¯s condition is your fault somehow because I can feel your guilty conscience.¡±~Sofy ¡°I just wanted her to find someone to make love to her. You know just how many times that I¡¯ve walked in during her ¡®playtime¡¯ during those blundersome weeks. If she had difficulty doing it herself, I thought that she might seek out a partner.¡±~me ¡°Yes, yes. I know it¡¯s your fault. Now how did you do it?¡±~Sofy ¡°I made a new ink. It¡¯s normally invisible, but starts to appear and gets darker as your body temperature raises. Cool, right?!¡±~me ¡°Oh, that is pretty nice. Now hand over the solvent.¡±~Sofy ¡°I don¡¯t have any right now.¡±~me ¡°WHAT!?¡±~Sofy ¡°Well, I uh, ran out of ingredients. I was trying to make it harder to remove as well and as a result, the solvent for this variation of ink requires some slightly rare materials to make.¡±~me ¡°Sofy, honey, what¡¯s going on?¡±~Camille ¡°Lily drew a lust tattoo on you while you were sleeping. You haven¡¯t noticed it because she used an invisible ink and now she can¡¯t even remove it because she¡¯s out of solvent.¡±~Sofy Sofy removed my attire and showed her mother my lust tattoo, explaining what it does and with my assistance, explained what effects were included on Camille''s. She was pretty mad at first, but her expression softened somewhat when she heard why I had done it. ¡°Hey mother, what do you think of Lily?¡±~Sofy ¡°Fluffy and cute!¡±~Camille ¡°Since she¡¯s at fault, how about letting her make it up to you. At least until she can make more of the solvent?¡±~Sofy ¡°B-but, she¡¯s your servant, I¡¯d feel bad considering and then there¡¯s her opinion to take into consideration.¡±~Camille ¡°I¡¯ll just take that blush as a yes. I never mentioned how she would make it up to you. That¡¯s entirely up to the two of you to decide. However, I don¡¯t think either of you would be particularly unwilling to proceed in such a manner. Lily, stay with my mother until she¡¯s been thoroughly satisfied with your repentance, whatever that may be. That¡¯s an order.¡±~Sofy ¡°Keeping my mother satisfied can count as part of your punishment. Do well and that will be the end of it. Also, when will you be able to make more of the solvent and how long has the tattoo been on her?¡±~Sofy ¡°The ingredients are out of stock in all the local shops. I was planning to get them during our dungeon trip and make it for her before we dive in. I guess it¡¯s been nearly four days now.¡±~me ¡°Since that¡¯s the case, you¡¯re not allowed to cum on your own as the second part of your punishment. That¡¯s an order.¡±~Sofy ¡°Mother, don¡¯t indulge her too much. If she doesn¡¯t suffer a bit, she won¡¯t learn her lesson. I¡¯ll leave the two of you alone now. Bye.¡±~Sofy Just as I¡¯m thinking that it¡¯s a pretty useless order since I don¡¯t normally pleasure myself. I begin to feel a subtle vibration originating from my core executor. This is going to be a long week! I ended up having to start things out between us. An instant climax activation by feeding my mana into the lust symbol perfectly resolved the lingering awkwardness that had been between us. Camille is WILD! Wow, just WOW! While I did sort of know she was a sexual woman, I never expected her to be so incredible. She also didn¡¯t lack for any toys either. And here I had thought that things between me and Sofy couldn¡¯t get any better. By treating this as a learning experience from Miss Expert, I can see areas that could definitely be improved. The rest of the week practically flew by and it was once again time to go dungeon diving. In that time I managed to break through to stage four in body cultivation and started towards stage four for spirit. Flora broke through to stage one in spirit and started increasing it with much difficulty. Sofy didn¡¯t make any breakthroughs, but is nearly ready to break through to stage three in spirit and nearly tripled her agility attribute. Sofy, Camille, Flora and I are currently flying towards Namiir on Trixy, who has gotten quite a bit stronger. She¡¯s probably an upper stage four beast at this point. ¡°How can you be so energetic? I haven¡¯t hardly seen you or my mother for nearly a week, but you don¡¯t seem repentant at all. Did you not learn anything during the last few days with my mother?¡±~Sofy ¡°Oh, I learned plenty! Like how AMAZING a woman your mother is and a significant number of new tricks and techniques.¡±~me ¡°LALALA, I¡¯m not hearing this, LALALA. Just because I know what probably happened between you two, does not mean that I want to hear about it.¡±~Sofy I was promptly shut out for the remainder of the flight. We arrived before dark and made our way to Alice and Mary¡¯s place. We¡¯d stay there since there are extra rooms. Me and Sofy would take the master downstairs which they left empty for us as thanks for buying the house. They even started a garden in the backyard for Flora. Camille would sleep in the last room upstairs. Mary and Alice have separate rooms, but the two little girls share one. And that gives us a full house during our stay. Camille can be scary! I¡¯m pretty sure that I heard her say ¡®mine¡¯ when she saw Alice. Alice didn¡¯t stand a chance even though she had already activated her ¡®fluffy shunpo¡¯ when she saw me. But Camille had somehow intercepted Alice mid-teleport and proceeded to mofu. First thing we did was to collect the various items we had reserved. Sofy used the inventory skill crystal and we started transferring items that she uses daily from mine over into her own. Just when it was about to reach capacity, it freaking leveled up! How does she do that?! I may have her beat with my cultivation speed, but her skill leveling speed is just broken. With the new size, I¡¯m able to transfer the rest of her stuff over to her and even gave her most of the spare crystals for cultivation, less enough for my own the next two days. I¡¯d pick up a lot more once we enter the dungeon. We¡¯d wait for the auction that would happen the next evening and enter the dungeon the day after. Susan came over to join us for dinner and stayed with Sofy and I throughout the night. I made breakfast for everyone early in the morning. As I was waking everyone up to eat, I found Camille in Alice¡¯s bed still clinging to her...naked! ¡°I think I¡¯ll stay in Namiir for a while and help these girls. None of them seem to have received much local education, especially the two young ones who don¡¯t seem to even know much common sense. These ladies have done okay while caring for them, but they don¡¯t have my experience. Alice has already agreed.¡±~Camille From what I saw this morning and your sparkly eyes tell me that education is not the primary reason, just an excuse! I¡¯ll pray for your futures, my kindred souls. I can¡¯t help but have a trace of pity in my eyes as I look over at Alice, who is sitting right next to Camille, who is currently fluffing her tail on the sligh. This wasn¡¯t surprising however. What surprised me was that Susan sat down next to Mary causing her to squirm because her tail was misbehaving. The auction was uneventful, exactly what I¡¯d expected it to be like. Only one item managed to peak my interest, but I wasn¡¯t about to bid against Camille and Susan for it. They also weren¡¯t the only ones bidding either and the item eventually wound up with Camille for a ridiculous price. It was quickly brought up for her once the bidding finished. Alice brought it over personally since the auction was now over. [Succubus¡¯s Collar of Submission] {Can only be placed/worn on a willing subject, locked when worn, removable by placer} Effect: servitude, dual cultivation, greater stamina boost ¡°Holy crap! Shouldn¡¯t this be in the month end auction instead?¡±~me(note) ¡°The owner urgently needed money and wouldn¡¯t accept our buyout offer, for good reason it would seem.¡±~Mary *CLICK* We all just kind of stared with dumbfounded expressions for a full minute. Alice is now wearing the collar with an exceedingly red face. Camille is next to Alice with her hands still near her neck looking as proud as a wolf that¡¯s just staked her claim. On another note, it looks good on her. It¡¯s a slender band that¡¯s made from some sort of metal with a pinkish hue, engraved with flowers and a little heart dangling on the front that now has ¡°Camille¡¯s¡± engraved on it. ¡°SHE¡¯S WEARING IT?!!!¡±~Mary and Sofy They both knew the stats of the collar and that it required the wearer to be willing in order to put it on. Hence the synchronized, surprised exclamations. It will only come off now if she rejects having a relationship with her or Camille removes it. I somehow doubt that it will ever come off. Susan¡¯s not surprised. As she is part succubus, she can sense these things pretty easily. Though, Mary is now looking at her with caution while Susan is avoiding eye contact. ¡°I¡¯ve got to get me one of those...or multiple. Do you think it came from a floor in the forties or perhaps even the fifties?¡±~me ¡°You do realize that I can¡¯t wear it for you, right? It would contradict your curse.¡±~Sofy ¡°Yes, but Tiff and Jill could wear them.¡±~me ¡°Good point! Let¡¯s start first thing in the morning. And maybe we should crash at Susan¡¯s tonight. Being around my mother right now is...yea, let¡¯s go with that.¡±~Sofy Susan was especially happy to agree as I¡¯d already promised to draw a customized lust symbol on her tonight. Chapter 55: Sudden farewell Chapter 55: Sudden farewell As we were leaving the auction venue, I¡¯d felt someone who had been watching us before as they used appraisal. They felt familiar, but I couldn¡¯t place why and they had run off before I could appraise them in return. Susan, very sure of herself, opted to have sensitivity, pleasure and build-up all raised to five-fold. She only raised the other options by double though. And of course, she got an ¡®on switch¡¯. Whenever one of us would get too dominant, one of the others would push the ¡®button¡¯ to perform a reversal. In Sofy¡¯s case, we would just team up on her until she¡¯d get one of us. Round and round we went deep into the night. We still somehow managed to get up at the crack of dawn and head to the dungeon. Sofy and I walked there alone. Flora is in the garden at Mary and Alice¡¯s place and Trixy is dwelling inside of Sofy. I think I¡¯ve already said this, but dwelling is a subskill of tamer that¡¯s like a contract space. When we entered the dungeon, I felt those same eyes on us from last night. Using the same bull(Trixy) riding method as last time, we quickly barged right through down to the thirty-fourth floor in a few hours before it got too risky. For the next week and a half we managed to trek down to the fiftieth floor and then back to the thirty-eighth. Going beyond the forties is still too much of a challenge for us. We picked up a number of great items along the way, including three of those collars. Sofy kept one and I kept the other two. Sofy has also been keeping all of the miscellaneous items as well. It really isn¡¯t fair that she has already leveled her inventory skill up to level three. We¡¯ve been stopped on the thirty-seventh floor by some people we know and hate. As soon as we were close enough, they had used skill sealing divine crystals on each of us. They¡¯re stage four goods, I even have a few in my inventory. Not that I can pull anything out of it now anyways. ¡°Well if it isn¡¯t my half-breed sister and her little pet.¡±~crown prince ¡°What are you doing here?¡±~Sofy ¡°We came to bring back the heroes that ran away. I didn¡¯t expect to see the two of you here. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my supposedly dead sister is wandering around town. Since she¡¯s changed to a catkin, then I suppose that the two named Mary and Alice from that auction house really are those other girls. I don¡¯t know how you¡¯ve all changed your appearances, but I¡¯ll make sure to drag the truth out of you once I make you mine. Do it as planned.¡±~crown prince ¡°Kill the princess, take the other one alive.¡±~stooge one Two stooges for each of us, each at least rank four. Stooge one is even rank five. Trixy came out of her dwelling, but it doesn¡¯t help much. Sofy only has a dagger right now to defend herself and they¡¯ve separated us. Her bow is useless without the arrows she keeps in her inventory. These guys can easily deflect my crossbow bolts and none of us can seem to get a hit in. At the rate we¡¯re being exhausted, they will wear us down long before our skills return. Sofy took a hit, it¡¯s bad! Their rogue had taken out a crossbow and hit her in the stomach with it. I lost my cool big time and so did Trixy. She might have even activated a beserk state. I¡¯m now exchanging wound for wound, but I heal fast and Trixy has a thick hide, capable of taking a beating. We¡¯ve injured two of them quite badly now and the others are backing out of the fight. ¡°Shit, they¡¯ve gone crazy. We¡¯ll all die at this rate. The bitch is as good as dead. Retreat and we can try again later to capture the other.¡±~stooge one One of them pulls out a divine crystal and then they all five disappear in a flash of light. It''s a divine crystal that can only be found on levels forty and up called group dungeon escape. ¡°Flora, let Camille know that the crown prince and at least four of his best are in Namiir. They would have just left the dungeon and may try to attack her, Mary and Alice. They may even reenter the dungeon to attack us again in here.¡±~me ¡°Rodger! I¡¯m with her now. She asks if you¡¯re alright?¡±~Flora ¡°Not alright. Sofy took a bad hit. We¡¯re on the thirty-seventh floor.¡±~me I staggered over to my dying Sofy. The wound she took is fatal and I can¡¯t heal her with skills. All our medicine and divine crystals are in our inventories. There¡¯s no guarantee that we could run into a group willing to help or find an item laying around that could heal her. To save her life, I have only a single option left. Sinking my fangs into her neck, I use my innate ability to secrete my venom directly into her bloodstream. I then slit my wrist and place it over her mouth, forcing her to drink. Her skin starts to pale after a few minutes and the wound rapidly heals once the bolt is removed. A sure sign that it¡¯s working. When she awakes, she will have become a vampire. The lowest ranking of vampires where all turned start, a blood slave. I somehow intuitively know exactly what that will entail. Her race will be replaced and she will gain the trait: [Vampiric Body(Rank: Slave 0%)] Those with a vampiric body have the following subskills and conditions: {Vampiric Bite}, {Hypnotic Charm}, easily burned by sunlight, bloodline suppression by higher ranked vampire¡¯s, obedience to progenitor. Only methods to rank up are to refine your own blood by drinking a higher ranked vampire¡¯s blood or using a blood type treasure. Ranks include: slave, servant, knight, childe, baron/baroness, count/countess, duke/duchess, king/queen, emperor/empress. First three ranks have inherent obedience to their progenitor, next three require the progenitor to compel them via bloodline suppression in order to force them to obey, last three cannot be compelled to obey. It¡¯s only been about five minutes and I can feel her starting to wake. A stinging pain in my head suddenly interrupted my thoughts, followed by a strange, long notification: [Error detected: logic feedback loop¡­ analysing¡­ slave ranked vampire¡¯s inherent obedience to its progenitor conflicts with Destined to Serve¡¯s control of the progenitor¡­ extrapolating solution¡­ obedience removed¡­ error: obedience reasserted itself¡­ removing¡­ error... removing¡­ error¡­ analysing¡­ obedience is embedded in the subject¡¯s blood¡­ executing a secondary solution¡­ removing Destined to Serve¡¯s relationship data¡­ success¡­ error cleared.] Sofy has woken up and is looking at me with her adoration-filled blood red eyes, a sure sign of a newborn vampire. Then another notification appeared, one that I despised: [Destined to Serve¡¯s mistress data is empty. Activating temporary mistress mode.] I tried to renew my pledge to Sofy once she woke up, but I got the following message: [Service pledge disabled until meeting the temporary mistress.] Kat then suddenly dragged me into her divine realm as an astral body. ¡°Why am I here? Ah, my head! She nearly killed me! Multiple times!! What the heck was she thinking and why would I just brush something like that off?!!!¡±~me ¡°You¡¯re here to meet your temporary mistress, me. Your head hurts because all of your suppressed emotions have been unsuppressed. While the protections in your curse along with the don¡¯t mind me blessing protect your mind, the curse is still able to temporarily suppress overly strong negative emotion toward your mistress in order to ensure a stable bond between mistress and servant.¡±~Kat ¡°Ugh, can¡¯t you do something about that for me? Please?!¡±~me ¡°I already did something, because I figured you¡¯d say that. Overly negative emotions toward the mistress will now trigger the abuse feature instead. I¡¯ve also reset most non-essentials as well. Accessories, your eye shadow, and tattoo have all been cleared. Even your frustrating magic fingers are back!¡±~Kat ¡°Hm, strong negative emotions doesn¡¯t seem to be triggering my abuse clause. Any thoughts?¡±~me ¡°Brat! Of course it wouldn¡¯t work on me. You have a better idea to quickly get cozied up to your next mistress?¡±~Kat ¡°I think I do. Just change this line and that should give me plenty of hands on time.¡±~me The line I referred to mentally to her just now was this one: The mistress is responsible to ensure the servant wears appropriate {Attire}. And I suggested changing it to: The mistress is obliged to ensure the servant is utilized properly and wears appropriate {Attire}. This newly changed line keeps the old meaning while also obliging the mistress with no choice other than to utilize the servant for her daily life. Things such as chores, dressing, bathing and the like all have to be assisted by the servant. They will physically be prevented from doing them. ¡°Very well. We¡¯ll use your idea this time, but we¡¯ll switch back to the frustrating magic fingers if you can¡¯t quickly build rapport with your new mistress. Now go say goodbye to Sofy before I randomly teleport you to an area rich in energies. It should put you near a settlement of some kind that way. You are prohibited from coming into contact with people you know before finding a new mistress.¡±~Kat And que the sudden exit from her divine realm, once again! I quickly explained things to Sofy and said my goodbye. Then I was shrouded with light from the random teleport and vanished from the dungeon. Oh and I still have a good amount of time left on that skill seal. What could possibly go wrong?! End of Sofy Arc. Chapter 56: Lily is in troll-ble Chapter 56: Lily is in troll-ble When the light fades from the random teleport, I find myself falling to the ground from a few feet up. My surroundings are...an entire tribe of trolls! My skills are still sealed and I¡¯ve been immediately surrounded! I try to force my way out, but their thick skin is too difficult to injure without qi techniques. I¡¯m quickly overrun and some lucky troll knocked me out with a wild swing of its club. I wake up screaming in pain shortly after to find myself strung up. I¡¯m naked with a rope tying my wrists together and looped over a tree branch and my ankles are tied to a stake in the ground just below my feet. My body is hovering less than a foot from the ground with my length stretched to the sky and the trolls are dancing around while alternating between flogging me, smearing crushed herbs and spices on the wounds, and beating me with sticks. Wuwuwu, my poor tender, delicate skin is being shredded! It HURTS!!! This is just great! They¡¯re seasoning me and tenderizing my meat!! They plan to eat me!!! What¡¯s next, stuffing or marinade?! This is all HER fault!! That Goddess definitely messed something up with the teleport! As I¡¯m busy jinxing myself, a troll walks over to me with a large, leather waterskin. The waterskin has a slender, foot-long piece of hollowed reed attached to the opening. I¡¯m grabbed by the neck and held firm as liquid flows into me via the reed that¡¯s been shoved down my throat. Everytime I¡¯m about to vomit, my neck is strangled to stop me. When my stomach just can¡¯t hold anymore, my neck is squeezed tightly around the reed and the waterskin is compressed. The sudden increase in pressure with no escape path causes the valve to my intestinal track to be forced open and the waterskin is then emptied within seconds. My body is now bloated like a pregnant lady and my insides feel like they¡¯re on fire. Not in a good way. I feel like my blood is boiling with lightning arcs crawling along under my skin. My mind also feels floaty and light, but worst of all is that my qi and mana are chaotic. I¡¯m brought down and placed in a large stone bowl that¡¯s been prepared over a fire pit with just enough water in it that I¡¯d be boiled to death without drowning first. Seriously, do they have some sort of fetish for prolonging their victim¡¯s suffering? I¡¯m pretty sure that I saw disappointment in the eyes of the ones hitting me earlier, like they were somehow saddened by the fact that I didn¡¯t scream. As they lit the fire, the seal on my skills finally expired. Of course I immediately tried to use shadowmeld to escape, only to experience agonizing pain as though my body was being ripped apart. It would seem that using my qi and mana right now is not a good idea. I can¡¯t help but to cry from the irony that once my seal expired, my body¡¯s current state made using them ineffective and painful. After carefully taking stock, I find that I¡¯m only capable of using my inventory and divine skills. I immediately used a protective divine skill and started healing myself. My physical wounds healed quickly enough, but it didn¡¯t fix my weird state at all. At the same time, I pulled a sharp knife out of my inventory and started sawing away at my bindings. Those stupid trolls are too busy dancing around the fire to notice that I¡¯m free. Sneaking a peek out of the bowl, I find the thinnest concentration of trolls and make a break for the treeline. Unlike before where I was easily surrounded due to my panic from teleporting into the middle of a troll camp, my attempt to escape this time was successful. I ran for a good while in order to lose my pursuers and then ran a bit more, getting myself thoroughly lost in the woods. My speed was weirdly fast, too fast considering what I¡¯d just been through. While taking a breather, I also emptied my stomach of whatever it was that I had been forced to drink. Though, I¡¯m still bloated with a much larger portion that has flowed deep into my intestines, but there¡¯s nothing that I can think of to fix that at the moment. When examining the pile of vomit, I notice small pieces of something mixed in. Picking one up, I discover that it¡¯s actually from a smashed up monster core. Rustling noises in the bush next to me snap me out of my thoughts. I immediately put up my guard, but relaxed once I realized that it is just a harmless type of slime. A scavenger slime that was probably attracted by the smashed up core bits. Going back to my self reflection, I remembered that I had heard a ¡®ding¡¯ while running away that said: [Gained curse: Monster Energy Corruption]. I had immediately dismissed the earlier message due to my situation at the time being not good to investigate, but this curse seems really bad. [Monster Energy Corruption(20%)] Your body has been flooded with monster energy resulting in your qi and mana being in a chaotic state. This makes using those energies extremely difficult and prevents you from naturally regenerating them. Monsters will try to eat you to enhance their own power. The excess energy puts your body in a high-energy state, enhancing your physical and mental abilities. Though, your mind may seem somewhat hyperactive because of the sudden change. Beware: metabolism is also enhanced. If corruption reaches greater than sixty percent, your mind will start to degenerate. At greater than ninety percent, your soul will be affected. Crap! Not good! Considering how much of that stuff is still in me and how little time has passed, I¡¯m totally screwed! Out of options, I check if there are any threats in my surroundings and then proceed to pray. Getting an immediate answer, my mind is pulled into her divine realm. I just glare at the goddess as she¡¯s explaining that she¡¯s sorry and that she never meant for something like that to happen to me. She¡¯s apparently already fixed the teleport destination issue. Next time, she said that it will avoid any high energy areas with potential threats and will put me much closer to civilization. It seems that I¡¯m several days from the nearest settlement. ¡°So, what are you going to do to fix my body¡¯s issue?