It took the whole day to drive back ho. Because their tour through New Libraria had brought them quite far north, the travel ti back to the Hudson Barrier was a ‘re’ 11 hours. They arrived in the past-midnight hours of Saturday and imdiately went to bed. When John woke up the next morning, he took his remaining frustrations and exorcised them in the usual way: through wild sex. For the entire drive, he and the majority of the girls hadn’t been in the mood. The familiar walls and a bit of ti changed that.
Saturday was a pretty unpleasant day regardless of that holy feeling. He had to notify all potentially affected parties of what had happened and to make preparations for the eventual arrival of the demons. Declaring this a matter of Collide, rather than Fusion, allowed John to ignore several hurdles and simply carve a reserved block out of currently unoccupied Hudson Barrier land. That ant this would have to be paid out of his own pocket. Which, ironically, was actually good for him.
The Token distribution in the Hudson Barrier was in full swing at this point and every excuse he got to mint and pay with more coins was welco. Being in full control of the money supply made things hilariously easy. It was no wonder so many rulers fell repeatedly into the inflation trap. It worked perfectly to keep one’s head above water – until it didn’t, of course.
A large faction he had to inform of the chain of events were the mbers of parliant. Because it was Saturday and calling an ergency session just for a war report would have ruffled additional feathers, John opted to just call the party leaders and choice mbers of the House of Exceptionals. This was, generally, an unpleasant affair.
People were getting really comfortable in their positions of power. This was good since it showed they had enough trust in the system to believe that the Gar wouldn’t just co around and kick them out when they did sothing he hated. It also ant that they felt confident enough to berate him. This ant that John had to listen to several people, who hadn’t been there and operated solely on hindsight, tell him what he should have done.
John had pushed back, as friendly as possible. He wasn’t about to be reprimanded by pencil pushers, especially not in his current mood. It was fine that they were comfortable in their positions, but it was best if they rembered who he was. A modicum of respect was expected and the Gar made that clear. That reigned most of them back in. John was just worried about what they would do behind the scenes, if they felt overly offended.
After he was done with the party leadership, he reached out to the press. There was absolutely no way any of this would remain under wraps for more than a couple of days. Between the party leadership distributing the information down the hierarchy and people noticing his return from the publicly announced deploynt, things would reach the right and wrong ears. It was better to get ahead of the curve.
Because of this, he wrote a public statent, sent that to broadcasters of influence or personal favouritism, gave so of them a promise for an interview in the coming days, and then published that sa public statent two hours later. That made the press feel honoured but also didn’t give them enough ti to publish a proper article on the matter before he did.
With all of that out of the way and his Saturday basically over, John had nothing to do but wait for public opinion to catch up with the news cycle. In the anti, the Gar had a few other things to sort out. First of all was the level he had gotten from the usual work hour services.
‘I have another 2 Max Class Levels available,’ John thought, ‘and Gno is maxing out soon.’ He leaned back to look at the autumn elental currently engaging him under the table. She was so concentrated on her work that she didn’t even notice his gaze, slobbering all over his respectable size. That was sothing incredibly empowering about seeing the easily embarrassed brunette so shalessly devouring his cock. Bending sothing purely to his will, that was the closest formulation he could co up with. Her constant moans certainly fuelled his enjoynt.
For the matter of her evolution, they had a slight problem. They still hadn’t had their mont of true understanding, enabling that final step. With Undine he had it on the battlefield, Salamander when he obliged her absurd request to face corruption, Siena when they had their mont in the midnight forest, and Sylph from cuddling (whimsical as all else about that woman). Only with Gno, he still hadn’t struck that understanding. It was a worriso matter, but they were certain they could work it out. Their love for each other was unquestionable.
The Class Levels, John wasn’t sure where to put. Elentalist was the obvious choice, but the newest Class Challenge was to synchronize his mind with five elentals at the sa ti. With how much he had struggled for the three, that was a near impossible task. It didn’t help that it only gave 50% of the required Class Experience. This ant that a six elental synchro was very likely.
With that road barred, the other contenders for Class Levels were Martial Artist, Unfound, Harem Gar and Negotiator. Martial Artist just to hone his physical capabilities, Unfound to boost his additional senses to the point where he could use Magus Step to teleport to the other side of obstacles, Harem Gar for the obvious reasons, and Negotiator to make his political life easier. There were also tracana Master and Space Protector, but he wanted to keep the Advanced Classes for when he was fully satisfied with his base build. If he had points to dump, there was also Tar.
‘Unfound has the most tangible goal, so let’s start with that,’ John decided. Not that this decision netted him anything. He didn’t have the ti to chase after the Challenges at the mont.
He wouldn’t have tomorrow either.
______________________________________________________________________
“Remind why you’re tagging along, buddy?” John asked while he and Maximillian looked over the crystal-clear water of the Hudson. Anybody living in the real version of New York would have sworn that ‘clear’ and ‘Hudson’ were two words that couldn’t belong into the sa sentence. Luckily, the Abyssal side had access not only to the Guild Hall, but also to clams the size of garden sheds. Nature’s filtration system had removed all of the gunk from the river and left it in pristine condition. Through the swirling surface, John could even see the riverbed.
“Because you decided that you wanted to go see the old man before your bestest friend,” the gravity mage returned, waving his arm in a dramatic gesture that ended at his chest. “Truly, I’m offended that you would do such a thing.”
