Sandra did, in fact, make it easier to convince the other captives to connect to Chris's world, though it wasn't a hundred percent. An unfortunate number of them seemed to have lost all interest in being alive at all, let alone immortal. They weren't exactly sure what to do with that, and Thomas was beginning to have second thoughts about this entire plan, particularly since even with Sandra's help, no one wanted him mucking about in their head. It just- he couldn't tell if they were actually doing the right thing here. Sure, the monstrous races needed a way to breed, and as of now, the only real options were these captives, but… they were still enabling these women to live a life of slavery and- well, they were trying to make it less torturous, but even with the brain washing, what they'd be going through still wouldn't be pretty. It was probably the best they could do for now, but… it still didn't seem good enough. Not to him at least.

Though… he supposed this was just a stop-gap measure. The true solution was to make it so the monstrous races could breed normally, because as long as they required nobles to live, situations like this were inevitable. Thomas honestly wished they could just do it already, but… well, as the others would say, he had a track record. Until they were sure changing the monstrous races wouldn't blow up in their faces, they had to take things slow. Which meant he was stuck trying to convince scared, desperate women to let him flip their brain so they'll actually enjoy being used and abused.

"Fuck, I hate this." Thomas groaned, rubbing his temple at his latest failed attempt.

"Eh, it's their decision." Chris shrugged. "If they want to keep suffering, that's on them. I'm sure after a bit, one of them will break, and accept the change. Then it's a domino effect from there."

"That's- not what I'm talking about." Thomas grimaced. "It's the fact that they need to break at all that bothers me. I don't know, I guess the reality of what we're doing here doesn't sit as well as it does on paper. Meeting women who I know will be stuck doing this for who knows how long, seeing the ones who would rather be dead than keep going any longer, knowing we could save all of them… it just doesn't feel right."

Chris cocked his head. "I suppose… but what other options do we have?"

"You could just make kids for them." Thomas pointed out.

"That's true, but I don't think they're going to be a board with the whole 'all your kids belong to me' thing. Not yet at least. Right?" Chris asked, turning to Lithmara.

"No, we would very much like to avoid you owning all our people." Lithmara grumbled.

"See? Not gonna work." Chris shrugged, turning back to Thomas.

"Yeah, yeah." Thomas sighed, before freezing, blinking as a sudden realization hit him. "Wait… if you can just make people… can't you just make women for them?"

Chris paused. "I- huh… I mean, I could, but they'd still be people, so there wouldn't be much difference between this and that."

"Except, that you can design them so that they're born predisposed to this lifestyle!" Thomas exclaimed. "Pretty much what we're trying to get me to do, except without any previous experiences getting in the way."

Chris nodded slowly. "That does seem better. I'll still need your help designing the initial instincts, though. Need a template to work off of." He paused, glancing at Sandra. "Probably going to take a lot from her. And Debra." He turned to Lithmara. "I'll need mass too. Dirt, rock, wood, trash, whatever you have lying around."

"Wait, wait, hold on!" Lithmara exclaimed. "What- you're just making people now?!? What about the captives!?!"

"We'll take them." Chris replied. "You know, unless they want to stay. Like I assume Sandra would. Though you'd probably just want to turn her, since you don't need to keep her around for breeding anymore." Sandra perked up at that, looking towards Lithmara hopefully.

Lithmara hesitated. "But- would they- they'd still be-"

"It really isn't any different than what we're already doing." Thomas interjected. "Either way, all your captives will be connected to Chris's world. The only difference is whether it's going to be these captives, or people specifically designed to be captives. Plus, Chris can make as many people as you want, as long as you provide the mass, so this is probably better for you." Lithmara began to nod slowly, still trying to wrap her mind around the idea that they would be making people. It just- it was just so far beyond the possibilities she'd been prepared to deal with this morning.

"We should get started." Chris commented, opening a portal. "I'll bring Gretchen and Greg in too. If we're designing these people, we should give them a firm physical foundation as well, not simply a mental one."

"If we deviate too much, they might not be noble." Thomas pointed out.

Chris shrugged. "Then we try again. It isn't like we have limited attempts at this."

Thomas snorted. "Fair."

"I- I should help as well." Lithmara insisted with a twisted expression. "I know the needs of the various monstrous races better than anyone." After all, vampires had to be turned as well.

*

"Yup, this is all of them." Chris affirmed, looking over the small group of people, specifically all the people with bounties in Obleck, including a goblin named Corek.

