Well, he would have to check what the hell that was later. For the moment, however, there was a bigger question on his mind. “You are not even trying to fight me?!” John shouted out. He knew there was this whole thing about gift horses, but really, this was just too weird.
“Nah,” Alexej waved off with his lowered hand; “I have seen enough. I can’t beat you.” Now that was both ominous and highly untrustworthy. What was he trying to hide by not even attempting a desperate struggle? “Announcer, I said I give up, can you make it official please?” Alexej shouted up.
“Folks, it seems that team Lydia goes into a 3 to 1 lead… on the back of a surrender,” Jeff said, the hype seemed to have left him, and the void had been filled by utter disappointment. “That makes three wins in a row. A total smackdown, an actually entertaining fight and now this.”
“Maximillian wasn’t lying when he said today’s fight would surprise us,” Dra added in the usual manner. “In all due honesty, I could have lived without this surprise.”
The biome was vanishing as quickly as it had been built, and Alexej walked off without another word. With no other choice, John turned to leave himself. Everyone else in his party was as confused as he was.
“I expected some sort of bullshit-off,” Rave said. “Like, ya know, Alexej pulls out some 4 metre sword out of thin air, made up of 5 elements, and then ya just throw stupid abilities at each other.”
“I concur that I also expected something more than this,” Lydia agreed. “However, this result worries me.”
“Why’s that?” Rave wondered.
“I swear to the fucking earth, seizure hands,” Thana burst out. “You are as dumb as a dumpster fire.”
“Shaddup,” Rave snapped at her. “Just cause I ain’t about your political landscaping stuff doesn’t mean I am dumb. Ya can’t understand people, and I don’t get this whole strategic kerfuffle.”
“Kerfuffle?” a maniacal noise escaped the blood mage. “The fuck? Is that a word?”
“Yes, it means something along the lines of ‘a commotion’,” John explained. “Not sure you can even use that there… ah well, to answer your question though, Jane, the problem is that we still have no idea what his powers are.”
Lydia nodded, a rigid up and down motion that looked like the words ‘Yes, Sir!’ would naturally follow. “Which is increasingly worrisome,” the princess said. “Maximillian wouldn’t include someone into his team that can only manipulate information. Such a person could just stand next to him without being a declared fighter. This means that Alexej is holding some power that Maximillian is sure will win him the group fights.”
“Aaah,” Rave made an understanding sound. “And ‘cause those are worth 3 points, if they win them on his back, his solo losses don’t matter as much. Gotcha.” With the techno-lover having grasped the situation they left the arena behind.
“Welcome home, Master,” Aclysia greeted them at the door; “Would you like something to eat? Would you like a massage? Or would you… like… me?”
“Aww, that’s adorable,” Rave jumped at the artificial guardian. “I’ll take ya, I’ll take ya every day.”
John watched as his girlfriend molested Aclysia, indiscreetly grabbing the bubble butt of the cosplaying maid. “This is not the intended result,” Aclysia said as she took the harassment with a graceful expression; “I am, however, more than happy to take you as well, mistress.”
“Ya really need to drop that mistress stuff already,” Rave told her. “Ya should be smart enough to understand by now.”
“I may or may not have been taking enjoyment in the slight awkwardness you feel whenever I say that,” Aclysia said with averted eyes.
“Wha-? Why would ya do that!” Rave demanded to know.
“I may or may not have been annoyed with the fact that I had to stay with you while Master was overseas.”
“Are ya sassing me right now?”
The tiniest of smiles played around Aclysia’s lips. “I may or may not be sassing you.”
“Well, I will have to go with something to eat,” John finally spoke up. “I am hungry. We can fuck afterwards. Where is Nathalia?”
“Sleeping in her room,” Aclysia answered, holding her salver with the usual diligence, and bowed. “She has been fed, pleased, bathed and properly groomed.”
“Ya make it sound like she is a horse,” Rave laughed. “A very, very, v-e-r-y horny horse.”
