Damselia woke up with a start, panic filling her as she looked around the… elegant suite? She blinked in confusion. "What-"

"Oh, hey, you're up." Chris waved from a nearby couch where he and Thomas were sitting and playing some sort of card game. He turned back to Thomas. "I'm just going to sacrifice these three and end my turn. You take three damage on the sac and three when they return."

"That deck is bullshit." Thomas growled, scowling down at the table they were playing on.

"Isn't it?" Chris grinned.

"But not bullshit enough." Thomas smirked as he drew the one card he needed, quickly playing it. "Twenty-four power, unblockable Commander. I win."

It was Chris's turn to scowl at the board. "Damn it." He sighed, tossing down his cards. "I would have had you next turn."

"Uh, where- where are we?" Damselia asked, sliding off the bed she'd been sleeping in. "Is this your world?"

"Huh? No. This is Obleck." Chris waved dismissively. "Specifically the mating quarters."

Damselia went pale. "You- have I been-"

"Nothing happened." Thomas rolled his eyes. "Apparently the monstrous races are pretty nice about the whole thing, making sure the women are as comfortable as possible and all that. I mean, I can't imagine they're allowed to say no, but at least the accommodations are nice. There's even a mini-bar!" He added, waving a candy bar at her.

"I don't care how nice they are about it, I'm not getting fucked by a freaking monster!" Damselia snapped. "Just get me out of here!"

"Can't." Chris shrugged. "Well, I mean, we can, obviously, but- well, see that tattoo on your wrist? It's a tracking spell, and the moment we take you out of here or get rid of it… well, we aren't sure, but something will happen and we're trying to gather information at the moment. We don't need some massive manhunt making things complicated for us. It's all in here." He tossed a pamphlet on the dangers of rescuing captives from the monstrous races over to her. He'd picked up a bunch when they'd gone to the Raider Guild, mostly just happy there was someone out there who appreciated the value of a good pamphlet.

"So you're just going to leave me here?!? For those things!?!" Damselia screeched, ignoring the pamphlet.

"For now." Chris nodded.

Thomas sighed. "What he means is that the moment we take you out of here, we're going to set off a bunch of alarms that'll send the entire city into high alert, which, you know, would make sneaking around a lot harder. So until it's absolutely necessary, like if a naked orc barges through that door, we're stuck here. We're not asking you to sleep with anyone."

"Yet." Chris added with a slight smirk as Damselia went pale. As far as punishments went, spending a few hours as a woman was kind of pathetic. Not that Chris had actually figured out what an appropriate punishment would be yet… turning Damselia into the whore she'd thought Quinn should be certainly seemed satisfying, but that was more of a revenge motivation than a justice one. But what would be justice? An eternity drifting through Chris's world, isolated until Chris found a use for her? Or him… or whatever he ended up turning them into.

Chris shook his head. That wasn't appropriate either. She'd probably prefer being a whore over that. But what could he do? His options were essentially to let them go or do something horrible to them. Letting them go wouldn't solve anything. Derek would just go back to being an asshole, because he clearly still thought he was right to do everything he'd done to Quinn. On the other hand, doing something horrible would probably get his point across, but it'd break them in the process, which wasn't good either.

The question was how could he teach someone a lesson without breaking them? Force him to work with victims of abuse, like some sort of community service? He'd need to find victims of abuse… and make sure Derek wouldn't turn around and abuse them. Maybe if he left her as Damselia? Though women were perfectly capable of being abusive too… maybe living as a woman for a bit might put a few things in perspective, though? Eh, he'd figure something out.

*

While Chris and Thomas were camping out in Damselia's suite, Andrew and Greg were exploring Obleck in their monstrous forms, Greg as the scorpocroc, Andrew as a goblin. Well, Greg was exploring. Andrew was trying to figure out how to get into the Obleck military compound, where Corek was supposedly a part of an elite training program. How Corek had gotten from their tribe, which seemed to be completely isolated from the rest of the monstrous races, to one of the biggest cities in the region, Andrew had no idea. Unless there was something the Shaman hadn't told him… Andrew paused to scowl off at nothing as he remembered the Shaman's teaching method, which was basically to wait until Andrew asked a question. If Andrew never asked, the Shaman would never tell. He would absolutely buy that he had some connection to Obleck he'd never told Andrew about. Of course, it could have been something that happened after he disappeared… the World somehow arranging things so Corek could become a prodigy, then finding a way to pit him against Andrew at some point in some tragic clash. Either way, he was here, and they needed to get him out. Or at least make sure he was safe…

Andrew sighed, shaking his head. What was he even going to say to him? How could he explain any of this to Corek? Forget the fact that he was uplifted into a noble race, what would he say about the Eternals?!? The fact that he was from a different World!?! Well, maybe he wouldn't tell him all that… but he'd have to tell him something! Somehow explain why he just disappeared and never came back, while convincing him that he needed to join them, to keep him safe from… everything. But first… Andrew grimaced as he eyed the complex in front of him. First he had to actually find him.

