William woke up after what he would say was a rather active night. Daylight crept under the crack of the shed door, dimly illuminating his abode. He wiped the sleep from his eyes. A gentle hand ran down his chest a couple of inches. It was Stacey’s hand. The two locked eyes and William smiled.
“Morning. You’re a pleasure to wake up to,” he said, as he ran a hand through her hair. His actions brought a small and satisfied purr from Stacey as she cuddled up to him slightly firmer.
“As are you William. You really know how to make a girl smile,” Stacey replied, giving him what he could only summarize as a smile from divinity itself.
“What can I say? Maybe a new talent?”
“Lots of porn and some dating sim experience.” William monologued internally, knowing that was the crux of it. He wouldn’t complain about the results though.
Stacey let out a soft chuckle, “Some newly found sword skills?”
William was the one to chuckle next, not having expected Stacey to say that.
“Yes. We could say it’s a Vortex Thrust,” He returned, knowing that he hadn’t mentioned that skill to anyone at present.
“More like Whirlwind Thrust, William.”
William was a happy man when he discovered that high Dexterity and high Strength led to some pretty remarkable prowess in exercises of all forms.
William knew the bliss had to end soon. It was a new day and a lot needed to be done. He didn’t even know what the time was, but he could feel that it was at least midday.
“Joking aside Stacey, we should get up and start our day.”
She harrumphed at that but nodded before getting up to her feet.
He watched her form rise from his side. The long black hair was an inky waterfall down her back. The curves of her hips and buttocks were dimly highlighted from the sunlight seeping into the shed. She stretched and William continued witnessing the eye candy before him. Her slender arms could be compared to silk of the softest quality, and the unblemished skin more astounding than the smoothest of marble. A small sigh came out from her. It was one of the cutest sounds William had ever heard. Stacey turned around, exposing her front to William as she collected her clothes. He took in the supple curves of her chest, his eyes lingering on her breasts, flawless as a Greek goddess’s. Moving his eyes down, they soaked up her slightly defined midriff.
The night before he had also discovered that she didn’t like having hair downstairs and was impressed that she had successfully used a dagger to remove that type of hair. It seemed she had thrown a couple extra points into Dexterity herself over her last couple of levels.
“Enjoying the show?” Stacey teased, with a warm grin, dwarfing the warmth coming through under the door.
“Of course I am. You are basically a Greek goddess.”
Stacey went beetroot in the face at that and started getting dressed trying to distract herself. She couldn’t help but let out several small and giddy giggles.
Neither of them had addressed the elephant in the room, or more accurately, the Armine in the room that was fast asleep, limps splayed out, not covering any of her modesty. William sat up and looked at her, his eyes taking in every aspect of the blonde beauty. She had some definition to her body. This intrigued William as she was not even at a level where stat allocation from classes would change her appearance. Was it because she was a native of GAEA? Maybe a full life of work and exercise or the like provided the same natural growth as that of Earth?
His thoughts immediately turned to the even curvier woman, who stood a couple of inches taller than Stacey. Her breasts were full and voluptuous, matching the voluptuary lips she had wrapped around his. Her arms had small muscle definition matching her midriff and legs. It could be compared to a lady’s gym body back on Earth. Armine’s thighs were what many on the internet would call thicc. William thought to the wild night that the three had shared and remembered that Armine was pretty dominant to begin with, and he learned that she indulged in both men and women. He was even more surprised that Stacey warmed up to the feel of a woman from some ministrations that Armine conducted with her tongue.
He was pleased at his own efforts too, however, as he had managed to be the dominant one over the latter parts of the night. He felt like a multi-round fighting champion by the end of it.
His flashback was ended abruptly as Stacey wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear, “Armine is almost as good with her tongue as you were. I like having a third person for our...pleasure.”
“God-Fucking-Damn!” William thought, taking in her words. It seemed that Armine awakened something in Stacey.
“I recall you blushing and getting a little nervous as she played with you. I’m glad my prowess is superior though.”
