Their fun with Siela lasted all night. Asher’s double came back with the others in the early morning hours. After a couple of Portals Siela was back in her room. The next morning he caught sight of her only to see a smile splitting her face.
Unsure where to go from there he would take it day by day. They hadn’t had a chance to catch a quickie during the day, but it was an option now. He wished they could get away on a real date somehow, but that was still out of reach.
Nsabita paid her debt and planned to head home the following weekend that they had a dungeon planned. Their last one before school ended. The main reason she waited was she too wanted to go to the Elemental Lands. The few days before their trip were filled with classes, meditation on Synergy, and lots of sex.
Karhoribol had dodged them the first few days after their orgy. But when Tiffany cornered her and asked the nereid to be their guide in the Elemental Lands she relented. Before they knew it Lyola, Tillie, Azya, and Eliffy were porting back to Prime. This time they didn’t bother with passes for Prime, and surprised them all with a trip to the Elemental Lands.
It was as wondrous as they imagined. Once out of the port city they were able to take their Gliders anywhere they wanted. Karhoribol wasn’t sure about camping, but once they found a spot that had a floating waterfall it was easy to talk everyone into sleeping outside. The stream from the waterfall fell slantways instead of straight down. The water moved to an area with anti-gravity creating a giant ball of water. On the opposite side of the ball from the waterfall the water fell back into a stream. It was a surreal experience to watch as they started a small fire, roasted marshmallows, and fucked in the open air.
Everyone was ecstatic to be there. Eliffy especially ended up crying more than once as they stared at the scenery. It had always been a dream of hers to go to the Elemental Lands. She demanded that their wedding be on the planet someday. Asher agreed of course.
By the end of their 3 days they went around the world in a straight line, and there was still more to see. They didn’t stop by the palace to say hi to the king and queen. He doubted it was appropriate to ask for a pass and bug them every weekend. He would save that for when he had more hero questions.
Leaving the planet was bittersweet, but they looked forward to going back someday. Perhaps during a break after the semester was over. Asher kissed Azya, Eliffy, Lyola, and Tillie goodbye as they went to their respective portals and they were ready to start their week again.
“Hey, I’m going to check if we have any mail,” Nsabita said.
“I’ll go with,” Asher said. “I need to work on my lesson plan for the week.”
“You have fun,” Tiff said after a yawn. “This jet lag or portal jumping or whatever is murder. My tired.” The other girls agreed. They split at the elevator. Asher and Nsabita went to the classroom. On the way they were stopped by one of the human assistants.
“Professor Whitmore, Nsabita, did you hear?” She asked.
“Hear what?” Asher asked, a little worried.
“A new sex beast dungeon portal opened,” she said. “The dean asked me if you wanted to request any to be captured.”
“We did not hear,” Nsabita said. Soon they were back on their way.
“Interesting,” Asher said as he thought of the possibilities. “What can we do?”
“Whatever you want,” Nsabita said.
“Can we schedule a field trip with the class?” Asher asked.
“Maybe,” she said as they entered the classroom. “I wouldn’t recommend it though. There's no way you can keep track of 100 girls and guarantee their safety.”
“I wonder what level it is,” Asher said idly. Nsabita went to their back office and began flipping through mail. If the level was high enough Asher wanted to at least capture one for Daphne to kill. He had been lucky so far and captured 2 beasts for her. One more couldn’t hurt. With Lulu there he didn’t plan on letting her kill a female though. Maybe he could get lucky and find a female sex beast for the other girls to bind.
Asher’s Comm went off as he thought it over. “What’s up Tiff?”
“Hey, you need to get back to the hotel. We have visitors,” she said. Not nervous, more pissed off.
“Who?”
“Aartiliak, and not the fun one,” she said. Asher rolled his eyes. This would not be ideal. If Lyola wasn’t back on her planet he wouldn’t worry too much.
“Nsabita, I have to go,” Asher said and was out the door. It didn’t take long for him to get back to the Professor Lodging. When he arrived he was a little surprised to see so many female Aartiliaks. They all looked very similar. There was Bezel of course. Her purple skin practically vibrated nervously as she stared at the back of the other limax. The sweat or whatever that coated her skin was more than usual.
