I put the four captives next to the fire and gave them blankets from the truck, with instructions to Jerry to wake me if they got up to any nonsense. I stopped and let Fayeen know she wasn't going to be tied up this evening, so if she wanted to, say, untie her friends and make a break for it, or just run away, she could certainly try. I told her Avya, Auralla and I were going to share essence some more in the truck though, and sorry if the loud moans kept her awake.
Avya appeared totally down to get some more Czar action, but I was exhausted. I'd beaten a man to death just a few hours ago, then celebrated by having a threesome with a friggin audience. It was all too much, and I needed a solid nine hours of sleep.
I nearly fell asleep in the captain's chair, only to be awoken by two naked angels climbing into Mack, hair still dripping. They'd found a stream, a blessed stream. I introduced them to the wonderful world of cotton terry bath towels, which they squealed in delight over. A cold, wet, and soapy half hour later I was also climbing into the cab sans clothing, ready to warm up.
I found two shivering females clutching each other under the covers in my double bed, and frowned. This was going to be a very difficult sleeping situation.
It ended up being Auralla spooning me spooning Avya, with Auralla jammed up against the back wall of the sleeper and Avya very nearly falling out onto the floor. And it was very nearly another threesome, what with Auralla being insatiable and trying to get a hold of the cock for the next few minutes. I laced my fingers into hers and murmured that we needed to save that energy for the morning. Then I drifted off into a night plagued by boner-inducing dreams.
The following morning, I woke up alone and thanked the gods for the ability to stretch out a bit. I still had overwhelming morning wood, and would've indulged with another hour or two of just laying around, except I had a big hill to climb if I was going to a) get to Bronze and figure out what that meant, b) secure the continued relationship leveling up with Avya, who I found to be worth the trouble, and c) broaden my power base by the weirdest (and most pleasurable) means possible. As a side bonus, I realized, if the
Empath's Mark
from Avya became Bronze soon, it might stretch even further towards convincing the four newbies outside that I was the real deal.
I checked over the game interface to see if anything had changed.
Beastmaster's Mark
now had three stars at Bronze, but I now spotted four empty star-shaped slots where further stars would go. Normal tier was only 3 stars to tier up, but Bronze was seven. With that extra knowledge filed away, I opened up the various relationship exclamation point notices.
New relationships with Fayeen and Velleth. Velleth was labeled Hostile to me, and the UI explained that earning the first star would be a long, uphill battle.
"Tell me something I don't know," I muttered.
Interestingly, Fayeen was not Hostile but Guarded. This was not far from Neutral. After that Neutral slid to Favorable… Avya had moved from Neutral to Favorable after our, ahem, second try. Auralla was currently in the Strong Ally camp, which meant the stars would come fast, as long as I kept up the good work.
Being frank with both of the Sunspire girls had impressed them, as had fighting for their continued freedom. I had mostly been fighting to stay alive, but yeah, I had tried to negotiate with the 'these girls don't belong to you' gambit. The idiot orc hadn't wanted to negotiate. While that had failed, the Sunspire girls knew about it and really appreciated it.
My relationship with Avya had blossomed to two and a half stars, closing in on Bronze. Each star meant a slight change to the abilities… I could now sense how many people were in the vicinity, about thirty feet, so long as they had emotions. As for Auralla's mark, I could now sense what Jerry sensed. That had already started, with him smelling and hearing things, and me learning that info across distances.
And, using
Empath's Mark
, I'd succeeded a Sly check against Fayeen in getting her surface thoughts last night, which meant I was just a sliver away from reaching Bronze tier completely. Life sure felt good, but the clock was ticking.
I headed outside into the early morning fog, and Jerry leapt out of my chest to land a foot from the three captives, and Fayeen.
"Good morning," I said. I hadn't bothered to put on clothes, and my semi-hard dick instantly caught her attention. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't try to run."
"You do have an axe," she said.
I looked down at her master's old axe. "So I do! Well, I wasn't out here all night, and I think Jerry probably disappeared… you had your chance. Want to stay?"
"You're asking me… sir?"
"Shit, uh… forgot. Yes, you're free to leave. I've been told that the village of females won't take you… they'll either turn you back this way or kill you. Maybe they'll point you further in that direction. No idea what's out there because I just arrived in this fine world of yours.
"It sucks to say, but while you're free to go, don't expect me to bend over backwards to try and help you survive out there. Honestly you know your own world better than me… unless the city is the only thing you've ever known. Anyway, those are your choices. I'll expect you to make those choices and let me know what you've decided… so I can untie you and let you go, or give you the tour."
Fayeen and the other three stared at me.
It was time to get breakfast in gear. I hefted up the double-headed battle axe, which I'd stowed it in the cab, and paused to inspect it for the first time. Runes were inscribed in an arc on either side, close to the razor sharp bit. The UI informed me there was more to the axe than just the sharp ends.
