Barton started sweating from the cold glares all the girls were giving him. He hurried to say, "It was a joke. Ha ha."
Saya ignored Barton and her gaze softened as she turned to Kain, "While we are on that topic, Talia and Elisha are technically not slaves, as Sylvia never had them sign any documentation due to…political considerations. However, both of them wholeheartedly agreed to still call you master in certain…private situations. They will call you by your first name in public settings."
Kain nodded and felt that was for the best, as he wanted his women to be independent. Although, he certainly wouldn't mind being called master…in more intimate settings.
"As for the room arrangements, we have decided that all the girls will take a room on the 2nd floor of the mansion. Kain, you will stay in the same room where you had a nice nap this morning. Your two friends will not be staying in this manor, instead they will be lodging at a room in Taria Academy. Sylvia has agreed to get both of them enrolled." said Saya.
"I actually already enrolled in Taria Academy through my connection with councilwoman Aleria." said Desmond.
"Oh, you know of my mother?" asked Talia as her eyes brightened.
Everyone except for Elisha and Sylvia were quite surprised at the revelation. Her mother sat on the council?
Kain finally realized why the mansion was in such a nice part of the upper district.
Desmond blinked as he explained how Aleria was his backer. When he explained that it was his gravity ability that drew her attention, Talia nodded in understanding.
"My mother is head of the Lenaris Faction, which represents the merchants in Bastion. She is always in need of people with strong abilities to protect their wealth." said Talia.
"In any case, I will give the both of you a void emblem each. Take it and place it in an open area in your dorm room. When you activate it, it will link to a void emblem that I will place outside the door of this mansion, and a void portal will be created so you can easily move back and forth." said Saya, as she handed over the emblems to Barton and Desmond.
Sylvia took this opportunity to ask a question, "The three of you are quite close?"
Kain nodded and said, "The three of us are sworn brothers with a mission and that is to take down Gerris."
Surprise appeared on Saya and Sylvia's face, before Sylvia asked, "What happened?"
Kain explained everything that happened in Naren City. Soon enough, the very air trembled under great strain as void bolts shimmered into existence near Saya. Blades of kinetic force arced silently in random patterns above Sylvia. Tremors shook the ground in the whole room. All four of the girls were beyond pissed.
Gerris betrayed and killed off nearly the entire group he was commanding, pilfered the irradiated core, but most importantly, left Kain crippled and blinded and barely alive.
Observing that the mansion was in danger of being destroyed, Kain hurried to defuse the situation and the girls calmed down. However, all the girls had steely eyed gazes as they couldn't wait to tear Gerris apart, limb from limb.
Sylvia couldn't help but address the elephant in the room. "How are the three of you fine now after being crippled and left for dead?"
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to avoid shocking Saya and Sylvia, he just bit the bullet and said, "I was able to transplant the regeneration ability in all three of us."
Sylvia stood up in shock, while Saya merely sat there, stunned into silence as she couldn't even comprehend the sentence that came out of Kain's mouth.
"You…you…were actually able to do it? Transplant abilities? My theory was correct?" asked a wide-eyed Sylvia.
Kain nodded as he replied, "In fact, besides you and Saya, I have already successfully transplanted powers in everyone else here. Barton and Desmond have 3 powers each, while Talia and Elisha have 2 powers each."
Saya and Sylvia looked at everyone else at the table under a different light. When their gazes settled on Kain, they could only view him as a freak of nature.
The two of them looked at each other, before reaching a consensus. They then turned to Kain and said, "Transplant abilities in the two of us as well."
-Mexxle, they would be fine if I gave them an additional ability, right? Didn't you say that having focus was better? (Kain)
-The two of them have reached the limits of their current ability until they have a breakthrough in their cellular mutation. It would benefit them greatly to have another ability they could focus their attention on. Ideally, the abilities you give them will be synergistic with their current ones. (Mexxle)
-Of the powers that I currently have, which ones should I give the two of them? (Kain)
-Give the two of them control over elements. Ice control for Sylvia and Lightning control to Saya. That would be the best for now. (Mexxle)
Kain proceeded to walk over next to Sylvia and Saya and placed his hands on their shoulders. He then said, "Brace yourselves, you may feel something."