One of the bounties glanced at Ezra. "Sir? What- what's going on?"

Ezra hesitated. "We've… reached an arrangement with these men. In exchange for certain services, all of you will be… er-"

"We're tossing you in my world." Chris interjected, opening a portal. "It's safe, but it means you won't be able to raid or anything, unless Obleck is in danger. Or you agree to join the Eternal Army. But that's up to you."

"But- why?" Another asked, confused.

Chris shrugged. "So we can collect your bounties without actually killing you. Well, we will actually have to kill you, for the proof of death, but you'll get better."

The bounties all looked back at Ezra. "Is this a prank?" One of them asked.

"Not a very good one." Another muttered.

Ezra shook his head. "No, this is not a prank. This man owns a world, and anyone inside that world is essentially immortal. Even if you die, you return fully healed. Better than fully healed…" He muttered, rubbing his knee that for the first time in over a decade didn't even slightly twinge as he walked. A botched healing when he was young had twisted it, setting it all wrong. Over the years, he'd had more talented healers work on it, but it never got back to normal. Then, after insisting on testing out Chris's claims before he handed over his men, the man just drops a granite block on him, and bam! Perfectly healed! These Eternals were terrifying, but the more he learned about them, the more he realized they were very useful to have around.

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Corek frowned. "Even if we're safe, what about our people? I agreed to serve you so that my tribe would be protected. So I could earn merits I could exchange for technology and resources. If you hand me over, I can't earn merits, which means I can't support my tribe. How will you balance this?"

Andrew hesitated at the coldness in Corek's tone, the lack of emotion despite his protests. It was like he was only protesting out of obligation. "We- could take your tribe as well?" He offered tentatively. "They'd be safe, and we could provide them all the technology and resources they could need, as long as they live in Chris's world." Plus, he'd cover any lingering obligation he felt towards them. Despite what they were, they'd actually cared for and supported him. Even if he didn't feel any obligation to help them, he still didn't want to see them suffer.

"Women?" Corek asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure." Chris shrugged. Corek grunted, before nodding in agreement. As long as his tribe was taken care of, he didn't care what happened to him.

"Shit, if you're handing out women, I'll go wherever you want." One of the other bounties chuckled. "Whole reason I took this job in the first place." A few of the others nodded in agreement, hungry, lustful gleams lighting up their eyes.

"What about Obleck?" Another asked with a frown. "This- most of us are essential to the raid groups. Portalers, elites, prodigies… if you take all of us, Obleck's raiding potential will be crippled!"

The first one gave him a look. "Dude, they were just talking about handing out women. I don't think it's going to be an issue. Plus, do you really think Minister Ezra would hand us over if he thought it'd hurt the city?"

The other paused, before coughing awkwardly. "Right, that's- fair."

"So, everyone on board then?" Chris asked with a clap, and the majority of them nodded, though a few still looked hesitant. "Then get in the portal. If you have any extra needs or requirements, just shout and I'll be there to discuss the particulars." Some hesitated, even among those who had agreed, while others rushed in eagerly and a few, Corek included, simply marched inside, content to just follow orders.

"That went better than I expected." Andrew muttered.

Ezra chuckled. "They're soldiers, and you came to them backed by their commanding officers. What did you expect them to do? Run? Fight?"

"I guess not…" Andrew agreed as he and Chris headed into the portal after the bounties. Maybe he was just projecting his worries about Corek. He'd need to tell him who he was at some point… didn't he? Maybe it'd be better to just let him think he was dead or something, keep his distance. As long as he was okay… Andrew frowned. But Corek didn't exactly look okay, did he? He looked numb. Andrew didn't know if he could help him, but he knew he would be able to do anything while staying a stranger. Of course, that didn't mean he had to tell him who he was to be his friend… though finding a reason to get close to him without revealing who he was wouldn't be easy either… ugh, why did relationships have to be so hard!

Andrew glared at the ground for a moment, before letting out a weary sigh. He should probably just tell Corek the truth and get it over with. As Chris would say: what's the worst that could happen? They stop being friends? They already weren't friends at the moment! The only way for them to be friends would be for Andrew to tell the truth. Or pretend to be a completely different person, but… that just felt off. But how was he going to-

"So you're Andrew's goblin friend, huh?" Chris commented, walking up next to Corek and sticking out his hand as Andrew froze. "I'm Chris, nice to meet you."

Corek eyed Chris and the offered hand warrily. "I don't know any Andrews."