Andrew slipped into a nearby alley as he made himself ant core and shifted, flying up over the wall and into the complex. He wasn't using his main body for this, so he was pretty slow and he couldn't see very well, but he'd given himself a large chunk of his aura so he could navigate that way. His main form didn't need to be strong right now, since he was just training back at the base, but if Corek was in trouble, some aura might just make a difference. Andrew avoided the areas with particularly strong auras, searching for people in the twenty-five to thirty-five level range who looked like they might be Corek. Thankfully most of the people here were orcs, or some other large race, and obviously not Corek, so he didn't have to search for long before he noticed an aura at about the right strength in an approximately goblin sized body. Andrew landed in a small alcove hidden from sight, transforming back into a goblin as he peaked out to spy on the group of people doing drills, making sure that yes, that definitely was Corek.

Andrew let out a breath of relief as he fell back into the alcove. He actually was here! And he was safe! Now all he needed to do was find a way to talk to him where a bunch of high levels wouldn't immediately jump him… shouldn't be too difficult, right?

*

As Andrew looked for Corek, Greg wandered around the city, checking out the difference between the nobles and the monstrous races, culture wise, while he looked for a place they could establish themselves here. Of course, they could always just make another base outside the city or something, but as Gloria had said, they couldn't keep isolating themselves. Though Greg doubted she'd meant they should make friends with the monstrous races…

The biggest difference was architecture. The monstrous races' buildings all had a more… medieval quality to them. A lot more stone and wood, as opposed to the concrete and glass of Nobilis. However, Greg still saw street lights and neon signs, giving the city a weird modern medieval vibe, kinda like a city wide renaissance fair. The fact that Obleck was mostly street-less didn't help with the vibe either. There were a few major roads, mostly to the large military base, but everything else was mainly walking paths, full of booths and hawkers selling their wares, people standing around talking and laughing, musicians everywhere, like- well, like a festival or something. It was honestly kind of nice. Very communal.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"This… is not what I was expecting from this place." Greg muttered. He knew the monstrous races weren't savages, but he'd never thought their culture would be so pleasant. He could actually imagine settling down in a place like this, opening a small shop and just kind of vibing. Of course, he'd want to bring Gloria, and that would be… inadvisable. But still, for a bunch of people who basically lived to prey on others, the place was nice.

Shaking his head, Greg made his way into a nearby tavern. It had a bar, tables and rooms upstairs at least, so he thought it was a tavern… he couldn't actually read the writing around here. He walked up to the bar where a rather attractive demon girl was tending to it. "Excuse me, I was wondering how much it cost for a room around here? And do you accept noble money?"

The demon girl looked over at him, giving him a once over before leaning over the counter with a smirk, showing a generous amount of cleavage. "I don't think I've ever seen one of you before." She purred, reaching up to trace a finger down his chest. "What are you? An uplift? An evolution? Some variant of lizardman?"

"I'm a- hold on." Greg frowned, pulling up his status. "Ah! I'm a Sardillian. Er- sort of an uplift, I guess?"

The demon girl giggled at his apparently flustered behavior. "Is this your first time meeting a succubus? No need to be flustered, I don't bite… much~" She winked. "I'm simply a… connoisseur of unique and interesting races. And you seem particularly unique~"

Greg blinked. "Uh… hmmm, you- are you coming onto me?"

"Actually, I was hoping you would be cumming onto me~" The succubus smirked.

Greg blinked, before letting out a snort. "I don't think that'd work out for you. I mean, I suppose I could lay some eggs in you, but that's not really-"

"Oh, an egg layer!" The succubus perked up giddily. "It's been so long since I've had eggs!" She paused. "Is it more like caviar or do I need to make an omelet?"

Greg frowned at her. "Can we get back to the room and how I'm going to pay for it?"

The succubus cocked her head. "Isn't that what we've been doing?"

"You trade rooms for sex?" Greg raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Or at least sexual products…" He wasn't even sure if the eggs counted for that actually… he didn't need to do anything for it, he just had to release them.

"Only for special customers~" She replied with a wink. "At least, until I get bored." She shrugged. "Then you have to pay like everyone else." She smirked at him. "So, you in~"

Greg scratched the back of his head, considering whether this would count as cheating, and if it didn't, would he even want to do it in the first place? "I think… I'd rather just pay."

The succubus crossed her arms with a huff. "Boring." She grumbled petulantly. "But we don't take noble money, so you'll need to find some other way to pay." She paused, giving him another look and frowning. "How did you get your hands on noble money in the first place? You don't have the levels to be raiding… or to really be doing much of anything, actually. Unless…" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "How fresh an uplift are you?"