In front of her were 3 older Aartiliak. One appeared only a few years older than Bezel. A little taller with a few more hair tentacles she eyed Asher hungrily as he walked in. Beside her were 2 more older Aartiliak. He guessed one of them was Bezels mother. They were all female with dark purple skin. The 2 older ones wore dark green robes that hid their bodies well.
Tiffany, Joon, Zora, and Genevieve were standing apart from the limax. Staring them down like they were about to fight. The group of girls turned as he got closer.
“Perfect,” Tiffany said. “We were simply introducing one another, husband.” He doubted that. “Asher Whitmore, this is Sajitt, Bezel’s mother,” she pointed at the center limax. “Zephei, Bezel’s sister.” Tiff pointed at the younger limax. “And Carina, Bezel’s Aunt.” She pointed at the other older limax. They were all quite beautiful. Dark purple skin. Red lips. Dark eyes. The older ones had more hair tentacles that were longer as well.
“Lawful Good, it is good to meet you,” Sajitt said in a very sensual tone. She bowed slightly and the other limax mirrored it.
“Nice to meet you as well,” Asher said. “Can I ask what your appearance is concerning?”
“Of course,” Sajitt said. “My daughter, Bezel, mentioned that you were her professor. We wanted to meet you, to perhaps discuss some mutual benefits.”
Asher knew this could go either way. He really wanted Lyola there, but he also didn’t want to put too much stress on her. She was due in a few weeks. The Elemental Lands trip had worn her and Tillie out, but there was no way of talking them out of it.
Turning to Raimy the receptionist he asked, “Is there a meeting room we could use?”
“Of course,” the human woman said. Getting up from behind the desk she acted like the appearance of the limax’s was normal. Walking down a hall the group followed into a large conference room. A large table in the shape of a U, it faced a Mana Board. Asher sat on one side with his girls, the limax the opposite.
Raimy offered them refreshments, but everyone declined. Before long it was the 2 groups awkwardly staring at one another in silence.
Eventually Asher said, “I assume you’ve met my wives. Bezel is one of our favorite students.” He looked to the girl, but she stared at her hands nervously. He wondered if she told them they had sex. Since Asher wasn’t prone to tell his mother he doubted it, but sometimes women did weird things like that. He wasn’t sure if that was true or he had seen too many movies.
“Bezel has mentioned that her family was higher up in the Aartiliak Empire. Can I assume that this has to do with your Empire trying to purchase my planet Tiint?”
No one answered. Sajitt and Carina bore holes into him with their stares. Zephei, Bezel’s sister, stared at him with what he assumed was lust. Not unaccustomed to the gaze he did his best to ignore it.
“My wife Lyola should really be here if-”
Sajitt cut him off. “Did you have sex with Bezel knowing she was my daughter?”
Asher frowned. “Lady, I have no idea who you are,” Asher said truthfully.
The mother smirked. “I am Sajitt Arcturus, I am part of the triumvirate that runs Cronus and the Aartiliak Empire.”
“I did not know that,” Asher said.
“I highly doubt that. Your fiance, Lyola Lofgren, has been in contact with me for months about the purchase of Tiint,” she practically spat his wife’s name. Asher was beginning to get angry.
“My wife,” he corrected. “Handles that. Tiint is in her name as I’m sure you are aware. Everything I know about the Aartiliak has come from our discussions from Bezel. I had no idea the Aartiliak was run by a Triumvirate, or who the hell you were. Now are you going to ask the real question? Or do you want to keep with this useless line of questioning?”
Sajitt slowly smirked. “We want Tiint. I’m sure you know why.”
“Why don’t you tell me why you do?” Asher asked. She ignored the question.
“The Aartiliak are prepared to do what is needed for it,” she said.
“Then pay what it is worth,” Asher said. He knew what she was implying, but wasn’t about to back down. “Or is war and the hundreds of thousands of Syscos you will spend on it really worth it?”
“Hundreds of thousands of Syscos?” She laughed. “You are an Uninitialized planet, Lawful Good. You have 1 Ethership. We have hundreds. We have thousands of troops ready for war at a moment’s notice. Your planet has what? A few billion people left. Your people are still recovering from your tutorial. You are all still low level. Do you really think they are ready for a war?” Asher didn’t like how true her words were. He cycled mana trying to think quickly for a rebuttal, but none came.
