Miranda explained that the Illusionist’s Mask, which would let me disguise myself as anyone I chose, was located in a dungeon near the settlement where she’d grown up. I took Sherry and Tara along for this mission. I needed to spend as much time as possible with Sherry so we could level up our soulbond. Tara’s healing abilities were too useful, especially her area-of-effect augmenting heal. Esme, Ayla, and Maria stayed in the Underground Forest to farm.
We used our new mount: the roller coaster car. Miranda drove. It was slightly chilly; I wondered if winter was coming.
During the drive, I thought about how hard it was to give each of my women the attention they deserved. Talk about first world problems. I’d been neglecting Ayla, especially, so I’d have to spend time with her after this mission.
They each deserved all my attention and adoration. If only there were more than one me. Although, I probably wouldn’t want to share them with that other me. I’d probably have to murder him, lest he claim my entire harem.
If I feared myself, I was more dangerous than I realized.
We arrived at the dungeon and entered through a cave mouth.
We found ourselves in a white hallway. The walls glowed. The floor resembled bright marble. A flying octopus waited for us at the end of the hallway.
I hit it with a Small Meteor. Then I conjured my water whip and lashed it. The octopus grabbed onto my whip with its tentacles, so I used my flame spear to impale it.
Though big shadows bled out of its body, it was still fighting on. It spat oil at me. The oil hit my eyes, and it burned.
“Fuck,” I shouted as I turned invisible. “I can’t see!”
“I’ve got you!” Tara hit me with a Water Heal. The burning stopped, but I still couldn’t see. The basic, level one Water Heal couldn’t remove status effects.
“Let me help,” Miranda said. “Tara, pour this over his head.”
My invisibility wore off. Some sort of goop fell onto my hair, then slid down across my face.
My vision returned. Sherry was poking at the flying octopus, keeping it busy. I hit it with one more thrust of my flame spear. Finally, it died.
Tara gathered the soulcores. Two paths lay before us: right or left.
I glanced at Miranda.
“Beats me.” She shrugged.
I picked the right one. We took a few steps down it. Suddenly, a white light immersed us. It was so bright, I was forced to shut my eyes.
When I opened them, we were back at the entrance of the dungeon. Once again, a flying octopus floated at the end of the hallway.
I let out a weary groan. “Oh no, it’s one of these sorts of dungeons. Of course the Illusionist’s Mask would be in a dungeon of illusions.”
“Yeah,” Sherry said. “Seems like we have to pick the correct pathway, or we’re sent bank to the entrance.”
“It’s trial and error,” Miranda added.
Tara pointed to the ugly octopus, which had spread its tentacles in our direction. “But every time we guess wrong, we have to fight the monsters again!”
“We’ll run out of mana.” Sherry put her hand on my chest. “What do we do, Remy?”
If I’d brought Esme, we could’ve just frozen the octopus and ran by it. The thing took a lot of hits to kill and from current evidence, didn’t drop anything special, either.
I grabbed the needle from my soul storage and let out a big sigh. “I’ll use my invisibility to figure out the correct paths. You all wait here.”
I stepped toward the octopus. Right before I entered its agro range, I pricked myself with the needle. While invisible, I ran down the left path.
This hallway was identical, except one of those horrible Headless Knights guarded it.
“Fuck that.”
I had to wait a minute for my invisibility cooldown to reset. Then I approached the knight, pricked myself, and ran down the right hallway.
I’d chosen the correct path. A Fur Ant guarded this hallway. Those were easy enough to kill. I thrust my flame spear at it once, and it turned to shadows.
“Right… or left…”
I knew it was a toss up. But since I’d gone right last time, it wasn’t likely that the proper path switched every single time. So I ought to go right again.
It turned out to be the correct guess. I walked to the end of that hallway. A staircase appeared, leading down.
I walked down the stairs and entered a massive chamber. Standing in the distance was a black dragon.
“Yeah, I’m not doing this solo.”