Giskennen's Brutal Axe
Melee slashing weapon, fine quality, enchanted
Bronze tier
Qualities: everlasting, eversharp, light, swift, powerful, severing
Attuned Abilities: Activate with the proper shout to create a
hail of shards
three times per day (ranged, normal, piercing). Swing forward and activate with the proper shout to make a
mighty leap
three times per day (movement, magical).
This weapon was attuned to Giskennen the Brutal, though he is dead at your hand. You may attune this weapon with the ritual of attunement.
"The proper shout and the proper ritual, huh?" That could wait. This was a pretty good upgrade from my baseball bat, though I still wanted more in case Giskennan's drinking buddies showed up and went 'dude what the fuck?'
I made very, very quick work of the firewood, with the Brutal Axe. It literally cleaved through the first tree I came across. As I was naked, this reinforced the need for some sort of armor and proper Ethetrian clothing. No more jeans. No more 'I'm So Tough I Vacation In Detroit' t-shirt. I'd keep my button down shirts and ties, along with my one pair of black slacks, just in case this place had black tie events.
I created some ridiculous amount of firewood in maybe two minutes, and worked the coals into a breakfast cook fire. Auralla and Avya returned with herbs and another dead creature I couldn't name, but also produced eggs out of their dimensional storage bracelets.
"You think that guy had one of those bracelets?" I asked.
It had been dark and there'd been a gaggle of armed women to deal with, sue me for forgetting.
Both of them stopped and stared at me in my birthday suit.
"Is it… are we… before breakfast?" Auralla cried, and began to reach for the knot in her shirt.
It was not. I went and put a pair of boxers on, though I caught a look at myself in Mack's big old side mirror and saw that I now appeared like a weightlifter. A noob weightlifter, but a person with muscles as opposed to a flab sack.
We fed all seven of us, and this time I just kept the axe handy for the three captives. I freed them of their bindings, and told them to do any business that needed doing under my watch. The dragonite and the catgirl were asked their names (Dallinya the felinian, and Hellera the dragonite, both Sworn Enemies on my relationship screen). They wouldn't remain Sworn Enemies for long.
"You're free to leave if you want," I told the four of them. "We're not big on enslaving people where I come from, so you can brave the wilds and return to the shithole of a city you came from if that's what you really want. The village of only females probably won't have you. Either you'll be turned away… or worse. I don't know, I don't speak for them.
"I'm a Drifter with some really different ideas and you may have already noticed that. You're free to move about this camp here, you're encouraged to help out, but if you attack any of us, you die. No questions asked, just dead."
I stroked the stubble that was beginning to make its appearance. I looked like the cover of a romance novel right now… but with no pants on.
"Hm, what else? In two days, I'm told you'll be refilled with magic and that means power for males like me. I won't dominate, or take of your power. Also, you're not under obligation to share essence with me."
Auralla and Avya's heads turned sharply in my direction.
"You see these two here? This beautiful beastmaster and this equally glorious empath? They are also free to come and go whenever they leave for whatever reason they choose. That's how we do things in my world.
"If you stay though, I have to protect you, so I would recommend sharing essence. You may not have heard of it, or you think it's not real, but I can guarantee it is." I turned to Auralla. "Would you like to prove it?"
She flipped her hair back and bared her neck. This allowed the light to play over the Drifter's Mark, gleaming with bronze and hints of magic in the feeble sunlight coming in off the fog-shrouded sun. Then she teleported. For just a moment she was in two places at once, enshrouded in a bizarre fog of mostly black, with hints of greenish purplish bluish in there.
"Everyone gains," I said. "I mean if the general attitude of Auralla and Avya last night didn't convince you, just think about going up against any of those males with
extra powers
. You have your own, whatever that might have once been. I bet you can feel it getting close." I could see it within them, coalescing around their bodies. It was still faint, just hints of wavy color out of the corner of my eye, but it was definitely there. With Avya and Auralla, I could see their… whatever those were, their auras? They were plainly visible, no problem. "Think about that while we get breakfast taken care of, get training over with, and have a little post-celebration celebration. Are there any questions for me?"
They stayed silent, eyes locked on me.
"I promise, questions are good. I'm a fan of questions."
Nothing.
I shrugged. "All right… I'll be back here pretty soon. If you're staying, please get cleaned up in the stream, it's five minutes' walk over that way, there's soap from the truck, there are towels in a pile next to the soap."
"You'll love the towels!" Avya burst out, then seemed to collapse in on herself in embarrassment. "S-sorry."
I gave her a warm smile. She might not know how cute that was, but that was fine. "I'd also appreciate it if the fire was kept burning, and nothing in the truck was disturbed." I'd head around and lock up the cab from the other side so they couldn't see how to do it.