¡±~me ¡°There¡¯s not much I can do. My ability to interfere directly is limited. I can tell you that you can use divine energy to neutralize the monster energy that you¡¯ve absorbed. You can at least slow the process with that and the neutralized energy will nourish your body, giving you a boost to your physical attributes.¡±~Kat ¡°Can¡¯t you just give me some sort of potion.¡±~me ¡°I don¡¯t have a potion for something like this. The ones I gave to Mary and Alice are part of my collection, that I have as a sort of hobby.¡±~Kat ¡°Maybe I should I just kill myself and start over again?¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t do that. I¡¯ll promise to extract your soul before your mind is affected, but only as a last resort since doing so will diminish your soul to a low level. If that happened, you wouldn¡¯t be able to choose your body and could only be randomly born as an infant. You¡¯d better go back now and start neutralizing the monster energy. Just blend divine energy in with the monster energy kind of like you do when cultivating.¡±~Kat I find myself once again in my body and double check my surroundings before I start to meditate. In the ten minutes I¡¯ve spent meditating, my corruption level has risen to twenty-five percent! Which means I only have a little over an hour before my mind is affected if I sit here meditating and not moving around. Running at full speed earlier had accelerated it by at least double, if not triple the rate. *pugi pugi* Huh, the little scavenger slime finished its meal and wandered over to me. It must have been attracted by the monster energy inside me and is now trying to crawl on me. This type of slime is utterly harmless though because they do not eat living flesh at all, nor do they have any attack power. If only you could absorb this crap instead of me. Wait! That might work. But it¡¯s such a gross idea. Brace yourself Lily, this little buddy may be your only hope! I reached into the slime and made a fist around its nucleus core. The majority of the jelly layer collapsed as soon as I pulled its core out. That layer is controlled innately by the nucleus after being excreted, kind of like a mage¡¯s water spells. The nucleus is only about the size of a small gumball and the monster core inside it is even smaller. I can¡¯t believe that I¡¯m really about to do this... Chapter 57: Saved, now what? Chapter 57: Saved, now what? After bracing myself once more, I swallowed her. That¡¯s right, I just ate a slime while she is still alive! I¡¯m going to insist that it¡¯s female because I abhor the idea of anything male being so ¡®intimate¡¯ with me. It was awful by the way. The taste was like an almost flavorless gelatin which wasn¡¯t bad, but the texture made it feel like I was swallowing a really big loogie. By using the divine skill, examine, I¡¯m able to keep track of the slime¡¯s progress. Wow, she¡¯s made it into my intestines quickly and is already feasting on the monster core slurry. Good work little buddy! I quickly entered into a cycle of cultivating to neutralize the monster energy, examining the slime¡¯s progress and checking the corruption percentage. About two hours later, the corruption percentage has reached fifty percent, but it has finally stopped increasing. It takes an hour more for the slime to finish its job and two more hours for me to finally neutralize the last of the monster energy in my system. [Curse removed: Monster Energy Corruption] [Gained curse: High Energy Body] [Gained curse: Monster Bait] Seriously! I just got rid of the one curse and you give me two more? How is that fair?! [High-Energy Body] Due to achieving a forced high-energy state from overexposure to chaotic qi and mana energies, your body is now locked in that state. Physical and mental abilities are enhanced, but you are unable to regenerate qi and mana naturally. [Monster Bait] Due to your body being infused with monster energy, nearby monsters will be attracted to you. You now have a trace of monster aura and pheromones. Okay, I can manage the inability to regenerate qi and mana by using my vampiric bite and absorbing crystals. The monster attraction is mostly just very annoying, but it shouldn¡¯t be a problem as long as I don¡¯t run into any particularly strong monsters. Taking a good look at my status, I noticed that each of my basic attributes had increased by twenty percent of my current max for my stage. That¡¯s about half a year of daily cultivation worth of attribute gains! The best part was that the increase didn¡¯t cause my control percentage to lower. ¡°Testing...1...2...3...testing. Can you hear me?¡±~Flora ¡°Ah, yes. I can hear you. Did something happen?¡±~me ¡°I couldn¡¯t reach you for the last couple of hours!¡±~Flora ¡°My body had some issues. Everything is mostly back to normal now. What¡¯s going on with the crown prince¡¯s group?¡±~me ¡°Sofy¡¯s mother gathered up some experts from Namiir and went in after the crown prince. From what I heard, they caught up in less than an hour, killed them on the spot and left the bodies for the dungeon to consume.¡±~Flora ¡°They killed a crown prince from another country instead of capturing him?¡±~me ¡°Camille may have left that bit out. She only told them that a group of slavers lead by some rotten human noble¡¯s son was trying to catch her daughter. When she mentioned the Sylva name, they became even more highly motivated. Not that it was needed since slavery is a touchy subject around here lately. Are you going to use the summon subskill of tamer to bring me to you now?¡±~Flora ¡°Stay with them for now. With your current strength, you wouldn¡¯t be much used to me at the moment anyways. Make sure to let the others know that Sofy will need to drink some blood every day from now on. Technically she could skip a few days at a time, but it¡¯s best for a new vampire like her to drink some every day to keep her from going into a blood frenzy.¡±~me ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll focus on cultivating for now. Shall I keep you updated?¡±~Flora ¡°Please do so. Sofy should be out once the sun sets, let me know if there are any complications and update me daily.¡±~me ¡°Rodger, over and out.¡±~Flora Flora¡¯s military-play is endearing and loveable. The thought of her posing with a military salute saying that last line while in her sprite form is formidably cute! If she were to do that in front of me, I wouldn¡¯t be able to resist showering her with my affection. The slime grew to the size of a golf ball after eating so much. She stopped moving just shy of my large intestines and I currently have no method to force her out. My slight monster aura seems to somehow provide it with nurishment which means she probably won¡¯t move due to lack of food. I think that Kat had mentioned earlier that the nearest settlement was south. Let¡¯s start heading in that direction then. Along the way, I defeat several monsters and beasts. I take my time with the beasts and carefully drink them up to replenish energy. Monsters could also be drunk from, but they taste terrible! After killing a few beasts and monsters, I¡¯d finally reached over five hundred soul points. I had already accumulated more than four hundred while in the dungeon with Sofy, but I wanted to get rid of the slow learner curse first since it is the bigger problem. Now that I¡¯ve finally reached my goal, there¡¯s no reason to wait further. [Curse removed: Slow Learner] Oh, that feels so good! It feels like a blanket that has been smothering me has finally been lifted off of me. It just feels so very nice! When I stopped for the night, Kat dragged me into her domain again. She first congratulated me on surviving my disaster. Then she laughed until her sides hurt about my new ¡®butt buddy¡¯. For the Goddess, that can take quite a while! ¡°Your expression was hilarious when you swallowed it! Ahh, you¡¯re always so entertaining to watch. The things you do are marvelously unexpected!¡±~Kat ¡°Glad someone is enjoying themselves. Any idea how to get it to come out?¡±~me ¡°You could try luring it out with something tastier than your monster aura. A monster core should suffice.¡±~Kat ¡°Oh, I have plenty of those! This is much easier to solve than I thought it would be.¡±~me ¡°Hold up a bit. Your monster aura is as strong as you are which means it¡¯s a stage four meal for your buddy.¡±~Kat ¡°Geh! So, not so easy then. Though Sofy and I beat some monsters on the fiftieth floor and got some cores from them, Sofy put them all into her inventory since she was trying to level up that skill.¡±~me ¡°There¡¯s a pretty deep dungeon near the settlement you¡¯re headed towards. Though, the furthest in the locals have bothered to go is merely to the forties. You¡¯re not likely to find a stage five monster core up for sale.¡±~Kat ¡°Are you doing that on purpose?! Giving me hope, then crushing it? Even when Sofy and I killed a few stage five monsters, it took a lot of effort from us with Trixy as well and we didn¡¯t dare to even stay on the fiftieth floor for long. Is there no other way?¡±~me ¡°Since I owe you because of my mistake with the teleport, how about I give you a minor blessing that will increase the number of tamed familiars you can have, among other things. Then you can just tame it and instruct it to move out. Though, it¡¯s really not hurting you any by staying there.¡±~Kat Kat continued to have fun extolling about my encounter with trolls. We talked for a bit and she was generous enough to share information about exactly where I am and what to expect when I reach the settlement. I¡¯m currently located in a large ravine that is south of the Magic Forest, smack in the middle of the mountain ranges that are crawling with dragons. The community I¡¯m headed towards consists mostly of halfs. A lot of them have a demon half with fairy being the other half. Others have some beastkin, elf or dwarf in them. [Gained Blessing: Subdued Grace] [Subdued Grace]: Reduced difficulty when using subjugation-type skills and doubles the number of beings allowed by subjugation-type skills. This makes me kind of curious about what other subjugation-type skills might exist. With the extra taming slot, I can now go tame a dragon! WAIT! No, that was supposed to be used to get the slime out. Ahhh, she definitely only told me about the dragon¡¯s because she knew I couldn¡¯t resist being tempted! The temptation was too much in the end and I decided to hold off on taming the slime. All for a minuscule possibly of getting a dragon as a mount instead. I¡¯d reach the settlement the day after and would only judge then if it would be possible to get a fifth stage monster core. I had to clear out more than two dozen weak demons that had surrounded my wards during the night before I could set out for the day¡¯s travel. My previous evaluation of the monster bait curse clearly didn¡¯t match up to the reality. It¡¯s way more dangerous than I had thought. If I didn¡¯t have my divine skills that include some wards to repel the wildlife, I may have been unable to rest at night. Shortly after settling down again in the evening, I received my daily report from Flora. ¡°Flora calling Lily. Flora calling Lily. Do you read me Lily? Come in, over.¡±~Flora ¡°A simple hello would suffice.¡±~me ¡°But that¡¯s not as much fun! Anyways, Sofy came out of the dungeon when the sun set just like you said she would. She looked sickly pale and had blood red eyes that seemed to glow. Camille went ahead and fed Sofy her own blood after getting her back to the house. We inevitably had to reveal some things about you in order to explain the situation to Mary and Alice. Sofy plans to stay in Namiir for the foreseeable future. That¡¯s about all.¡±~Flora ¡°Thanks Flora.¡±~me ¡°Rodger. Over and out.¡±~Flora Chapter 58: Lily picks-up a guide Chapter 58: Lily picks-up a guide The night before I traveled in range of the city, Kat helped me pick a disguise set to wear. If I were to show up in a community of halfs looking like a human, things might not turn out so well. On the up side, I finally got the succubus tail that I wanted! However, Kat insisted that I keep the cat ears. My status now reads that I¡¯m a Succubus/Catkin half for anyone that might take a peek. She had also arbitrarily decided that my eyes needed to be more cat-like, but I wasn¡¯t told about that beforehand at all. I had woken up to a painful stinging sensation in my eyeballs because she had forcefully activated my body manipulation trait to stimulate my dragon blood in them. This has resulted in my eyes becoming slitted like a dragon which is close enough to look feline. As I get closer, I start to see some agriculture and paths. But there¡¯s no people around, not even a building can be seen. I suddenly sensed what is probably a fairykin flying at the edge of my senses, heading further in the direction I¡¯ve been traveling. Not wanting to lose them, I quickly gave chase. A couple hours later, she lands outside a strange structure that¡¯s built into the ground with guards outside. In the distance is an enormous lake that I can¡¯t see the ends of. The fairykin showed something to the guards and went inside. While staying somewhat vigilant, I put my weapons in my inventory and approach the guards. The guards are only stage three, not something I can¡¯t deal with should they attack. I¡¯m stopped at the entrance like I expected. That¡¯s when things get somewhat complicated. ¡°Klfsljf saldfj fdisoi jksdixl utrnnvco dakj.¡±~guard I can¡¯t understand their language at all! Next time that Kat owes me one, I need to ask her for a language cheat. It takes a few minutes of failure before he realizes that I can¡¯t understand him. Though, he does get that I want to go in since I keep pointing in that direction. Somewhat irritated, he finally pulls out a status orb and points to it. I get that he wants to see my status, so I comply. Whatever it is that makes status orbs work, causes it to translate for anyone who sees it. He seemed shocked at first by how powerful I am, but expressed some anger when his eyes reached my curses. Not angry in a hostile way towards me though. Putting the orb away, he makes an easily understood gesture for payment. Pretending to take it from my waist behind my back, I pulled a pouch of money out from my inventory, but was stopped before I could pull much out of it. Shaking his head, he showed a qi and mana stone in one hand and held up four fingers with the other. After handing over some crystals, he finally gestured for me to enter. The structure led into a long tunnel, slightly slanting downward. I¡¯d only traveled a short way before a voice sounded out in front of me. The fairykin that I had followed earlier had apparently been waiting for me inside. Taking a closer look, I noticed that her other half is of elven descent. Her mana energy is strong. Much stronger than mine, but not quite at stage five. Her looks are pretty nice, like a mature cold beauty and she gives off a stern elder sister vibe. She has her blue hair pulled back into a ponytail and her piercing blue eyes are looking at me coldly. When she said something to me, seemingly in the same language as earlier, I tried to convey my non-understanding with my expression. She seemed frustrated and took a minute to think before trying again. ¡°Can you understand elven?¡±~pretty elder sister Someone who can communicate with me! Translator GET! I rush to pull out my writing pad while hoping that she can read elven as well. My actions were a little too quick, which resulted in her building up some mana and readying a spell. She calmed down after a moment though and let me continue what I was doing. ¡°I can understand elven. That earlier language is new to me as I¡¯ve only just arrived here from the Magic Forest.¡±~me(note) ¡°Been a long time since I last visited there. But, back to my earlier question. Who are you and why are you following me? Also, why don¡¯t you speak instead of writing on that?¡±~pretty elder sister ¡°I¡¯m Lilia. I noticed you when I was wandering around lost and followed, hoping I would be led to a town or city.¡±~~me(note) As for the second question, I just pulled out a status orb and showed her my status. I wanted to earn a bit of trust from her for my next question. ¡°Mute, huh. Those are some nasty curses you got there. Well, the city is through this tunnel. You might have trouble though, even when you get there.¡±~pretty elder sister ¡°Will you help me learn the local language? Or introduce me to someone else who can? I¡¯m willing to pay.¡±~me(note) ¡°Such a troublesome thing. N...Y-you! AUGH! Fine, you win. I¡¯ll help you for a day, but I¡¯m not cheap and you need to learn quickly. I will be going on a long dungeon excursion the day after tomorrow. Oh, also, my name is Thessa.¡±~Thessa She started out trying to turn me down. I was initially giving her a hopeful gaze with my eyes glistening. Right before she could say no, I switched to a defeated look with dull eyes and flattened ears. Her resolve instantly crumbled. Yeah, I totally took advantage of my looks. Cuteness is an ultimate weapon afterall. ¡°In that case, would it be alright to pay with my body?¡±~me(note) *GULP* ¡°Wah! There¡¯s no need! Even if you don¡¯t have any money, I can at least do this much for free.¡±~Thessa She got red in the face and stormed off down the tunnel. Though, her wandering eyes managed to do a full body check before she finally caught herself. I had to hurry a bit to catch up. ¡°I was actually just referring to your dungeon excursion. I¡¯m a pretty good fighter and mage. Though, I don¡¯t want to use magic if I can help it now that I have that high energy body curse. I¡¯ve a crossbow and dagger that I¡¯m pretty good with and I can heal. I also still have a few qi and mana stones as well.¡±~me(note) ¡°I can consider it next time perhaps, but the prerequisite is that you learn the language first. Having a teammate along that can¡¯t understand the other members could be dangerous.¡±~Thessa ¡°I learn really fast. A day should be more than enough to learn the essentials. As for other things, I¡¯d be more than happy to spend some time with someone as pretty as you, even without the language help. I can probably show you a number of new and exciting things that the elves have created since the last time that you were there.¡±~me(note) ¡°W-we¡¯ll see about that. As long as you can learn the words for most of thephrases used when in combat, I¡¯ll take you along.¡±~Thessa Aww! I can see the imaginary steam coming out of her bright red ears. Best of all, she only avoided the topic and didn''t actually say no. Fufu, this one is going to be fun! We continued down the tunnel for about half an hour before seeing the other end. I started writing out everyday phrases for her to translate for me. She would write the corresponding equivalent as well as speak it out loud for me to hear. Common is the simple name that has been given to their language. The human kingdoms used english, a language that some of the first heroes had introduced. Though, they arrogantly just call it the human language. Common actually turned out to be a mishmash of human, elven and some unique beastkin phrases. I just needed to learn which ones to use. The grammar used was a mix of human and elven writing, just that the characters used each represent only one sound. There was none of that human nonsense of using one letter to have two different sounds depending on the letters next to it. They also didn¡¯t include the elven language¡¯s seemingly useless fluff. I had a good deal of the language down by the time we saw the end tunnel, which left Thessa shocked. It would be enough to get by, but I was still going to impose on her for the night and tomorrow she would be trying to teach me most of the area¡¯s unique words and dialect. There was a blue light illuminating the tunnel¡¯s exit. As we stepped through, I couldn¡¯t help but gape in awe at what I was seeing. ¡°Hehehe. Surprised? A fairykin hero named Evangeline, from long ago, set up the barrier. Before that, dragons would regularly destroy anything that was built on the land. Welcome, to the lakebed city of Bellusmare. I¡¯ve been told that in an old language of the one who founded the city, its name means pretty water.¡±~Thessa It¡¯s beautiful! The barrier uses the water element to form a dense layer which holds off the pressure, it¡¯s interlaced with the air element that cycles in or out the air and it has an inner coating of the light element that distributes the light evenly inside. I can still see through the barrier, but the light coming in is somehow filtered and regulated so that it doesn¡¯t flicker due to the waves on the surface. The city is also lovely, if a bit primitive compared to the elven cities. But the barrier is a genius work of art! I immediately hounded Thessa with questions about the barrier. I got excited for nothing! Apparently, the barrier has been extensively studied and has been concluded to be the work of the hero¡¯s unique blessing. It doesn¡¯t even seem to have an anchor where an enchantment should be placed. Thus, it¡¯s been classified as a mystery and they¡¯ve given up on explaining it. There¡¯s no way it should be possible with the enchantment ability of the current time, let alone hundreds of years ago. I should¡¯ve known! Such a cool city! I want one, but not the same as others have built. Since an underwater city already exists, I¡¯ll have to build the other type of fantasy city. Fufufu...city in the sky, meet your maker! Just as soon as I can figure out the necessary enchantments. I hope the elves can finish that project before I can get the chance to visit them again in the future. Chapter 59: Rental agreement Chapter 59: Rental agreement Since I had done so well with my language studies, Thessa agreed that I could stay with her for a while. In exchange, I would use my body and skills to repay her. She said those exact words. It was a joke brought on by my constant teasing...I think? Thessa took me to her home which turned out to be a fairly large two-story shop called: The silk Boutique. The living quarters are upstairs while the downstairs has the shop, storage and workspaces. She lives with her niece, Scarlet, who runs the shop. In fact, it was Scarlet¡¯s idea to open the shop because of a race specific trait she has called thread manipulation which lets her easily make cloth from most materials. [Thread Manipulation] Gives the ability to transfer qi into threads of any kind to strengthen them temporarily and can use mana to manipulate them freely. Her niece is a fairykin and arachne halfbreed. Thessa had to raise her because arachne have the disgusting habit of eating their mates and will abandon their young. Thessa¡¯s brother had gone out to hunt one day when they were young and never came back. His remains were only found by the search party some time later in the nest with a clutch of eggs. Scarlet¡¯s egg was different from the rest, so it was brought back to be investigated. Some time later, she hatched and bore more resemblance to a fairykin so her aunt adopted her. It¡¯s important to know that most of the time, an arachne¡¯s blood is so dominant that it will overpower any other that might be present. Half breeds are usually impossible. ¡°Welcome to...Welcome home aunt. How was your trip? Who¡¯s that with you?¡±~Scarlet I¡¯m pretty sure she was about to say ¡°Welcome to The Silk Boutique¡± before she changed it to greet her aunt. This must be Scarlet. Long white hair that is done up into an impossibly intricate weave of braids. The work of her trait, I¡¯d guess. Which is pretty awesome! She¡¯s red eyes like her namesake, fair unblemished skin, small face, big eyes, dainty nose, luscious pink lips and a short height. Only a few inches taller than me if we took our shoes off. My ¡®spidey sense¡¯ is tingling. Her shining eyes practically locked onto my ears the moment she first saw me. ¡°No good. The party I was requested to search for was already dead by the time I arrived. Some goblins got them. She, on the other hand, was lost and followed me home. Is it okay with you, Leti, if she stays here?¡±~Thessa ¡°That¡¯s too bad. I don¡¯t mind if¡­¡±~Scarlet ¡°Lilia.¡±~Thessa ¡°...if Lilia stays. How long will she be staying?¡±~Scarlet ¡°She¡¯ll leave with me for my dungeon dive, so two nights, for now anyways. Oh yeah, she¡¯s got a mute curse in her status, but is able to write just fine to communicate. Just something you should know.¡±~Thessa ¡°How terrible! Mind watching the shop while I show her around and then I¡¯ll make lunch?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Sure. I could use a break from all the running around.¡±~Thessa ¡°Haha. Very funny. This is one of the best clothing stores in the city. We just don¡¯t get much business around lunchtime and you know it.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Scarlet, I can help to make lunch if you like?