I backtracked to the previous hallway and took the wrong turn. A white light immersed me, and I was back at the entrance, where my women and Miranda waited.
“There’s a dragon,” I said with a chuckle. “Buckle up.”
Sherry smiled. “The bigger the foe, the better the reward.”
“You would hope,” I said. “Come on, let’s do this.”
We defeated the octopus again. When we got to the Headless Knight, Sherry and I used our flame spears to break through its armor and set it on fire. Both the piercing damage and the flame damage melted it into shadows. The Fur Ant died from a single strike.
Finally, we faced the dragon. It seemed to be asleep from its posture, but its eyes were open and watching us.
“We know nothing about its weaknesses and strengths,” I said.
Miranda chuckled. “That’s because you don’t have this.” She grabbed a pair of eyeglasses from her soul storage and handed them to me.
The frames were thick. Just not my style. So I gave them to Tara.
They looked adorable on her. She resembled a nerdy gamer girl.
“It’s weak to ice,” Tara said after blinking a few times.
Of course it was weak to an element we didn’t bring.
“What about fire and water?” I asked.
“It takes reduced damage from water. Normal damage from fire.”
“What else can you tell me?”
“That’s all it shows me.”
We didn’t know how strong it was. Damaging it with a Small Meteor and checking the size of the shadow would reveal that.
“Ready, everyone?” I asked.
They all nodded. Miranda and Tara stayed back, while Sherry and I went forward.
We opened the battle by hitting the dragon with Small Meteors. Chunks of shadow bled off it as the meteors broke against its hard skin.
It roared, then flapped its wings and soared over us. It came at me with a glistening talon, sharp enough to impale. But with my high agility, I easily sidestepped it.
Sherry and I kept hitting it with Small Meteors, and it kept roaring in anger as shadows erupted off it.
“How’s your mana?” I asked her.
“About two-thirds.” Sweat dripped down her cheeks.
“If it gets low, signal Tara to use her Augmenting Rain.”
It was too big to evade our meteors, and too slow to hit us, although Sherry had several close calls. I made sure to always stay in front of her, so the dragon would target me.
It opened its mouth and released a ball of lightning, straight at me. Though I dodged it, the ball exploded as it impacted the ground. Bolts of lightning struck Sherry and me.
Tara casted Water Heal instantly, keeping Sherry and me on our feet. Her heal was like a cool wash over my muscles and bones.
After hitting the black dragon with a few more meteors, Sherry said, “I’m almost out.”
“Tara!” I shouted. “It’s time!”
“I got you!” Tara shouted back.
A cloud appeared above. Rain doused us, healing us fully, restoring Sherry’s mana, and augmenting my stats. I felt as if I had +5 to everything.
My next Small Meteor caused a massive shadow to burst from the dragon’s wings. It cried out as if it knew its death was about to arrive. I hit it again, and again, and again, trying to take full advantage of the augmentation, since it only lasted about twenty seconds.
Finally, the dragon roared its last and turned into a hurricane of shadows.
We all cheered.
We’d won yet another battle, and it was time to collect our loot.
Goldcores rained down upon us. Tara ran around the room collecting them. Sherry, Miranda, and I went to the treasure chest at the far edge of the massive chamber.
I kicked the gold-plated wooden chest open. A plain white mask lay inside on a red velvet cushion.
I grinned as soon as I picked it up. The Illusionist’s Mask was mine.
“So how does it work?” I asked Miranda.
“Why don’t you try it and find out? Maybe try thinking of who you’d like to turn into.”
“Okay. Sounds easy enough.”
I put the mask over my head and let out a maniacal laugh. I felt an airy sensation wash over me as I thought of the person I wanted to become.
Miranda crossed her arms and shook her head. “Not funny. Is my hair really like that?”
Tara’s skill had created puddles all over the chamber. I used one to get a good look at myself.
Yup, I was Miranda, sexy tits and all.
“This is so cool,” I said. “I can be anyone!”
The implications were enormous.
