John was poking the coin-sized remains of Ruhrszatch’s energy with his finger. It felt slippery, like oiled skin, and sapped heat from him. It was difficult to say whether it was round, flat, or sothing in between.
Several tis, he poked it. This was one of the many actions he would have heavily advised against, if this had been a real environnt. From breaking the seal to now putting himself in direct combat with the core of the corrupting influence, there were a lot of bad decisions in the narrative. A narrative was all it was, however, as long as it stayed in here. Which was why he was wary of the loot.
“Let’s see what we got and call it a day,” John announced and looked for the chest. When he found that it had spawned outside the boss arena, over where Lorelei stood, he raised an eyebrow. ‘Boss goes out asking for a stronger vessel, leaves an altar behind, loot spawns outside the boss arena… yeah, this is setting up a secret boss of so variety,’ he thought as he walked over.
He also had a choice to consider.
More Loot was out by default. The group was rarely, if ever, looking for items. That being said, Corrupted Arsenal was attractive for two reasons. Number one was that there was a single item John was looking for – sothing that could have filled his empty Right-Hand Equipnt Slot. Anything good that went there would be a power increase and the Loottable of the Fallen Vessel specifically ntioned a ring and a claw. The second reason why the choice was enticing was that it existed in the first place. It was the first ti sothing beyond More Loot and More Power was on the table.
‘If I was a ga designer, why would I do that?’ John asked himself and glanced over to the dormant altar. ‘Maybe they get upgraded or cleansed after the secret boss? Bit of an archaic design decision to create a system like that without hints, but I don’t know why else this would be on the ticket. Those items have to be special in so way, otherwise there’d be no reason to give a guaranteed way to acquire them.’
The mystery enticed John and he drumd his fingers on the lid of the chest. It remained closed until he made his choice, which was annoying because the contents could have influenced what he picked. Which was also why Gaia had implented that lock, he reckoned.
‘More Power is obviously the best choice. I really need the SEP,’ John told himself. Skill Evolution Points were about half the reason why he stuck to the Raid despite the bad yield on Experience Points. He needed at least two to finally evolve Mana Chain into Chains of Babylon and Arcana Strike into Skyfall.
As much as the Corrupted Arsenal choice tempted him, with his aversion to introducing void items to his Equipnt and the fact that More Power presented him with what he actually ca for, it was clear what he had to pick.
John checked the GP Store while he was at it. He hadn’t used it in forever and perhaps it was ti to finally spend so of the points that had been building up.
‘…Gaia really wants to get one of the Corrupted Arsenal items,’ he thought. ‘Or at least let have the chance to get one.’ He also noted that the previous choice to buy Guild Perks was gone. A reasonable change, given that the chanic had run its course. In its stead there was an option to buy a permanent mana increase for the Guild Hall. That could co in handy at so point, despite its hefty price-tag. ‘Maybe I should buy so Skill Points,’ John considered.
He kept that at the back of his mind, while finally pushing the lid of the chest and reaching inside. The items they had been awarded manifested in his hands one after the other.
For Commons, there were two Corrupted Mithril-Steel Ingots, one Corrupted Ohmior Gauntlet, and one Ohmior Armour Instructions. The corrupted items had flowery descriptions that basically read as ‘WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH IF WISDOM UNDER 100’.
John made the unpopular decision of yeeting these and the corrupted weaponry they got in the Uncommon category into the Maw when they got out of the Illusion Barrier. The Building deleted items from existence, which made it perfect for this task. It also paid back with so Experience or money, which would be a minor side benefit.
“They can’t be that bad if Gaia gives them to us,” tra complained, just as John tossed a one-eyed halberd into his inventory.
“Gaia gave the choice in the past to kill Aclysia for permanent Stat gain,” John pushed back. “Her whole shtick is that she’s the supre deity of creation and lets all of us be free to make our own choices. That includes mistakes. I’m not introducing another layer of possible corruption to Earth. Not happening.” He made a gesture to figuratively clean his hands.
“So are ya taking the Stable Void away from Scarlett?” Rave asked.
“That had no warning label on it,” John reasoned. “If it starts talking to her, then, yes, that gets destroyed too.”
In the Rare category, they got two Shards of the Seal. They were crafting materials that could be used to create, well, seals. John would throw them at the senior craftsn in his employ and see if they could fashion anything useful from them.
Of the Epic items, the sa Gaia was making such a fuss about, John only got the Ring of the First Traitor. It had an even larger warning label, advising against usage under 500 Wisdom. John cleared that condition and it did fit the slot he wanted to fill, but he was still against it in principle. Plus, the Enchantnts on it weren’t even that great. It had Stats and an effect that created a vacuum that pulled enemies towards the centre on a one-hour cooldown.
John kept it, just in case he didn’t find anything else. He could always destroy it after the fight with Arkeidos. Any item was better than no item.
Finally, he did get the Legendary from this boss. The Voidmarrow was a crafting material creator. Specifically, it could be used to refine Stable Voids, which were a power source for artifice. There was no warning label on it either. Regardless, he would entrust it to Scarlett, who would oversee its behaviour for a while before it ever saw public use.
With the loot acquired, they returned ho.