“You have 1 month to decide,” Sajitt said as she stood. The other 3 limax quickly followed. “My daughter will no longer be in your class, and she will be ending her education this semester. I expect that if you see her in the hall you turn the other way.” Before Asher could say anything else the women were out the door. Asher let out a long sigh as he tried to think of a solution.
“Fuck,” Joon said, summarizing wonderfully all of their emotions. Asher chuckled.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he said. “You remember if we ever went to war?”
“I do not,” Joon said. “I mean, we’ve done war. But more of alliance wars. Earth was never really the target.”
“Is war like she said? In the League I mean?” He asked. “Is it who has the most ships?”
“It can be,” Joon said. “Usually it’s the group with the highest levels. There is one war I remember. It was elves versus beastkin. The elves were more technological. Star elves I think. They had all the ships and were laying waste to the beastkin settlements. Then a ship with 20 beastkin over level 100 simply went to the star elves capital city. Destroyed everything. The star elves surrendered and the beastkin kept killing for weeks afterward. Some of them get into a Beast Rage, and it’s hard to snap them out. By the end their homeworld was in tatters and the star elves didn’t have any leadership after that. They collapsed soon after.”
“Double fuck,” Asher said. “This fucking System.” He chewed his lip trying to think about what to do.
—
Asher walked into the Roktai throne room with Tiff, Joon, and Zora. Genevieve and Nsabita had opted to stay out of it for now. There were very few elves inside the throne room, but luckily Tyranis was still there. Lyola and Tillie were sitting at a side couch as they talked to him and a group of elves. Excited looks on their faces he guessed they were telling of the Elemental Lands.
“Husband?” Lyola asked as she noticed he and the others walking up. “What is wrong?” Her hand went to her stomach. She knew his expressions. He fought to keep his face placid, but it had not worked.
“Lyola, Tyranis, we need to talk,” Asher said. Tyranis shared a look with Lyola and they were soon heading to a side room. Tillie and Lyola held hands, worried about what he was going to say. When they were alone Asher quickly told them. “I was ambushed by Sajitt Arcturus from the Aartiliak Empire.” Lyola and Tillie let out a long sigh. He wasn’t sure what they had worried about, but he guessed they were less worried about the Aartiliak. “After our trip to the Elemental Lands she was waiting at our hotel.”
“I assume it did not go well?” Tyranis said. Asher shook his head. “Lyola, you have been keeping things close to your chest, which I understand. Please fill me in.”
Lyola bit her lip. Tiffany took off her Mindguard. Lyola did the same. Mind Mana was shared between them. Lyola blew a raspberry very cutely as she was caught up. A white light in her hand, the Mana Board appeared.
“This is the report on Tiint, it was completed a few months ago,” Lyola said handing it to Tyranis. He quickly scanned the report. Because they did reports on planets all the time he knew right where to look.
“This can’t be right,” Tyranis said.
“It is,” Lyola said. “They double checked it, and they are more confident in the number now. By their estimate Tiint is worth 185,685,100 Syscos. The Mana Corruption was cured. Something that has only happened a few times, and rarely by the System. I checked and the Aartiliak homeworld Cronus had Mana Corruption. During their upgrade from Tier 0 to Tier 2 it was cured. They had huge deposits of mana stones and materials. This is how they knew Tiint would be the same. But Tiint is worth much more than their planet was. Nearly double.”
“I had heard they had an unprecedented rise after Initialization,” Tyranis said. The guild master continued to pour through the report. His eyes scanning specific sections he eventually handed it back to Lyola. “I see why you kept this from me. This is a huge boon for you.” The man had a smile on his face as he studied his daughter. Asher guessed he was proud.
“What did the Aartiliak say?” Tyranis asked.
“They threatened war,” Asher said. “Basically they have way more ships than us and our people are still weak after our Initialization.”
Tyranis cursed but nodded. “Is an alliance with the Aartiliak a possibility?” He asked. “We have had no positive reception from them in the past.”
“I have asked, but they denied it,” Lyola said. “Asher was working on seducing one of the limax students who happens to be Aartiliak. It appears to have backfired.”
“Yes, she was apparently the daughter of one of the head honchos of the Aartiliak. A woman named Sajitt Arcturus.”