¡±~me(note) She started out by showing me around her shop. It¡¯s a womens¡¯ boutique that mostly sells intimate apparel and some simple dresses. Next, her workshop was filled with different colors of silk, some dye baths and a workbench. The silk she uses is produced by herself from glands in her mouth. I¡¯m then shown around out back where they have a small garden and lastly the upstairs residence. ¡°Waaah! Where did that adorable apron come from!?¡±~Scarlet We had just entered the kitchen to start lunch and my attire changed. Now that I think about it, I think my maid clothes had appeared when I had first entered the shop. Somehow, Thessa didn¡¯t seem too bothered about it earlier and only slightly frowned when she had looked at me with my changed attire. ¡°One of my curses is a hidden curse which, among other things, changes my attire to change to specific sets that match my situation.¡±~me(note) ¡°One of your curses? Ah, right. You also have the mute curse. Though, you must be pretty strong if you¡¯re going with my aunt to explore the dungeon.¡±~Scarlet I went ahead and showed her my status with a status orb. Her eyes stopped and glowed brightly for a moment when she was scanning through it. ¡°Um, I know that beastkin don¡¯t usually let anyone except family do so, but can I touch them? Please?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I had already agreed with your aunt to pay for my stay with my body. It would seem that I¡¯ll need to follow through with it after all. Please be gentle with me.¡±~me(note) She didn¡¯t pay any mind to my flirting and just started to mofu. I continued with the cooking and we sat down to eat together. Their afternoon worker had arrived, so Thessa had come up to eat with us shortly after. She looked at me and frowned, but sat down, once again ignoring something that should obviously be questioned. ¡°The food is really good today! Much better than the normal messy slop you usually make. And what exactly may I ask is Lilia wearing?¡±~Thessa Oh! She finally couldn¡¯t hold back from asking anymore. ¡°Is that what you think of my cooking?! A messy slop? I feel so hurt. Lilia told me that she has a hidden curse and as a part of it, that her attire will change depending on what the situation is.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Why would you feel hurt even though I said that you improved? And why didn¡¯t you tell me about your hidden curse earlier? Seems like something I should know before we go dungeon diving together.¡±~Thessa ¡°That particular curse is currently in a mostly inactive state. It would not affect my combat ability even if it were active. Oh, and thanks for the compliment about lunch. I cooked lunch because Scarlet¡¯s hands were otherwise¡­occupied.¡±~me(note) ¡°...¡±~Thessa ¡°HMPH!¡±~Scarlet ¡°Sorry Leti! I was just trying to exaggerate the difference between today¡¯s lunch and before. Your usual cooking isn¡¯t at all bad. The poor way that I said it just made it seem like that.¡±~Thessa After much flattery and some bribery later, Thessa finally managed to restore her reputation. Scarlet will apparently now be joining us for the dungeon dive and will be given ¡®the item with the special effects¡¯ that Thessa had kept from one of her previous dives. I spent the rest of lunch learning about my companions¡¯ status and combat method. Thessa is peak stage four in mind just like I had thought and specializes in ice magics. She also has a mid stage three body and a low stage two spirit. Her prefered method of attack is ice spear and she uses a bow for backup. Other than the usual skills everyone picks up, she has the inventory and hawkeye skills. Scarlet is high stage three body, low stage three in mind and mid stage one in spirit. Her combat method is to use her threads for control and deliver fatal blows with daggers after they¡¯re tied up. She only has the extra skill, dark sight. Neither one had any idea that higher spirit can increase cultivation speed. They just raised it out of boredom when other crystals were low because spirit crystals are considered cheap goods here. Most people here would completely disregard spirit cultivation. It shocked them to learn of its usefulness. I spent the rest of the day with Thessa learning things or helping out Scarlet with her shop. Before bedtime, I contacted Flora early for an update and was told that things are pretty much the same. We all took a bath together before bed. They loved the soaps and hair products that I brought out. I got to closely examine the both of them, but had to forego any horseplay because of the old wooden bathing tub they had. The thing was just itching to give us splinters, I just know it. My sleeping arrangement had evidently already been determined because Scarlet dragged me off to her room saying that I would be sleeping with her tonight and Thessa didn¡¯t try to stop her. Her room was a dresser, a wardrobe, a vanity set, a nightstand and a four-poster bed with a canopy. There¡¯s a box on the nightstand that I saw Thessa reluctantly give to her earlier, but neither of them ever said what is in it. ¡°Time to pay your rent!¡±~Scarlet Oh, so she did hear my flirting earlier. In a striptease fashion, I promptly removed the nighty and underwear that had materialized earlier. Then I joined her in bed. We took turns at first, finding each other¡¯s weak points while stimulating our lust. My tail is awesome. It feels just like I have a second tongue when I use it to explore. I stopped myself from using any of my love serum secretions though. In my honest opinion, I don¡¯t think that our first time together should be influenced by such things. Even so, I still managed to coax her to orgasm many times with it. She eventually became satisfied with her discoveries and moved on by pulling a toy from the drawer of the nightstand. When I saw the strap-on toy, I couldn¡¯t help but think that these things have been around for a lot longer in this world than I had thought or Kat had set up some sort of special information channel for such things. I¡¯m leaning more towards the latter. During my pondering, Scarlet sneakily used her thread manipulation to secure my wrists and ankles with some tassel ropes that were on the bedposts. She even had the nerve to ask me if I was okay with such play, after the fact! I just rolled my eyes at her and grinned, but I really do admire the fact that she has the sensitivity to ask about such things. Even though it¡¯s been a while since experiencing what it¡¯s like without my tattoo, I still had plenty of fun. She managed to bring me to climax multiple times before her stamina finally ran out. While my mind was still somewhat fogged up with bliss, she did something I completely didn¡¯t expect. Chapter 60: Lily got captured Chapter 60: Lily got captured *CLICK* Okay, calm down. Even if it has successfully locked, my curse will either force it off or destroy it. It¡¯s just taking a bit for that effect to kick in. And why the heck did it lock in the first place?! Sure, I was considering the girl as a possible mistress. But one night together and I¡¯m ready to be owned by her? Am I really that easy of a girl?! ¡°Hehe. Now you''re all mine!¡±~Scarlet As you may have guessed, Scarlet has secured a [Succubus¡¯s Collar of Submission] on me. And it didn¡¯t pop off or disintegrate. After I got over my shock, I checked the status log via my status manager blessing. The collar and curse created an error due to conflicting owner data and the lower priority owner data was overwritten by the higher priority one. Because Kat was only my temporary mistress in the first place, the collar had the higher priority! My curse now lists Scarlet as my mistress. Then, although it still looks basically the same, the collar merged into my attire and it mutated a bit to match me better. [Collar of Lilia¡¯s Submission] {temporarily removable by placer} Effect: pet, dual cultivation, self-cleaning The name obviously changed to a more personalized version and it can now only be temporarily removable by Scarlet. Its dual cultivation effect stayed, but the other two were replaced. They were pretty redundant for me who is her servant by means of the curse and because I can use stamina buffs myself already. Self-cleaning is pretty standard on my items, but the pet effect is interesting. If Scarlet were to get the tamer skill, the skill would then recognise me as being tamed by her. It would allow all the tamer skills to be effective with me except actually taming me of course. ¡°I know my actions have probably surprised you, but we¡¯re both pretty exhausted right now and should get some sleep. We¡¯ll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow. So for now, I order you to go to sleep.¡±~Scarlet I really wanted to tell her that things are much more complicated than she thought, but my consciousness quickly faded in accordance with her order. ¡°What happened exactly? I had thought that things like that shouldn¡¯t possibly work?¡±~me I¡¯m currently having a chat with Kat. After my body was forced to sleep, she dragged me into her divine realm. ¡°You read the log, so don¡¯t you already know? As long as it isn¡¯t an irreconcilable conflict with your curse, it¡¯s possible for you to be claimed by someone without you recognizing them as your mistress first. Plus, that collar is especially compatible since I used your curse as a template for its creation. In fact, it¡¯s so compatible that any young lady eligible to become your mistress would have been able to place the collar on you. Regardless of your consent.¡±~Kat ¡°Great, one more thing to look out for in the future. Okay, that answered that question. Now, why was the collar merged with my attire? Am I going to end up absorbing every item I wear into my attire?¡±~me ¡°Both dungeon items and your attire are generated by the system and can therefore merge. Normal items won¡¯t merge, but your attire menu will record them, making them available to be generated as system items. Merged items can be unmerged via the attire menu. Not including permanent and some semi-permanent items of course. The collar will only unmerge when it¡¯s time to select your next mistress.¡±~Kat ¡°That¡¯s an interesting feature. So, what is with this city¡¯s barrier?¡±~me ¡°It¡¯s just like that founder story you heard. That particular hero had a blessing called spell channeling which let her maintain spells without any effort as long as she had the required mana. Except that after she died and the barrier was no longer maintained, I immediately and seamlessly linked the barrier¡¯s maintenance to the dungeon there. I couldn¡¯t let such a beautiful city just disappear.¡±~Kat ¡°I agree with that sentiment. Next question, the seemingly universal spread of certain items has something to do with you, right? Considering how new that adding the quake beads is, it should not have appeared in such an isolated community so soon.¡±~me ¡°Contrary to your mistaken belief, I¡¯m not responsible for all such incidents. In this case, it just so happens that one of their spies in the Magic Forest sent back a report recently which included information on such innovations. They even managed to acquire a set of your magescript spellbooks and rune compendiums.¡±~Kat ¡°Just this case, huh? Mind telling me why it is that no one here seems to have explored the fiftieth level or lower of the local dungeon? Also, why did you change my eyes without discussing it with me first?¡±~me ¡°Floor fifty is an under-water level. I¡¯ll see about specifically having water breathing items generated often in dungeons that have floors like that from now on. As for the eyes, it¡¯s because you look cuter this way, duh. Speaking of, you¡¯ve tasted succubus blood before, right? That means it¡¯s been recorded by your adaptive blood trait and can be stimulated with your body manipulation trait as well.¡±~Kat Crap! I managed to drop yet another ¡®rock¡¯ on my own foot. Really need to stop doing that! ¡°Wait, wait! Could you please at least let the body manipulation happen while I¡¯m sleeping this time?¡±~me ¡°Oh, sure. Sorry, I¡¯d forgotten last time that it¡¯s actually unpleasant for you to use that skill. Your own tail should be fully formed before you wake up.¡±~Kat When I woke up the next morning, a terrifying thought occurred to me. She never mentioned anything about intending to remove the disguise tail. With my eyes still closed, I verified through feeling that I thankfully only have one tail. ¡°Good morning, Lilia. I suppose you¡¯ll want me to explain myself now?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Good morning, Mistress. Perhaps. Though, I think I might be the one doing the explaining.¡±~me ¡°...¡± ¡°You can talk! No, was that telepathy? That¡¯s a super rare skill!¡±~Scarlet ¡°By putting the collar on me last night, it triggered my hidden curse to activate. It will make things much quicker if you just take a look at my true status. You should be able to see it now just by thinking that you want to see my status. I¡¯ll explain things as you go through it.¡±~me After about twenty minutes, I¡¯ve told her about all my skills, traits, blessings, curses and my history since reincarnating in this world. I was thorough and didn¡¯t leave anything out, including how my ex-mistress slash lover had ended up as my slave. After being convinced that I wouldn¡¯t turn her, except if it was the only way to prevent her death, she even agreed to let me feed on her every night to fill up my energies. I¡¯d be using a blood replenishment divine skill after each time of course, to prevent anemia or other adverse effects. Not that I drink much blood anyways. Mostly I just use blood as the medium to absorb qi and mana. I even make it a point to avoid the major vessels. Having figured things out between us, we finally got up from the bed. Watching her try and fail to put on her clothes for a bit was quite funny. Seems my curse¡¯s latest alteration is working. She keeps getting confused while trying. ¡°Lily, what exactly is going on? Why can¡¯t I seem to wear my clothes?¡±~Scarlet Oh, yeah. She easily changed to communicating with me via the link earlier and took a liking to my nickname as well. I also had her turn on all her senses sharing with me as well. ¡°Mistress, you have a servant now. It¡¯s my job to help you with such mundane things.¡±~me ¡°WHAT?! Does that mean I¡¯ll never be able to dress myself again?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Pretty much, unless you are in a situation where it would be detrimental for you not to.¡±~me ¡°Seriously! What other mundane things?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Normal chores, cooking, washing and bathing are the big ones that I know for sure. Other things, we can only wait to find out.¡±~me ¡°What do you mean by normal?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Things that are tedious daily activities that would be expected of a servant to do. Exceptions would be things like your tailoring work, cooking specifically to improve your ability or perhaps if you wanted to have some ¡®fun¡¯ while bathing.¡±~me ¡°Basically, this means that you will be pampering me like a spoiled rich girl or some noble young lady?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Well, my last mistress was a princess after all. Mistress, do you mind if I take a look at your status?¡±~me ¡°Sure, go ahead.¡±~Scarlet Name: Scarlet | Age: 28 | Sex: Female Race: {Fairykin(50%)}{Arachne(50%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 3(0%)}{Mind: 3(0%)}{Spirit: 1(0%)}{Divine: 0(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 7000/7000}{Mana: 3000/3000}{Spirit: 60/60}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: 7000(70%) | Vit: 5000(80%) | Agi: 9000(75%) | Int: 3000(85%) Soul Potential: 160 {passive} [Sense Mana 2], [Dark Sight 3], [Sense Danger 2], [Sense Presence 3] {active} [Mana Control 3], [Mana Shaping 2] [Glamour], [Thread Manipulation] [Shadow Kissed] [Destined to Serve(Servant: Lilia)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link} {none} The shadow kissed blessing is the only thing I didn¡¯t already have information on. It gives her the natural ability to acquire shadow and some dark related skills. She was able to naturally gain dark sight because of this. Also, when she¡¯s in shadows or darkness, all her related skills get enhanced. ¡°What should we tell my aunt?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Whatever you want to tell her. Even if you don¡¯t want to mention my curse, just that collar alone would be enough of an explanation for me to be doing chores and such.¡±~me ¡°She¡¯s going to freak out a bit about losing the collar. I was supposed to give it back if it didn¡¯t work or after using it to have a bit of fun for a while. It¡¯s worth a lot of crystals.¡±~Scarlet If she really wants it back, I can just give her one of mine... Chapter 61: Shopping and bonding Chapter 61: Shopping and bonding I eventually got Scarlet dressed for the day and we headed out of her room to join Thessa for breakfast. Yes, most of my time was used to feel her up and tease her a bit. While I took over cooking, Scarlet informed her aunt about my curse while we were eating. She had decided to tell the truth. ¡°That collar was valuable and it will be difficult to replace it. Whatever, I¡¯ll just slowly extract the loss from her body. I¡¯m going to take Lily with me around the shops to pick up stuff for our trip while you¡¯re tending your shop.¡±~Thessa ¡°I suppose you¡¯ll also want to borrow her for the night as well? Just remember to send her back to my bed to sleep before too late, otherwise the both of you won¡¯t be well rested for dungeon diving tomorrow.¡±~Scarlet ¡°You¡¯re okay with this?¡±~me ¡°Although she¡¯s my aunt, we¡¯ve always behaved more like sisters. Sisters who share just about everything with one another. I know that my aunt wouldn¡¯t bring home a girl she doesn¡¯t like and she was also pretty reluctant to give up that collar. Plus, I can feel that you¡¯re into her through the link.¡±~Scarlet While I¡¯m still somewhat gaping at Scarlet¡¯s nonchalant response, Thessa dragged me out after we had finished our meals. We picked up supplies enough for Scarlet and I. Thessa already had bought her supplies some time ago and has them stored in her inventory. She took me to some of her favorite food stalls along the way and did some window shopping in various clothing shops. This feels more like a date. We also stopped by some furniture shops to order a few things. I wanted to buy a massage table and a new bath for us to use. One that won¡¯t give us splinters if we want to play a round. My stock of qi and mana crystals got nearly used up. The biggest reason for it to cost so much is that I wanted them to coat the inside with a special material that I mixed up which I provided, so it doesn¡¯t have a name yet. It¡¯s composed of about half gold, a third firestone and the last bit is astral silver. Firestone is a type of mineral that passively emits heat when it absorbs mana and gold is a mana conductor that won¡¯t corrode. Astral silver constantly radiates a piercing energy effect on the body which will cause you to feel like mush after a while, but actually nourishes and strengthens the body. This combination of materials will result in an effect like a magic-made jacuzzi that has the feeling of water jets on the body and will require very little additional heating. Of course, this material will only be used as a coating and an obsidian block will be used for the base. Obsidian acts like a magic insulator and can even reflect weaker magic, which causes the astral silver to be even more effective. I know it will work because I¡¯ve already made a small bowl to test it while I was still experimenting at the elven capital. Wow, I just ranted a lot about my bath. But it¡¯s really important after all. Never get between a girl and her beauty needs! Ah, I just thought of a name for that material. I¡¯ll call it golden starfire alloy. Hehe, I¡¯m so clever. Let me step on you with my heels while you sing my praises! *Ahem-cough* I got a little carried away there. Please just pretend like you didn¡¯t hear me say that. ¡°That was quite shocking. Was it really necessary to spend so much on just a bath?¡±~Thessa ¡°It¡¯s totally worth it. You¡¯ll understand soon enough.¡±~me(note) ¡°Shall we go have lunch with Scarlet then? Afterwards, we can finish our shopping and visit the city library.¡±~Thessa ¡°Sounds good. Scarlet is currently trying to cook lunch herself and is getting frustrated.¡±~me(note) ¡°Oh, is that because of the thing that requires that she let you pamper her?¡±~Thessa ¡°Indeed. Let¡¯s hurry back before she ruins all of the ingredients in her failed attempts.¡±~me(note) We made it back in time to witness Scarlet pulling a very black something out of the oven. She herself was absolutely covered in various food items. The kitchen was a mess as well, so Thessa volunteered to clean it up while I took Scarlet up to the bath to get washed off. After I had stripped her of her clothes and warmed up the tub, she shut me out saying that she would do it herself. I think she¡¯s a little upset. ¡°Oh, really? Then let me know when you change your mind.¡±~me ¡°LILY, GET IN HERE!¡±~Scarlet Ah, that was fast. I swiftly joined her in the bath and with practiced hands, scrubbed her clean. After drying her, I rubbed lotion with an energizing effect on her body and added a mild perfume that has a calming scent. With her feeling much better now, we went downstairs to enjoy the lunch that Thessa had prepared. ¡°Your mood seems to have improved greatly.¡±~Thessa ¡°Mm. I¡¯m not used to it, but Lily is actually much better at taking care of me than I am. Overall, it¡¯s an improvement. It¡¯s just frustrating to not be able to do these things by myself anymore.¡±~Scarlet ¡°The lifestyle changes are sudden. You just need some time to adapt to them, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°Leti, this is mostly your own fault since Lily had no idea it would activate her curse. You¡¯ll just have to own up to it and take responsibility for her from now on.¡±~Thessa ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be you having to be responsible instead if you hadn¡¯t given me the collar?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Perhaps. No, probably. Definitely. But I would have more graciously accepted her. It¡¯s just too bad that I won¡¯t be able to get my collar back.¡±~Thessa She¡¯s still going on about that?! Graciously accept me, what a great way to phrase it. I feel like that kid who got lost in the woods and was tempted into entering a house made of sugar. All just to find out that the resident who invited me in, just wanted to ¡®eat¡¯ me! Fufuh, we¡¯ll see just who will be eating who tonight my dearie. Kyahahahahahaaa...AHEM, just forget that last part! I found a good book in the library after lunch. It listed out the features of the different types of dragons and even had a map of the area that documented which ones lived where. There¡¯s an aerie of crystal dragons in a mountain on the east side. I¡¯ve set my target to them, but I¡¯ll need to reach stage five to have a chance of taming one or even escaping. Dragons apparently are born at stage four, are considered young adults at stage five and are fully grown at stage six. It would be a guaranteed failure if there¡¯s a stage seven elder dragon around, but no one has ever seen one outside the Central Mountains much farther east. The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. I made dinner and got Scarlet ready for bed. She allowed me to feed from her and then ended up falling asleep as I gave her a relaxing full body massage to ebb out some of the stress from today. Then I made my way into Thessa¡¯s room. ¡°I¡¯m going to have you begging under my fingers for me to take you and make you mine. Shall we start with a massage?¡±~me(note) ¡°Writing that just doesn¡¯t have the same effect as it would when said out loud. I guess that I should hope that you are successful then. Let me see exactly what I¡¯ve bought with such an expensive item.¡±~Thessa I have the perfect oil already picked out. It causes a cooling effect on the skin, but contains a blood circulation enhancer and plenty of aphrodisiacs. This oil basically leaves a person aching for the heat of another¡¯s touch. Her skin starts getting goosebumps as I rub it in, beginning a deep tissue massage. I start with the arms and legs. Then I move to her back, saving the best for last. By the time I flip her over, she¡¯s already breathing heavily with occasional moans. Her attempts to hurry me along are rendered useless thanks to her now feeble limbs. I take my time with her front side, memorizing each and every one of her sensitive spots and driving her to beg for it. Only then do I finally take out a double-ended strap-on to finish her off. Many times. This was the first time I got to experience the dual cultivation effect. Our energies would flow between us from wherever we had contact and enhance our pleasure. It works really great! In that short time, I got about two days worth of cultivation that was equally spread out between the three main categories. It used up twice the energy that would normally be spent over two days, but no crystals were necessary. And it was way more fun! Thessa even broke through in mind to stage five, but was too preoccupied at the time to notice. I decided to have a midnight snack to replenish my energies. She probably won¡¯t mind and should be back to full by the time she wakes anyways. Before returning to Scarlet''s bed to sleep, I made sure to give her a couple buffs from my divine skills so that she can more easily recover from my massage and the blood loss. I also left behind a couple gifts for her. Hehehe, I can¡¯t wait for tomorrow to come... Chapter 62: The morning after Chapter 62: The morning after ¡°LILY!