__________________________________________________________________________
“You think I’d have moral qualms about using it if it turned so morons insane?” Scarlett asked when he handed the bone-shaped, deep purple object over.
“No, but I think you’d tell if it turned so morons insane,” John answered with a soft laugh, “and then I can do sothing about it.”
“You’re bad for the economy,” Scarlett remarked.
Further banter was prevented by Nathalia, joining the group of nude won greeting him by the door. The dragoness, standing taller than anyone else around, including John, placed her index finger on his sternum. “Out of the clothes and into the bath, now,” she ordered and turned around. Her light brown butt jiggled with each long stride she took.
“I will prepare our dinner,” Aclysia announced, separating from the group. Beatrice followed.
John was of half a mind to stop them. It wasn’t true quality ti in the bath unless the entire harem was part of it. Sadly, he had to choose between having a complete group to have an orgy with or food. John was fairly certain his superhuman status had reached a point where he could go several weeks without food. He had no intention of testing this hypothesis though.
Without complaint, therefore, he followed the demanding dragoness. He pulled his Equipnt into his inventory, while the rest of his harem shed their clothes in the living room. Most of them got to just magic them away in their own ways, including Rave’s bodysuit. Only Lorelei had to strip in the traditional way.
“Let put that away for you,” Momo offered, only to turn to John with a warning glare. “I’m doing it because I’m nice!”
“Would have never said anything else,” John chuckled. “You definitely aren’t growing into the maid role or anything.”
“Shut it, Mast- dammit!”
The Gar kept laughing to himself while he moved to the spacious bathroom on the ground floor. Competing with his Palace was impossible for a spawned-in mansion, but the polished red granite floor and mirror-covered walls did put up a valiant effort to compete. It all had a very pre-enlightennt era style to it, as if the room belonged in Versailles. A massive bathtub was lowered into the ground, just about large enough to fit the entire harem inside its heart-shaped form.
It was already filled to the rim with water. Nathalia stepped over the edge, a hand-width higher than the floor, and into the still liquid. Spilling over the edge, water flowed into a drain that surrounded the tub, while the dragoness stood in wait for her lover. John followed swiftly, causing yet more echoes of splatter to bounce around the room.
The Gar grabbed Nathalia’s left hand and pulled her down with him. Together, they got comfortable in the point of the heart-shape. Lips and tongues t in deep caress, as they started to make up for the ti they had lost today. The rest of the harem soon spilled into the bath and the usual ensued.
About two hours, a change of water, a scrumptious al, and general frolicking later, a tired Gar lingered on a couch and used his Skill Evolution Points to finally get the upgraded Skills that he had unlocked a while ago.
An astoundingly good Skill Evolution, worthy of the Class Level it had taken to get it. Having the Mana Chains anchored not to himself, the Unstable Arcana, or his Extension made them incredibly more effective at restraining enemies. Speed, damage, sturdiness and range were all also higher than before. That it could travel the entirety of the distance between its spawn and its maximum range in less than a second made it an impressively reliable projectile – as long as his aim was true.
Unstable Arcana was obviously affected by this change. Every pulse of that attack launched a Mana Chain. Each of these would co with their own anchor that could spawn in the ten-tre radius around the main spell.
It was good to see that these things were properly updated.
Arcana Strike had always been a good tool, but there had been a critical weakness to it that had made it unwieldy in most situations: its cost was always all of John’s current mana. Skyfall did not have the sa issue, which was half of the reason why John had wanted it. The other half was general improvent.
Skyfall still filled the sa niche as Arcana Strike. It was a big, slow, massively destructive spell that John could use to brute force sothing. It did also have a drawback though. Arcana Strike, once launched, sat up above until John wanted to launch it. Skyfall was set the mont he used it. All he could do afterwards was cancel it with Interrupt Cast, refunding 50% of the cost. He held out hope that a future Perk would restore that utility.
He had one more SEP available and no target that seed worthwhile to use it on. There was Arc Lance and Unstable Arcana, both of which he was completely happy with in their current iteration. Over at the Passive Skills, Fencing and Kickboxing offered themselves, which was new. If John was a betting boy, he could unlock new Techniques that way. He had absolutely no interest in doing so, however. The few that he had were enough to reliably activate Arcane Rejuvenation, consuming the stacks he built up on enemies to restore his mana.
Interface was the most attractive option. The basic technomancy spell had beco a convenience in most of his life, allowing him to direct nearby electronics after he had touched them. He was still fairly limited in its usage, only having a single avatar in the electronic world, and held back by the tether range. Improving that further doubtlessly would increase its utility. The Skill had little in terms of combat use, but neither had Master Stud and he had never regretted the long path it had taken his various sex Skills to their current state.
Only problem with Interface was that it wasn’t currently maxed out. Skill Evolutions were best kept until that point. So that was what John decided to do: hold out until either Interface reached 100 or, maybe, Starforger presented him with another attractive Skill Evolution.
Before John closed his windows for the day, he checked on Artificial Spirit. ‘That’ll reach 50 overnight,’ he reasoned, looking at the almost full bar. ‘I should buy another 50 Skill Points, then I can do two Perks and new Skills for all four of them. Plus, the Reset Perk might let cope with the abhorrent mana cost…’
He nodded to himself, that was what he would do tomorrow.
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