“I do not know the higher ups of the Aartiliak,” Tyranis said. “They change leaders far too often. Their culture is very structured, I know that. There is a lot of backstabbing. We have been lucky enough to not be bothered by them.” Tyranis appeared to think furiously. “What do you propose?”
“Have the Aartiliak increased their offer?” Asher asked.
Lyola shook her head. “It is still 10,000,000 Syscos and they can do what they want with the planet.”
“Why don’t they just try to buy the planet from us?” Asher asked.
“You are not part of the League currently. They would pay no taxes on what they take as long as you owned it. There is a war-time hold on taxes after taking over planets. For 1 year after they take it over they wouldn’t pay taxes to the League. This helps planets recoup losses after wars. It is a mere 1%, but at 200,000,000 Syscos that is still 2,000,000 Syscos.”
Asher cursed, he saw their play now. It really was all about money. “And a war with us would cost less than 2,000,000 Syscos,” Asher said. Lyola nodded.
The room was quiet until Tyranis spoke up. “Why have you come to me?”
“You know why,” Asher said. “Tiint is as much Lyola’s as it is mine. If she wanted she could take it right now, and give it to you. I have complete trust in her. But she has the option.” Asher read and signed the documents. He knew the truth of things. She was his though, as sure as that baby inside of her was. “The Aartiliak know she has rights to it as well. They gave us 1 month to decide if we would sell. Lyola could become a target. Your people could be a target. I will not risk her. If you don’t think it is worth the risk, we will sell.”
“What do you propose then?” Tyranis said staring Asher in the eyes.
“An alliance. Agreements that the Roktai have full rights to 2 of the 5 continents on Tiint. Which continents exactly will be decided on by Lyola. Profits split between our 2 people. My part given to Lyola to handle. If you think it is worth fighting for, then I think it might be best to put the profits toward more ships and troops. There is no reason we shouldn’t become larger than the Aartiliak. If they become an issue in the future, I want to be able to deal with them. I don’t see why you shouldn’t gain from the lack of taxes as well. Also a wartime agreement between our people. No wars concerning those on my planet of course. I will deal with my own people.”
The room was quiet as Tyranis turned around to think. Asher eyed Lyola. She slowly nodded. Tiff sent, Good job. Asher let out a very quiet breath. He didn’t want the others to know how nervous he was. They were talking about war. Something Asher didn’t know anything about. He had fought in one on one fights. Monster against monster. He had stormed the Roktai Palace, but that had been a suicide mission. He didn’t plan on dying in a war.
“How long until your warship is complete?” Tyranis asked Lyola.
“1 month.”
“Troops it can hold?”
“10,000,” Lyola said. “Our Terraforming ship is on its way to Elantontrin.”
“How long to get to Tiint from here?” Tyranis said.
“18 days.”
“Is there an issue with a portal for the Roktai on Tiint?” Tyranis asked. Asher shook his head, but looked to Lyola.
“On one of the 2 continents we allot to the Roktai. There will also be one planned to Earth as well,” Lyola said. Asher hadn’t thought of that. He could be in Elantontrin quickly if needed in the future. He had to focus for now.
Tyranis let out a long sigh looking between he and Lyola. “I will discuss with my council,” he said. “Tentatively we have an agreement.” Asher let out a sigh he reached out his hand and Tyranis shook it.
“Very lucky Lawful Good,” the man said. “I must admit, the risk is worth the reward. This planet you won may very well turn out to be just what Roktai needs to surpass the Aartiliak.”
“As long as it doesn’t turn into a blood diamond,” Asher said with a wry smile.
“Yes,” Tyranis said. He said his goodbyes and excitedly walked out the door.
“Holy hell that was nerve wracking,” Tiffany said. Joon and Zora smiled widely. Asher was on Lyola quickly.
“My sexy pregnant elf,” Asher said, pulling her up to her feet. “You were amazing.”
“I apologize. We should have discussed this possibility beforehand. You did well to only offer 2 continents.”
“We still need our giant vacation house,” Asher said. He kissed her deeply. His hands on her growing belly he couldn’t help but get hard again. “We should celebrate.” Lyola bit her lip.
“We just got back from vacation,” she said, staring into his eyes.
“You need another,” Asher said. They struggled to get out the door to find one of the many rooms they used to have sex in.