“Wait a minute…” I took off the mask and handed it to Sherry. “Since effects are transmitted through the tether, wouldn’t this one be, too?” I snapped my fingers. “Think of anyone except me, Sherry.”
She giggled, then put the mask on. Suddenly, Esme was standing before me.
I looked at myself in the puddle. I was Esme, too!
“You look delightful, Remy.” Sherry laughed.
“Holy fucking moly,” I said, laughing along with her. “This is better than I ever believed. How long does the effect last?”
“Ten minutes,” Miranda said. “But within those ten minutes, you can change appearances as much as you want. Then the cooldown to use it again is two hours, I believe.”
So for ten minutes every two hours, I could be whomever I wanted.
Sherry took off the mask. We both became ourselves again. We could have fun experimenting with it, later. For now, it was time to rest and prepare for tomorrow’s mission.
I decided to spend that night with both Ayla and Sherry. They were the curviest girls in my harem, which was a body type I couldn’t get enough of. I also wanted to see how they got along with each other.
I brought them into my little house, which Miranda had constructed. It sat next to the hot spring, with direct access to the hot pool from the back. Esme crafted some pillows and bedding for me, so the place wasn’t entirely bare.
Ayla cooked a rice dish with meat and lentils that resembled chickpeas, though far spicier. The three of us sat together to enjoy our meal on the little floor table that Miranda made for me as an extra.
“Ayla was such a troublemaker,” Sherry said after swallowing a mouthful. “She’d disappear for days. Mother Ash would be livid.”
“You weren’t a good girl yourself, Sherry. I recall you getting sent to your room on quite a few occasions.”
“Being good is boring. Don’t you agree, Remy?”
I nodded. “So you were both rebels. Did you get along with each other?”
“Not especially,” Ayla said. “Sherry always wanted the spotlight. And so did I, I suppose. One day I realized I couldn’t quite compete.” She gazed at Sherry. “You always had an… edge over the rest of us.”
“What can I say?” Sherry clumped some rice in her hand. “I think we all sorely wanted for attention, and we acted out in our own, different ways. Mother Ash could only handle so much.”
Of course, they were all curseborn. Their own parents had thrown them out. Mother Ash took them in and gave them love, but the wound of knowing your own parents had disowned you… I couldn’t imagine how painful that was. How needy it might make you feel. How many holes it leaves inside of you that can never be filled.
Not that I wouldn’t try.
“You’re both special to me.” I took Ayla’s hand. “Your independent spirit, and the care and love that you show others — it makes me feel so comfortable around you.” Now I took Sherry’s hand. “Your spirit for life and the conviction with which you pursue what you want — it’s something I’ve always wanted in a woman.”
They squeezed my hands, their cheeks turning red.
“You’re my queen, Ayla,” I said. “Tell me — how do you feel living down here?”
She smiled. “We’re free here. We’re taken care of. And we have important work to do at all times. Frankly, I love it.”
Hearing how happy she was living here made me satisfied. I’d improved her life, and that was more important than anything.
“I’m so glad,” I said.
“I want our little village to grow.” Ayla giggled. “Bring more curseborn to live here.”
“I will. This will be a sanctuary for curseborn.” I turned to Sherry. “What do you think about that idea?”
She swallowed a bite of meat. “I think we shouldn’t just limit ourselves to a small village. We should make the whole island a sanctuary for curseborn.”
“Not just the island,” I said, “but the world. Though that’s going to take some doing. So for now, we’ll start with this village. Consider it the first free and safe place in this world for all people blessed with elemental powers.”
“I believe in you, Remy.” Sherry beamed. “I was in your world for a whole month. I picked you out of thousands of people. I’m so glad I chose right. You’ve exceeded all my expectations.”
That made me glow. “We’ll free this world from its oppressors and the Shadowsoul, both. I promise.”
Though talking about our shared purpose filled me with pride, I wanted to lighten the air and keep things fun.
“So what’s for dessert,” I asked Ayla upon finishing every morsel in my plate.
She bit her lip, showing me a hint of tongue. “Do you even have to ask?”