“I meant to imply no such thing. If you will excuse me, I will have to prepare something to eat,” Aclysia said and turned around. Her skirt whirled just right to give John a flash of her heart-shaped pillow of an ass, the white leotard that was her undergarments didn’t even cover half of the buttchecks.
“What are your plans for the remainder of the evening?” Lydia inquired as they went to the living room. The sound of pots rattling rang over from the kitchen, Aclysia had started to cook.
‘I wonder what she is making today,’ John thought, staying out of her thoughts to keep the surprise. “Well, after eating and having sex, I will go grind some more,” John said. “Namely, I want to get a level into Fateweaver.”
“Why is that?” Lydia’s eyes shifted from blue to grey. She did not like that he was going to waste his time with a Class that wasn’t going to help her current situation.
“It’s going to help me with my experience grinding, I hope,” John explained and looked at his Create I.D. skill.
“See, currently the I.D.s I create are good to get experience, but I want to know if I can get them to be great,” he continued. “All I.D. does nowadays is give me bigger enemies. While waves are quite good to grind, the thing that gives me the most experience are first kill bonuses. What I am hoping of levelling Fateweaver is to get a way to speed up things like Floor based dungeons, where I spent way too much time walking around.”
“Your Class Levels are a limited resource, John,” Lydia reminded him. “Do you really want to risk one in such a gamble?”
“Why not?” John shrugged, “I should get at least one level in most Classes just to find out what it does. Fateweaver gives me ‘Increased Time Dilation’ and ‘Advanced Create I.D. Options’…”
“…so, worst case scenario, we are going to save more time while grinding in the future. Sounds okay to me.” John conveniently failed to mention that he had no idea if the time dilation was in the Sticking Bonuses. There was a difference between helping Lydia to the best of his abilities and letting her control how he shapes his build. He didn’t want to have that whole discussion at the moment.
“I concede the argument,” Lydia said with a nod. “Do as you wish.”
“How fucking gracious of you, allowing John to use his own powers how he wants,” Thana giggled from the couch, watching an episode of… Scrubs, actually.
‘Good series,’ John thought. ‘Unusual to see that she’s watching something nice. A nice 8 season series.’
‘There are 9,’ Momo reflexively corrected him.
‘No,’ he vehemently protested, ‘there are EIGHT seasons of Scrubs.’
‘…Ah, right, that’s another one of those memes…’ a mental sigh, and that little feud was over as quickly as it began.
“I’ll go do that in a bit then,” John said.
“Need help with something while ya do that?” his girlfriend asked.
“Nah, it wants me to skill Create I.D., so I will just stand there and use it over and over again, nothing exciting,” he answered.
“Yeah, no, I’m doing some regular training for regular people then,” Rave stretched, “Right, Cappy?”
“Stop calling me that,” Copernicus demanded from his position on the back of the couch. “I have a glorious name, Copernicus!”
“But that’s so boring!”
“I am dumbfounded that someone like you is a Lightbearer,” the suncat meowed and jumped off the couch, “but I suppose I could have hit it worse. Let us train you up, then.”
While Rave left the room, John pulled his newest Quest reward from his inventory. ‘Time to check what you do,’ he thought and looked at the thing in his hand. It looked like a casino token, the shape of a coin and made of a green, smoky crystal. John turned it in his hand for bit, looking for something interesting on the smooth surface of the token.
‘Huh,’ John thought, ‘That sounds pretty good. Kind of expected this to be a high level enchant thing. The legendary items I am wearing are out, they don’t need the upgrades. My suit? I mean, if I could get my jacket to have higher fire resistance, I wouldn’t need to fix it as often…’ John looked at his jacket.
Yeah, it could use an upgrade. The token dissipated into a green mist at the thought and entered his clothes.
‘Okay, that’s way better than I thought it was going to be,’ John thought and looked at the choices. Strength was pretty much out, he wouldn’t make use of that. He wouldn’t be fighting in a suit if he wanted to be a melee fighter in the first place.
