Back in the inner realm, John managed to get his mind out of the gutter enough for his dick to beco flaccid. A feat of willpower in his case, since he could and regularly did continue without pause. “Alright, Ehtra, ready to talk to again?”
“If I have to,” the angel maid answered with false reluctancy. Headpats introduced blushing sweetness into her sour expression. “Alright… what will you grant today, Master?”
Only No Pity was recycled among these choices. Gun Mastery 3 sounded interesting, but for Ehtra Gun Mastery 2 was perfectly sufficient. The bolt gun was a support weapon and its explosive rounds did not lend themselves well to trick shots.
Exterminatus was cool just because of the na. The effect was also decent, serving as a fight ender. In terms of that category of Skills, John considered it a pretty incredible one. Claire’s Death Nail was better, accumulating damage to be used essentially without cost. That was a high bar to clear though. If the Death Nail was S-tier, Exterminatus was A-Tier. Expunging buffs and losing the damage and tracking bonus from Lady Vengeance was a hefty drawback. It was not, however, one that left Ehtra incapable of continuing the fight should the strike not end it.
No Pity was still good on paper, but Ehtra simply lacked buffs worth extending. The only one she had currently was Hate Spike and that was in the Persecutor Stance. For the ti being, this one was best ignored.
No Remorse was, plainly, incredible. One drawback of the bolt gun was that its shells scaled with the outside factor of Hailey’s crafting rather than Ehtra’s own combat prowess. The buff attached, even without any prolonging effect, granted a trendous burst of speed that could get Ehtra out of dodge. Once she had access to the buff extender of No Pity, it would be an extrely powerful tool.
Since so much was hinging on her getting access to more buffs, No Remorse was the natural choice – one that Ehtra herself confird. Skill chosen, they moved onto the Perk for her.
‘A spread of helts?’ the Gar thought and read through all of them. Helt of Vengeance was a repeat, but that did not distract from it being quite useful. Ehtra could gather blackmail with it pretty easily, which would be worth it. Problem here was that he would be giving this power to Ehtra, who was generally opposed to such underhanded thods. Making her oblige him in using her powers that way, if he even wanted her to, would be difficult. It requiring that she wore the helt also made it the opposite of stealthy.
The Crusader variant offered the sa bonus as her current Chest Plate of the Crusader. Since it was repeated, John could assu that it would stack. The base aura was already good, increasing it further was likely to help.
The Helt of the Guardian was Stats and Stats were never bad. They were boring was the problem.
“Any preference?” John asked the First of Hatred.
“I enjoy the wicked being driven by sha before ,” Ehtra answered. “The Crusader will continue to be my calling.”
A button tapped, a more ornate and smoothly designed helt acquired, and then he moved onto tra. The wolf woman sat there, tail-wagging, eager to get her own access to more power. “This is the best part about serving you.”
“Really, this is?” John asked while he pulled up the necessary windows. “What about the great food?”
“I like food, but this is the best,” tra insisted. “Growing more powerful feels great after being the sa for several thousand years.”
That, he could vaguely understand.
Universal Weapon Mastery 3 was incredible… for everyone else. tra had no problem staying close to her enemies and throwing Rex Magnar was always going to be more effective than sending an energy wave. Since tra could not be disard, that option was always going to be available to her.
Break was a repeat and a good one at that. Anything that multiplied tra’s already insane physical abilities further was incredible. The attack would also pay itself off in basically all cases, since she could just use Rage Rush to consu the Rage generated in exchange for HP. It was all very much in keeping with her berserker build.
Folding Space was a rare entry to her spatial manipulation magic. As one of those, it sounded like a pretty great one. ‘Let’s see, if the max angle of 180 is reached at 5000 and the minimum is 0 at 0, at linear scaling that would an with her current ntal Stats of 600 she’s have a 21,6 degree cone. That’s not terrible. Max range is 100 tres, so that covers a good amount of ground. Good enough to take even without raising her ntal Stats.’ “Your preference.”
tra crossed her legs and arms. The wagging of her tail stopped. Slowly she circled her neck one way, then the other. “I like both Break and Folding Space… but I’d rather have sothing that lets break enemy concentration than hit harder twice a minute. Always better to keep the enemy on their toes.”
John could agree with that assessnt.
Feasting on Gods was out. It was another entry into the list of ‘let tra beco Fenrir’ options, which John refused on several principles. The other two options were sowhat absurd though.