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Miranda explained that the Illusionist’s Mask, which would let me disguise myself as anyone I chose, was located in a dungeon near the settlement where she’d grown up. I took Sherry and Tara along for this mission. I needed to spend as much time as possible with Sherry so we could level up our soulbond. Tara’s healing abilities were too useful, especially her area-of-effect augmenting heal. Esme, Ayla, and Maria stayed in the Underground Forest to farm.
We used our new mount: the roller coaster car. Miranda drove. It was slightly chilly; I wondered if winter was coming.
During the drive, I thought about how hard it was to give each of my women the attention they deserved. Talk about first world problems. I’d been neglecting Ayla, especially, so I’d have to spend time with her after this mission.
They each deserved all my attention and adoration. If only there were more than one me. Although, I probably wouldn’t want to share them with that other me. I’d probably have to murder him, lest he claim my entire harem.
If I feared myself, I was more dangerous than I realized.
We arrived at the dungeon and entered through a cave mouth.
We found ourselves in a white hallway. The walls glowed. The floor resembled bright marble. A flying octopus waited for us at the end of the hallway.
I hit it with a Small Meteor. Then I conjured my water whip and lashed it. The octopus grabbed onto my whip with its tentacles, so I used my flame spear to impale it.
Though big shadows bled out of its body, it was still fighting on. It spat oil at me. The oil hit my eyes, and it burned.
“Fuck,” I shouted as I turned invisible. “I can’t see!”
“I’ve got you!” Tara hit me with a Water Heal. The burning stopped, but I still couldn’t see. The basic, level one Water Heal couldn’t remove status effects.
“Let me help,” Miranda said. “Tara, pour this over his head.”
My invisibility wore off. Some sort of goop fell onto my hair, then slid down across my face.
My vision returned. Sherry was poking at the flying octopus, keeping it busy. I hit it with one more thrust of my flame spear. Finally, it died.
Tara gathered the soulcores. Two paths lay before us: right or left.
I glanced at Miranda.
“Beats me.” She shrugged.
I picked the right one. We took a few steps down it. Suddenly, a white light immersed us. It was so bright, I was forced to shut my eyes.
When I opened them, we were back at the entrance of the dungeon. Once again, a flying octopus floated at the end of the hallway.
I let out a weary groan. “Oh no, it’s one of these sorts of dungeons. Of course the Illusionist’s Mask would be in a dungeon of illusions.”
“Yeah,” Sherry said. “Seems like we have to pick the correct pathway, or we’re sent bank to the entrance.”
“It’s trial and error,” Miranda added.
Tara pointed to the ugly octopus, which had spread its tentacles in our direction. “But every time we guess wrong, we have to fight the monsters again!”
“We’ll run out of mana.” Sherry put her hand on my chest. “What do we do, Remy?”
If I’d brought Esme, we could’ve just frozen the octopus and ran by it. The thing took a lot of hits to kill and from current evidence, didn’t drop anything special, either.
I grabbed the needle from my soul storage and let out a big sigh. “I’ll use my invisibility to figure out the correct paths. You all wait here.”
I stepped toward the octopus. Right before I entered its agro range, I pricked myself with the needle. While invisible, I ran down the left path.
This hallway was identical, except one of those horrible Headless Knights guarded it.
“Fuck that.”
I had to wait a minute for my invisibility cooldown to reset. Then I approached the knight, pricked myself, and ran down the right hallway.
I’d chosen the correct path. A Fur Ant guarded this hallway. Those were easy enough to kill. I thrust my flame spear at it once, and it turned to shadows.
“Right… or left…”
I knew it was a toss up. But since I’d gone right last time, it wasn’t likely that the proper path switched every single time. So I ought to go right again.
It turned out to be the correct guess. I walked to the end of that hallway. A staircase appeared, leading down.
I walked down the stairs and entered a massive chamber. Standing in the distance was a black dragon.
“Yeah, I’m not doing this solo.”