“Say that to Lee for coming here in the morning hours,” John responded. Lee Magus, Magoi’s youngest daughter, was finally moving to the Hudson Barrier. They had sorted out the where a few days after the last grinding session. After that, it had only been a question of when she would move over. The answer had co about in an unexpected haste. Had things with the Golden Rose gone differently, he would have missed the occasion. Not that it was a particularly important one.
“I’ll tell her all kinds of things,” Maximillian grinned.
“First off, what happened to the MILF-hunter I know?” John asked. “You know she’s about as old as I am, yeah?”
“You know I’m only two years older than you, yeah?” Maximillian asked. “I’m allowed to be interested in younger won too.”
“Second off,” John just ignored that valid point, “I wouldn’t recomnd trying to get close to her. Mabirl doesn’t approve of our lifestyles.”
“Ah… does Lee care?”
“Honestly, from what I hear, she might hop on your dick just to annoy her mother,” John answered truthfully.
“…Well, I’m not desperate enough to exploit a girl with mommy issues…”
“Also, you might get slapped by Magnus on his birthday.”
“He wouldn’t break my jaw in the process, so that could be worth it.”
“Also, Magoi would probably be pissed.”
“THAT, however, is scary,” Maximillian admitted. A High Fateweaver wasn’t physically imposing, but they had other ans to get back at soone. Magoi especially, given the influence he had inside Fusion and his personal contacts across the rest of the globe. “Wouldn’t want to ss with the guy who maintains my new ho barrier.”
“How are you settling in anyway?” John asked. After ditching Hollywood and in response to the Lorylim threat, Maximillian had decided to move into the Hudson Barrier. In a display of royal privilege, the exiled king had hired a construction company to build him a mansion without paying a penny. Providing the pretext that he would be the ‘ambassador’ of Austria, he had sent a request back ho. His older sister Maria, the currently acting queen (although princess-regent would have been more accurate), obliged on the condition that he would pick up so of her administrative work. Once they agreed on that, she contacted John, who only had to point at a piece of land.
Maximillian had insisted it to be on the eastern coast. Close to the ferry that could take him to the Guild Hall, he explained in public settings. In private, he was fully open towards the fact that he just wanted to be nestled between the forest races and the red-light district. Elf girls with big tits and strippers, that was the long and short of it.
A mansion fit for a (self-exiled) king and for the parties he was doubtlessly going to arrange wasn’t built in a few weeks, however. Houses in the Hudson Barrier ca in three variants. Quickest to be inhabited were the repurposed mundane houses, which only needed to be hooked up to the Abyssal resource networks. New houses erected with the materials of the Hudson Barrier also ca about quite fast. Because of the Guild Hall, stone and tal were cheap and easily available and basic structures could be raised up in a matter of hours. Details such as windows, insulation and electricity took the most work there. Then there was the desire for extravagant mansions, which had to be built with specific materials and were decorated extensively. They still went up quicker on the Abyssal side than in the mundane case, magic helped quite a bit there, but it took a while.
Until that was done, Maximillian stayed in the Embassy in the Guild Hall. That Building t his needs for the mont. Also, it would be nice to have him that close. Having a male friend that he could et after work for a couple of beers was refreshing. Magnus was always busy and Ted wasn’t soone John liked to be alone with. The guy was alright, but trying to have a conversation with just him was like swimming through tar.
Of course, he wouldn’t hang out with Maximillian at any given opportunity, they both had harems that were usually more pleasant company, but just the option was refreshing. Previously, getting together had to be a tightly scheduled event. Now they were practically neighbours. Even after he moved to the mansion, John could just hop into the teleporter.
“It’s going alright,” Maximillian responded.
“You don’t sound all that enthused,” John noted.
“Marie is… a weird neighbour,” the gravity mage told his friend. “I’m not sure if she’s interested in , hates or just wants to write down interesting things about .”
“She’s a complicated one, for sure.” John nodded. “I would personally advise to keep away from her too, unless you’re going to be together with only her.”
“Does she have a mother out for a partner’s head too?”
“No, she just doesn’t have the temper for that life,” John told her. “In that regard she is a normal woman.”
“Ah, alright then.” Maximillian rolled his neck. “Guess I’ll just say hello to Lee then and wait for you to get done with showing her around.”
“You could just go to the Elental Islands on your own,” John told him.
“Sure I could, but that sounds less entertaining,” the gravity mage responded. “I went with Jane the other day and that was at least a nice afternoon. Your girlfriend is pretty aweso.”
“I know, right?” John puffed his chest up, as if that was a complint directed at him. “Although she did screw up massively just two days ago.”
“Yeah, yeah. Public hasn’t really digested it yet, have they?”
“Opinions don’t really form in less than twelve hours. It’ll probably take until Wednesday for us to have a clear picture.”
“Also, while speaking about your won, plural,” Maximillian looked around on the ferry, “where are they?”
“They took the teleporter.”
“…Why didn’t we?”
“I thought you preferred the ferry. You know, after you made us run around in search of one last ti we were drinking. Also it’s been a minute and I like your company,” John admitted and got himself a friendly punch to the shoulder.
“And you ask why I dared to tag along, buddy,” Maximillian laughed.
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