Breaker of Everything was the third way John found that they could destroy sothing Indestructible, second if he only went by confird cases. Nia was already capable of doing it, disabling the enchantnt with her anti-magic and then smashing whatever needed to be smashed. Aclysia, in theory, should be capable of doing it with her new Frozen Magic Perk, halting the function of the enchantnt and then shattering the item. That would require a kind of testing John did not currently have the necessary items for.
Breaker of Everything guaranteed that she could do this. For all the obvious advantages, there were also a few disadvantages. One was that Indestructible items were often the kind that people would very much mind if they were broken. If or when John entered his altercation with the Dangun Clan and tra permanently broke an ancient artefact in the process, then that would complicate things considerably. The other was that he was giving up a Perk for sothing that would not yield a direct combat benefit in the vast majority of cases. The only item John had co across that was truly Indestructible so far was Aclysia’s new sword.
All is a Weapon was hilarious. John wasn’t certain how good it was though. “What do you-“
“All is a Weapon,” tra answered before he could finish the question.
“Back to the days of the arsenal, are we?” Ehtra asked with a crooked smile.
“Why not?” the blonde answered with a wolfish grin. “Staying unpredictable is still the best way to win. Break the rhythm, break the enemy, break the army.”
“Always the most violent creature around.”
“You can stop complinting now.” The tomboy laughed. “Go ahead, Master, click that button.”
Button clicked, John watched as tra grabbed the very pillow she was sitting on. Her eyes scanned for soone to volunteer. Aclysia’s raised arm was all she needed to see. A grey and gold aura enveloped the cotton cushion as it was swung and slamd into the limb. The fact that Aclysia’s arm budged at all was already impressive. The impact sounded more like tal striking tal.
“Fucking hilarious,” tra laughed and dropped the pillow back under her butt. “Ti for the neurotic fairy to get her turn.”
“Neurotic?!” Momo squeaked. “I am not neurotic! I have very healthy fears, anxieties, and worries, thank you very much!”
“I see you did your research on it.”
“I do my research on everything, it’s how I cope with idiocy.”
“Sounds pretty neurotic.”
“I- you…- URGH!” Momo turned to John. “Perks, now!”
“As you desire, my adorable fae.” The complint gave Momo whiplash. “You’re so cute when you blush.”
“Shut up!” Momo snapped, failing to hide her red cheeks and broad smile behind her raised hand. “Just open the window… please?”
Hive of Fireflies 3 was good, especially now that the Witch Blade offered a way to respawn her entire stock instantly. Fae Grasp was also as good as the last ti it showed up. Pure Aegis was new and… John was not sure what to think of it.
In real terms, it was probably pretty bad. The mana cost was astounding. Momo had over 100’000 mana, which was a truly imnse amount. Even with that, she could only cast this twice. Simultaneously, her mana regeneration, 34 per second, was not good enough that she could cast this repeatedly.
Momo’s spells typically had the limitation that she needed line of sight. This was extended by her own hivemind, but not by John’s senses. Since this spell stated nothing else, it was safe to assu it functioned with the sa ranged application. Having an instant effect to prevent the target from suffering a potentially devastating effect was pretty great. The attached regeneration was really just a cherry on top.
For Raids, that spell was doubtlessly incredible. Reality had the nasty tendency of being less predictable. That the person encased in the crystal did not know what was happening also ant that they were likely to be taken by surprise when they were back out. That depended sowhat on how well telegraphed it was to the outside that the crystal was about to break. If an enemy saw it crack and could prepare a next strike, then it would often only be a delay.
A delay was already incredible value in a lot of situations though. 3 seconds could make a world of difference in the right circumstances. The more John thought about it, the more the Pure Aegis was just better than the alternatives, especially for their supporter.
“Just give the Aegis,” Momo told him.
The Perk was selected and used a mont later on Aclysia. John would have tested it on himself, but he wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t interrupt his connection to the Creator Puppet. That was sothing he would have to find out another day.
Aclysia was effectively shut-off for 3 seconds. From the outside, she was encapsulated in a thick layer of silver-white crystal, surrounding her form like a low-polygon model of herself. The edges of the crystal dimd in colour over the duration, before shattering harmlessly at the end. “A confusing experience, not unlike being in your inventory.”
