"This will help us determine what type of Aura you want, and whether to develop your Aura Core or body first. Take your time thinking this over, no need to ru-"
"A harem! I want a harem!" Kara proudly declared this with not an ounce of shame.
Ace stared.
Raven raised an eyebrow.
Sol sighed, covering his face in shame.
"I want dozens of weak, effeminate men dressed up in maid outfits to be mine! And I want another dozen beautiful ladies as well! We will live in a castle, and it will be glorious!"
Kara grinned. "I also want overwhelming strength. I want the power to break everyone and anything, to have them groveling at my feet, begging for mercy!"
Ace blinked. "Well, that whole first bit is not really helpful right now, but thanks for sharing, I guess. Anyw-"
"I also want to become a succubus!"
Sol frowned. "Okay, that's a new one. How are you supposed to become a succubus?"
"I dunno, I will figure it out as I go! Maybe I have to have sex with a succubus? Or, maybe I need to fuck a succubus?"
"Those are both the same thing."
Kara shook her head, chuckling. "Ora ora, of course you would say that! Silly me, I forget how pure you are! Hu Hu Hu! When I say 'fuck', that clearly has a different implication than 'sex'. 'Fuck' implies that I am dominating the succubus! This could be an important disti-"
Ace politely cleared his throat. "Nice discussion, but I don't think it is useful at all. Let's get back on topic, alright?"
Kara huffed. "Yeah, whatever."
Ace smiled. "Thank you! Now, there were two things you said that could actually be important. First, you want 'overwhelming strength'. If you want to break them before you, and have them groveling at your feet, then I would recommend developing your body first."
"Next, your goal of becoming a succubus. Quite frankly, I have no damn clue how to achieve that. However, I do have an idea of how to start. How about developing a Demonic Aura Core?"
Kara perked up, suddenly very interested. "Demonic Aura? That's possible?"
Ace nodded. "Yep! Demons occasionally pop up and visit the surface world, and it is possible to trade with them. I have a bottle of their saliva. If we pop a bit of that into a kid's mouth, they will die in seconds. You just have to be careful, Demonic Aura is tricky."
Kara smirked. "Fuck yeah! That sounds awesome!"
"Good, good. Now then..." Ace turned towards Sol. "How about you?"
Sol shrugged. "I am only here because she kept on begging me. At first, I didn't plan on playing for long, but I ended up having much more enjoyment than first expected. My 'goal' is to keep on doing what I have been doing; playing along with Kara, and keeping her out of trouble."
"Okay, and how do you plan on doing that?"
"So far, I have trailed along, supporting Kara from the shadows. I will hide away, and take out opponents with my bow."
Ace stroked his chin. "Good, good. A much more fitting style of combat for a member of the Shadow Guild... Well, the obvious Aura choice would be 'Shadow'. Now, whether you develop your Aura Core or body first is up to you."
Sol paused for a moment, thinking it over. "Shadow is probably a fitting choice of Aura. Then, the only correct course of action would be to develop my body first. I have more TP in my Physique Discipline, and only got a couple TP from the Battle Royale."
"TP... that stands for 'Talent Points', correct?"
Sol nodded. "Yeah, I figured you knew, since you knew about Quests."
Ace shook his head. "I know a little bit about the strange power you newcomers have, but I still can't see the whole picture. So, after this is done, please remember to enlighten me."
Ace turned towards Raven. "Now, finally, what are you after?"
Raven carefully planned out his words. "The Aura type I want should be obvious: poison. First of all, I have a natural affinity for it. Not only that, but it is useful against large amounts of weaker opponents, and still helps me take down stronger ones. It is versatile."
Raven had thought over his answer carefully, because Raven was paranoid.
'Ace is a powerful NPC, with connections to one of the strongest people alive. In that case, who knows what he has access to? What if, in the worst-case scenario, he knows when I am lying? In that case, I have to use my words carefully, at least until I am done with him. If I let him find out my goal is to exterminate all life, and that I plan on betraying him, he won't let me enhance my body and core.'
Raven could, probably, hide his deception by only speaking what was technically true. However, he didn't feel that was enough. So, he relied on the single most important skill in a trickster's arsenal: misdirection.
Raven grinned. "Now, about which I want to do first... why not neither?"
Ace frowned. "Neither? Are you implying what I think you are?"
Raven nodded. "Yes, exactly. I want to try and develop my Aura Core and my body at the same time! If I tried that, what do you think would happen?"
Ace sat quietly for a moment, and nobody spoke a word. The cavern was silent.
Finally, Ace laughed. He burst into a hearty chuckle, and kept laughing for almost a minute.
Eventually, his laughter began to fade, and he sighed. "Do you think nobody has tried that before? Most likely, you will be unable to focus on both at the same time, and only end up weakening both."
"But those people didn't have TP, did they?"
Ace cocked his head. "... go on."
"I have enough TP to be extremely proficient in both my body and Aura. You have not experienced what I have. Before I came to this land, I had never thrown a dagger in my life. I was weak. In barely any time at all, I have already attained incredible strength."
Ace thought it over, and then looked at the other two players. "Since I can't really know what it is like, let me ask you two. What do you think?"
Sol thought for a moment. "Well, putting TP into a Discipline does increase the rate you can learn by an incredible amount. However, its' effect starts to become weaker after you learn the basics. Assuming Raven has at least three TP in both the Physique and Aura Disciplines, he could at most be considered a genius for both."
Raven nodded. "That's correct. However, you also need to consider our current circumstances. We are using shortcuts to cheat our way into power. This is the perfect environment to develop our bodies and Core! If it is at all possible, even just theoretically, then this is where it will be accomplished."
Ace looked at Kara. "They have some good points... what about you, Kara? What do you think?"
Kara smirked. "I say we let him try it. If he fails, then I guess it sucks to be him. If he succeeds, you can bet your ass I'm gonna do it as well!"