Their fun with Siela lasted all night. Asher’s double came back with the others in the early morning hours. After a couple of Portals Siela was back in her room. The next morning he caught sight of her only to see a smile splitting her face.
Unsure where to go from there he would take it day by day. They hadn’t had a chance to catch a quickie during the day, but it was an option now. He wished they could get away on a real date somehow, but that was still out of reach.
Nsabita paid her debt and planned to head home the following weekend that they had a dungeon planned. Their last one before school ended. The main reason she waited was she too wanted to go to the Elemental Lands. The few days before their trip were filled with classes, meditation on Synergy, and lots of sex.
Karhoribol had dodged them the first few days after their orgy. But when Tiffany cornered her and asked the nereid to be their guide in the Elemental Lands she relented. Before they knew it Lyola, Tillie, Azya, and Eliffy were porting back to Prime. This time they didn’t bother with passes for Prime, and surprised them all with a trip to the Elemental Lands.
It was as wondrous as they imagined. Once out of the port city they were able to take their Gliders anywhere they wanted. Karhoribol wasn’t sure about camping, but once they found a spot that had a floating waterfall it was easy to talk everyone into sleeping outside. The stream from the waterfall fell slantways instead of straight down. The water moved to an area with anti-gravity creating a giant ball of water. On the opposite side of the ball from the waterfall the water fell back into a stream. It was a surreal experience to watch as they started a small fire, roasted marshmallows, and fucked in the open air.
Everyone was ecstatic to be there. Eliffy especially ended up crying more than once as they stared at the scenery. It had always been a dream of hers to go to the Elemental Lands. She demanded that their wedding be on the planet someday. Asher agreed of course.
By the end of their 3 days they went around the world in a straight line, and there was still more to see. They didn’t stop by the palace to say hi to the king and queen. He doubted it was appropriate to ask for a pass and bug them every weekend. He would save that for when he had more hero questions.
Leaving the planet was bittersweet, but they looked forward to going back someday. Perhaps during a break after the semester was over. Asher kissed Azya, Eliffy, Lyola, and Tillie goodbye as they went to their respective portals and they were ready to start their week again.
“Hey, I’m going to check if we have any mail,” Nsabita said.
“I’ll go with,” Asher said. “I need to work on my lesson plan for the week.”
“You have fun,” Tiff said after a yawn. “This jet lag or portal jumping or whatever is murder. My tired.” The other girls agreed. They split at the elevator. Asher and Nsabita went to the classroom. On the way they were stopped by one of the human assistants.
“Professor Whitmore, Nsabita, did you hear?” She asked.
“Hear what?” Asher asked, a little worried.
“A new sex beast dungeon portal opened,” she said. “The dean asked me if you wanted to request any to be captured.”
“We did not hear,” Nsabita said. Soon they were back on their way.
“Interesting,” Asher said as he thought of the possibilities. “What can we do?”
“Whatever you want,” Nsabita said.
“Can we schedule a field trip with the class?” Asher asked.
“Maybe,” she said as they entered the classroom. “I wouldn’t recommend it though. There's no way you can keep track of 100 girls and guarantee their safety.”
“I wonder what level it is,” Asher said idly. Nsabita went to their back office and began flipping through mail. If the level was high enough Asher wanted to at least capture one for Daphne to kill. He had been lucky so far and captured 2 beasts for her. One more couldn’t hurt. With Lulu there he didn’t plan on letting her kill a female though. Maybe he could get lucky and find a female sex beast for the other girls to bind.
Asher’s Comm went off as he thought it over. “What’s up Tiff?”
“Hey, you need to get back to the hotel. We have visitors,” she said. Not nervous, more pissed off.
“Who?”
“Aartiliak, and not the fun one,” she said. Asher rolled his eyes. This would not be ideal. If Lyola wasn’t back on her planet he wouldn’t worry too much.
“Nsabita, I have to go,” Asher said and was out the door. It didn’t take long for him to get back to the Professor Lodging. When he arrived he was a little surprised to see so many female Aartiliaks. They all looked very similar. There was Bezel of course. Her purple skin practically vibrated nervously as she stared at the back of the other limax. The sweat or whatever that coated her skin was more than usual.