I backtracked to the previous hallway and took the wrong turn. A white light immersed me, and I was back at the entrance, where my women and Miranda waited.
“There’s a dragon,” I said with a chuckle. “Buckle up.”
Sherry smiled. “The bigger the foe, the better the reward.”
“You would hope,” I said. “Come on, let’s do this.”
We defeated the octopus again. When we got to the Headless Knight, Sherry and I used our flame spears to break through its armor and set it on fire. Both the piercing damage and the flame damage melted it into shadows. The Fur Ant died from a single strike.
Finally, we faced the dragon. It seemed to be asleep from its posture, but its eyes were open and watching us.
“We know nothing about its weaknesses and strengths,” I said.
Miranda chuckled. “That’s because you don’t have this.” She grabbed a pair of eyeglasses from her soul storage and handed them to me.
The frames were thick. Just not my style. So I gave them to Tara.
They looked adorable on her. She resembled a nerdy gamer girl.
“It’s weak to ice,” Tara said after blinking a few times.
Of course it was weak to an element we didn’t bring.
“What about fire and water?” I asked.
“It takes reduced damage from water. Normal damage from fire.”
“What else can you tell me?”
“That’s all it shows me.”
We didn’t know how strong it was. Damaging it with a Small Meteor and checking the size of the shadow would reveal that.
“Ready, everyone?” I asked.
They all nodded. Miranda and Tara stayed back, while Sherry and I went forward.
We opened the battle by hitting the dragon with Small Meteors. Chunks of shadow bled off it as the meteors broke against its hard skin.
It roared, then flapped its wings and soared over us. It came at me with a glistening talon, sharp enough to impale. But with my high agility, I easily sidestepped it.
Sherry and I kept hitting it with Small Meteors, and it kept roaring in anger as shadows erupted off it.
“How’s your mana?” I asked her.
“About two-thirds.” Sweat dripped down her cheeks.
“If it gets low, signal Tara to use her Augmenting Rain.”
It was too big to evade our meteors, and too slow to hit us, although Sherry had several close calls. I made sure to always stay in front of her, so the dragon would target me.
It opened its mouth and released a ball of lightning, straight at me. Though I dodged it, the ball exploded as it impacted the ground. Bolts of lightning struck Sherry and me.
Tara casted Water Heal instantly, keeping Sherry and me on our feet. Her heal was like a cool wash over my muscles and bones.
After hitting the black dragon with a few more meteors, Sherry said, “I’m almost out.”
“Tara!” I shouted. “It’s time!”
“I got you!” Tara shouted back.
A cloud appeared above. Rain doused us, healing us fully, restoring Sherry’s mana, and augmenting my stats. I felt as if I had +5 to everything.
My next Small Meteor caused a massive shadow to burst from the dragon’s wings. It cried out as if it knew its death was about to arrive. I hit it again, and again, and again, trying to take full advantage of the augmentation, since it only lasted about twenty seconds.
Finally, the dragon roared its last and turned into a hurricane of shadows.
We all cheered.
We’d won yet another battle, and it was time to collect our loot.
Goldcores rained down upon us. Tara ran around the room collecting them. Sherry, Miranda, and I went to the treasure chest at the far edge of the massive chamber.
I kicked the gold-plated wooden chest open. A plain white mask lay inside on a red velvet cushion.
I grinned as soon as I picked it up. The Illusionist’s Mask was mine.
“So how does it work?” I asked Miranda.
“Why don’t you try it and find out? Maybe try thinking of who you’d like to turn into.”
“Okay. Sounds easy enough.”
I put the mask over my head and let out a maniacal laugh. I felt an airy sensation wash over me as I thought of the person I wanted to become.
Miranda crossed her arms and shook her head. “Not funny. Is my hair really like that?”
Tara’s skill had created puddles all over the chamber. I used one to get a good look at myself.
Yup, I was Miranda, sexy tits and all.
“This is so cool,” I said. “I can be anyone!”
The implications were enormous.