¡±~Thessa ¡°Oh, it seems that your aunt finally woke up, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°What did you do?¡±~Scarlet *THUMP THUMP THUMP* ¡°You¡¯ll see¡­¡±~me I was busy cooking breakfast in the kitchen with Scarlet sitting off to the side still wearing her pajamas when Thessa had shouted. She then ran into the room still naked looking somewhat exasperated. Well, mostly naked. ¡°Lily what is this?¡±~Thessa ¡°A very pretty collar.¡±~me(note) ¡°Yes, I know that much. What is it doing on my neck?!¡±~Thessa ¡°You were so heartbroken about the loss of your collar, droning on and on about it, that I decided to gift one to you. I was trying to find the best place to leave it so that you would definitely find it this morning and decided that the most obvious place would be if you were to wake up wearing it.¡±~me(note) ¡°PFFT, HAHAHAHAHA. It looks good on you aunt! She has a point. Your constant whining about the collar was starting to get tiresome. HAHAHAHAHA...¡±~Scarlet Scarlet doubled over on the floor while laughing. Thessa got red in the face and disappeared back into her room. She only came back out, now also wearing a robe and slippers, when Scarlet called her for breakfast. ¡°Lily, you¡¯ve had your fun. Can you take this off me now?¡±~Thessa ¡°Not gonna. I might consider it, but only after you¡¯ve worn it for a while. Also, have you not realized how beneficial it is for your cultivation? Congratulations on reaching stage five, by the way.¡±~me(note) ¡°Wah! I really reached stage five last night and didn¡¯t even notice!¡±~Thessa ¡°Congratulations aunt.¡±~Scarlet ¡°I suppose I should thank you for last night then? Thank you, Lilia. So what¡¯s next, my adorable little sweetie?¡±~Thessa ¡°You dare to mock me?! Just good timing. I¡¯ve had two things on my mind that I wanted to test out. First, let¡¯s see if this works. From now on, you shall address me as Meowstress. That¡¯s an order.¡±~me(note) ¡°I.AM.NOT! Calling Meowstress tha¡­¡±~Thessa Based on the fact that she covered her mouth so quickly, written orders do indeed register with the collar¡¯s servitude effect. She definitely meant to say ¡®you¡¯ instead. Scarlet is also once again doubled over and rolling on the floor in another fit of laughter. Thessa is glaring at me. ¡°You can disregard that last order. I just wanted to see if writing orders even worked.¡±~me(note) ¡°L-Lily, you said that there were two things. What¡¯s the other one?¡±~Thessa Ahh, such a cute response. And that was weirdly satisfying to hear too. Maybe I should order her to use that address when it¡¯s just the two of us? ¡°I noticed last night that our cultivation speed was about double when dual cultivating and it didn¡¯t use up any crystals. If we both have collars, I want to figure out if that would become four times or not. We¡¯ll experiment tomorrow night.¡±~me(note) ¡°Double and without crystals?! No wonder this thing is worth so much. We should wait until we get back to test the four times thing. It would be dangerous to do such things in a dungeon.¡±~Thessa ¡°No worries. As a priestess, I can put up wards to keep the monsters away. They will be completely effective until we reach the fortieth floor. Then, it will be necessary to keep watch in addition to the wards. My wards aren¡¯t strong enough to completely block all stage four monsters.¡±~me(note) With things settled and breakfast eaten, we went back to the rooms to get our gear on. Scarlet¡¯s armor is HOT! Her pauldrons, grieves, bodice, skirt and boots are all made of black wyvern hide. The boots are especially AWESOME! They¡¯re crotch-high platform heels, but the platform is made up of spikes and the wedge heel narrows as it goes further back becoming blade-like. She can literally cleave a skull in two with a drop kick. They are enchanted to give her the weight reduction effect in order for her to more easily stay balanced. The top of the boots are secured with strong garter straps that hang from the bodice. Underneath all that she wears a red ultra-thin bodysuit made with her own webbing that¡¯s been specially treated. It was merely a large ball of string before she used her thread manipulator trait to equip it. She can infuse qi into it to strengthen it to the point that most blades can¡¯t penetrate, but the impact still hurts. If she expects the blow, she can concentrate energy in that area and harden it temporarily. The primary ingredient of the solution used to strengthen the webbing, powdered garnet, gives it the red color and the crystalline structure of garnet improves the durability and energy capacity. Compared to her niece, Thessa¡¯s equipment isn¡¯t all that impressive. It has the appearance of what a traditional back line female adventurer¡¯s leather gear would look like. The main color is a blue that matches her hair with dark blue features. You might be thinking that their wings should get in the way, but that¡¯s not at all true. Fairykin wings become intangible when glamoured, not just illusioned. Most will glamour their wings or at least the base area of the wings, so that they can easily wear normal clothes without special tailoring. My gear appeared as we were leaving and Thessa decided to wear a scarf at nearly the same time. ¡°Order: You are not allowed to hide it. Also, you can¡¯t avoid or refuse to read my notes when I present them to you.¡±~me(note) Why should I be the only one? That last bit was an afterthought, but I can see it possibly becoming a necessity. Thessa begrudgingly took the scarf off and stowed it in her inventory. Plenty of eyes were attracted to our collars causing her cheeks to flush. We will be picking up a fourth person along the way who Thessa had originally planned to go with. A dwarf named Azalea or Az for short. She lives and works as an armorer near the dungeon¡¯s entrance at the center of the city. When we got close, I could see a girl who¡¯s shorter than me waving to us. She has red hair that¡¯s tied back in twintails and is wearing a full plate mail armor suit. A full-sized shield and large flail mace are sitting beside her. Super strong loli. Check! Got one right here! She is however, not an airport-grade loli. Kat once told me very proudly that she had ensured that no female in her world would ever be lacking for such assets. Oddly enough, the conversation had started with me asking about how the statues in her image that I¡¯ve seen all seem to have been exaggerated in certain areas. ¡°How¡¯s this kid supposed to tank for us and not get thrown around? Can she even keep up with all that weight on her?¡±~me ¡°First, don¡¯t ever let her hear you call her ¡®kid¡¯. She¡¯s older than both of us combined and hates it when people say that to her.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Uh, kind of mute here.¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t write it then! Secondly, she uses lightweight enchants on all her gear. She uses a qi technique to stiffen herself when attacked and has some sort of enchantment on the bottom of her heels that fixes her in place. That particular enchantment was made using a material that stores nearly zero mana, which means it deactivates as soon as she stops feeding mana into it.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Okay, that¡¯s pretty impressive.¡±~me ¡°Isn¡¯t it! She made the armor that Thessa and I are wearing and even helped me formulate the solution that strengthens the threads.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Hey, Az. Ready to go?¡±~Thessa ¡°Yeah, but what are you wearing?¡±~Az ¡°The armor that you made for me, of course.¡±~Thessa ¡°And?¡±~Az ¡°...¡± Scarlet quickly regaled her with the tale of how she brought home little ol¡¯ me intending to capture, but was beaten to it by her niece. Then, in an ironic twist, she was captured instead in the end. Az took it all in and then just glanced between us for a minute. Then she broke down laughing. Thessa¡¯s complexion became bright red and there were lots of stares even after she decided to cast a noise isolation spell. Thessa stored the additional gear and we headed for the dungeon once again when Az finally caught her breath. Scarlet continued her story along the way, filling Az in as to the details of what had happened first thing this morning. We had to stop for Az to catch her breath once more when she heard about my meowstress order. ¡°With your aversion to attention, I would think that you¡¯d be hiding it.¡±~Az ¡°I want to, but was ordered not to.¡±~Thessa ¡°I¡¯ll feel lonely if it¡¯s just me.¡±~me(note) ¡°Maybe I should make some that look the same. That way we can all match?¡±~Az ¡°Please don¡¯t. Although you may see it as a fun game. The city guard will think of it as counterfeiting.¡±~Thessa ¡°Lily, what are you suddenly thinking that has you emitting such a mischievous feeling?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Just that getting a collar for Az to wear could definitely be arranged.¡±~me ¡°You have another one, don¡¯t you? If you do, give it to my aunt to use on Az. The one you¡¯re wearing was supposed to be worn by her in the first place.¡±~Scarlet ¡°We¡¯ll see¡­¡±~me Chapter 63: An outrageous dungeon dive Chapter 63: An outrageous dungeon dive The first twenty-nine dungeon floors were easy to pass. None of the monsters could bring us a challenge at all. Thessa would lazily send out ice attacks to kill some, Az was just casually swinging her mace. Scarlet would use her threads to control the monsters and cut their throats with her daggers. Every corpse ended up going into Thessa¡¯s inventory which had ample space at level six. Az has the appraisal skill which she used to identify the various items we found along the way. Each night we would get a good night¡¯s rest within my wards and managed to clear three floors per day. I would set up a tent and the sound isolation tool that Sofy and I had commonly used at night so we could have some semblance of privacy. After the first couple nights, the other two were finally confident in my wards to set up their own tent. One tent for the both of them and they didn¡¯t have the luxury of using a tool like ours. Looking at the two of them, you would think that Az would end up getting bullied, but Thessa was the one crying out the most at night, probably due to Az¡¯s ridiculous strength. Somewhere in the mid thirties of floors, my soul points finally reached two hundred and I got rid of another curse. [Curse removed: Glass Cannon] We had made it all the way to the end of the thirty-ninth floor by the thirteen day. It was only when we got to the thirtieth floor that Scarlet started getting serious. She fights like she¡¯s in a game of pinball and she¡¯s the ball. Her lightweight enchantment gives her some ridiculous airtime and she uses her various kicks to strike the monsters and propel herself towards the next, barely even using her daggers anymore. To hinder their movement and guide herself to them, she would shoot out her threads and wrap them around their limbs. Az would block the more robust monsters with her shield. Her only shortfall would probably be that she is just too small to really intimidate anything or be able to stop multiple monsters at the same time. Then there¡¯s my issue. Monster bait¡¯s effect is probably enhanced due to the closed environment of the dungeon. Not only did we have to clean up several dozen monsters each morning around our camping site, but monsters would also prioritize attacking me. Thessa and I offered our support from the rear with her casting various spells and me using my crossbow. I only had to start getting serious when we had reached the fortieth floor. At which point, I switched positions with Scarlet. She started to support in a control capacity and I would dance among the monsters to deliver killing strikes with my daggers. Scarlet had equipped me with a second dagger when I asked. The new dagger came with some nice effects which enhanced my combat capability and reduced my energy concerns. [Dagger of Seizing] {restricted user: Lilia} Effects: energy heist, interrupt Interrupt will cause skills or abilities to fail if the target is hit precisely when it is about to unleash it and energy heist robs a little energy for me from the monsters I strike with it. The energy taken is insignificant however unless interrupt activates at the same time. Energy from the dispersed skill or spell would be absorbed at those times which is enough for one or two uses of my own skills. The dagger¡¯s demerits are that it deals a pitiful amount of damage and I have to be close to the monsters when they are about to use big attacks. Fortunately, I can use dragon¡¯s perception to accurately determine the right timing after seeing a skill or ability used once. Getting from the beginning of floor forty through floor forty-nine took us an average time of one floor per day. My divine skills started to get utilized during combat with buffs for everyone and occasional heals. We would have to wake up periodically throughout the night in order to clear out the monsters around our camp. If we let them gather up for an entire night, they might become too large of a group by morning for us to handle or they might even overwhelm my wards. We finally reached the entrance to the fiftieth floor about halfway through the day and stopped for a quick break and to discuss. ¡°Perhaps we should just head back now. No one has made it past the fiftieth for good reason. The entire floor is filled with water and water type monsters. There are some occasional small bits of land scattered throughout, but monsters easily surrounded and nearly killed any who have previously tried to get through by using them. And it¡¯s almost certain that the entrance for the fifty-first floor will be at the bottom.¡±~Thessa ¡°I agree, we may have picked up a few water breathing potions, but they have limited time of use and Thessa is the only one truly at the right stage to be challenging the floor.¡±~Az ¡°Please, let¡¯s at least just go to the entrance and see if we can kill one stage five monster. I really, REALLY need it¡¯s core.¡±~me(note) ¡°Why so?¡±~Az ¡°I¡¯d rather not say.¡±~me(note) ¡°It¡¯s because she got into some trouble with trolls. They forced her to drink some sort of slurry that contained lots of crushed monster cores and ended up having to swallow a¡­¡±~Thessa ¡°Order: you¡¯re not allowed to talk about that.¡±~me(note) I had just shut Thessa up, but Scarlet took over the story and completely divulged my disgraceful secret to Az. Az of course, unceremoniously broke down into a fit of hysterical laughter. ¡°Mistress, aren¡¯t you supposed to be on my side here?¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m sure Az won¡¯t tell anyone else and you also realize that it¡¯s a funny story. Sure, it starts out tragic, but you managed to get through it, bringing about some hilarious results. I mean, you even decided that the slime was definitely female and named it Tish. We both know that name has only one letter of difference from the word tush.¡±~Scarlet ¡°It¡¯s just a fitting name considering the circumstances.¡±~me ¡°Uh-huh.¡±~Scarlet When Az finished laughing, we made our way down to the fiftieth floor. A freshwater lake appeared before us. Water as far as I could see with little bits of land just like we were told, no bigger than a few meters in diameter. It¡¯s actually really pretty in the depths of the water. There are various colored aquatic monsters, fluorescent vegetation and glowing freshwater corals. I had pushed my perception skills to the max in order to search the area for a stage five monster. It¡¯s important to note that while there can not be higher stage monsters on a lower stage floor, the opposite is not true. There¡¯s perhaps a few hundred stage four and below monsters within my perception and only one stage five. ¡°I can detect one stage five monster within my perception range. It¡¯s a large reptile creature about ten meters in length, big teeth, stubby legs and its hide is probably just as tough as the wyvern armor you''re wearing. Can we kill it?¡±~me(note) ¡°We can try, but be ready to immediately retreat if I¡¯m unable to hold it back. Lily, you need to interrupt it every time. I don¡¯t want to be killed by its strong attacks. If we accidentally attract the various other monsters, Scarlet and Thessa will need to finish them off quickly before joining us.¡±~Az ¡°Sounds good. Scarlet will speak for me when I sense it gathering energy. Through her, I will let you know if it¡¯s something I can definitely interrupt or if you need to dodge. I¡¯m going to need one of those water breathing potions.¡±~me(note) ¡°Just have far out is it?¡±~Thessa ¡°Just short of two hundred meters, near the very edge of my perception skills. I¡¯ll use shadowmeld to approach it and lead it back by attacking it with my crossbow on the return trip. If I happen to attract too many of the various other monsters on the way there, I¡¯ll lead those back first so we can clear them out and try again.¡±~me(note) This ended up being a horrible experience. First off, the water breathing potion just creates a layer in your lungs that allows you to perform gas exchange with the water. You still end up feeling like you¡¯re drowning yourself. Second, shadowmeld feels weird in the water. The moment I initiate the skill, water rushes into the place my body dissipates at and it feels as though the cold water had actually just penetrated into my body. It took me six trips of leading the numerous monsters that noticed me back to be slaughtered before I finally reached the target. The good point is that most of them couldn¡¯t leave the water. I pissed the target off with my attack and it was fast. As it woke up to chase me, I noticed a small chest in the dirt where it had been laying. I led it away a distance, then rushed back quickly to grab the chest. The monster roared in fury at that moment. Only then did I notice the eggs poking out of the dirt. Keeping its attention was not an issue anymore. ¡°Mistress, this thing is pissed!¡±~me ¡°We heard it from here. What did you do?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I may have disturbed its nest. That happened to be full of eggs!¡±~me ¡°Yikes! Why would you do something so stupid?!¡±~Scarlet ¡°I didn¡¯t notice them. And there was a treasure chest there! I¡¯m just about there and coming in fast!¡±~me ¡°That was quick!¡±~Scarlet I jumped out of the water and ran toward the rear, just in time for its massive jaws to breach the surface and slam shut behind me. Az couldn¡¯t tank it head on, the thing just tried to swallow her whole. She ended up having to focus her attacks on its flank while constantly moving around to keep away from its teeth and tail. Thessa was trying her best, but it seemed to be resistant to her ice magic and she was barely wounding it with earth spikes that she wasn¡¯t skilled with. Scarlet¡¯s threads couldn¡¯t impede it at all. They would just snap when she tried. She ended up being almost completely useless during this fight. I managed to consistently interrupt it and even jab out its eyes. It thrashed around a bit when I did that and Az was sent flying away. Scarlet managed to safely bring her back by using her threads in a timely manner. The fact that monsters don¡¯t try to run away when injured is a sort of good news. The bad news however was that now that its sight was gone, it was using its nose and apparently I smelled the most delicious of our group. I ended up playing keep away with its very large and very sharp teeth. Finally, after about two hours, the thing finally died from blood loss. We hauled our tired butts back up to the forty-ninth floor and set up camp. As Scarlet was rested, she took the first watch while the rest of us passed out. I am not doing something as insane as that again. At least not any time too soon! Chapter 64: Afterparty, a boozed-up snafu Chapter 64: Afterparty, a boozed-up snafu When I finally woke up, I replenished my energy somewhat by feeding on Scarlet and then she took her turn to sleep. We unanimously agreed that we were NOT going back to the fiftieth floor. At least not until all of us were at stage five. ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to make use of the monster core we worked so hard to get.¡±~Scarlet ¡°I¡¯ll wait until we get home. I figure that letting her out in a safer environment is the least I can do for her since she did help to save my life before.¡±~me Once everyone was rested, we started our long journey back up. We took our time and thoroughly cleared out the treasures in all of the forties¡¯ floors. Mostly it was just me using shadowmeld to quickly grab whatever my perception detected and fleeing. Otherwise it would have taken a lot more time than it did. Even so, we spent nearly twice as much time going back up those ten floors as it had taken us to go down. We spent the last thirteen days just like the first, casually strolling through the floors and holding each other at night. It seems a bit late to mention it now, but we did run into a few idiots who will never see the sky again, both on the way down and going back up. Thankfully, these types typically don¡¯t manage to live long enough to be able to bother us in the lower floors. Along the way out, I managed to get my second night with Thessa in order to check my theory. I found that it does in fact increase the rate of cultivation. However, the amount cultivated didn¡¯t really increase verses just using one collar. After nearly two months of dungeon life, we finally reemerged. On the way out, my spirit cultivation finally broke through to stage four. Scarlet also broke through to stage two in spirit cultivation and we both managed to level up a number of skills. It was already pretty late when we emerged. We gathered in the upstairs residence of Az¡¯s shop to hash out the details for the division of loot. From that small chest that I took, there were three items. The third item was a rare material that emitted water element energy, probably the reason why the monster made a nest next to the chest in the first place. [Bloody Chalice] Effect: collection, refinement [Waterproof Stud] {restricted equip location: tongue} Effect: water breathing, fluid speech I claimed the chalice. Its purpose, based on where we found it, would normally be to keep the water clear of blood so as to not attract monsters. But as a vampire, I would have an additional use for it. By inserting mana, it will draw any unrestrained blood in the area into it and inserting qi will refine the blood by condensing it into a smaller quantity, but of higher quality. Thessa wanted the stud just because the blue gem on it matched her hair. By adding a little mana, it would give effects for water breathing and make your speaking underwater just as understandable as speaking in the open air. Other special goods we managed to collect included skill crystals for synergy, second sight, assess and tamer. The other various equipment items were either allocated for each of their use or put in a pile to be sold. Az didn¡¯t take any skill crystals or special goods in exchange for a larger portion of the crafting materials, qi crystals and mana crystals. I took synergy as it would help to alleviate my energy issues somewhat and I had already managed to get assess from one of those idiots who bothered us along the way out. Scarlet took second sight to assist with her fighting style which is extremely demanding on her spatial awareness. She also took assess due to its usefulness with her being a shop owner. Thessa took tamer which is especially helpful for a dedicated support mage. She just needs to get a sturdy familiar now that can guard her in the future. Thessa managed to snag two nice items as well. She got the only collar we found and a particularly useful piece of water gear. [Deep Diver¡¯s Raiment] {no effect when covered} Effect: ultra-glide, flowing evasion It¡¯s actually a blue, deep plunging styled thong swimsuit with side cutouts, a laced up corset look on the back and a small bow between the breasts to keep the front from pulling apart too much. Though it loses its effects if you wear your armor over it, the effects when worn by itself in the water make up for the lack of armor. The first one gives the ability to move through the water at a speed comparable to an aquatic creature with the same body cultivation as you. What the second one does for you is that the pressure made by fast moving creatures will cause you to be gently pushed out of their path when they approach you. Az would get most of the scales, hides and metals from what we gathered for her armor crafting needs. Fur and some of the softest leather would go to Scarlet for making clothing. Most of the rest of the materials were split between us. The crystals earned from selling the rest would be distributed in a way to even things out. Overall, we had quite the haul. ¡°Now it was time to celebrate!