Stacey retracted her arms and covered her once more blushing face. It appeared that the confidence boost didn’t overcome her shy nature. William didn’t mind however, as he found it rather endearing.
Several minutes passed as the pair got their stuff together. William had started leaving his bedroll in the shed recently, feeling some confidence in the safety of his abode and hopeful good will of those in Greenwell. He decided to wake Armine after a moment of deliberation. He recalled that she may take some of those in Greenwell under her wing regarding jobs.
“Huh...wut?” Armine muttered unceremoniously as her eyes opened.
“Morning Armine, we were about to head out. You might also wanna get dressed and start your day,” William replied, a mirthful smile donning his face.
Armine’s eyes widened as William assumed she had caught on that she had overslept.
Her blonde hair wasn’t braided any longer, and he knew she would need a couple minutes extra for that.
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Armine managed to get dressed at a surprisingly quick pace. William and Stacey were both somewhat surprised at the spectacle. The girl was definitely nimble in more than just heated passion. Several minutes later, the three exited the shed, and from the sun’s place in the sky, it was just passed noon. Armine braided her hair as they walked. It was a task requiring both hands. A fact that Stacey capitalized on as she wrapped her arm around William and leaned in close. He returned the gesture and he had to admit that he liked how much of an opportunist Stacey was.
Armine huffed at it knowing that Stacey had taken that win. William chuckled inwardly at that, trying to keep a straight faced composure.
An older voice sounded out to the left of them, “Lad, I know you and the lovely ladies with you are young and...heated, but please don’t oversleep too late,” Wallace said, as he made his approach.
William rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment at the words and he noticed that both Armine and Stacey donned similar sheepish expressions as his own.
William got a hold of himself quickly, however, and turned to Wallace, “Sorry, we’ll do our best. We’re here now though.”
“Good, we can start with what we had planned now then. Stacey, can you introduce Armine to more of Greenwell and mention that she is offering to teach her jobs to others here?”
Stacey nodded in agreement and the three waited for Armine’s response.
“I’m more than happy to teach others and help Greenwell out. It’s now my home as much as yours,” Armine said, conviction evident in her voice.
Stacey grabbed her hand and waved goodbye to Wallace and William as she dragged Armine away, who chuckled slightly and waved her own goodbye, shooting a final wink at William.
“Lad, you’re a lucky bastard, you know that?”
William chuckled at Wallace’s words before he replied, “Of course. Better lucky than good though.”
The old man raised a querying eyebrow briefly but decided to get back on topic.
“With Armine and the others sharing their knowledge, we have a lot of potential ahead in Greenwell’s future. Provided we beat the bandits of course. I asked the other newcomers about Jobs and compared it with what some of our people had learned in the jobs they had accepted.
“It appears that jobs level independently from classes and races. In the aspect that they don’t have levels. Jobs instead have a...threshold. Once it’s exceeded, the person with the job receives three points in the primary stat associated with that job. There appears to be no limit to this, but the threshold apparently grows as more of them are exceeded over time. The growth comes form a combination of completed job related works and how the job skills are applied in the process.”
William's eyes widened at that, and he was exceedingly glad that he hadn’t picked any jobs yet. With this knowledge, he could pick jobs that had a specific primary stat of his interest and he could optimize his build even further.
“That’s incredibly informative. I need to consider what I’ll pick. I want to make sure that the stats boosted are ones that tie into my combat ability,” William replied, thinking deeper.
“Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence.” William affirmed internally. It would be even better if any jobs he chose could provide an output that enhanced his classes even further, creating even more stacking benefits.
He was snapped out of his musings as Wallace spoke up once again, “That’s smart. From what I can gather, repetition is one way to unlock the job offer, and another is to do multiple tasks of the job over time until the criteria is met to receive the same job offer. Repetition appears to be the most efficient method from what others have said. It also ties in with the role that the job performs as all jobs will focus on one area of expertise and repeat the job.”