“Might be a similar magical principle?” John wondered. “Good spell to have in any case.”
Eldritch Sap was incredibly interesting. Fairies were functionally immortal. As far as John understood it, fairies killed in this realm reincarnated back in their own. The usual true death enchantnts applied to them, however, as did cold-forged iron. The important part was that this was an avenue to turn soone ageless.
Midnight Blessed was incredibly powerful on paper. What held it back was the reliance on outside factors that they had no control over. The majority of John’s battles happened during dayti, so she would rarely benefit from it. They could try to deliberately have battles at night, and when it ca online, it was definitely a good advantage to have.
Touch of an Archfae was relatively dull in comparison. That being said, ‘imnse damage’ was not a moniker he had seen before and scaling with Charisma made it almost perfect for Momo. The fairy support already had an incentive to raise her Charisma because of her work and because of her Mind Damage, which made people gradually more friendly towards her. Apparently that was different from ntal Damage, but the two would play into each other.
The choice here was not easy. Option 1 was incredible utility, almost on par with the Sylkarions. Changing the character of the person to be more whimsical and fae all around was a definitive drawback, but many would take that for immortality. Option 2 was dull but powerful in the right circumstances. Option 3 was strong and gave Momo an avenue to punish people that thought she was helpless in lee – which she currently was.
“….Give the Touch,” Momo requested.
“You sure?” John asked.
“…Yeah… Yeah, I would like the Eldritch Sap as well, just to have it in my back pocket should we ever need it, but I think Touch of the Archfae gives so offensive options.” She smirked to herself. “This day is full of getting access to ‘self-defence’ tools.”
Not pushing further, John confird her choice. From the tip downwards, Momo’s fingers turned black. The colour faded into grey, then white, down the last segnt of her digits. A careful poke had Aclysia jump where she sat. “That is deeply unpleasant,” she announced
John glanced at the HP bar of Aclysia, which was unmoved. Could have been too short a touch to deal actual damage. More likely was that this kind of damage was not represented well by his systems. If the ntal Damage caused heart failure, that would probably reflect though.
“Going to be careful with it,” Momo promised and let the black drain from her fingers.
Attention then shifted to the last mber of John’s tal-bodied familiars.
Crimson Fever was a repeat, but still was worthy of consideration just because it was a new Plague. The one Nahua currently had access to only dealt damage. The Crimson Fever’s only issue was how long it took to make a notable difference.
Plaguexolotl was interesting as a ranged application of diseases. That being said, it was a slow ranged application and costly at that.
Accelerating Touch was very powerful on the face of it. However, without additional diseases that benefitted from that acceleration, it was not that great.
“As I see it, you should take Crimson Fever here,” John recomnded.
“That is, like, totally what I thought too!” Nahua agreed. “That’s soooo good that we thought the sa thing. Otherwise silly might have made the wrong choice. I’m so glad to have you around, you big smart man.”
“You’re appealing to my vanity.”
The Aztec woman tilted her head mischievously. “Is it working?”
John tried not to look at her dangerous, cute, cutely dangerous and dangerously cute fangs. ‘God, I love fangs.’ He threw the thought down a flight of stairs. “To the Perk.”
Erogenous Goo, sexy as it was, was out of John’s consideration imdiately. It was a sex Perk and those were out automatically unless they were the only thing on offer or the alternative was useless. The other two options here were anything but useless.
Great Plaguexolotl was, at worst, a 1% Strength and Endurance increase during combat. The flexibility of using up the stacks in bulk for a bigger boost or getting more people infected to have a stronger boost was incredibly useful.
Corrosion was just good. Eating through materials was always a potential upside.
“Erogenous Goo,” Nahua decided.
John hesitated. “Are you… certain?” he asked.
The hunger on her face answered that question before her lips did. “I wish to taste more,” she swooned, the heat in her voice betraying a greed deeper than her lust went. “You promised it be my choice. Do not disappoint now.”
John side-eyed the options for a few monts, then t her green gaze. In the end, he sighed. If she had been his, he would have insisted more. If she hadn’t gotten him aroused again, he would have insisted more. If there had been no chance that they would be fighting in the coming days, he would have insisted more.
“I do keep my word,” he answered and pressed the button she asked him to.
“And those extra five Libido points on top?” Flirtatious blinks of big, green eyes accompanied the question.
John had no reason to refuse.
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