Alright, this one took me a while. I struggled with pacing a bit, but I think the end result was good. As always I welcome input, or any grammar/spelling problems I might have missed. Hope everyone is enjoying.
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Chapter 10
After Antoinette departed, the older woman that had been sitting with her daughters adjacent to us left as well. She looked to be trying to catch up to Antoinette for some reason, though I found myself distracted by the three daughters who took the opportunity to approach me. I looked away from the vaulted ceilings, its surface covered in tiled murals of sea nymphs and dolphins, to see the three girls surrounding me.
“Heavens! You're so pretty!” one of the girls said, pressing into my personal space to look me in the eyes. Another one was pulling on my hair from the side while the last was grabbing the most recent replacement bottle of alcohol behind me. The girls were all at least slightly older than Faith at a glance, and as well endowed as their mother. As they pressed in close, it occurred to me that I would normally have found this enticing...but the press of naked flesh around me was just making me claustrophobic, and a bit nervous. The middle sister kept putting her hands on me as the eldest passed around glasses of what I was assuming was supposed to be a potent champagne. Divine Identify just named it 'Arcadian Ambrosia' and said it was fermented for more than a century.
“Um, thank you.” I responded a bit nervously as someone's hand slid past my knees. I looked to the attendant for help, but she just came in with another bottle, and a small tray of strawberries.
“Ooh, plush.” the Eldest said, taking a strawberry, and smiling as she bit into it. “I'm Chalice Lebonne, by the way. That's my younger sister Alice “she said motioning to the girl who was sliding her hands along my thighs, “And that’s my youngest sister Marie.” she said, pointing to the girl who was messing with my hair. I cleared my throat as Alice pressed in close to me, our chests touching. Alice's hand slid further up, eliciting a gasp from me, while Chalice took the opportunity to put a strawberry into my mouth. “Try the strawberries, they really add to the flavor of the Ambrosia.” Chalice said with a grin.
“So you must be new to Kisk. I'm sure I would remember you from one of the parties. Mother makes sure we attend all the major affairs.” Chalice said leaning with her arm slung over the poolside. The girls were happily downing their glasses, Marie glancing at Chalice meaningfully as the youngest sipped on her drink. Chalice rolled her eyes, and began muttering something under her breath.
Path of Water Learned: 10%
Spell Learned: Water Jet
Used to create a stream of water to blow away enemies, or as means of propulsion at sea. Larger amounts of mana generate more powerful water jets
Skill Learned: Occult
The occult skills represent academic knowledge of the supernatural. It includes knowledge of rituals, magical creatures, and arcane methodology. This skill is required for any form of spell casting.
Occult Skill Rating +20
Class Learned: Wizard
Masters of the Arcane, Wizards manipulate mana to affect the world around them. From enchanters, to elementalists, Wizards dedicate themselves to understanding and mastering magic. They specialize in the purest aspects of magic – using spells that are capable of bending reality to their will, and controlling it with complete precision. As magic interacts heavily with a broad range of natural phenomena, Wizards often spend endless hours pouring over books and scrolls on an endless array of intellectual topics.
Class Ability: Magic Accumulation Gained
This ability allows magic users to gather mana from internal pools or from the environment, in order to be manipulated and formed into spells. Rate of Magic Accumulation is based on the base power and level of the wizard, with a 5% gain per level.
Accumulation Rate: 698 Mana/second
Class Ability: Magic Manipulation Gained
This ability allows wizards to manipulate the form and properties of magical constructs and mechanisms. Control is limited by the level of the wizard, their skill with the occult, and the path level of the magic being used. Higher levels allow the ability to form more potent spells, while greater skill with the occult allows for more fine manipulation.
As I watched the twisting of magical energies around me, my mind began piecing things together, synthesizing and making connections. The epiphany hit me like a truck, and the mana in my body began swirling beneath my skin. I gasped as my body jerked slightly, someone's hand sliding up my thighs as my legs went loose from the sudden shock. As the windows popped up in my gaze, gets of water began swirling behind my lower back, kicking up bubbles along the surface of the water. Chalice leaned back into her own jet, smiling at me as Alice groped me.
“Alice is having her Debutante ball next month. It's going to be a grand affair. The Emperor might even come.” Chalice said with a wry smile, while I pressed my back against the water jet behind my back, and Alice pressed herself against me. I cleared my throat while trying to figure out how to politely remove the hand that was...”Oh fuck.” I muttered as Alice hand moved somewhere uncomfortable. The girl was taking her liberties, and as I moved my free hand to pry Alice's free, Chalice took it and began looking at my nails. “Oh, Honey. You need to have your nails done. They look worn. Perhaps we should all get manicures.” she said looking to her sisters, while I reached to place the glass back down, to free up my other hand.
“Here, let me refill that for you.” Chalice said, pouring more ambrosia into my glass. As her she released my right hand, I reached down to pry Alice's out from between my thighs. The girl didn't pose much in the way of resistance, simply grinning at me. As her hands came back out of the water, Alice and Chalice began giggling. Marie was just kicking g her feet in the water, and sipping on Alcohol. “Awe, she's shy.” Alice said, causing Chalice to roll her eyes. “You're being mean sister. In any case, she hasn't even introduced herself yet.” Chalice said meaningfully.
“Faith, Faith Lusatra” I said feeling more exhausted the longer I had to deal with these three. Chalice motioned to the attendant, before climbing out of the water, and walking off to talk with her. Marie took Chalice's place beside me, taking the opportunity to refill her glass, and smiling mischievously at me. “I'm Marie.” the girl said, plopping back down into the water, and drinking half her glass in one gulp. “Thanks for the ambrosia Faith. Mother doesn't usually let us indulge. It must be so great getting carte blanche to do whatever you want.” Marie said, before giggling, and sliding closer.