In front of her were 3 older Aartiliak. One appeared only a few years older than Bezel. A little taller with a few more hair tentacles she eyed Asher hungrily as he walked in. Beside her were 2 more older Aartiliak. He guessed one of them was Bezels mother. They were all female with dark purple skin. The 2 older ones wore dark green robes that hid their bodies well.
Tiffany, Joon, Zora, and Genevieve were standing apart from the limax. Staring them down like they were about to fight. The group of girls turned as he got closer.
“Perfect,” Tiffany said. “We were simply introducing one another, husband.” He doubted that. “Asher Whitmore, this is Sajitt, Bezel’s mother,” she pointed at the center limax. “Zephei, Bezel’s sister.” Tiff pointed at the younger limax. “And Carina, Bezel’s Aunt.” She pointed at the other older limax. They were all quite beautiful. Dark purple skin. Red lips. Dark eyes. The older ones had more hair tentacles that were longer as well.
“Lawful Good, it is good to meet you,” Sajitt said in a very sensual tone. She bowed slightly and the other limax mirrored it.
“Nice to meet you as well,” Asher said. “Can I ask what your appearance is concerning?”
“Of course,” Sajitt said. “My daughter, Bezel, mentioned that you were her professor. We wanted to meet you, to perhaps discuss some mutual benefits.”
Asher knew this could go either way. He really wanted Lyola there, but he also didn’t want to put too much stress on her. She was due in a few weeks. The Elemental Lands trip had worn her and Tillie out, but there was no way of talking them out of it.
Turning to Raimy the receptionist he asked, “Is there a meeting room we could use?”
“Of course,” the human woman said. Getting up from behind the desk she acted like the appearance of the limax’s was normal. Walking down a hall the group followed into a large conference room. A large table in the shape of a U, it faced a Mana Board. Asher sat on one side with his girls, the limax the opposite.
Raimy offered them refreshments, but everyone declined. Before long it was the 2 groups awkwardly staring at one another in silence.
Eventually Asher said, “I assume you’ve met my wives. Bezel is one of our favorite students.” He looked to the girl, but she stared at her hands nervously. He wondered if she told them they had sex. Since Asher wasn’t prone to tell his mother he doubted it, but sometimes women did weird things like that. He wasn’t sure if that was true or he had seen too many movies.
“Bezel has mentioned that her family was higher up in the Aartiliak Empire. Can I assume that this has to do with your Empire trying to purchase my planet Tiint?”
No one answered. Sajitt and Carina bore holes into him with their stares. Zephei, Bezel’s sister, stared at him with what he assumed was lust. Not unaccustomed to the gaze he did his best to ignore it.
“My wife Lyola should really be here if-”
Sajitt cut him off. “Did you have sex with Bezel knowing she was my daughter?”
Asher frowned. “Lady, I have no idea who you are,” Asher said truthfully.
The mother smirked. “I am Sajitt Arcturus, I am part of the triumvirate that runs Cronus and the Aartiliak Empire.”
“I did not know that,” Asher said.
“I highly doubt that. Your fiance, Lyola Lofgren, has been in contact with me for months about the purchase of Tiint,” she practically spat his wife’s name. Asher was beginning to get angry.
“My wife,” he corrected. “Handles that. Tiint is in her name as I’m sure you are aware. Everything I know about the Aartiliak has come from our discussions from Bezel. I had no idea the Aartiliak was run by a Triumvirate, or who the hell you were. Now are you going to ask the real question? Or do you want to keep with this useless line of questioning?”
Sajitt slowly smirked. “We want Tiint. I’m sure you know why.”
“Why don’t you tell me why you do?” Asher asked. She ignored the question.
“The Aartiliak are prepared to do what is needed for it,” she said.
“Then pay what it is worth,” Asher said. He knew what she was implying, but wasn’t about to back down. “Or is war and the hundreds of thousands of Syscos you will spend on it really worth it?”
“Hundreds of thousands of Syscos?” She laughed. “You are an Uninitialized planet, Lawful Good. You have 1 Ethership. We have hundreds. We have thousands of troops ready for war at a moment’s notice. Your planet has what? A few billion people left. Your people are still recovering from your tutorial. You are all still low level. Do you really think they are ready for a war?” Asher didn’t like how true her words were. He cycled mana trying to think quickly for a rebuttal, but none came.