The temptation to go with the Magus’ Clothes was strong, just because it was his default response. MP per minute was a laughing matter for him though, he needed way more to make it worthwhile. 5% Intellect was a strong bonus, but was it better than getting higher defensive bonuses? John decided to go with the increasing of the current attributes.
At least that one was easy. He had no interest in changing to a Physical or Social based build at this point. Therefore, it was going to be the middle choice.
“Your powers are a never ending well of surprises,” Lydia commented when he was done picking.
“You have no idea how true that statement is,” John agreed. Simultaneously, Aclysia put food on the table. “Thank you.”
“I live to serve, Master.” Aclysia smiled, then took a position by his side.
John pointed at the chair next to him, “Why don’t you sit down? I want to talk a bit.” Aclysia’s thoughts radiated such wonderful happiness at that simple request that John couldn’t help but smile as he started eating. “How are your days?” John wanted to know. “Not too boring, I hope.”
“The stretches of time when you aren’t here cannot be over quick enough,” Aclysia said and inched her chair as close as possible without hindering him in eating, “but I have enough to do. This is a big house to clean, I need to get groceries on the regular to feed all of you, and mistress Nathalia needs… attention.”
John giggled, and Aclysia smiled a bit as she saw his happiness. “Once this whole thing is over, we should go on a date again,” he proposed. “Just the two of us.”
“That sounds wonderful! I loved our last date, John,” the artificial guardian enthusiastically agreed, struggling to keep her distance.
John made it easy on her and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close. He could eat with one arm. Aclysia blushed the slightest bit and rested her head on his shoulder, beaming with joy. “Can we do this more often?” she asked quietly.
“What?” John asked her to specify.
“Cuddling? Without it ending in sex? And just talking?” came the response.
“You were the one that greeted me with that Japanese porn phrase,” John reminded her.
“Correct, but now I have this,” she nestled up to him, the warmth of her body radiating onto his side, “and it just feels so right.”
“It does… but I really like having sex,” John told her, tapping his fork against the edge of his plate, “but, I guess, every once in a while, just cuddling is fine.”
“I love you, John,” Aclysia kissed him on the cheek.
Well, he would have to check what the hell that was later. For the moment, however, there was a bigger question on his mind. “You are not even trying to fight me?!” John shouted out. He knew there was this whole thing about gift horses, but really, this was just too weird.
“Nah,” Alexej waved off with his lowered hand; “I have seen enough. I can’t beat you.” Now that was both ominous and highly untrustworthy. What was he trying to hide by not even attempting a desperate struggle? “Announcer, I said I give up, can you make it official please?” Alexej shouted up.
“Folks, it seems that team Lydia goes into a 3 to 1 lead… on the back of a surrender,” Jeff said, the hype seemed to have left him, and the void had been filled by utter disappointment. “That makes three wins in a row. A total smackdown, an actually entertaining fight and now this.”
“Maximillian wasn’t lying when he said today’s fight would surprise us,” Dra added in the usual manner. “In all due honesty, I could have lived without this surprise.”
The biome was vanishing as quickly as it had been built, and Alexej walked off without another word. With no other choice, John turned to leave himself. Everyone else in his party was as confused as he was.
“I expected some sort of bullshit-off,” Rave said. “Like, ya know, Alexej pulls out some 4 metre sword out of thin air, made up of 5 elements, and then ya just throw stupid abilities at each other.”
“I concur that I also expected something more than this,” Lydia agreed. “However, this result worries me.”
“Why’s that?” Rave wondered.
“I swear to the fucking earth, seizure hands,” Thana burst out. “You are as dumb as a dumpster fire.”
“Shaddup,” Rave snapped at her. “Just cause I ain’t about your political landscaping stuff doesn’t mean I am dumb. Ya can’t understand people, and I don’t get this whole strategic kerfuffle.”
“Kerfuffle?” a maniacal noise escaped the blood mage. “The fuck? Is that a word?”
“Yes, it means something along the lines of ‘a commotion’,” John explained. “Not sure you can even use that there… ah well, to answer your question though, Jane, the problem is that we still have no idea what his powers are.”