“Wait a minute…” I took off the mask and handed it to Sherry. “Since effects are transmitted through the tether, wouldn’t this one be, too?” I snapped my fingers. “Think of anyone except me, Sherry.”
She giggled, then put the mask on. Suddenly, Esme was standing before me.
I looked at myself in the puddle. I was Esme, too!
“You look delightful, Remy.” Sherry laughed.
“Holy fucking moly,” I said, laughing along with her. “This is better than I ever believed. How long does the effect last?”
“Ten minutes,” Miranda said. “But within those ten minutes, you can change appearances as much as you want. Then the cooldown to use it again is two hours, I believe.”
So for ten minutes every two hours, I could be whomever I wanted.
Sherry took off the mask. We both became ourselves again. We could have fun experimenting with it, later. For now, it was time to rest and prepare for tomorrow’s mission.
I decided to spend that night with both Ayla and Sherry. They were the curviest girls in my harem, which was a body type I couldn’t get enough of. I also wanted to see how they got along with each other.
I brought them into my little house, which Miranda had constructed. It sat next to the hot spring, with direct access to the hot pool from the back. Esme crafted some pillows and bedding for me, so the place wasn’t entirely bare.
Ayla cooked a rice dish with meat and lentils that resembled chickpeas, though far spicier. The three of us sat together to enjoy our meal on the little floor table that Miranda made for me as an extra.
“Ayla was such a troublemaker,” Sherry said after swallowing a mouthful. “She’d disappear for days. Mother Ash would be livid.”
“You weren’t a good girl yourself, Sherry. I recall you getting sent to your room on quite a few occasions.”
“Being good is boring. Don’t you agree, Remy?”
I nodded. “So you were both rebels. Did you get along with each other?”
“Not especially,” Ayla said. “Sherry always wanted the spotlight. And so did I, I suppose. One day I realized I couldn’t quite compete.” She gazed at Sherry. “You always had an… edge over the rest of us.”
“What can I say?” Sherry clumped some rice in her hand. “I think we all sorely wanted for attention, and we acted out in our own, different ways. Mother Ash could only handle so much.”
Of course, they were all curseborn. Their own parents had thrown them out. Mother Ash took them in and gave them love, but the wound of knowing your own parents had disowned you… I couldn’t imagine how painful that was. How needy it might make you feel. How many holes it leaves inside of you that can never be filled.
Not that I wouldn’t try.
“You’re both special to me.” I took Ayla’s hand. “Your independent spirit, and the care and love that you show others — it makes me feel so comfortable around you.” Now I took Sherry’s hand. “Your spirit for life and the conviction with which you pursue what you want — it’s something I’ve always wanted in a woman.”
They squeezed my hands, their cheeks turning red.
“You’re my queen, Ayla,” I said. “Tell me — how do you feel living down here?”
She smiled. “We’re free here. We’re taken care of. And we have important work to do at all times. Frankly, I love it.”
Hearing how happy she was living here made me satisfied. I’d improved her life, and that was more important than anything.
“I’m so glad,” I said.
“I want our little village to grow.” Ayla giggled. “Bring more curseborn to live here.”
“I will. This will be a sanctuary for curseborn.” I turned to Sherry. “What do you think about that idea?”
She swallowed a bite of meat. “I think we shouldn’t just limit ourselves to a small village. We should make the whole island a sanctuary for curseborn.”
“Not just the island,” I said, “but the world. Though that’s going to take some doing. So for now, we’ll start with this village. Consider it the first free and safe place in this world for all people blessed with elemental powers.”
“I believe in you, Remy.” Sherry beamed. “I was in your world for a whole month. I picked you out of thousands of people. I’m so glad I chose right. You’ve exceeded all my expectations.”
That made me glow. “We’ll free this world from its oppressors and the Shadowsoul, both. I promise.”
Though talking about our shared purpose filled me with pride, I wanted to lighten the air and keep things fun.
“So what’s for dessert,” I asked Ayla upon finishing every morsel in my plate.
She bit her lip, showing me a hint of tongue. “Do you even have to ask?”
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