“You have 1 month to decide,” Sajitt said as she stood. The other 3 limax quickly followed. “My daughter will no longer be in your class, and she will be ending her education this semester. I expect that if you see her in the hall you turn the other way.” Before Asher could say anything else the women were out the door. Asher let out a long sigh as he tried to think of a solution.
“Fuck,” Joon said, summarizing wonderfully all of their emotions. Asher chuckled.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he said. “You remember if we ever went to war?”
“I do not,” Joon said. “I mean, we’ve done war. But more of alliance wars. Earth was never really the target.”
“Is war like she said? In the League I mean?” He asked. “Is it who has the most ships?”
“It can be,” Joon said. “Usually it’s the group with the highest levels. There is one war I remember. It was elves versus beastkin. The elves were more technological. Star elves I think. They had all the ships and were laying waste to the beastkin settlements. Then a ship with 20 beastkin over level 100 simply went to the star elves capital city. Destroyed everything. The star elves surrendered and the beastkin kept killing for weeks afterward. Some of them get into a Beast Rage, and it’s hard to snap them out. By the end their homeworld was in tatters and the star elves didn’t have any leadership after that. They collapsed soon after.”
“Double fuck,” Asher said. “This fucking System.” He chewed his lip trying to think about what to do.
—
Asher walked into the Roktai throne room with Tiff, Joon, and Zora. Genevieve and Nsabita had opted to stay out of it for now. There were very few elves inside the throne room, but luckily Tyranis was still there. Lyola and Tillie were sitting at a side couch as they talked to him and a group of elves. Excited looks on their faces he guessed they were telling of the Elemental Lands.
“Husband?” Lyola asked as she noticed he and the others walking up. “What is wrong?” Her hand went to her stomach. She knew his expressions. He fought to keep his face placid, but it had not worked.
“Lyola, Tyranis, we need to talk,” Asher said. Tyranis shared a look with Lyola and they were soon heading to a side room. Tillie and Lyola held hands, worried about what he was going to say. When they were alone Asher quickly told them. “I was ambushed by Sajitt Arcturus from the Aartiliak Empire.” Lyola and Tillie let out a long sigh. He wasn’t sure what they had worried about, but he guessed they were less worried about the Aartiliak. “After our trip to the Elemental Lands she was waiting at our hotel.”
“I assume it did not go well?” Tyranis said. Asher shook his head. “Lyola, you have been keeping things close to your chest, which I understand. Please fill me in.”
Lyola bit her lip. Tiffany took off her Mindguard. Lyola did the same. Mind Mana was shared between them. Lyola blew a raspberry very cutely as she was caught up. A white light in her hand, the Mana Board appeared.
“This is the report on Tiint, it was completed a few months ago,” Lyola said handing it to Tyranis. He quickly scanned the report. Because they did reports on planets all the time he knew right where to look.
“This can’t be right,” Tyranis said.
“It is,” Lyola said. “They double checked it, and they are more confident in the number now. By their estimate Tiint is worth 185,685,100 Syscos. The Mana Corruption was cured. Something that has only happened a few times, and rarely by the System. I checked and the Aartiliak homeworld Cronus had Mana Corruption. During their upgrade from Tier 0 to Tier 2 it was cured. They had huge deposits of mana stones and materials. This is how they knew Tiint would be the same. But Tiint is worth much more than their planet was. Nearly double.”
“I had heard they had an unprecedented rise after Initialization,” Tyranis said. The guild master continued to pour through the report. His eyes scanning specific sections he eventually handed it back to Lyola. “I see why you kept this from me. This is a huge boon for you.” The man had a smile on his face as he studied his daughter. Asher guessed he was proud.
“What did the Aartiliak say?” Tyranis asked.
“They threatened war,” Asher said. “Basically they have way more ships than us and our people are still weak after our Initialization.”
Tyranis cursed but nodded. “Is an alliance with the Aartiliak a possibility?” He asked. “We have had no positive reception from them in the past.”
“I have asked, but they denied it,” Lyola said. “Asher was working on seducing one of the limax students who happens to be Aartiliak. It appears to have backfired.”
“Yes, she was apparently the daughter of one of the head honchos of the Aartiliak. A woman named Sajitt Arcturus.”