"I would like to ask a question, m-master… s-sir," Fayeen finally said.
I turned back. "Go ahead."
"Could I speak with," she inclined her head toward Auralla, "your female… privately?"
I shrugged. "She's not mine, I don't own her. She can do anything she likes."
The dragonite snarled. "You're weak, and the males will put you out of your misery soon enough."
I turned and pitched the brutal axe at the nearest big ass tree. The thing went whump-whump-whump end over end, and I'll be damned if it didn't split that goddamn full grown two or three hundred year old tree in half with a clap like thunder. Half that tree groaned, another thunderclap came, and it slowly pitched over with a crash.
I shrugged, and arched an eyebrow at the speechless Hellera. "I'm doing all right so far."
***
It was almost two hours later when I finally snuck up on Auralla's lesson creature, a twitchy little fucker the size of a housecat with lightning fast reflexes. I wanted to just cut the damn thing in two with my new brutal axe, but grabbing it by the scruff of its neck was still very satisfying. It immediately went into apeshit mode, clawing the shit out of my arm, but I also hit Bronze at that exact same moment.
For the last two hours I'd been sneaking around, gathering up little bits of Sly experience here and there, watching that third star like a fucking hawk.
"I got you now you little bastard."
It had an upturned nose and two long prehensile looking whiskers, like little tentacles coming out of its long, almost dog-like face. It too had six legs, like most of the creatures I'd seen here, and short fur in almost color-deleting black.
It hissed at me, but I brought it closer so I could look it in the eye. "You got away entirely too many times… anyway I'm glad to meet you finally, and I'm glad I never have to catch you again. Go and do your thing."
I tossed it away, where it landed on its feet, regarded me with big huge yellow eyes, then disappeared into the brush.
Bronze tier. Time to start back, and read up on what I'd just gained.
Congratulations!
You've reached Bronze tier.
Though this is a milestone, you have already begun to see the progression of your abilities as a journey rather than a series of mountains to climb. Your capabilities grow with each word you speak with purpose, every attack you land with courage, and every setback you overcome with perseverance.
By the time you reach silver tier, you will have overcome many of the limitations that hold beings down on this planet: you will slowly erase your need to eat food if there is plentiful magic to be found, you will inure yourself against many toxins, viruses, poisons that plague beings of your stature. You will see with eyes unclouded, and hear with ears undamaged. Bronze tier is the first step of becoming more human than human. Your aging will slow, and you will find your mind and muscles capable of much more than any human ever experienced on your planet. You will channel more magic and discover more capabilities than you ever dreamed possible.
I turned and looked for any sign of the cook fire, but couldn't see it. I was pretty deep in the woods now… I sighed, and started to trudge back, only to realize I could teleport.
One of those later, into tall trees, I spotted the column of smoke reaching into the late morning air. And several more teleports later, I was out of mana, but much closer to my home base.
I couldn't wait to show Avya and Auralla, and I also couldn't wait to see whether they'd worked any magic.
When I returned, I swear to whatever gods people believed in on this world, Avya was riding on Fayeen's shoulders. The two were laughing together. Auralla had the three other newcomers around a wooden frame stretched with a dead animal fur. She concentrated, breathing hard, and pulses of magic emanated from her hand in little waves. It slowly altered its shape, until it was a broad sheet of fur instead of that irregular dead animal form.
The blue-skinned elf Velleth was nodding, as was the felinian. The dragonite, Hellera, still didn't look too impressed.
Auralla was overjoyed that I'd caught the shadow finnet, and gave me a long kiss. I still couldn't get over how a supermodel dressed in see-through clothes was hot for me, but I was definitely appreciative. My body reacted instantly, and Auralla gave me a devilish grin.
"Are we putting on another show?" she asked.
"You are insatiable," I told her.
"You can't convince me you think that is a bad thing."
Before we got down to the showtime sex, I approached Avya.
"Mast— eh, sir." Fayeen did a kind of curtsey, which caused Avya to unbalance and nearly pitch over.
"I'm glad to see you two are friends, though it worries me a bit."
"Oh, you should be," Avya said. "Fayeen here has quite the sense of humor."
"I'm also glad to see you with a smile on your face," I told Fayeen, whose expression had hardened back to the guarded stoniness of before. "I'll go away now so you can have it back."
"Yes, get out of here, you… you
male
!" Avya teased. Ooh, a zinger. I feigned a heart attack and winced at the savage barb, clutching my chest.
My ass was pinched as soon as I turned away, and when I turned, both of them were whistling a tune they both knew. They caught me looking, and laughed again.
My relationship with Fayeen had turned to Favorable, and now already had a star. Which was amazing because I hadn't been around her at all for several hours. Avya had been singing my praises, I guessed.
I returned to Auralla. It was time to start the show.