¡±~Az Az decided to pull out some fine wine from her collection and I took over the kitchen to cook a celebratory dinner. Thessa went out to deliver the monster corpses to be processed at a skinning and tanning shop they frequent and Scarlet went to buy some sweet desserts. Of course the dwarf would have booze! Did you ever question it, really? We partied hard. Way too hard! I should have expected a dwarf''s booze to be strong. Around noon the next day, Scarlet and I staggered out of Az¡¯s guest room to find food. We were met midway by our equally haggard looking counterparts who were similarly on the prowl. I was somewhat stunned by their appearances. Not the haggard look, but the collars on their necks. My name was no longer on Thessa¡¯s. It instead had Az¡¯s name and Thessa¡¯s name was on Az¡¯s collar. Kat had made the collars able to do this as a special feature that gives an additional effect. The effect is named bonded which allows them to share their sense of pleasure, thoughts and feelings. While I was fixing up some food, I asked Scarlet to order me to remember what had happened to all of us last night. Something like trying to forcefully remember what happened during a drunken blackout would normally not work, but my orders are absolute and my memory blessing is perfect. The downside is that the recall of last night¡¯s events tended to sway and spin. This caused my hangover to feel even worse and made me nauseous as well. ¡°Uh, Mistress?!¡±~me ¡°Yeah? Did you remember something? Is it bad?¡±~Scarlet ¡°It¡¯s not so bad for us, but your aunt and Az may have royally screwed themselves. And I may have helped them do it.¡±~me ¡°If you¡¯re talking about the collars, it¡¯s fine. They¡¯ve always been really close and it was only a matter of time.¡±~Scarlet ¡°I wish it were as simple as them just putting the collars on each other. Last night after I had graciously agreed to remove Thessa¡¯s collar and they fixed them on each other, they started expressing a desire to be even closer. In a more permanent way.¡±~me ¡°And you somehow provided this ¡®permanent¡¯ solution for them?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Uh-huh. Yep. They basically ordered each other to follow the orders I had written on this sheet of paper for them.¡±~me I handed over the folded page from last night that I took out of my inventory and watched as her eyes started to widen as she read it. Azalea¡¯s and Thessa¡¯s marriage vows/orders: Order one: You may never remove or consider removing the collar from each other. Order two: You will cultivate with each other each night when reasonably able. Order three: You may never rescind the previous two orders, this order or the next one. Order four: You will not remember that this and the previous three orders were made, but you will continue to carry them out regardless. ¡°Hey Az, do you remember this?¡±~Scarlet She passed it over and Az started to read it. Then she just sort of stared at it. Scarlet waved her hand in front of her face to get her attention when she failed to respond after several minutes passed. Only once she took the paper back, did she finally respond. ¡°Huh, Scarlet? Did you need something?¡±~Az ¡°I had asked if you had seen this before?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a blank piece of paper? Silly girl.¡±~Az ¡°Yep, they¡¯re completely screwed.¡±~me ¡°What exactly happened there?¡±~Scarlet ¡°That last order seems to be the persistent type. When you showed her that paper, her mind got stuck in a loop of reading it and forgetting right after. Even if you tried to tell them that they have such orders, they would immediately forget what you said.¡±~me ¡°So, they¡¯re just stuck like this?¡±~Scarlet ¡°The only way those babies are coming off is if they pop off on their own.¡±~me ¡°How would that happen?¡±~Scarlet ¡°They would have to feel an unwillingness to be bound to each other.¡±~me ¡°There¡¯s like zero chance of that happening.¡±~Scarlet ¡°On the plus side, I managed to gain a bit from last night¡¯s revelry. Az had finally let me taste her blood and I acquired the dwarven traits for finesse and strength boost.¡±~me Both new traits were only two hundred soul points each to unlock. I immediately unlocked them since my current soul points were sitting just shy of five hundred. ¡°Oh, another scene just became clearer to me.¡±~me ¡°What is it this time?!¡±~Scarlet ¡°Hehe, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be utterly embarrassed. You should take a look at my orders log to find out more. I highly suggest that you rescind some of the more...indulgent orders. I don¡¯t know if you would want me to be doing some of those things when you¡¯re fully lucid.¡±~me She turned bright red as she started through the list and rescinded various orders that were still active from our depraved play last night. Chapter 65: Flora’s reunion and the shocking new bath Chapter 65: Flora¡¯s reunion and the shocking new bath Hahaha, finally! The first thing I did after we got home was to lure out a slime. It was very successful. She came out pretty much as soon as she sensed the core. I ended up not immediately releasing her though and put her into a box in the bathroom. My soul divining gaze informed me that she had entered into an evolutionary hibernation state. I¡¯ll wait until she¡¯s done to release her. For the rest of the day, Scarlet decided to catch up with her shop work and started to process the fur that the skinner had begun sending over from our kills. Thessa is staying with Az and was searching through creature guides when we left in order to figure out what she wants to tame. I decided that it was time to summon Flora here, even though I¡¯ll be sad to lose my connection back to the Magic Forest and Sofy. Flora seems to be getting weaker by the day due to our separation, so it can¡¯t be helped. Out in the garden, I activated the tamer subskill, summon, that you get when reaching tamer level three. A soft light raised up from the ground in front of me and Flora came barreling out of it towards me. Even before she reached me, I could feel a chunk of my spirit energy suddenly being drained. Her need for my spirit energy and being unable to receive it is probably what was causing her to weaken. ¡°I missed you! Please don¡¯t leave me behind again!¡±~Flora *SMOOCH* I basically just got tackled to the ground and forcefully kissed by her. Vines grew out of the ground and started entangling my limbs while she started undressing me. Or rather, she tore my clothes off by using some thorns. They can now be damaged ever since Kat changed it. Thankfully they come back as good as new when reequipped though. Good thing the back garden is surrounded on all sides with a sturdy, tall fence. I could break the vines or order her to stop, but I don¡¯t. She¡¯s earned some reward for all that she has done recently. *GULP* Sometimes I forget she can do stuff like that. She used a natural ability of her feeder vine base form to feed me, via mouth-to-mouth, some of the herbal essences she had stored up from other plants. My body very quickly began to blaze, blood started racing through my veins, my sensitivity got heightened and I started to lose consciousness. No, wait! I¡¯m only losing my normal senses, not my consciousness. ¡°Flora, what did you just do to me?!¡±~me ¡°Oh, just a little something I learned before from your and Sofy¡¯s sexscapades. A little mixture of aphrodisiacs, stimulants, enhancers and some short-term poisons that will switch off your unnecessary senses for a couple hours.¡±~Flora ¡°H-hours?!!!¡±~me I didn¡¯t get much time to think after that. She started teasing my boobs and insides with some tiny vines. Later they turned into nettle vines and caused all my erogenous places to start itching. Whenever she would tend to one area to stop my itch, it would induce my whole body into shivering in pleasure. She tended all my other erogenous zones until I was squirming around in the grass while begging her to do me before she finally saw fit to grow a fat bulbous vine on her lower body and relieved that last, most important place. It was already pretty late by the time I could finally get up. Flora was already busy rearranging the garden now and I ended up getting some concealed glances from the ladies in the back of the shop when I went inside. Dinner would need to be made soon, but I wanted a bath. Looking at the wooden tub that promised slivers to any who dared to bath in it, I ended up burning it to ashes instead of bathing. Don¡¯t worry, it was a controlled burn! Pretty sure the nettles from earlier are what set me off. I¡¯m still a little itchy! ¡°Mistress, I¡¯m heading out for a bit.¡±~me ¡°Oh, done in the garden so soon? And here I thought the two of you would go on for longer.¡±~Scarlet ¡°You heard?!¡±~me ¡°Yes, my shop hands also got quite an earful. Fufu.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Gumu. Why didn¡¯t you tell me earlier?¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t worry. All of us are ladies here and it didn¡¯t penetrate to the front of the shop anyways. It was quite interesting to see which of my shop hands got excited though. Ufufufu.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Pervert.¡±~me ¡°So says the girl who just had a ¡®roll in the grass¡¯. Where are you headed to anyways?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Going to pick up the tub I ordered and the massage table as well. Flora also requested that I buy a few things for the garden too.¡±~me I managed to pick up everything I needed just before the shops started to close. The bath turned out really nice. Outside is a glossy black because of the obsidian and the inside is a glittery red color. It must have been the firestone that dyed it red, while the astral silver made it glittery. Overall, it looks lovely. By the time I got back, dinner needed to be made and I didn¡¯t have a lot of time to spare for a bath. Even so, I spent a few minutes in it to clean off my earlier exploits before starting dinner. It felt really good! The golden starfire alloy that lines the inside had the exact effect I was counting on. A slight tingling sensation could be felt penetrating through and nourishing my body. After we finished eating, I eagerly showed Scarlet our new bath and we immediately stripped and dived in. We decide to just lay back and enjoy a good soak in our jacuzzi-like bath after we¡¯ve finished cleaning our bodies. ----------After 15 minutes of soaking in the bath--------- ¡°This feels really nice! You were right about it being worth the money. My muscles feel like they¡¯ve been turned into mush after just a few minutes. It feels just like one of your more intense massages.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Fufufu. You may continue to lavish this great personage with your praises!¡±~me ¡°...¡±~Scarlet ¡°What, not going to worship me?¡±~me ¡°You do remember that the mistress is me, don¡¯t you?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Of course, Mistress! That doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t reward me though.¡±~me ¡°Fine, fine. As a reward for acquiring this great bath, you can make a request from me.¡±~Scarlet ¡°A-N-Y request!?¡±~me ¡°Within reason!¡±~Scarlet ----------After 30 minutes of soaking in the bath---------- ¡°Wawawa! What is happening!?¡±~Scarlet Some black stuff has started seeping out of our pores. ¡°Probably just some deep-seated filth and other impurities. Nothing to worry about. You¡¯ll definitely feel and look much better once it¡¯s been purged.¡±~me ¡°Oh, that sounds nice!¡±~Scarlet ----------After one hour of soaking in the bath---------- ¡°IT HURTS!!! Lily, lift me out of here. I can¡¯t move my body anymore. It feels like my whole body fell asleep and won¡¯t wake up!¡±~Scarlet ¡°...¡±~me ¡°Lily, why aren¡¯t you listening to me? That was an order, you know?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Mistress, um, uh...A few minutes ago, after the black stuff stopped coming out, I had already felt that it was time to get out, but...I can¡¯t move either!¡±~me ¡°Lily, do something!¡±~Scarlet ¡°I¡¯m thinking! Don¡¯t rush me!¡±~me Trying to get myself moving, I start quickly going through my divine skills and spells that boost the body. I think that because my body cultivation is higher is the only reason that I haven¡¯t felt the pain yet. Yet being the key word there! ¡°ARGH! IT BURNS!! THERE¡¯S BLOOD!!!¡±~Scarlet CRAP! Yikes, that¡¯s probably really bad now. Scarlet has traces of blood seeping out of her pores now. Think think think! How can I get us out of the bath? Ah, I feel so stupid. I don¡¯t have to physically move us out of the bath. I can use a levitation spell! I used my spell to levitate Scarlet over to the nearby massage table and then used it to lay myself down on the floor. ¡°Lily, mind explaining what the hell just happened!?¡±~Scarlet ¡°We paid the price for over-indulgence?¡±~me ¡°And what exactly does that mean? How are we supposed to take our baths in the future with this thing?¡±~Scarlet ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. We just need to limit our soaking time to be at most an hour. And now that I¡¯ve figured out how to get us out of it, it won¡¯t be a problem even if we can¡¯t move.¡±~me ¡°Why would I even want to experience this again? I feel terrible!¡±~Scarlet ¡°I¡¯m certain that you¡¯ll feel better by tomorrow. Like an exhausting workout, some rest will let you recover and feel even better than before.¡±~me ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll reserve my judgement about the bath until the morning.¡±~Scarlet ¡°So, um, about my reward. I still get that, right?¡±~me ¡°Reward? That¡¯s been postponed until tomorrow¡¯s judgement is out. As for your punishment for letting this become a bad experience¡­ I seem to remember seeing an item in the favorites list of the punishments tab that your last mistress must have used a lot. Ah, here it is: core jolt.¡±~Scarlet Well, that won¡¯t be terrible at least. It never did do much to deter my actions when Sofy used it, especially since she turned its output settings way down¡­SHIT! ¡°Wait! ARGH!!!¡±~me Scarlet didn¡¯t know to turn it down and the reset that Kat performed on my curse had most definitely affected my old frenemy, the core executor¡¯s settings. Just like the poor victims in victorian era looney bins, my body started jerking around while literal arcs of electricity cascaded over my body. Previously unknown to me, it could go even higher than it¡¯s default and Scarlet seems to have maxed it out. ¡°I am so, so sorry. I didn¡¯t know it would be so horrible for you! Can you please forgive me? I¡¯ll never use that again, I promise.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Mistress, calm down. This happened the first time Sofy used it too. You just need to lower the settings a bit. It also has some extremely pleasant features as well, so never using it again would be unfortunate.¡±~me I didn¡¯t know the bath would end up hurting her and she didn¡¯t know how much that punishment would really hurt me. Things have ironically evened out between the two of us. With my help, Scarlet readjusted the settings to more humane levels. Once my nerves stopped twitching, I started trying to recover my motor functions. It took nearly half an hour for me to be able to move again, even with my high regeneration, the help of some healing and boosting skills. As we are both completely worn out, I dry us off and quickly get us in bed. Chapter 66: After-bath and evolved slime Chapter 66: After-bath and evolved slime Scarlet and I woke up famished. Last night¡¯s bath had purged a great deal of the impurities from our bodies and we were now desperate to refuel. We both ate about three times what would be considered a normal portion for us. Thessa stopped by to pick up her belongings. As expected, she is going to be moving in with Az. In accordance with Scarlet¡¯s ¡®share your pain¡¯ strategy, Az and her will be coming over tonight to experience the new bath. After eating our fill, Scarlet was very pleased with the end results of the bath last night. Her skin is now much fairer, soft as silk, pliable like cream and not one blemish can be found. Also, our muscles are still a little tender, but have otherwise been softened while retaining every bit of strength from before. ¡°Mistress, do I get my reward now?¡±~me ¡°You do realize you¡¯re drooling, right?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Of course I am! The bath compressed your muscles and gave your skin a renewal. If before, you were an athletic beauty. Now, you¡¯re a lascivious beauty with abundant curves and toned but mostly hidden muscles.¡±~me ¡°Complimenting me like that is cheating. Fine, you¡¯ve earned a reward. Nothing too excessive though, I¡¯ve got to be able get up for work the next morning at least.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Yay! Don¡¯t ask about my request now, I¡¯ll give you a pleasant surprise tonight. Fufu.¡±~me Scarlet started working like usual and I started doing the chores. During which, I decided to check on Tish. She had already finished her evolution and was rolling around a bit in her box. [Enz-Slime(Scavenger Slime Variant)] My assess is still at level one, so all I get back is its species. At level two, I should be able to get a general description of what I assess though. However, I¡¯m pretty sure of what it would tell me. Enz-Slime is embarrassingly a quirky way of saying that this is an enzyme slime. Its description probably says something along the lines of ¡®good for digestion¡¯. While I¡¯m evaluating all this, I¡¯m also pretty sure I just got a vision from the goddess. One with Kat laughing her ass off at me once again until she can hardly catch her breath. Her antics are starting to feel more and more like harassment! ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±~Scarlet Feeling my embarrassment through the link, she inquired about my situation. I told her truthfully and immediately regretted it when I heard her laughter echoing up the stairs. ¡°Know any researchers that would want it?¡±~me ¡°Thessa might. We can ask her next time we see her.¡±~Scarlet ¡°What¡¯s she up to right now anyways? Did she manage to figure out what familiar she wants?¡±~me ¡°She said that she did, but didn¡¯t tell me what. I do know that she decided to only go for a smaller one though; doesn¡¯t what to have to feed some large familiar, even if it could tank for her while she does her magic.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Not a bad idea. At level four, she¡¯ll get the dwelling subskill that will allow it to hide within her and feed off her own energies. She can get the next familiar slot just two levels later.¡±~me Az and Thessa came over for dinner that evening and took a bath with us. Things went much smoother this time, now that I knew what to expect. I was able to get us all out before anything bad happened and me and Scarlet were able to move around shortly after. It would seem that the first time is the most tiring because the other two passed out pretty much immediately after our bath. I made sure to give them some recovery magics and massage before tucking them in, in the now spare bedroom; what used to be Thessa¡¯s room. Me and Scarlet took some time to load up on some extra food that we knew was going to be needed and then went off to bed to exercise a bit. Just enough to max out the dual cultivation advantage of the collar though as we were still plenty weakened due to the bath. We woke up the next morning to the sound of ravenous beasts in the kitchen. It was Az and Thessa of course. ¡°Did we look like them yesterday morning?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I may have, but you were worse, Mistress.¡±~me ¡°Hey! Since when is a servant allowed to insult the mistress?!¡±~Scarlet ¡°Just speaking the honest truth. If you¡¯ll remember, you ended up wearing most of the food that you tried to cook while mine...ARGH!¡±~me ¡®Dammit! I forgot she put that thing on auto-mode. It will trigger when I annoy her too much.¡¯ ¡°And whose fault do you think that is! By the way, you didn¡¯t seem to have claimed your reward last night?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Mnm, I¡¯ll be sure to do so when we have more energy...or time. If I¡¯d redeemed my reward last night, you wouldn¡¯t have been able to get up today.¡±~me ¡°You seem scary sometimes when you smile like that. Now I¡¯m starting to worry.¡±~Scarlet I made up breakfast quickly for our starving company and we got on with our day. Our guests were quite satisfied by the results, especially when they heard that it was much less drastic after the first time, and arranged to come over again in a few days. Cleaning up the dirt in the tub is pretty easy. Just a little earth spell that gathers up the particulates in the water into a small clump. Though, this bath has a LOT more than a normal bath would. I managed to pull out more than two fist sized wads of black gunk which I fed to the bathroom slime. Not Tish, another scavenger slime. Ah, yes. Something I should probably mention is that there is no such thing as toilet paper in this world. It¡¯s not really even needed. Scavenger slimes love to eat excrement, so they are considered an everyday household creature. People will sit right on top of them to go, leaving zero mess to clean up. The bathroom slime started to evolve! Two days ago it wasn¡¯t anywhere near evolving. After several years of service in this house, just two wads yesterday and a little less than three today and the thing evolved! I feel like gagging. How filthy exactly must those wads be to let it evolve so quickly?! ¡°Upstairs bathroom is out of commission until further notice.¡±~me ¡°Oh, why¡¯s that?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Slime is evolving.¡±~me ¡°Huh, I thought that Tish finished already.¡±~Scarlet ¡°She did. The bathroom scavenger slime is evolving now.¡±~me ¡°Isn¡¯t it too soon? How did that happen?