“That makes a lot of sense Wallace. I’ll have a think on what I want to do going forward. Is there anything else you need from me? I want to go for a run and do some swordsman training on the hills to the south as I’m not overly familiar with them yet.”
“Not much else for now Lad, I need to go put my foot up the Duncans’ arses anyway as they’ve been slacking off lately, ignoring everyone else and just milling about, though Walter seems to have an interest in learning building from Noctis.”
That sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, but William didn’t voice that. Time would tell. Maybe Walter would find the job fulfilling and pull his head out of his ass. He found that more unlikely and unbelievable to happen than he would have thought to being Isekai’d when he was back on Earth.
“Good luck to you, and Noctis too I guess,” William said, a slightly playful tone on his voice.
The older man chuckled and walked off. William looked to the sky and felt that a few hours on breezy hills with no distractions would be perfect for mastering the first sword-form. He left the settlement taking in the defenses at present. They were good, but after the points Noctis had made, he could see that more work was needed. Luckily, that would improve over the coming weeks.
William walked to the south and as he crested the fist hill, he took in the environment. It was more hills for the first few acres, but beyond were some small clusters of woodland on the hills beyond. They weren’t as large as the woodland to the east, but still big enough for some good hunting potential. That was a point for him to explore in the future however. He dropped his pack down and pulled out the sword he had first enchanted. He would practice with that one as he had discovered one drawback of his sheath. Regardless of scenario or situation, the Mana charge would be drawn into the blade and would need to be expelled quickly, otherwise it was just wasted Mana. The workaround for training was to use his older sword. He didn’t mind however, as the old girl had served him well before he acquired his new blade.
He started to do the exercises with his eyes closed, helping to visualize the kata and perfect it. Several hours passed and William felt that he was close to gleaning some insights. Nothing indicated it other than some sixth sense he experienced while training in the kata. He started to feel droplets of water land on his head and arms. He opened his eyes to an overcast sky weeping a summer rain. The water wasn’t cold, nor was it warm. It was...mild for lack of a better word. The heavens fully opened then, and a downpour washed over him. He would continue to train however and closed his eyes once more, trying to ignore the rain. In his mind, visualizing the kata, he was able to block out the rain comfortably. As he practiced, the minutes passed and he started to see a pattern. Every attack, parry, and riposte was conducted in a swishing arc. It was as if the sword strikes were each one wave of a flowing sea. A sea of the Arcane, where each wave was indomitable, where each wave was unyielding, and where each wave flowed into the next.
It all clicked into place then. William opened his senses to the rain, feeling the flow of water as it ran down his face, his hair, and his arms. The kata was more than mimicry of a wavy sea; it was the sea. William swished, slashed, arced, and flowed seamlessly through the kata. If anyone was to stumble across him they would witness the site of a swordsman conveying deadly precision in a torrent of rain, fueling his movements further. William felt the rain subside and the heat of the sun caress his wet skin. He came to a stop and looked at the sky once more. It was close to evening time. He had been at it for several hours now, yet he wasn’t even beginning to tire. He felt like a missing piece of his soul had been found as he absorbed the sword-form in its fullest. He then knew the true name of the form. Arcane Sword: Form of the Sea.
William practiced the kata once more with his eyes open this time. He executed it flawlessly as he pictured a faceless opponent being repelled and harried by his form. One wave may not affect you, but two will make you stagger, three will make you fall, and any beyond will grind you down beneath the sea. This was indisputably the law of the sea. The law of the sword-form. William wanted more. He wanted to fully embrace the Arcane Sword. To make it his. To vanquish his foes and save those in need. To be the wave that swept over his enemies.
William calmed his elation after several more moments. He had felt an ecstasy of insight that he had never experienced before. Even the ecstasy of sex didn’t compare to the feeling of completion his mind felt. There were five more forms and he had a feeling that he would be able to move on to the second form. With that in mind, he set off back to Greenwell after taking a final glance of the area, basking in the smell of summer dew and the glistening of wet grass refracting the sunlight. Life was good and he would fight to protect it.