The two prepared themselves, but when the powers entered them, they both couldn't help but moan and shake.
Hearing such erotic noises from such beautiful girls, Barton couldn't help but shift around in his seat. He couldn't help but peek over at Desmond's lower area, but found that everything was fine for him. He grunted and decided that Desmond was either too old, injured, or was a talking rock.
When Kain finished and removed his hand, Sylvia immediately attempted to utilize her new power. She raised her palm and suddenly a swirl of icicles appeared, rotating above her hand.
At the same time, Saya also raised her hand and mini bolts of lightning appeared in her palm.
Sylvia was so happy at the sight that she jumped up, hugged Kain, and then kissed him on the cheek. Saya also jumped up and hugged Kain, but kissed him directly on the lips. She held the kiss for a couple seconds before releasing to catch her breath.
Kain was quite aroused from getting kisses from both girls and reached to grab Saya around her hips. However, she managed to jump out of his reach and give him a teasing look. Having missed his chance to fondle up Saya, he actually turned to Sylvia again, but she was already seated again with a content smile.
"Get a freaking room, please! This is really painful for me to watch!" said an exasperated Barton. He was leaning forward awkwardly against the table with his forehead on the table.
As Kain sat back down, Sylvia immediately said, "After we are done here, I will immediately inform my father about Gerris' treachery. However, before then, I would like to make a proposal in light of the recent developments. The Council has many factions pulling it in different directions, but I suspect that the balance of power will soon be broken. I have been wondering why Gerris did not get demoted for losing his entire regiment. My suspicion is that Gerris is somehow affiliated with the Dominius faction, which represents the military. My proposal is to establish our own faction to weather the coming storm."
Everyone at the table was initially depressed about hearing that Gerris might have great influence in a powerful faction, but then became intrigued at Sylvia's proposal.
"Won't our faction be too far behind the main powers if we start it up now? How will we even compete?" asked Kain.
"I certainly had similar worries earlier, but not anymore. We have our own ace up our sleeve and several connections to rely on to establish our power. Kain, you are our ace. It is your ability that allowed everyone in this room to have something that no other faction has in Bastion: more than one ability. If each of us in this room develops their new powers to reach the extreme limits, none will be a match in battle."
As the others around the table started nodding their heads in agreement, Sylvia continued, "As for connections, we have several. As most of you know, my father is Tyrin, principle of Taria Academy and leader of the Taria Faction. Add on Talia's mother Aleria, leader of the Lenaris faction, and we have the support of 2 very strong factions."
Sylvia paused, before saying, "There are 2 factions that are potential enemies: the Lavaris faction headed by councilman Alders and the Dominius faction, which is rumored to have several leaders. The last faction is the Breitgaard faction headed by Darius and they generally stay neutral. This means there are a total of 5 factions with influence in the Council. If we set up a 6th faction, we will have to stay low-key until our strength is formidable enough to stand on its own."
Kain digested the information regarding the political landscape within Bastion. Elisha, who had been silent up till now, threw in her two cents.
"For our faction to succeed, we need money, power, and connections. We have the connections down, but money and power are what we will lack going forward. We certainly cannot take money from the Lenaris faction and weaken their power for the sake of our own. On paper, we may seem powerful with our multiple abilities, however, we simply didn't have enough time to develop the new powers we received. So, we have to focus on gaining money and power first and foremost."
Sylvia clapped in approval as she said, "A most excellent analysis Elisha. You truly have the makings of a great tactician. I can help our group solve the issue of power. Taria Academy has a place called the Sanctuary of Will. All of us can go there to develop our new abilities much quicker. With that said, what would be your strategy for tackling our money problem?"
Elisha smiled evilly as she said, "Simple. We kill two birds with one stone. Let's rob the Lavaris and Dominius factions. We weaken them… and strengthen ourselves."