¡±~Scarlet And so I tell her, much to her regret. Not warning her first might have been me taking a little revenge for her earlier laughter. One of Thessa¡¯s researcher friends came over later and took Tish away. Her name is Roselie, Rosy for short, and she¡¯s an absolutely adorable catkin and dwarf half. A deadly combination of lolific tsundere and feline cuteness!!! Rosy has white hair, red eyes and is just indescribably cute! She spent a good deal of her visit on my lap being cuddled. It seemed as though she had given up long ago about rejecting such treatment, but she drew the line at not allowing me to touch her ears and tail directly. Fortunately, petting was still fine so long as I didn¡¯t let my hands linger around the ears too much. Though she found it kind of strange and was a little weirded out, I managed to get a small vial of her blood in exchange for Tish. Since I keep pretending to be catkin, it would be weird if I don¡¯t even have any of their traits. I gulped it down after she had left, not exposing my vampiric nature. She promised to come back in a few days to see what the other evolved into. [Trait acquired: Feline¡¯s Grace] Impeccable balance and aesthetically pleasing optimizations. After a little bit of experimenting I¡¯ve found that I have a perfect awareness of my body¡¯s orientation and can right myself with the ground easily from any position. Also, I make some cat-like gestures unintentionally from time to time. For example, while I was stretching after my experiments I had noticed that my back tended to arch way more than I usually did. I also had an increased appetite in regards to fish. Nothing too brainwashy, just that my taste buds seem to be slightly altered and now fish seems tastier. It would be fine to go without, but I would definitely crave it if I don¡¯t eat it every few days. On another note, I woke up the next day with some real cat ears. Kat must have been paying attention and force-activated my blood manipulation trait once again to have them replace the last of my disguise equipment. Still didn¡¯t get to redeem my reward. Though it¡¯s becoming less and less taxing each time we bathe, I think I¡¯ll stake my claim tonight though as tomorrow is the start of the weekend and she will have more shophands available in case of over-indulgence. Chapter 67: Taking full advantage of a reward Chapter 67: Taking full advantage of a reward Today started as my usual routine. I got up and did some chores, cooked breakfast and cultivated my attributes until noon. After lunch, I would typically go for a quick dungeon dive and sell my finds at the auction house nearby. Then I would head back home, make dinner and go to bed. Tonight was the night for my reward. I had prepared the ink immediately after Flora arrived and was more than ready. After our pre-bed routine, I had Scarlet lay down on the bed and started my work. She asked me what it was about and I told her about my attire menu¡¯s tattoo function, which she had apparently never investigated. Since I had already planned it out, it only took a small amount of time to finish. Scarlet had been suspiciously quiet for the duration. She had, in fact, been using the time I had been drawing to prepare one for myself in the attire menu. I¡¯ll leave it up to your imagination as to what specific settings we both chose for each other, but I will say that the night was exceptionally fun as we both skirted the border of consciousness and lust driven instincts. I was first to wake up the next day...after noon, and my energy levels were lower than usual due to our excessive dual cultivation session. So I fed a bit on Scarlet without waking her. Then I proceeded with the second part of my plan. As you may have guessed, there is an increasing number of new items coming out of the dungeon lately. Kat seems to be having a lot of fun with her newest toy. I had even bought some of the more interesting items for myself including: Loli-pops, a Charm Holding Bracelet, and some Cursed Training Bangles. [Loli-pop] {Consumable} Effect: Lolickif(Causes the consumer to regress, body and mind, into a loli for up to 24hrs per whole item eaten. Body effect is stackable; Mind effect is non-stackable) [Charm Holding Bracelet] {Charm capacity: 1(upgrade: 10 full divine crystals-stage 2)} Effect: Collect Charm, Deploy Charm [Cursed Training Bangle] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: Motion correction(sensual 1 | upgrade: 10 full divine crystals-stage 1) [Cursed Training Bangle] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: Motion correction(elegance 1 | upgrade: 10 full divine crystals-stage 1) [Cursed Training Bangle] {Cannot be removed by normal means} Effect: Motion correction(calligraphy 1 | upgrade: 10 full divine crystals-stage 1) The training bangles work much like my own attires¡¯ movement correction. But instead of forcing the body to make motions in a certain way, they make motion that deviates from the ideal more strenuous. You have to change how you normally move your body in order to reduce the strain caused by the bangles. These things will only come off after the body becomes thoroughly conditioned to the motions. I attached the sensual and elegance ones to her ankles and the calligraphy one to her right wrist. While she was doing her shop paperwork, I noticed that her writing is atrocious. I placed the charm holding bracelet on her left wrist, since she¡¯s left handed. Collect charm lets her miniaturize whatever she is touching with her hand into a charm that will attach itself to the bracelet. Deploy does the opposite. Great for storing a weapon if you don¡¯t have the inventory skill. I¡¯ve heard that some adventurers will use it to store a small chest where they can then store more items in. Though, there is a limit to the size of the item collected. Seems to be about half a cubic meter of volume per charm. With the advent of more aquatic items showing up in the dungeon, more and more people have started to explore the fiftieth floor and beyond. Apparently, there is a large room between the levels. A sort of safe zone that is dry where adventurers can take a rest. Some more small things that Kat has done is to add transfer crystals. They can transfer an effect from one item to another, and the item transferred to can even be a normally crafted item as long as the quality is high enough. Transfering effects to an item that it doesn¡¯t match will of course still fail. You can¡¯t put a weapon only effect onto a skirt. This only works for items that don¡¯t yet have any effects or those with free slots. Depending on the item quality, slots will open up on a normal crafted item if a transfer is performed. Yet another addition was the effect slot system. You can add an effect slot with the required stage of upgrade crystal. If an item already has two effects, you would need a stage three upgrade crystal to add another effect slot. The item quality is upgraded as well, probably because the number of effects requires it. Don¡¯t know since I haven¡¯t talked to Kat recently. She¡¯s probably having too much fun to bother me. Not like that¡¯s a bad thing. Totally didn¡¯t just jinx myself there¡­ But I¡¯ve digressed. To finish off my gifts to Scarlet I first gave her a kiss. When she responded to my prodding and opened up her mouth, I snuck in the loli-pop. Her body immediately started to shrink down and I continued to swirl the treat around in her mouth until she¡¯d eaten it all up. She only woke up when it was all gone. *Smack smack* ¡±Munya?¡±~Scarlet Adorable!!! Little Scarlet is so cute! She woke up groggy, wiping her eyes with her small hands. I helped her get ready, including dressing her in the sailor outfit I had especially prepared for today. The best part of the effect is that she will not notice anything abnormal. She however, was not impressed with my fashion sense and demanded to change clothes. I hadn¡¯t prepared extras besides a cat onesie pajamas so she decided to sulk instead. Pouty face! Oh, a pouty face!! My heart is screaming!!! Cute score for Little Scarlet: inf+1. After swatting away my cheek pinching attack, she came up with a better idea. ¡°If I have to wear it, you do too!¡±~Scarlet So, I ended up wearing a more adult version of the same outfit. My attire menu seems to have adjusted it a bit thankfully. Though, I can¡¯t help but wonder if my shoe type is stuck with some sort of default setting. Even though the outfit goes better with flats, I somehow ended up with heels. When breakfast was over, we started to walk through town on a kind of date while window shopping. We hadn¡¯t even made it a block before I had to carry her. Those bangles were really tiring her out. Not that I¡¯m complaining about being able to cuddle such a cutie in my arms. We ended up in a clothing store just before lunch. She had remembered her dislike of her current clothes and the store caught her attention. The store looked like somewhere Princess Peach would shop. She chose a frilly pink dress to wear and I embellished it with some of Sofy¡¯s accessories I still had in inventory. A small tiara and necklace, both with pink diamonds. I had ended up buying two outfits even though we really only took one. Scarlet had made my own attire match hers yet again and I wasn¡¯t about to reveal my attire function to the shopkeeper. Good thing they didn¡¯t sell accessories here or the price would have been ridiculous. Instead of returning for lunch, we strolled around the food stalls while buying snacks. Our appearances gathered a lot of attention. I could hear whispers about us being some noble girls on an outing or perhaps a mother and daughter out for some fun. Some people would even bow to us, either unsure of the need or to participate in the merrymaking surrounding us. Scarlet was basking in the attention and puffed up her chest in response. I was feeling embarrassed enough for the both of us. Some men would occasionally approach us or rather, me. I¡¯d turn away those I could and knock out those who wouldn¡¯t take a hint with magic. Usually I would kill such men outright, but it didn¡¯t seem like a good idea to do so with onlookers. The guards didn¡¯t even question my actions and even helped to clean up after me by dragging them away, hopefully to jail. No, it seems that they just toss them into the nearest alleyway. Two of the guards even decided to just follow us around, further legitimising our ¡®princess parade¡¯. It did help prevent further annoyances though. Our last stop was at the auction house, where the manager who I¡¯ve never even seen on previous visits, showed us around. I even got to see a special merchandise room, full of stuff that would apparently be sent to their parent auction house in the noble district. Scarlet found a high quality teddy bear among the items that I ended up buying for her. [Drowsy Bear] {Cannot be lost or stolen} Effect: Divine Plush, Hibernation, Restoration, Pleasant Dream Thankfully, non-combat items don¡¯t cost too much even for something as great as this. Just the first effect was ridiculous. Imagine every word used to describe an ideal plushy and there you go. Soft, silky, squishy, fluffy, and more. It¡¯s a heavenly item for bedtime. Hibernation lets the sleepers restore their body, mind, and spirit energy at three times the normal rate. They will also sleep deeper. Restoration will heal and clean the sleepers. It also keeps itself clean and repaired. Pleasant dream does exactly what you would think. Notice how I said sleepers earlier? Yea, its effects apply to everyone on the same bed. The manager eventually sent us off after he blabber on and on about himself. Some third son of whoever noble house or whatever. He even gave me an invitation to the auction happening at the parent location tonight and said he would take it as a personal insult if I wasn¡¯t there. Scarlet had fallen asleep while the man was yapping. I hailed a carriage to take us home, gave the two guards some crystals for their help and dismissed them before setting off. Chapter 68: Regrets of the ‘anything’ reward Chapter 68: Regrets of the ¡®anything¡¯ reward When we got home, I went straight up to the bed and tucked Scarlet in for her nap. I also topped off my energy reserves since she would easily recover them in her sleep. Since I missed my normal morning cultivation, I went ahead and did my attribute cultivation for the next couple hours. By the time that Scarlet woke up, the auction was soon to start. We ate an early dinner and hailed a carriage. The carriage took us into the noble district much easier than I had thought. We stopped at the entrance, a guard looked into the carriage while mindlessly asking for a pass. Then, he just gawked at me for a minute. I had to clear my throat to bring him back from wherever and tried to hand him my invitation for the auction. Which he ignored completely as his face got flushed. He flusterly closed the door and told the driver to move on. I can¡¯t help but to smirk a little, even if I don¡¯t particularly like men. Having a beautiful appearance is useful. Think I could just waltz right into the palace? Hehe... Here I was with my prewritten note, detailing my reasons why the auction invitation was sufficient as a pass. The excuse being: since the auction house is owned by a noble and I was invited, it was the same as being invited by a noble. All my effort went to waste since the guard didn¡¯t even bother to check. The attendant at the auction led us up to the second floor when he saw our pass. It should be noted that the first floor seemed to be wealthy merchants, while the second was likely for nobles. I started to feel a little uneasy. Impersonating a noble is usually a crime, no matter you go. The box he led us to ended up not being empty. That lecherous manager from earlier was inside. Fortunately, he wasn¡¯t alone. His sister, whose name is Penelope Grant, was here. As well his second brother named Arthur. Arthur is much more reserved than his silkpants brother. Penelope wasn¡¯t an outstanding beauty, but she had her own charms. She quickly made friends with Scarlet and chatted with the two of us. It didn¡¯t take more than a moment for her to notice that I was writing instead of speaking. Which led to an explanation about my mute curse, something the dunce had failed to notice at all up till now. We girls sat together with Penelope protecting us, much to the chagrin of George. Yea, I know the dunce¡¯s name now. He¡¯s borderline being added to the list. Arthur is okay though. According to his sister, he¡¯s a happily married man. Thanks to being seated with the owners, we got to look at the list of items being auctioned. It even included illustrations and starting bids. ¡°I want that dollhouse!¡±~Scarlet ¡°I don¡¯t think I have enough crystals to buy it.¡±~me ¡°You have to buy me that dollhouse! That¡¯s an order!¡±~Scarlet I cringed a little. Scarlet had become somewhat of a tyrant after becoming small. She had given me more orders today than I had received since becoming her servant. Having little choice, I asked if the auction house would buy precious stones. The answer was yes and one of the appraisers was called in to make the exchange. I pulled out a chest of smaller gems from my inventory and traded them for a fortune in crystals. Arthur had a serious expression on his face when the total was announced. ¡°Why so serious?¡±~me(note) ¡°You just exchange for about one third of the auction house¡¯s liquid assets.¡±~Arthur ¡°Oh. Meh, I have more anyways. Pena, said that you were here to buy a gift for your wife? Maybe one of the gems I have of higher quality would do? Maybe one that matches her eyes?¡±~me(note) His mouth twitched at the first part, but he was intrigued by the latter portion of my note. I pulled out a few of the more valuable gems and he selected one to buy. Pena also claimed one for herself, which Arthur paid for. Such a good brother! As for why I¡¯m calling her Pena now? Us girls had become fast friends and taken to calling each other by nicknames. She even gave me one of her noble tokens meant for guests so we could visit her in the future. ¡°George has become weirdly quiet?¡±~me(note to Pena) ¡°He¡¯s also sweating. He probably just realized that you are not an easy lay. My brother may be a lech, but even he is not stupid enough to offend someone who can easily take out so much wealth.¡±~Pena Scarlet ended up winning the dollhouse without much trouble. For strategic reasons, I had her stand by the railing and raise the paddle to bid for it. She would cutely glare at anyone who bid against her which garnered her much support from the other patrons. Some even started chastising the other bidders until they gave up. Loli power for the win! *chuckles* ¡°You¡¯re quite evil. Though, your strategy mainly worked because the item being auctioned was too fitting.¡±~Pena ¡°That, and cuteness is justice!¡±~me(note) The attendant quickly brought the purchase to us and I handed over the payment. Not a small sum by any means. Even though it seems like a children¡¯s toy with a name like dollhouse, it¡¯s still a genuine dungeon item. I¡¯m somewhat eager to get it home and unlock its secrets. [Dollhouse] {Currently locked - unlock: 1000 full divine crystals-stage 1} Effects: ? Wow! The description I had read only said it needed divine crystals to unlock. This high of a requirement will probably end up being a really good item though. I also bought a few more items for us. Some effect transfer crystals, a few upgrade crystals, a tamer skill crystal, several snow lotus cores and a necklace that is actually the rarely seen living armor monster. Now that I have some snow lotus cores, I only lack some virgin succubus flow in order to mix up some more beauty potions. I¡¯m thinking to have Scarlet take the living armor monster as her first tamed familiar once she uses the tamer skill crystal. They have the traits: assimilate and remodel. The first allows them to, well, assimilate other armor pieces and accessories to gain the ability to produce the material it consists of and any of the effects when using the second trait. Remodel allows the creation of armor and accessories by the monster. Scarlet saw the necklace with the big red gem on it and wanted to wear it since it was pretty. I managed to talk her down with a promise that she could wear it tomorrow after she learned the tamer skill. Thankfully, she finally caved when I told her it would make her look funny and mismatched with her current outfit. Living armors can be extremely dangerous if worn before taming. Their core is that big gem. Its outer shell is a little tough, but it¡¯s fleshy underneath. Kind of like a slime¡¯s core. First, it will bind the wearer by making armor around them so that they can¡¯t move. Then it will send out veiny tendrils from the core into the person to siphon off energy and nutrients, eventually taking over the nervous system and turning them into the monster¡¯s puppet-like host. Only when it is tamed will it not try to control the host. When the auction was over, I used shadowmeld to return us to our carriage. Several eyes had been watching me with ill intent by the time the auction was over. Scarlet called out for the driver to return us home and although he was surprised by our sudden appearance, he complied. We arrived home safely and went to bed. No fun time tonight, it just seemed wrong with her current mentality. The next morning, we got up at the normal time and ate breakfast. I gave Scarlet another loli-pop right after so that the effect would continue until afternoon on Darkday. She played with the dollhouse after that for a little bit while I did the morning chores. I¡¯d wait a bit to unlock it since I don¡¯t currently have that many divine crystals. When she got bored, she started demanding more candy. I couldn¡¯t help but sweat a bit. All I had for candy at the moment were the loli-pops. If I gave them to her now, she would eat all of them. Fortunately, I was able to quickly bake up some cookies to satisfy her. We even had a little tea party together with her bear. ¡°WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME!¡±~Scarlet Just after lunch, the mental effect wore off and I got zapped by the core executor...a lot! I ended up being saved by Thessa and Az¡¯s surprise visit. Az just jaw dropped near the door, but Thessa walked right in and swept Scarlet up into her arms. Then she proceeded to cuddle with her and exclaim about her cuteness. It should be understood that Scarlet is currently wearing the princess outfit. ¡°Why? No, how?¡±~Az ¡°Loli-pop. It¡¯s a new dungeon item recently discovered.¡±~me(note) I then take out the loli-pops to show them as I explain further. ¡°Okay, that explains how. Now, why?¡±~Az ¡°Because, like this, she¡¯s really CUTE!¡±~Thessa Thessa answered before me, very accurately I might add. I got inspired to share all about how cute she had been for the last day. Quickly writing everything down onto several pages, I then gave it over to Az to read aloud as I knew that Scarlet would quickly stop me if I tried to share this slowly. This sly trick caused Scarlet to blush worthy of her namesake while glaring at me. It also sent me back into my shock therapy session that had been interrupted by the sudden visit. I spent the next while on the floor trying to decide whether I hurt more from the shocks or from the side splitting laughter. Chapter 69: Familiars Chapter 69: Familiars ¡°Lily, you¡¯re a masochist aren¡¯t you?¡±~Az ¡°Nah. I prefer to call it ¡®thrill seeking behavior¡¯ or having ¡®potentially dangerous hobbies¡¯.¡±~me(note) ¡°Close enough. Want to explain these bangles next? The charm bracelet is fine, but why would you put cursed items on me?!¡±~Scarlet ¡°I checked with some others who used them. At level one, they only take a week or two to adjust your movements to them. After you adapt to it, they unlock on their own. Considering how bad your writing is, the calligraphy one will probably take longer though.¡±~me(note) Thessa gave me a thumbs up while commenting that her writing was indeed pretty bad. ¡°You got in a lot of trouble with your previous mistress too, didn¡¯t you?¡±~Scarlet ¡°...¡±~me ¡°Hurry up and save me already! Thessa is gonna rub my cheeks raw at this rate!¡±~Scarlet Easier said than done. Thessa seemed to have some sort of fanatic power related to lolis, much like the ¡®furry shunpo¡¯ I¡¯d seen before. I did manage to distract her a bit when asking the reason for her visit. It turned out that she had managed to tame a familiar and brought it over to show us today. A small, pure white fox that had been previously hiding came in from the doorway. ¡°This is Luna, a spirit fox. Their kind are good with spirit and mind magic, specializing with illusions.¡±~Thessa ¡°A good choice. Confused enemies will find it difficult to hit you in the first place, a good alternative to getting a big tanky familiar. It¡¯s a bonus that it¡¯s cute.¡±~me(note) ¡°Oh, Scarlet, I just thought of something you can use to get revenge for your sister¡¯s cuddle attack. Want to hear?¡±~me ¡°Yes, tell me?!¡±~Scarlet Once the details were worked out, I made an excuse to go into the bedroom and came back with a box in my hands some minutes later. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±~Thessa ¡°Something I bought for Scarlet last night.¡±~me(note) ¡°What took so long and isn¡¯t that the box with the living armor necklace?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Right. Here, use this tamer skill crystal first. I took a little longer because I decided to try something with the living armor first.¡±~me ¡°Tried what exactly? And what makes you so sure that I¡¯ll want that to be my first familiar?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I wanted to see if I could use my blood abilities with it, it actually worked! I¡¯m just going to ignore the second question. The excitement radiating off you because you¡¯re about to get one of the most sought after familiars is a dead give-away.¡±~me I got a ¡®hmph¡¯ in response, but it¡¯s fine since it was cute. Scarlet then proceeded to gain the skill and tame the living armor. She then went to lay down on her bed before wearing the necklace, allowing it to send its tendrils throughout her body. Since Scarlet was now in-disposed, Thessa and Az decided to excuse themselves. I discreetly handed Az a box on her way out. Inside are the loli-pops and a note: Hey Az, it¡¯s Scarlet. I had Lily prepare this note for you along with the rest of her loli-pops. Though the first day was super embarrassing, whose childhood isn¡¯t? Anyways, I figure that you two have had some difficulties being together with the size difference and these might be the answer. Plus, since my sister seems to have a loli fetish anyways, so she might as well be one. Looking forward to seeing my little sister. With lots of love, Scarlet & Lily P.S. from Lily: These were pretty cheap and overstocked. Probably wouldn¡¯t be a problem to ensure a continuous(lifetime) supply. They say that good things should be shared. Plus, my suggestion worked well to distract Scarlet from other things. Since my earlier experiment with the living armor was a success, I decided to extract some blood from the slime that had recently finished evolving as well. It had evolved into a purity slime and Rose would be coming over tomorrow to collect it. Pulling the core out from its jelly layer and making a small cut on it to let the blood drip into a small vial. I gave it a buff for blood regeneration and then healed it afterwards. The slime blood ended up giving me the absorption trait, unlockable with 100sp. I also got the assimilate and remodel traits earlier from the living armor¡¯s blood. Though the latter¡¯s traits are greyed out for some reason. I decided to ask Kat later, ignoring it for now, and started to cultivate while waiting for Scarlet to finish up. The living armor only finished integrating itself around dinner time. ¡°LILY! Explain!¡±~Scarlet ¡°Oh, Mistress, you¡¯re up? Good evening. Explain what exactly?¡±~me ¡°Good evening my butt! Explain why exactly my living armor familiar is a vampire?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Well, because I turned it into one right before you made it your familiar.¡±~me ¡°Yea, figured out that much, but why? And will this turn me into one as well?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I didn¡¯t give it my blood while turning it, so it can¡¯t turn others. As for why¡­¡±~me To demonstrate the why, I pulled up her familiar¡¯s remodel ability using the parent-child blood bond and inputting the design for a classic gothic lolita dress. I also input a matching hairstyle and accessories, including the charm holding bracelet that the familiar had apparently already assimilated. It seems that it cannot eat cursed items however, so the bangles were still there. ¡°What?! Seriously, did you really just turn my familiar into a vampire so you could continue to dress me up?