Lydia nodded, a rigid up and down motion that looked like the words ‘Yes, Sir!’ would naturally follow. “Which is increasingly worrisome,” the princess said. “Maximillian wouldn’t include someone into his team that can only manipulate information. Such a person could just stand next to him without being a declared fighter. This means that Alexej is holding some power that Maximillian is sure will win him the group fights.”
“Aaah,” Rave made an understanding sound. “And ‘cause those are worth 3 points, if they win them on his back, his solo losses don’t matter as much. Gotcha.” With the techno-lover having grasped the situation they left the arena behind.
“Welcome home, Master,” Aclysia greeted them at the door; “Would you like something to eat? Would you like a massage? Or would you… like… me?”
“Aww, that’s adorable,” Rave jumped at the artificial guardian. “I’ll take ya, I’ll take ya every day.”
John watched as his girlfriend molested Aclysia, indiscreetly grabbing the bubble butt of the cosplaying maid. “This is not the intended result,” Aclysia said as she took the harassment with a graceful expression; “I am, however, more than happy to take you as well, mistress.”
“Ya really need to drop that mistress stuff already,” Rave told her. “Ya should be smart enough to understand by now.”
“I may or may not have been taking enjoyment in the slight awkwardness you feel whenever I say that,” Aclysia said with averted eyes.
“Wha-? Why would ya do that!” Rave demanded to know.
“I may or may not have been annoyed with the fact that I had to stay with you while Master was overseas.”
“Are ya sassing me right now?”
The tiniest of smiles played around Aclysia’s lips. “I may or may not be sassing you.”
“Well, I will have to go with something to eat,” John finally spoke up. “I am hungry. We can fuck afterwards. Where is Nathalia?”
“Sleeping in her room,” Aclysia answered, holding her salver with the usual diligence, and bowed. “She has been fed, pleased, bathed and properly groomed.”
“Ya make it sound like she is a horse,” Rave laughed. “A very, very, v-e-r-y horny horse.”
“I meant to imply no such thing. If you will excuse me, I will have to prepare something to eat,” Aclysia said and turned around. Her skirt whirled just right to give John a flash of her heart-shaped pillow of an ass, the white leotard that was her undergarments didn’t even cover half of the buttchecks.
“What are your plans for the remainder of the evening?” Lydia inquired as they went to the living room. The sound of pots rattling rang over from the kitchen, Aclysia had started to cook.
‘I wonder what she is making today,’ John thought, staying out of her thoughts to keep the surprise. “Well, after eating and having sex, I will go grind some more,” John said. “Namely, I want to get a level into Fateweaver.”
“Why is that?” Lydia’s eyes shifted from blue to grey. She did not like that he was going to waste his time with a Class that wasn’t going to help her current situation.
“It’s going to help me with my experience grinding, I hope,” John explained and looked at his Create I.D. skill.
“See, currently the I.D.s I create are good to get experience, but I want to know if I can get them to be great,” he continued. “All I.D. does nowadays is give me bigger enemies. While waves are quite good to grind, the thing that gives me the most experience are first kill bonuses. What I am hoping of levelling Fateweaver is to get a way to speed up things like Floor based dungeons, where I spent way too much time walking around.”
“Your Class Levels are a limited resource, John,” Lydia reminded him. “Do you really want to risk one in such a gamble?”
“Why not?” John shrugged, “I should get at least one level in most Classes just to find out what it does. Fateweaver gives me ‘Increased Time Dilation’ and ‘Advanced Create I.D. Options’…”
“…so, worst case scenario, we are going to save more time while grinding in the future. Sounds okay to me.” John conveniently failed to mention that he had no idea if the time dilation was in the Sticking Bonuses. There was a difference between helping Lydia to the best of his abilities and letting her control how he shapes his build. He didn’t want to have that whole discussion at the moment.
“I concede the argument,” Lydia said with a nod. “Do as you wish.”
“How fucking gracious of you, allowing John to use his own powers how he wants,” Thana giggled from the couch, watching an episode of… Scrubs, actually.