Greg paused. "Uh… pretty fresh?" He replied. This body was born just a couple weeks ago…

"And no one is taking care of you. Perfect." The succubus sighed, before eyeing him once again. "I suppose I could use someone to clean up around here… wash dishes, sweep the floors, wipe down tables… you think you can do that?"

Greg glanced down, looking between his pincers and his claws. "Yes?" He replied hesitantly.

She giggled. "You're cute. Come on, I'll show you what you'll need to do." She waved for him to follow as she made her way towards the back. Greg followed her back into a kitchen area, where she grabbed a small packet and tossed it to him. "Put these on."

Greg examined the packet, which had a bunch of rubber nubs in it. "How?"

"You just slide them onto your claws. See?" She pulled one out and slid it over one of his claws. "Now you won't scratch my dishes." She grinned.

Greg nodded in understanding as he began to put the rest on. It took a bit of maneuvering, since he had to pull the nubs out with his claws, then hold it with his pincer to slide it on, but eventually all his claws were covered. "Okay, now what?"

"Now you put this on your pincer." She replied, tossing him a curved rubber thing that fitted in between his pincer and covered the tips, so he could grasp things without hurting them. "Not the first time I've worked with someone with claws or pincers." She smirked. "Though it is the first time I've seen both on one person… Anyway, here's how the dishes work." She quickly showed him how to load a tray and spray it down, before pushing it into a dishwasher that finished in about a minute and a half, before pulling them out and stacking them on a rack to dry. "You got all that?" She asked, and Greg nodded. "Good, give it a go." She gestured, sitting back to watch. "So… what's your name anyway? I'm Renaedica."

"Greg." Greg replied absently, focusing on manipulating his claws and pincer.

"Greg?" Renaedica raised an eyebrow. "That sounds noble… you didn't just steal the name of the guy you killed to uplift, did you?"

"Huh?" Greg blinked, confused me for a moment. "Oh! Uh… yeah, I guess."

Renaedica shook her head. "Ridiculous. How'd you even end up in Obleck, anyway? Did someone just dump you here?!?"

"Er… kinda?" Greg shrugged.

Renaedica sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Even if we're monstrous, we should be better than this."

Greg cocked his head. "Should we?"

"Yes!" Renaedica exclaimed. "The idea that we have to be selfish assholes who only look out for ourselves died when the Line went up! We have enough trouble competing with the nobles. We don't need to be competing with ourselves." She finished with a growl.

"The nobles?" Greg asked. "What do they have to do with how we treat each other?"

Renaedica sighed. "Let me ask you this, do you think the nobles are capable of completely defending the Line?"

Greg paused, considering the question. "I want to say no, but I feel like this is a trick question, so yes?"

Renaedica smirked. "Clever. Yes, the nobles are more than capable of defending the entire Line, at least to the point that we're incapable of sustaining our population. So now I ask, why do they not?"

"It'd be a pain in the ass?" Greg offered hesitantly.

Renaedica cocked her head. "Not exactly. Yes, it would be, but it's more that it isn't worth it. The amount of people they lose to our raids isn't significant enough to make the loss of the resources they'd need to dedicate to that protection worth it. And as long as we pace ourselves, it will never be worth it. Every time we get greedy, every time we begin to raid to the point that the nobles care, every time we focus more on competing with each other instead of working together, they increase their defenses, leaving us with even less than we had before!"

"Huh…" Greg frowned. "So if everyone just looks out for themselves, raiding as much as they can, everyone suffers?"

"Exactly." Renaedica nodded.

Greg cocked his head. "Then if raids are so problematic, why don't you use other methods to get nobles? Like from noble dungeons, or by breeding the ones you already have?"

"We do, but both methods are limited." Renaedica sighed. "Noble dungeons are rare and difficult to control. The more you hunt them, the stronger they get, until it's too powerful to farm and has to be destroyed. As for breeding, noble races mature at a much slower rate than us, which means we need a large population to sustain our needs, and any large population will be targeted by the nobles to either rescue or destroy. Additionally, the larger a population, the harder it is to control, leading to rebellions. It relegates both methods to mere supplements, rather than true solutions. Though, they do help us keep our raiding down, which helps keep the nobles passive, so they're still invaluable."

"I see." Greg frowned, wondering again at how this World was perfectly set up to keep the noble and monstrous races at each other's throats. No matter what they did, they were thrown again and again into conflict. The only true solution would be to remove the monstrous races altogether, which was probably why they had so many advantages development wise. Not enough to make them stronger than the nobles, but enough that wiping them out would be almost impossible. Unless you used nukes… but knowing how Worlds worked, even that would find some way to backfire, like turning them all into zombies or something. Greg sighed, shaking his head. "What a mess."

"And it only gets messier when we do things like abandoning poor uplifts with no way to support themselves." Renaedica growled, shaking her head. "Anyway, it looks like you know what you're doing, so I gotta get back to the bar. Once we close, I'll show you how to clean the common room. Or, we could see about those eggs~" She winked, before sauntering off.