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Well, it will also make your familiar stronger in the long run. And I also acquired its traits during the process.¡±~me She put up an unconvinced expression, but didn¡¯t do anything else. The clothes I had chosen seem to have put her in a good mood too. Using my perception abilities, I even caught sight of her twirling around, admiring herself in the bedroom mirror while I was cooking dinner. Since she was now a legal loli with no mental handicap, all bets were off tonight. We did have some unique fun, but it wasn¡¯t as exciting as some people would have you believe. It might have been better if we were both small. There¡¯s not really an advantage of tightness when two girls are doing it. If we want a tighter fit, we can just use a bigger toy after all. And our size difference made me self-conscious about hurting her the whole time. Given this experience, I think that Az is guaranteed to use those loli-pops on Thessa. Still, holding her small form while going to sleep is very nice! Scarlet¡¯s living armor familiar¡¯s stats: Name: - | Age: ? | Sex: n/a Race: Vampire(Base: Living Armor) Cultivation Stages: {Body: 1(0%)}{Mind: 0(0%)}{Spirit: 0(0%)}{Divine: 0(0%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 100/100}{Mana: 10/10}{Spirit: 10/10}{Divine: 0/0} Attributes: Str: n/a | Vit: 100 | Agi: n/a | Int: 10 Soul Potential: 1 {passive} [Sense Mana 1], [Second Sight 1] {active} [Mana Control 1], [Mana Shaping 1] [Assimilate], [Remodel], [Vampiric Body(Rank: Slave 0%)] {none} [Tamed Familiar(Tamer: Scarlet)] {Link} My current stats: +[disguised stats], -[hidden stats] Name: Lilia | Age: 20 | Sex: Female +Race: {Succubus(50%)}{Catkin(50%)} -Race: {Vampire(50%)}{Blood Demon(25%)}{Dragon(20%)}{Dryad(5%)} Cultivation Stages: {Body: 4(0%)}{Mind: 4(0%)}{Spirit: 4(0%)}{Divine: 3(6%)}{Law: 0} Energy Reserves: {Qi: 32332/32332}{Mana: 90032/90032}{Spirit: 10809/11010}{Divine: 10000/10000} Attributes: Str: 32332(33%) | Vit: 32332(35%) | Agi: 32332(40%) | Int: 90032(75%) Soul Potential: 17 {passive} [Sense Mana 4], [Sense Presence 4], [Sense Intent 4], [Sense Danger 4], [Second Sight 4], [Synergy 1] -[Soul Devourer 3] {active} [Shadowmeld 4], [Mana Control 4], [Mana Shaping 4], [Inventory 4], [Tamer 3], [Contract 1], [Assess 1] [Agility Boost], [Exquisite Fur], [Regeneration], [Love Serum], [Finesse], [Strength Boost], [Feline¡¯s Grace] -[Vampiric Bite], [Body Manipulation], [Dragon¡¯s Perception], [Adaptive Blood], [Pure Yin Essence] -[Assimilate(grayed out)], [Remodel(grayed out)], [Absorption(unlock: 100sp)] -[Longevity(unlock: 500sp)], [Thread Manipulation(unlock: 500sp)], [Mana Affinity(unlock: 1000sp)] -[Glamour(unlock: 1000sp)], [Green Thumb(unlock: 1000sp)], [Multi-Form(unlock: 2500sp)] [Eidetic Memory], [Don¡¯t Mind Me], [Assisted Body Contortion], [Subdued Grace] [Priestess(Goddess Katherian)] {Prayer}{Bless}{Ability} -[Status Manager] [Mute], [High Energy Body], [Monster Bait] [Destined to Serve(Mistress: Scarlet)] {Orders}{Attire}{Punishments}{Link} Chapter 70: Frightening revelation Chapter 70: Frightening revelation ¡°Finally!¡±~me ¡°I¡¯ve been a bit busy with the new dungeon items.¡±~Kat I¡¯d been pulled into Kat¡¯s divine realm for the first time in a while. ¡°So, first, the greyed out traits. What¡¯s up with those?¡±~me ¡°I¡¯ve migrated most of your attire functions over to using those two traits instead of having a system of its own. The three weapons you¡¯ve used up till now will be in your inventory when you wake up. You¡¯ll have to upgrade or replace them yourself from now on.¡±~Kat ¡°Why change it?¡±~me She then showed me a couple of glassy orbs with dark splotches on them. One was nearly covered, while the other had about forty percent covered. ¡°The less visible one is what your soul looked like when you first incarnated in this world, the second is your current appearance now that you¡¯ve gotten rid of some of your curses. This third one is what it¡¯ll look like after the changes I¡¯ve just told you about.¡±~Kat As she was saying that last sentence she made another orb, this time with only about twenty-five percent covered. ¡°Your curses might have been necessary and fun at first, but they have also hindered your progress. While getting rid of your remaining curses won¡¯t really change the amount you can cultivate every day, each day¡¯s cultivation will be quicker and it¡¯ll feel less like a chore. Heroes are typically much faster at cultivating, but yours has been much slower than others. Mary and Alice have already reached stage five in mind and body cultivation respectively.¡±~Kat ¡°What about high energy body and monster bait? Shouldn¡¯t those have increased it?¡±~me ¡°Those particular curses only affect the physical body, not the soul. Before you ask, yes, mute is also a curse on the soul since it has been with you as you came into this world. I advise you to remove it when you can.¡±~Kat ¡°Will this change how effects work?¡±~me ¡°Some will change, but you will continue to have access to each of the clothes and effects you¡¯ve used until now. A few of the effects will be substituted though. Things like sensual will become motion correction(sensual 1). Just like with a living armor, the quality of your gear and number of effect slots is limited by your body cultivation stage. Likewise, the level of an effect is limited by your mind cultivation. Spirit cultivation would normally determine how well a living armor can manipulate or boost its host body, but that doesn¡¯t apply to you.¡±~Kat ¡°And if I want new effects I¡¯ll have to use assimilate on something with the desired effect first? Seems simple enough.¡±~me ¡°Next topic is energy pathways. Like the living armor¡¯s tendrils are used to move energy as needed for it, you¡¯ll need some as well. As such, I¡¯ve unlocked energy tatts for you, but it would be better to do it the natural way using your body manipulation trait to shapeshift your body a bit to produce them yourself. That reminds me, I changed how living armors work a bit. They can also do make-up and tatts now as well. Just have it assimilate some cosmetics and ink, then you¡¯ll be all set.¡±~Kat ¡°Advantages and disadvantages?¡±~me ¡°Tatts would be non-intrusive, but easily interrupted by small cuts on the skin. They also glow as you transfer higher amounts of energy. Shapeshifted energy pathways would be similar to what a living armor makes in its host, except I intend to make separate paths for each of the energies for you. You¡¯d end up with qi channels, mana veins and spirit conduits in your body, basically an upgraded version of the tendrils. The real disadvantage to this system is that it requires that you have a core near your heart to centralize it and you would have to get used to the new way of using your energy.¡±~Kat ¡°Getting used to a new way of using my energy seems that it would be necessary with either method anyways. Talk more about the core. Would having one mean that I could be tamed with a soul brand?¡±~me ¡°Yes and no. You could potentially be tamed, but just your body would be under the tamer¡¯s control since your soul would not be housed within the core unlike others.¡±~Kat So it would be like how slavery is now that Kat had changed how contracts work. Not that anyone would be able to overwhelm and tame me in the first place. With this in mind, I agreed with the second method. There¡¯s no need to ask why divinity didn¡¯t have its own pathway. Divine energy is like a blanket on the soul and the soul permeates the entire body making it readily available wherever needed. Spirit energy is produced by the soul permeating a body and does need a pathway. ¡°Now that I¡¯ll have a core, does this mean I can safely consume monster and beast cores?¡±~me ¡°Nope. Eating them would taint your body with monster energy like before and cultivating with them would cause deviation backlash. You could however absorb them to refill your energies once you¡¯ve unlocked that other trait. The one you got from the slime.¡±~Kat ¡°If I unlocked that trait, wouldn¡¯t my whole digestive system become unnecessary?¡±~me ¡°Not entirely. Your body would still need a way to get nutrients. You could finally get rid of those two waste voiding plugs though, since your body would automatically absorb and convert any waste or excess material into energy.¡±~Kat ¡°Oh, you know I love it when you talk dirty.¡±~me ¡°Bah. You scoundrel.¡±~Kat Or so she says, but I still managed to get a little blush from her. We continued to chat for a bit longer before the morning. My control percentages dropped significantly due to the changes in my body that Kat had made while I was sleeping. I¡¯d lost nearly ninety percent from my intelligence attributed control percentage. In other words, my ability to manipulate my energies was severely affected. I started my daily routine before Scarlet woke up and we had breakfast together while I told her about my conversation with Kat I had during the night. She had been surprisingly okay with wearing the cat onesie pajamas I picked out for her last night and she looked adorable in them. ¡°Don¡¯t you find it kind of strange?¡±~Scarlet ¡°What do you mean, Mistress?¡±~me ¡°Every time your curse is downgraded a bit, you¡¯re changed in some way that fills in the gap. Like this latest change with the attire. You now have a trait that acts pretty much the same way, but is no longer part of your curse. It¡¯s like you are slowly becoming what your curse forces you to be as the curse is slowly removed.¡±~Scarlet I felt a cold shiver run down my spine as Scarlet spoke. Is it weird that I can totally see myself being okay with always being someone¡¯s servant? Only girls, of course. I can¡¯t help but to wonder if this is all just one of Kat¡¯s schemes. Setting aside my worries before I can scare myself silly, I decided to ignore the terrifying possibility for now. ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind the next time Kat speaks with me. For now, we¡¯ll go to the auction house to pick up various low grade items with different effects on them so that you can feed them to your familiar. Since we have no real problem with money, it will probably only take it a few days to hit stage two and maybe another month to hit stage three.¡±~me ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you have a bunch of that stuff in your inventory already, especially since you visit the upper levels of the dungeon pretty often. Say, exactly how many lowlifes have you killed in the dungeon?¡±~Scarlet ¡°...¡±~me ¡°What was that?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I lost count. Well, I didn¡¯t really try to count in the first place. They earn their deaths by either trying to steal from me or by intending to rape me.¡±~me ¡°Don¡¯t you think that you are somewhat to blame for strolling around the dungeon alone. I mean, when someone sees a beauty walking alone in a dark place¡­¡±~Scarlet ¡°That¡¯s stupid! The victim is never at fault for the crimes committed against them!¡±~me ¡°Any survivors? Did you at least let the ones who ran away go?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Zero. If they try to ambush me or refuse to leave when I warn them, that¡¯s it. Letting them go after that point is just asking them to either try again when you¡¯re less prepared or to call for reinforcements.¡±~me *sigh* ¡°You¡¯re quite merciless, aren¡¯t you? Let¡¯s head to the auction house.¡±~Scarlet It turned out that she had fallen in love with the goth dress from yesterday. Being a clothes designer herself, she even made some improvements to the design. Her previous black dress now had a pink color to accent it with bows, ribbon and other trimmings added. Mine was similar with red accents, making hers cuter and mine sexy. Even though the effect on her mind was gone, the child-like body must affect her somewhat. Her good mood due to the clothes had her humming, and...I think I saw her skipping a little? Although we still stood out a bit, it wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as the pink princess dresses from before. We made it back in time for lunch and Scarlet got started on having her familiar assimilating her share. As for me, Rosy was here once more to pick up the new slime. She evaluated that it was highly likely that she could produce some new medicines from it. Definitely one for exfoliating the skin and maybe one that can purge the body of toxins. The price I agreed on for this slime was that we would be able to buy some of her products at nearly their cost price. Rosy also gave me some information that could give me a lead on finding the last ingredient for my beauty potion recipe. A succubus named Devora is the de facto leader of all the succubi in the city. I was told that she would know who to go to for the ingredient and that I should be able to find her in her club, Domoania(dom-moan-ia), basically every night. Chapter 71: Visiting the red light district Chapter 71: Visiting the red light district The next morning I asked Scarlet if she could discretely inquire from some of her customers about Devora, and maybe ask about her club if the subject came up. We don¡¯t want to accidentally offend someone by directly asking about the club because of where it is located, the red light district. It¡¯s probably a sex club or brothel after all, given the nature of succubi. Ten days easily passed by while I was getting acquainted with my new way to move my energies around. It¡¯s actually much more efficient than previous. I can expel a precise amount from my core for each spell or skill instead of pushing an approximated glob or energy from my body, hoping it¡¯s enough. Scarlet was also able to gather some useful information about Devora and her club. First, the club is basically a love hotel that holds a masquerade ball with a slutty outfits theme in the first floor ballroom practically nonstop and it even has a S&M dungeon in the basement. It has rules that are strictly followed by the workers and clients. The rules are enforced by a magic contract which is required to be signed to enter, along with a hefty fee. The information about Devora hinted that my best chance of meeting her would be around the time for the evening shift to start. I could simply inform a receptionist at the entrance and they would pass along my request. One little quirk of her¡¯s that has me feeling somewhat uneasy is that she doesn¡¯t accept the usual currencies for her time. We¡¯d head over to talk with Devora tomorrow night. It wouldn¡¯t look good after all if Scarlet was seen taking a child into the red light district. She¡¯d decided to get even with me starting last Fireday evening. I¡¯d been kept in my loli form for over a week now! Worst of all is that Scarlet would wait for the effect to wear off before giving me the next loli-pop, resulting in an almost constant childish attitude on my part. My mental blessing kept me conscious of my actions, but my body would still continue to act immature. Scarlet took great pleasure in having me model various outfits for her over the last week. She even used the abundant ideas my childish side had happily supplied to open up a childrens¡¯ section in her shop. As for why she had me that way for so long? She discovered that my curse would actually become less restricted and allow her to do things for herself while I was impaired with the mental debuff. It became a sort of vacation from being looked after and she enjoyed herself by doing some of the things she had recently been unable to do. Now that she had been satisfied, tonight would be the finale like how I did with Scarlet during the last night. When the night came, Scarlet was not nearly as reserved as I had been with her. She took full advantage of my small size. I was folded up with my feet up by my head and my arms secured behind my back, locking my legs in place. Then she lifted my small body up and rapidly impaled me repeatedly with her strap-on. We did other things as well, but being treated as a cock-sleeve by Scarlet gave me quite a thrill! Once I had turned back the next evening, we went together to the red light district to seek out Devora. Her place was very nice and the contract wasn¡¯t at all bad. It just listed off some basic rules, mostly for safety. There was even a contract signed by Devora herself hung in the lobby clearly stating the rules that her staff had to follow as well. I only started to feel a little uneasy when we started down to the dungeon where Devora¡¯s office is. Some very unnerving effects had been placed on us the moment we stepped down the stairs. Talking to the receptionist that was guiding us, she explained that it was due to an item recently found in one the dungeon¡¯s fifty-something floors. They used it to enhance their clients¡¯ experience. [Entered area of effect range of: Crystal Altar] Checking my active effects log, I searched the details on the altar. [Crystal Altar] {Stage 4 - upgradable: 10000 full divine crystals - stage 5} Socketed crystals(4/4): stamina regeneration(friend/neutral), sensory boost(friend/neutral), skill sealing(neutral/enemy), greater weakening(neutral/enemy) Status: neutral I was about as powerful as a mid stage 1 with my body under the greater weakening and my skills were locked to boot. With my feeble state, the sensory boost along with the stamina regeneration would definitely make any ¡®dungeon torture play¡¯ extra exciting. And the magical contracts made everything extremely safe for those involved. *knock knock* ¡°Some ladies are here to visit you. They¡¯ve paid for the minimum time.¡±~guide Yup, they made us pay for an hour just to meet with her. She¡¯s expensive, but not an amount worth mentioning compared to my current funds. ¡°Come in. Oh, two at once and both are girls as well? That¡¯s pretty rare.¡±~Devora Wow, just WOW! She¡¯s TOTALLY worth it! Flowing straight black hair with red highlights. Large, ruby red eyes adorning her tender, yet distinctly shaped oval face. Her large breasts were fully displayed and emphasized by her shapely figure. The few leather garments she wore just helped to enrich her already mature and dominant presence. Black with red trimmings, arm length gloves and thigh high boots kept up by garders from her ever so tiny underbust corset. If this world had a title system in place, she¡¯d likely be the most eligible for ¡®Demon Queen¡¯. She¡¯s also tall, mostly from her long legs! Her height, about two heads taller than me, firmly establishes an aura about her that screams for people to submit to her! And I like it¡­ ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a seat in my lounge and have a chat first?¡±~Devora *GULP* I couldn¡¯t help it! She made that come hither motion as she turned to lead us into a side room. We sat down and got to discussing business right away. Well, Scarlet did. I¡¯d become completely engrossed in the mood and had fallen into a daze, made worse when she started petting me. I did manage to hear a few important bits of the conversation though. First, she didn¡¯t accept direct payment for deals, only services. It was decided that I would be paying for the goods with my body. I would work for her as staff once every month for the last weekend of the month which is girls¡¯ weekend. In return, she¡¯d gather my potion ingredient from her acquaintances. Second, my potions would only be allowed to be auctioned in Domoania¡¯s internal auction that takes place the first night of every weekend, specifically auctioning them during the girls¡¯ weekend. To help keep the recipe secret, she even suggested that the winners would have to drink the potion on the spot. She¡¯d only take a five percent cut, which is many times smaller than the regular auction houses. And thirdly, Scarlet had to wear a ring, but I didn¡¯t manage to catch the specifics regarding it. There was a long explanation about it and it required a separate magical contract to be signed by her. Earlier, I had also signed a staff contract while barely lucid enough to ensure that it didn¡¯t allow for me to serve any male customers. I would ask Scarlet to explain in more detail about the things that I missed later. Our deal only took up the first half hour. Then Scarlet ended up discussing some things with Devora about our relationship, even some of our secrets since the contracts protected confidentiality. She did a lot of complaining about how unrestrained I had been lately. This, of course, resulted in me getting some ¡®punishment play¡¯ while Devora taught Scarlet the tricks of her trade and gave some advice. It was a long night. I had still been in a somewhat dazed auto-pilot mode, being led by Scarlet when we paid for the time extensions and left the building. My mind fully came back to me though when I walked out into the morning sunlight. Slowly some things started coming back to me. Like the new accessory I was wearing down below. [Band of Denial] {Unable to be removed by wearer} Effect: self-adjusting, chaste obedience(permission: intimate) Self-adjusting made it fit snuggly and I could not remove it myself. The other effect made so I couldn¡¯t cum without permission. Permission only being grantable by people I¡¯m intimate with. According to Scarlet, the permission requirement is set when putting it on by the intent of the person placing it. Other items I was carrying in my inventory since we reached the ground floor, outside the altar¡¯s area of effect. [Woundless Tasseled Flog] Effect: damage negation, shocking This one was an old acquaintance I had before, but had been left behind with Sofy. Though, this time it had an added shocking effect. [Woundless Paddle] Effect: damage negation, tenderize [Massage Roller] Effect: therapy, piercing [Domoania trainee guide] Tenderize is an effect only found on cooking items for meat! It must have been transferred, but I can see how it¡¯d be useful on a paddle, especially if used on a naughty child. Ugh, I think I just admitted that I¡¯m naughty? Child? Who said that, not me! I am NOT childish! Anyways, the effect would probably loosen the muscles more and more until the pain is unbearable. On the roller, the piercing effect just makes the therapy effect reach deeper. A great recovery item. The last item is just a small book with some job details. I also found my staff contract which I¡¯ll read over later. Scarlet is holding onto her own contract for the mysterious ring she¡¯s wearing, along with a book she has ordered me not to read. [Domoania training manual] If that¡¯s what I think it is, I¡¯m looking forward to seeing Scarlet be more assertive. Though, I can¡¯t make up my mind on whether I¡¯m excited or dreading the events to come? Chapter 72: Training your Lily Chapter 72: Training your Lily *SMACK SMACK SMACK* ¡°OWOWOWY!!! Mistress, please stop! I¡¯ll be good!¡±~me ¡°Hmph! That¡¯s what you said last time. I said that you would be punished if you did something like that again. You were warned and still did it anyways!¡±~Scarlet *SMACK SMACK SMACK* ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be punished if you didn¡¯t do such troublesome things, especially when I¡¯m in the middle of work. If you¡¯re bored, then find something productive to do or at least a hobby. And no, testing my limits is not an acceptable hobby.¡±~Scarled ¡°But you¡¯re the one who cancelled all those orders! The orders that used to prevent me from doing such things. Doesn¡¯t that mean you were giving me permission?¡±~me ¡°No Lily! It does NOT! I should have been punishing you since long ago instead of just blocking each new loophole you find with orders.¡±~Scarlet ¡°B-BUT¡­¡±~me ¡°No buts! Except for maybe the one I¡¯m going to spank again the next time you get out of hand.