‘Good series,’ John thought. ‘Unusual to see that she’s watching something nice. A nice 8 season series.’
‘There are 9,’ Momo reflexively corrected him.
‘No,’ he vehemently protested, ‘there are EIGHT seasons of Scrubs.’
‘…Ah, right, that’s another one of those memes…’ a mental sigh, and that little feud was over as quickly as it began.
“I’ll go do that in a bit then,” John said.
“Need help with something while ya do that?” his girlfriend asked.
“Nah, it wants me to skill Create I.D., so I will just stand there and use it over and over again, nothing exciting,” he answered.
“Yeah, no, I’m doing some regular training for regular people then,” Rave stretched, “Right, Cappy?”
“Stop calling me that,” Copernicus demanded from his position on the back of the couch. “I have a glorious name, Copernicus!”
“But that’s so boring!”
“I am dumbfounded that someone like you is a Lightbearer,” the suncat meowed and jumped off the couch, “but I suppose I could have hit it worse. Let us train you up, then.”
While Rave left the room, John pulled his newest Quest reward from his inventory. ‘Time to check what you do,’ he thought and looked at the thing in his hand. It looked like a casino token, the shape of a coin and made of a green, smoky crystal. John turned it in his hand for bit, looking for something interesting on the smooth surface of the token.
‘Huh,’ John thought, ‘That sounds pretty good. Kind of expected this to be a high level enchant thing. The legendary items I am wearing are out, they don’t need the upgrades. My suit? I mean, if I could get my jacket to have higher fire resistance, I wouldn’t need to fix it as often…’ John looked at his jacket.
Yeah, it could use an upgrade. The token dissipated into a green mist at the thought and entered his clothes.
‘Okay, that’s way better than I thought it was going to be,’ John thought and looked at the choices. Strength was pretty much out, he wouldn’t make use of that. He wouldn’t be fighting in a suit if he wanted to be a melee fighter in the first place.
The temptation to go with the Magus’ Clothes was strong, just because it was his default response. MP per minute was a laughing matter for him though, he needed way more to make it worthwhile. 5% Intellect was a strong bonus, but was it better than getting higher defensive bonuses? John decided to go with the increasing of the current attributes.
At least that one was easy. He had no interest in changing to a Physical or Social based build at this point. Therefore, it was going to be the middle choice.
“Your powers are a never ending well of surprises,” Lydia commented when he was done picking.
“You have no idea how true that statement is,” John agreed. Simultaneously, Aclysia put food on the table. “Thank you.”
“I live to serve, Master.” Aclysia smiled, then took a position by his side.
John pointed at the chair next to him, “Why don’t you sit down? I want to talk a bit.” Aclysia’s thoughts radiated such wonderful happiness at that simple request that John couldn’t help but smile as he started eating. “How are your days?” John wanted to know. “Not too boring, I hope.”
“The stretches of time when you aren’t here cannot be over quick enough,” Aclysia said and inched her chair as close as possible without hindering him in eating, “but I have enough to do. This is a big house to clean, I need to get groceries on the regular to feed all of you, and mistress Nathalia needs… attention.”
John giggled, and Aclysia smiled a bit as she saw his happiness. “Once this whole thing is over, we should go on a date again,” he proposed. “Just the two of us.”
“That sounds wonderful! I loved our last date, John,” the artificial guardian enthusiastically agreed, struggling to keep her distance.
John made it easy on her and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close. He could eat with one arm. Aclysia blushed the slightest bit and rested her head on his shoulder, beaming with joy. “Can we do this more often?” she asked quietly.
“What?” John asked her to specify.
“Cuddling? Without it ending in sex? And just talking?” came the response.
“You were the one that greeted me with that Japanese porn phrase,” John reminded her.
“Correct, but now I have this,” she nestled up to him, the warmth of her body radiating onto his side, “and it just feels so right.”
“It does… but I really like having sex,” John told her, tapping his fork against the edge of his plate, “but, I guess, every once in a while, just cuddling is fine.”
“I love you, John,” Aclysia kissed him on the cheek.