Chris nodded. "Right, you'd know him as-"

"Chris!" Andrew snapped. "Don't- fucking let me talk to him first, damn it!" He groaned as Corek looked between Andrew and Chris with a confused expression. Andrew glanced at Corek before letting out a sigh as his form began to shift, and Corek's eyes widened. "Uh, hey, man… long time no see?" He greeted him with a nervous smile, switching to the goblin language.

"Art- long time no see?!?" Corek roared angrily, emotion finally bleeding into his expression as . "You-" He froze, his eyes narrowing. "You died." He growled. "Who are you? How did you get Artek's form!?!"

"It's me, Corek. I swear." Andrew sighed. "I didn't die, I just- got kidnapped… kinda. There was this whole thing with an animal core and I got uplifted into a noble race and taken to Nobilis, with no way back. Not that it'd exactly have been smart to come back here as an immortal noble… at least, not without some support, you know?"

Corek blinked. "You- uplifted?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, see, I have the ability to steal cores, which… are sort of the basis of a person's abilities. I'd stolen an animal's core and I'd been leveling it up, because it had a better stat gain if I did my kills right, but then I found one of the Raiders from- well, you know, so of course I had to kill her, but I didn't know about the whole uplift thing, so I killed her using my animal core, and… I got turned into an Essence Changeling and shuttled off to Nobilis." Andrew explained.

Corek narrowed his eyes. "Artek wouldn't have killed a woman that could have been used to replace all the brothers we lost."

"I would and did." Andrew retorted. "I- honestly wasn't all that on board with the whole goblin thing anyway. Particularly not the breeding… see, I was originally from a different World in the first place, but after I drained a core of aura, I ended up being reborn in the tribe. I was originally human- well, mostly human. Actually, not even mostly human… but human enough that the idea of little goblins bursting out of a woman doesn't exactly appeal to me."

"If you were human, why didn't you save her?" Corek countered.

"She still killed Vinek and the others." Andrew frowned. "Even if I couldn't stomach her being tortured, there was no way I was going to let her live."

Corek paused, before letting out a snort. "You expect me to believe Artek was a human from another world reborn as a goblin with the ability to steal these 'cores', not telling any of his friends this, and through a mistake was uplifted into you?"

"Well… yeah?" Andrew shrugged. "Why would I make that up?"

Corek's mouth opened to retort, before snapping closed as he began to frown. Why would anyone make that up? What benefit would this person gain by pretending to be his dead friend? If he wanted his loyalty, they were already taking his tribe. Simply treating them well, or even holding them hostage, would work better than this. And his loyalty was all he had to offer. He had no position, no worth, no possessions worth taking. Corek blinked at Andrew. "A-Artek?"

Andrew grinned. "Hey- gah!" He exclaimed in pain as Corek kicked him square in the nuts. "Fuck!" He groaned, rolling on the floor in pain, forgetting to even heal.

"Why didn't you tell us you were some kind of- of- what the fuck even are you?!?" Corek growled. "We were worried about you! We thought you were dead!"

"Would you have told?!?" Andrew snapped back with a growl of his own. "Say you suddenly found yourself reborn in a tribe of humans? Would you be quick to trust them with all your secrets!?!"

Corek hesitated. "Maybe- maybe not at first… but we're friends! You could have trusted me!"

"I- I know, but… I didn't want to- I just wanted to be normal for once… at least, as normal as possible for me." Andrew replied, his expression twisting. "I didn't want you guys to start looking at me like I was some kind of monster, or even a savior, or- or anything other than a goblin who happened to have a bit of talent." Andrew finished with a sigh. "The moment I tell you guys about me and what I can do, I'm different. I've always been different. I just- I wanted to be normal."

Corek glared down at him for a moment, before clicking his tongue and holding out a hand to help Andrew up. "You're an idiot." He grumbled. "But I'm glad you aren't dead."

Andrew grinned back, taking his hand and pulling himself up. "I'm glad you're not dead too."

"So, are you guys good?" Chris asked, looking between the two. "I don't speak goblin, but that sounded like making up."

"We're good. Right?" Andrew glanced at Corek.

Corek grunted. "Better, at least. You still have a lot of explaining to do. Starting with who he is." He gestured to Chris, before pausing as a pamphlet appeared in his hand. "What-"

"Explanations take too long." Chris waved dismissively. "Just read the pamphlet. It has everything you need to know."

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Chris, not everything can be explained through pamphlets."

"Literally everything can be explained through pamphlets." Chris retorted. "That's what they're for."