DOWNLOADING NEW SYSTEM AND WORLD.
SHADEHOLM THE DEAMON REALM.
PREVIOUS SYSTEM AND WORLD PAUSED.
All these screens were flashing in my HUD, but everything else was pitch black.
NEW SYSTEM ACTIVATED.
Magic combination system activated. Random magic activated. EARTH type magic. Work together with your team to combine magic.
What is going on? I was just in the cave with the girls, then why am I in darkness? Did something happen to me?
WARNING MINI-GAME ACTIVATING IN 3, 2, 1
I smelled sour ale and whoever was close to me needed a shower. Pipe smoke and wet cat were close by, along with the musky smell of reptiles. I pulled my head from my hands and opened my eyes.
A dark-skinned and broad-shouldered elf stood in front of me, behind the bar I sat across. He dried a glass while looking at me with a puzzled look on his face. Karman, Right? The name sounds right in my mind, so I turned to the side the cat smell originated.
"Dave, what's wrong with you?"
My eyes fell on the source of the smell and voice. I took every bit of focus I could muster up, not to react to the six-eyed Tiger-Kin woman sitting very close to me. She was beautiful, but I kept seeing flashes of the fight with the demon tiger.
"Hello?" She asked me again but shook me this time.
I really wasn't sure how to react, I knew this person, but I was having trouble trying to piece it all together. More people were gathering around me now, each with different appearances but familiar at the same time.
"What did you do to him, Sasha?" A shapely female with batwings coming from her brown hair accused my feline shaker.
She wore a form-fitting dress that showed off her body but did nothing to hide the large bastard sword on her back. Red hair and eyes locked with mine, and she gave me a gentle smile. Maxine. Our Wind user and group seductress, the party member most likely to stir up trouble among the other girls.
"I didn't do anything," Sasha complained.
Sasha was our Light user that specialized in diversion and light-based attacks. She always stayed close to me when on the field while providing support. Sasha could be a goof at times, but she was the for all of us when we needed it the most.
"I think I'm ok. I must have drunk too much."
"Are you sure? I can use my magic to heal you. Miss Mikato and Sir Kyrin, Please hold Leader Dave down while I check for injuries. Please do not resist Dave."
Oh no, this land-based mermaid was Jill, our Water user and healing excentric. Always there to help anyone who needs it or not. Jill's fault lies in her excessiveness and willingness to force others into her service. Notably, these two knuckleheads, Mikota and Kyrina.
Mind still fogged, the two took me down with a crash, and the wind ejected from my lungs. Kyrina was a sexually confused Fire using dragon with confidence problems. In comparison, Mikota, the Dark user, had a thing for Jill and went along with her plans with a blind faith that became dangerous if you got between them.
Jill's examination on the bar floor left me just short of filling a sexual harassment complaint, and I was finally let up. After a good dusting off from each of my party members, they all give me some room, and we found a table to suit our party size.
According to my short memory, we are here to explore a temple that housed five souls in the depths. According to legend, the souls will help the user transcend this plane, and past mistakes are forgiven. Maybe this place must be where players that break too many rules go. Perhaps they use some part of the spark to power each world's evil creatures—a lot of what if's right now.
"Is the plan just to go start looking around the temple ruins?" Kyrin asked In his knight form.
"No, we need to gather information first!" Sasha argued.
"Why not take on a quest to gain some money?" Maxine suggested.
"Wait, how much money do we have again? Maxine, isn't that your job to keep the money? What does our pocket change look like?"
"Ummm, we have enough to pay for the drinks and the room, and then we will have about two emerald chips left," Maxine relayed after almost climbing into her money bag.
I sighed. Broke once again, I tried to pretend in my mind that I was surprised, but I just shook my head at the girls. Maxine did have a point, though, with six mouths to feed. We were going to need money to explore. I looked at the girls and tried to remember who was best at digging up leads when Sasha spoke up.
"Let's not worry too much about it today. I lined us up a job in the morning that will help us earn more jobs. I about a week, we should be able to enter the Deamon Ruins."
"What kind of job is it?" I asked Sasha with suspicion.
Sasha actually turned away from me and started to whistle. That gave me no faith for tomorrow, and I sighed, putting my face into my hands. The other girls giggled and laughed at me, and I understood why I had put my face down like this when I woke up.
"Don't worry Dave, we all know Sasha is a bit unconventional, but she can see three steps ahead, so we just have to trust her," Maxine smiled, always supporting Sasha venture because they still paid out well. Still, I usually ended up with the worst part of the jobs while the girls watched me.
"Hahaha, you say that every time to make me feel better, Maxy," I laugh.
After receiving and eating our meal, we all headed to our rooms, but I was surprised when we got there. The six places I had assumed we had got turned out to be one. I had been wondering why the bartender kept shooting my smiles and secret thumbs-up gestures.
The room had two beds, and the owner had brought us a blanket roll to sleep between the beds. I ended up beside Jill on the first bed, so we had to put Kyrina and Mikota together in that bed and switching to female, so the other didn't get any morning surprises. Sasha and Maxine took the floor, and within minutes, everyone was asleep.
I woke up to the smell of cat again, far closer than it should have been. I could feel fur that wasn't part of my blanket tucked into me. As I opened my eyes, Sasha's six closed eyes were in front of me and a cute smile below them.
Part of me wondered where Jill had gone, but I noticed one of her legs still partially on the bed. Sasha must have pulled her down and crawled over her. Just how heavily did Jill sleep?
I looked over and seen that Mikota was rolling around in bed alone, and Maxine was already sitting in the rooms single chair while brushing her hair. I tried to move, but then I felt sharp pricks and a warm trickle coming from the same area. I looked over and gulped.
Sasha had draped her arm over me and placed her paw-like hand on my arms. That hand now had extended claws that had cut through blanket and sleeve, and now my flesh. Blood was making a couple of stains on my shirt as I looked at Maxine in despair.
"Don't look at me. You know Sasha does this every time. You seem to have forgotten the chain mail shirt given to you by her father when you bought her," Maxine explained all of this like common knowledge.
Bought her? What? Why don't I have a memory of something like that? I thought these things over and tried to dig into my mind to find the memory. Partially, I knew that this wasn't my real body or memories, but I had the feeling like this should have been significant.
"I bought her?" I was unsure how to broach the topic, so I decided being straight up with them would be the best.
"Well, you paid her father for her, didn't you? I wasn't there then, but that's what Jill told me."
Yes, I think I remember some of it now. My head feels a bit," but I stopped talking because my mind was slipping off to another place.