¡±~Scarlet With that final statement, Scarlet went back down to the shop to continue her work. I was left slouched over the side of the bed while feeling incredibly sore from my most recent spanking session. A repercussion for my latest little prank. All I did was convince the new shop attendant that it was the newbie¡¯s responsibility to model our shop¡¯s latest lingerie for the customers. I mean, come on. It¡¯s a womens¡¯ clothing shop. No one except the female employees and some female customers saw her. I would have quickly hidden her if a man approached the store. Scarlet¡¯s new interest in punishing me is all that damn book¡¯s fault! ===FLASHBACK START=== After we had gotten home from Domoania and took a much needed nap, Scarlet spent most of the day reading through her new book while I got familiar with some of the specifics of my new job. By that night, she had already removed most of my standing orders and she had some fun playing with her new whip with me. The dom look and attitude she used was very sexy and reminded me of one of my more memorable times with Sofy. I may have cried a little because I really do miss her, but it was thankfully drowned out by the other noises I was making. The following morning is when the punishments started. I had decided to massage her breasts when we were getting ready, even after having been told to not mess around because we were late getting up. So she spanked me until my butt was sore! Intrigued at first, thinking it was just some new way to play, I had worked myself up for some morning sex. But she just stopped after she¡¯d gotten some real pain out of me. I was then left stifled and burning for more. Which just led to even more punishments as I let myself continue to pester her due to my aroused state. The band of denial made sure that I suffered due to my thinking that it was all a game. I only managed to escape the punishment loop when she threw me to Flora in the garden. But then she punished me again when we got done! ¡®Being too loud and disturbing her workers¡¯ or so she said! That was the first day. The second day, I had become smarter about it. Teasing her just below her tolerance limit and only going beyond it when I could get a response out of her that would make the following punishment worth it. ===FLASHBACK END=== Unfortunately, she caught on to my little scheme and upped her game today. She used an upgrade crystal and an effect transfer crystal on the paddle to add force dispersion to it. An effect normally used on shields and armors to cause any attacks to be evenly spread across it, instead of on the impact point. If force dispersion were to be used on a normal weapon, this effect would make the weapon pretty useless. But with the paddle, it caused the tenderize effect and eventual pain to spread evenly throughout my body instead. After my first session with the improved paddle, my body was now completely wrecked. I¡¯m sore all over, feeling as though I¡¯d just suffered through an intense workout with the most demanding coach ever! I can¡¯t even heal myself up quickly. Workout soreness isn¡¯t considered damage to the body, so traditional healing spells don¡¯t affect it. The only option is to simply speed up the body¡¯s natural regeneration, but it¡¯s still not very quick and nothing except a proper rest can help to alleviate the feeling of sluggishness. Once I started to feel well enough to move around, I headed down to the shop in a slightly depressed mood. Scarlet¡¯s back was facing me when I entered, so I decided to sneak up behind her to fondle her boobs from behind for some revenge. But as I started to reach around her¡­ ¡°L-I-L-I-A?!¡±~Scarlet That tone! She had taken to using my full name as an explicit when annoyed. Panicking, I quickly changed my attack into a hug. ¡°What are you up to now?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Nothing! I just needed a hug. You can¡¯t punish me for this, I¡¯m not interrupting your work!¡±~me *Sigh* ¡°A hug huh? I suppose that¡¯s fine. Just don¡¯t let your hands start to wonder or we¡¯ll end up back upstairs for round two.¡±~Scarlet My body shivered slightly from her last remark and I hugged her tighter while resting my head against her back. Once I¡¯d filled my comfort meter up a bit, I wandered out into the shop. I sat down on one of the changing room sofas next to an older woman who was with her daughter that was trying on different clothes. Soon enough, she couldn¡¯t resist the urge to try to pet me. Just as intended. And willingly I snuggled up to her with my head on her lap while I pondered my current situation. When my snuggle partner left, she nudged me awake. She even gave me a few crystals for the ¡®extra service¡¯. Hm, possible job opportunity perhaps? Anyways, during my situation review I¡¯d come to some conclusions. Number one to infinity: I hate that book!!! One or two exclamations isn¡¯t enough! Domoania training manual is the undisputed number one suspect for Scarlet¡¯s new interest in spanking me! Number infinity plus one: I figured out the objective that she¡¯s trying to achieve. It¡¯s twofold. The first objective is for her to establish herself in the dominant role of our relationship. Second, is to discourage my bad behavior through physical punishments. A tried and true method used by many parents for children, but works in other cases just the same. For all those science nerds out there, I think this method of training me is called something like: psychophysiological conditioning. It makes use of some loopholes in my mind protection blessing and anti-abuse conditions. Because this method¡¯s goal is to convince me to decide to not do things on my own it doesn¡¯t directly influence my mind. It¡¯s also not abuse due to it technically being expected consequences of my own actions due to the warnings I get first. The only thing that might be contestable is Scarlet monopolizing the dominant role in bed. Let¡¯s go have a talk with Scarlet about that. ¡°Mistress, can we talk?¡±~me ¡°Sure, what¡¯s up?¡±~Scarlet ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s fair for you to hog the dominant role in bed. We should be equal partners, at least when we¡¯re doing ¡®that¡¯.¡±~me ¡°Ah! I should have told you earlier. My bad. It¡¯s actually part of my side of our deal with Devora.¡±~Scarlet ¡°The ring?¡±~me ¡°Yup, the ring. It¡¯s one of a linked pair of rings with the sense sharing effect. One of Devora¡¯s friends has the other. Specifically, a female friend that is currently bedridden. Mine is the sending one, while the other is receiving.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Wait! So, someone has been watching us for the last few days? Even while doing ¡®that¡¯? And you didn¡¯t tell me?!¡±~me ¡°Pish. I hear your words, but can feel your excitement in them. As soon as you learned that the other party was female, you completely relaxed. Even I wouldn¡¯t be okay with a guy peeping and experiencing ¡®that¡¯ through me!¡±~Scarlet ¡°How long will this last exactly?¡±~me ¡°The contract was for three months at most. But it can be shorter. If the ring deactivates before the contract expires, the contract will be considered fulfilled. Basically, if the other person stops using it. I¡¯ll be able to tell if it deactivates because the effect will become grayed out when I analyze it. Which I¡¯ve been doing every morning.¡±~Scarlet ¡°What if I can¡¯t wait that long?¡±~me ¡°Then we can quit this contract part way and I¡¯d need to do the other thing Devora had suggested in its place for my part of the deal. But I¡¯d like to fulfill the contract if possible. Devora¡¯s friend is apparently extremely wealthy and promised a huge bonus if the contract is fulfilled.¡±~Scarlet ¡°My dragon instinct for treasure just tingled when you mentioned ¡®extremely wealth¡¯ and ¡®huge bonus¡¯. Though, I am curious about what other thing that Devora suggested?¡±~me ¡°Not telling. And I¡¯ve already made sure Devora won¡¯t tell either. You could, of course, sabotage this contract. But I¡¯m betting that your dragon instinct for treasure is stronger.¡±~Scarlet Really need some way to wipe that smirk off her face! This will need some careful planning though. I don¡¯t want to get caught. Hateful damn book!!! Chapter 73: First day jitters Chapter 73: First day jitters Today is the day. It¡¯s now Fireday morning of the last week of the month. I¡¯ll have to head to Domoania early this time as it¡¯s my first time on the job. I need to be fitted with the clothes I¡¯ll be wearing for my debut and go over some things. My measurements were already taken when we were there a few days ago. Before heading out, I spent the morning preparing enough ready-to-eat meals to last Scarlet for the rest of the weekend. I wasn¡¯t too sure if I¡¯d be coming back at all through the weekend. When I arrived at Domoania, I showed my staff contract to a receptionist. Soon after, a mature looking woman came out to guide me. ¡°So you¡¯re the new girl right? My name is Melony. You can just call me Mels.¡±~Mels ¡°Nice to meet you, Mels. I have a mute curse so I¡¯ll use this to communicate. My name is Lilia. Please feel free to call me Lily. So, what can I expect for my first night and hereafter?¡±~me(note) ¡°Ah, right. I think that I remember hearing something along those lines from the boss. First off, Fireday night always hosts an auction. The rights to reserve some of the more popular girls are auctioned off and some various items as well. Since it¡¯s your debut, you¡¯ll be the star of tonight¡¯s auction.¡±~Mels ¡°The winning bidder gets you for a full day and the right to reserve you for an additional day. Included in the deal is a reservation for one of the VIP rooms in the upper floors for the night which includes all the various goodies. Did you get to read the guidebook by any chance?¡±~Mels ¡°I¡¯ve read it. We appear to be heading towards the salon which is where women customers will go to rent costumes or visit the spa inside. Whereas the den that is for the male customers is on the other side with the ballroom between the two. Right?¡±~me(note) ¡°You got it right. What¡¯s not written in there is that the staff will also use the facilities for their own preparations as well. There¡¯s a few private back rooms and ones for staff only too. We¡¯ll be going into one of the staff only rooms to get you ready to debut. Wouldn¡¯t want to expose you until the finale after all.¡±~Mels The salon looked pretty much like you¡¯d expect of a spa facility. Lots of cushy seating, some staffers doing mani and pedi for the guests, make-up stations, massage tables, a large selection of clothing and even a couple tubs where you could take a quick bath. I¡¯m led into one of the staff rooms and told to strip off everything while she goes back out to gather up the things I¡¯ll be needing for my preparations. As I didn¡¯t want to reveal my traits gained from the living armor, I¡¯d worn normal clothes here. Soon after I finished removing my clothes, Mels came back with three other girls, each of them carrying various items. ¡°Does that not come off? Girls, this is Lily. She can¡¯t talk because of a curse, so she¡¯ll write a note if she has anything to say. Lily, this is Naomi, Jean, and Whitney. Jean and Whitney will be doing your nails while I trim your hair. After that, you¡¯ll get into the bath that Naomi is going to prepare. Speaking of, make sure to add the skin skimming potion to it Naomi. It¡¯s Lily¡¯s debut tonight.¡±~Mels ***HISS*** ¡°My collar doesn¡¯t come off at all. It¡¯s a variant of the succubus¡¯ collar of submission and even has the dual cultivation effect. Why did everyone just cringe and suck in their breath when you mentioned that potion? Is it something bad?¡±~me(note) ¡°Oh, well that will raise your value a bit for the auction actually. Now that we know, I¡¯m sure Mels will make sure that the guests will be informed about it. As for the potion. It¡¯s not bad for you, just a bit painful is all.¡±~Whitney Jean exaggeratedly nodded her head to confirm Whitney¡¯s comment and they explained further about the potion while ushering me to a seat, starting their work while talking. The potion is made from some concentrated scavenger slime juices which are well known to only dissolve dead things. It should be very effective to remove any dead skin. Which wouldn¡¯t normally be so bad, except that I¡¯ll have to apply another potion first that will kill off the outer layer of skin while simultaneously stimulating skin growth. I¡¯ll basically be molting my skin, leaving me with my raw fresh skin exposed. My nails were trimmed and polished, gold colored to match my eyes and Mels cut my hair up to my lower back. Frankly, I like my hair long, but it would occasionally get yanked by accident while it had been longer. It was initially down to my butt and I hadn¡¯t cut it since my rebirth, so it had grown a little too long. Jean and Whitney left once they had finished. Naomi was left to monitor me bathing while Mels left to retrieve my garments that I¡¯d wear for the auction. I made sure to get the name of their potion supplier while gnashing my teeth in the tub. Funny enough, it¡¯s Rose who supplies them. I¡¯m sure Scarlet would love to try a new beauty treatment if I buy some on the way home. Some people say that what you don¡¯t know, can¡¯t hurt you. But in this case, it can and definitely will hurt her...just a bit. It¡¯s not like I want to inflict anything truly harmful upon her. A little pain in exchange for beauty though? We girls from any world have been doing such for ages! I¡¯m fairly confident I can get away with this trick without punishment. Muhahahahahaaa...cough cough... IT HURTS!!! Seriously, this is very painful. A good, no, an equally bad comparison would be to have fire ants attacking your entire body. And even though I know she¡¯s really using a very soft rag to help me wipe, it feels like Naomi is using a dishpad to scour my flesh! When I left the tub, goosebumps appeared all over my body and I let out an involuntary shiver due to how chilly I felt. Then Naomi made it worse by applying a cold lotion. ¡°I know it feels cold, but this lotion has a cooling effect that will help to alleviate the redness of your irritated skin and it will keep it moisturized as well.¡±~Naomi Next step was a massage. She had me lay on a massage table and told me it would be fine to fall asleep since the auction was still a while from now. And I did, fall asleep that is. My muscles really needed the care. Though Scarlet has tried to learn how before, she just doesn¡¯t have any talent for it. When Mels woke me up, Naomi was already gone. Time to get dressed, dress being an overstatement. What Mels had brought for me to wear was a bunch of straps. One of those bondage body harnesses with minimal coverage. It would circle around the breasts, the waist and had long sections going up the middle of my front and back that separated at the top to go over my shoulders. The bottom looked like some leather panties with the front cut out to show off ¡®the goods¡¯. ¡°Wait, don¡¯t wear it yet. I need to wipe you down to remove the remnants of the earlier lotion and apply another one.¡±~Mels ¡°What will this one do? No more pain, right?¡±~me(note) ¡°Sorry about that, but no. This one doesn¡¯t hurt and will even be pleasurable. There¡¯s two effects. First, it will increase your sensitivity to the limit. You¡¯ll be thankful not to be wearing fabrics later as even light chafing will cause you to be stimulated. The second effect is a mild, slow acting aphrodisiac. You¡¯ll be raring to go by the time the auction gets to you, but won¡¯t lose your wits.¡±~Mels Not so bad. I¡¯ve tried much stronger stuff before. After lotioning up, I put on the ensemble with Mels¡¯ assistance. The whole getup is made of white leather and includes ball handcuffs, arm bands, thigh bands and ankle cuffs. Everything with lots of D-rings and the ankle cuffs even looked like they have extra straps to lock some heels on me. But where are the he...els¡­?! WHAT.the.HELL...are those doing here?! ¡°Uh, can¡¯t I wear some more normal heels? Not those torture devices?¡±~me(note) ¡°You¡¯ll try them on first to see if you can walk in them. Believe it or not, these are like a status symbol here and your catkin side should make them easier for you to use than for others. Lots of nobles visit this place and you can get higher bids, gifts and even some unique privileges from them by showing off a little.¡±~Mels Ballet high heel ankle boots. That¡¯s what she just pulled out for me to wear. Again, we have reaffirmed the fact that women in any world will torture themselves for the sake of beauty. I CAN¡¯T let Scarlet find out about these things! O-or she¡¯ll...I¡¯ll be...Let¡¯s just think some happy thoughts. ¡°Good, I¡¯ll go check on the auction progress. You can stay in here to rest until it¡¯s your turn.¡±~Mels Just like she said, I had no problem walking in them. As soon as she left, I chucked the boots into my inventory and duplicated them with my remodel trait, giving them the comfortable and strengthening effects. Chapter 74: Bidding on Lily Chapter 74: Bidding on Lily I investigated the remaining contents of the bag that Mels had brought in while I was waiting. Inside I found some fasteners, a lead that looked like it would attach to my collar, a pair of earrings with the deaf effect, a blindfold and a very lightweight opaque golden robe. While thinking about each item¡¯s use, Mels came back. ¡°It¡¯s nearly time. Let¡¯s do the last steps. I¡¯ll go over what happens next, up until you are given over to the winning bidder, so you can ask any question before being unable to. We¡¯ll start by putting on the gag, not really needed in your case, but it adds to the mood. Then I¡¯ll secure your hands in the ball handcuffs and secure them behind your back on opposite sides of your waist. I¡¯ll use several fasteners to secure your limbs. Your body will then be covered with the robe and I will take you to the stage. Got everything so far?¡±~Mels ¡°Yes.¡±~me(note) ¡°Good. Once you¡¯re standing on stage, I¡¯ll pull off the robe quickly for a ¡®sudden reveal¡¯ presentation while holding onto your lead. Dramatic, I know. But whatever gets the crowd worked up will only help to drive up your price. Devora, as the auctioneer, will then extoll on your selling points and might even touch you a bit. Don¡¯t try to hold it in too much. Some response from you could help to hype up the bidders. Right before the bidding starts, I¡¯ll put the earrings and blindfold on you. Some guests like to remain completely anonymous. Once the bidding ends, I¡¯ll take you up to the VIP room and the winner will join you shortly, once they¡¯ve paid. Any questions?¡±~Mels I shake my head for no and she begins. An O-ring gag is placed in my mouth and strapped firmly behind my head. My cuffed hands are brought around my back and secured in place. Some fasteners are added to secure my arms to my sides, one is placed to connect the thigh bands together and another my ankles. I start to wonder if I¡¯ll even be able to hobble up to the stage like this when I¡¯m picked up by Mels and carried off. ¡°Now, for tonight¡¯s finale. Please help me in welcoming a new addition to our staff! Here¡¯s L-I-L-Y!¡±~Devora We approach the back or the stage from what I assume is one of the hidden staff passageways. She sets me on the stage and yanks the robe off me. I can¡¯t help but to shiver a bit as the silky fabric slides across my erect nipples. ¡°Tonight is her debut in Domoania. She is a half catkin, half succubus who has never been with a man. Has experience with the ladies, but this is her first time in this sort of scene. We¡¯ve given her the usual first timers¡¯ initiation treatments and she even comes equipped with a band of denial.¡±~Devora ¡°GUHAA!¡±~me While saying that last bit, she swiped her finger across my nub, nearly sending me into an orgasm. No, I should say that I would have orgasm if not for that clit ring preventing me. Also, I¡¯m way more sensitive than I should be and I¡¯m pretty sure I know why. My lust crust, it¡¯s currently set to multiply my sensitivity by five. The earlier potion, which should increase my sensitivity by three where normal is one, must have added to my base sensitivity, not the total. Instead of getting an eight, I¡¯m now somewhere around twenty! { A/Note: (1*5)+3=8 vs. (1+3)*5=20 } ¡°WOW! Much more sensitive than any of our previous girls. How about a little demonstration for everyone? Lily, go ahead and cum.¡±~Devora ¡°HOOOOOaaaaaah!¡±~me I was now cumming in front of a large audience! If Mels hadn¡¯t caught me, I would have fallen to the floor. Some surprise and excited whispers could be heard from the crowd. Meanwhile, Devora just continued to advertise me. Once I managed to catch my breath, she set me upright on my feet and put the earrings and blindfold on me. And the bidding began. ¡°Mistress, EMERGENCY!¡±~me ¡°Oh, what could it be? Aren¡¯t you having fun yet?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m way too sensitive right now! I need you to turn off the sensitivity for my lust crest.¡±~me ¡°Nu-uh. If I turn that down now, after that little display, the winner might end up feeling cheated when you don¡¯t respond the same for her.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Display? Uh, where are you right now?¡±~me ¡°I¡¯m watching the fun, of course! Your current price is already more than my shop earns in three months! By-the-way, nice heels! Also curious about these initiation treatments you¡¯ve been through. Your skin is a lovely shade of baby pink and that sensitivity...tsk tsk.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Forget the heels for now and help me out! At least turn it down two levels. That will put me a little higher than half of my current level. It will still cause me to easily go into a state of sensory overload like earlier, but I¡¯ll be able to last longer. Hopefully the effect of the treatment will diminish quickly enough that I don¡¯t become an incoherent mess.¡±~me ¡°What would your situation be if you went down one level more than that?¡±~Scarlet ¡°Just under the overload level, but I¡¯d still be about twice as sensitive as any previous girls.¡±~me ¡°Alright, and done. I¡¯ve reset it to a multiplier of two. Be sure to tell me if the winner becomes dissatisfied though. Can¡¯t have you getting any bad reviews.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!¡±~me ¡°Oh, and how are you going to thank me exactly?¡±~Scarlet ¡°...NOT with ballet high heel ankle boots! No matter how many effects I can add to them to make them less uncomfortable, they still don¡¯t feel right. And they are NOT meant to be worn in public or as everyday heels!¡±~me ¡°...¡±~Scarlet ¡°How about I bring home some supplies to give you the same initiation treatments instead? Gonna warn you though, it''s a bit painful.¡±~me ¡°Hoh? Kind of sounds like you¡¯ve already planned to do so, just without the warning if I hadn¡¯t helped you out?¡±~Scarlet ¡°...¡±~me ¡°What, no comment? Well, I¡¯m sure that I¡¯ll think of something you can do to thank me. Do bring home the mentioned supplies though. Oh, the bidding is over. You went for a crazy price of one million crystals! Looks like some noble young lady won. Wow, they¡¯re even buying you out for the following night too. Even converted to fourth stage crystals, that¡¯s still sixteen hundred crystals.¡±~Scarlet ¡°How about I ask for a portion of my payment to be with divine crystals and we finally unlock your doll house? I¡¯m sure that Devora has a large stock of them in order to keep that crystal altar working.¡±~me ¡°Hmm? For that much, I¡¯ll forget about you trying to trick me into a painful experience. But you¡¯ll still owe me. Deal?¡±~Scarlet ¡°DEAL!¡±~me ¡°Also, the position that the winner asked them to arrange you into in the room is something called: hung up and spread with senses impaired.¡±~Scarlet ¡°What does that mean?!¡±~me ¡°Dunno.¡±~Scarlet ¡°Well, can you find out? Ask someone?¡±~me ¡°Hehe. Oh, I will. I¡¯ll ask you about it next time. I¡¯m sure to enjoy learning about your experiences. I¡¯m leaving now, so see you on Earthday.¡±~Scarlet Further pleas for information fall on deaf ears. As I¡¯m finishing things up with scarlet, Mels has arrived with me to the VIP room and has stood me up on the floor. She removed the fasteners on my legs and spread my feet apart. Then, what I assume to be a spreader bar was hooked to the D-rings on the back of my ankle cuffs. Guess we know what the spread part meant. Nonono! If you lift me there, my harness will definitely start to pinch upward! Mels attached something to the D-rings on my shoulders. And I can feel it, a rope probably, extending upwards. She gives my harness one final check, pats me on the head and I then feel myself being hoisted up. Worst wedgie ever! As if it¡¯s not already bad enough, she then extends the spreader bar much further. The only saving grace is that my undies portion of the harness is open in the middle instead of grinding into my snach. Though it does mean that my butt cheeks flare out as well. Normal people shouldn¡¯t try this. The reason that this doesn¡¯t immediately cut off all circulation to my legs is because the veins are much sturdier due to my body cultivation level. The chafing causes me to squirm, which causes me to spin a little. But that stops with some additional connections to my ankles. Ropes connected to something on the floor, anchoring me in place. Then there¡¯s nothing. It feels like a really long time because my sight and hearing are still blocked. Mels never removed the earrings or blindfold as per my patron¡¯s request: ¡®with senses impaired¡¯. Why not just use my skills to peek? Can¡¯t, it would be a breach of contract. Confidentiality and all that jazz. Finally, something happened. I can feel her breathing near my groin. She grabs my buttcheeks and¡­ ¡°GUUUUOOOOOOHHHHAAAAAA!!! HEEEEEEEEKEKEKEK!!!¡±~me Her suddenly licking my pussy from bottom to top in one stroke was way too much for the already inflamed lips to handle. And using the tip of her tongue to give my nub a flick at the end was a master stroke. But I¡¯ve been denied the climax that would normally come. Hell of a way to start things off...