“I do not know the higher ups of the Aartiliak,” Tyranis said. “They change leaders far too often. Their culture is very structured, I know that. There is a lot of backstabbing. We have been lucky enough to not be bothered by them.” Tyranis appeared to think furiously. “What do you propose?”
“Have the Aartiliak increased their offer?” Asher asked.
Lyola shook her head. “It is still 10,000,000 Syscos and they can do what they want with the planet.”
“Why don’t they just try to buy the planet from us?” Asher asked.
“You are not part of the League currently. They would pay no taxes on what they take as long as you owned it. There is a war-time hold on taxes after taking over planets. For 1 year after they take it over they wouldn’t pay taxes to the League. This helps planets recoup losses after wars. It is a mere 1%, but at 200,000,000 Syscos that is still 2,000,000 Syscos.”
Asher cursed, he saw their play now. It really was all about money. “And a war with us would cost less than 2,000,000 Syscos,” Asher said. Lyola nodded.
The room was quiet until Tyranis spoke up. “Why have you come to me?”
“You know why,” Asher said. “Tiint is as much Lyola’s as it is mine. If she wanted she could take it right now, and give it to you. I have complete trust in her. But she has the option.” Asher read and signed the documents. He knew the truth of things. She was his though, as sure as that baby inside of her was. “The Aartiliak know she has rights to it as well. They gave us 1 month to decide if we would sell. Lyola could become a target. Your people could be a target. I will not risk her. If you don’t think it is worth the risk, we will sell.”
“What do you propose then?” Tyranis said staring Asher in the eyes.
“An alliance. Agreements that the Roktai have full rights to 2 of the 5 continents on Tiint. Which continents exactly will be decided on by Lyola. Profits split between our 2 people. My part given to Lyola to handle. If you think it is worth fighting for, then I think it might be best to put the profits toward more ships and troops. There is no reason we shouldn’t become larger than the Aartiliak. If they become an issue in the future, I want to be able to deal with them. I don’t see why you shouldn’t gain from the lack of taxes as well. Also a wartime agreement between our people. No wars concerning those on my planet of course. I will deal with my own people.”
The room was quiet as Tyranis turned around to think. Asher eyed Lyola. She slowly nodded. Tiff sent, Good job. Asher let out a very quiet breath. He didn’t want the others to know how nervous he was. They were talking about war. Something Asher didn’t know anything about. He had fought in one on one fights. Monster against monster. He had stormed the Roktai Palace, but that had been a suicide mission. He didn’t plan on dying in a war.
“How long until your warship is complete?” Tyranis asked Lyola.
“1 month.”
“Troops it can hold?”
“10,000,” Lyola said. “Our Terraforming ship is on its way to Elantontrin.”
“How long to get to Tiint from here?” Tyranis said.
“18 days.”
“Is there an issue with a portal for the Roktai on Tiint?” Tyranis asked. Asher shook his head, but looked to Lyola.
“On one of the 2 continents we allot to the Roktai. There will also be one planned to Earth as well,” Lyola said. Asher hadn’t thought of that. He could be in Elantontrin quickly if needed in the future. He had to focus for now.
Tyranis let out a long sigh looking between he and Lyola. “I will discuss with my council,” he said. “Tentatively we have an agreement.” Asher let out a sigh he reached out his hand and Tyranis shook it.
“Very lucky Lawful Good,” the man said. “I must admit, the risk is worth the reward. This planet you won may very well turn out to be just what Roktai needs to surpass the Aartiliak.”
“As long as it doesn’t turn into a blood diamond,” Asher said with a wry smile.
“Yes,” Tyranis said. He said his goodbyes and excitedly walked out the door.
“Holy hell that was nerve wracking,” Tiffany said. Joon and Zora smiled widely. Asher was on Lyola quickly.
“My sexy pregnant elf,” Asher said, pulling her up to her feet. “You were amazing.”
“I apologize. We should have discussed this possibility beforehand. You did well to only offer 2 continents.”
“We still need our giant vacation house,” Asher said. He kissed her deeply. His hands on her growing belly he couldn’t help but get hard again. “We should celebrate.” Lyola bit her lip.
“We just got back from vacation,” she said, staring into his eyes.
“You need another,” Asher said. They struggled to get out the door to find one of the many rooms they used to have sex in.