“You should come to my ball. I heard you say you were only thirteen. Marie is fourteen, so hers won't be for almost two years. That means this will be the last debutante ball from our family until then, and the Lebonne family throws wonderful parties. Daddy often sends all sorts of expensive wines and libations from the border territories. He's one of three generals in charge of the entire eastern front, and he's posted in Cathris.” Alice said, leaning in to grab the bottle again, her breasts pressing into my face. I leaned away only to have Marie slump onto me, intoxicated.
“All right, we've got ourselves a private room. Kimberly arranged for a masseuse. She said Faith here is covered for whatever we want.” Chalice said as she arrived from another room, and stood with her hands on the curves of her hips. “I got you Donny.” Chalice said with a wide grin, causing Alice to grumble. “Aw, you're so lucky.” Alice said as she separated from me.
I cleared my throat and started to climb to my feet. “Um, I should really be going...” I said as Marie hopped up, and Chalice rolled her eyes. “I already asked, and your clothing isn't here. Lady Bastier said it was going to be at least two hours. Her and mother said you're a special girl, and we're to make sure you have a good time.” Chalice said, her eyes narrowing as she grinned. “And we wouldn't want to disappoint mother.” she said, while Alice grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the water. I followed the two not quite sure how to handle the situation. I could recreate my clothes, or something similar, using the measurements and details I had stored, but I'd need to get materials; I had used up my creation and alteration limits for fabrication today. Besides, I wanted to follow through with Antoinette's purchase of a place for me to take Jasmine.
The girls dragged me along into another room with a two massage beds and a few reclining chairs. The attendant tried to scurry to us with towels, but Chalice just brushed them away. “You and Marie can go first. I need my nails done.” Chalice said taking a seat in the recliner, and ordering more drinks from the attendant. I hopped up onto the table and laid on my back with a warm towel over my eyes, trying to relax. Chalice and her sisters began chattering in the background, obviously becoming more intoxicated as they drank the wine. I put in a non-committal word here or there, but decided to take the opportunity of relative silence to step back and reassess my situation. The first thing I did was to pull up my sheet.
Stolen novel; please report.
Name: Faith Lusatra
Race: Half-Elf (Immortal)
Age: 13
Sex: Female
Class: God (Rank 1), Martial Artist 12, Wizard 1
Subclass: NONE
Profession: NONE
Strength: 174
Dexterity: 424
Endurance: 265
Intelligence: 605
Power: 665
Luck: 600
Health: 2650 HP HP Regen: 26.5 HP/second
Mana: 6352 MP MP Regen: 140 MP/second
Ki: 1064 Ki Regen: 1/second
Skills:
Athletics: 203/400
Climbing: 30/400
Engineering: 300/400
Manufacturing: 53/400
Mathematics: 200/400
Medicine: 10/400
Occult: 25/400
Pain Tolerance: 170/400
Perception: 35/400
Persuasion: 12/400
Singing: 200/400
Survival: 30/400
Swimming: 30/400
Combat Skills:
Swordsmanship: 150/400
Aikido: 205/400
Tai Chi Chuan: 60/400
Wing Chun: 35/400
Blessings: Blessing of Aphrodite, Divine Beauty, Divine Presence, Enchanting Voice
Traits: Alter Reality (Limited), Creative Aptitude, Extreme Precision, Heroic Perseverance, Heroic Strength, Divine Abilities, Divine Aegis, Divine Alacrity, Divine Health, Divine Immunities, Divine Limits, Divine Magic Recovery, Divine Providence, Divine Regeneration, Divine Resistance, Domain Powers, Immortal, Improved Accuracy, Inhuman Reflexes, Intellectual Aptitude, Knowledge Absorption, Mental Fortress, Perfect Memory, Superior Magic Recovery,
Divine Abilities: Arcane Mastery, See Magic, Fabrication, Divine Identify
Domain Powers: Divine Senses, Remote Sensing, Create Magic Items, Communication, Remote Communication
There looked to have been some improvements, and my classes were listed, but not the abilities I had gotten from my classes. At the very least I needed to figure out what everything on my 'sheet' meant. Since I arrived here I had been in such a hurry that I had never actually stopped to decipher what all of the traits and blessings meant.
Enchanting Voice
A blessing that improved the speaking and singing voice of the user. Enchanting voice extends the range, maximum volume, and clarity of the speaker's voice. The user is able to attract crowds with a speech, or seduce lovers with a word.
Divine Health
Deities are immune to disease, poison, aging, stunning, sleep, paralysis, disintegration, and death.
Divine Immunities
Deities are Immune to Transmutation and supernatural mind-affecting effects, such as domination or psychic assaults. They are still open to having their emotions affected naturally.
Divine Providence
Deities often act as fulcrums for what some would consider fate. The vagaries of chance tend to be influenced by the nature of the Gods, if not their actual intents. Where a deity is involved, their domains hold sway.
When I reached Divine Providence I gasped, half from existential crisis, and half from the firm hand oiling up my hips and sides. I realized as I was zoning out, that I probably should have started on my back. The hands continued to work at my muscles, and a warm tingling sensation began working its way across my skin as the oil was spread. By the time the hands reached my chest and shoulders, I could feel tension being pulled from me, as I gasped.
The rest of the traits were fairly mundane in comparison to the divine endowments. The creative and intellectual aptitudes just made it easier to learn corresponding skills, and Heroic Perseverance provided extreme resistance to fatigue...making me question how that would affect my sleep schedule. Inhuman Reflexes said it increased my response time, while Improved Accuracy and Extreme Precision apparently provided assisted targeting of some sort...which I might have noticed, had I tried to attack anything at range. The more interesting traits were Knowledge Absorption, Perfect Memory, and Mental Fortress. Knowledge Absorption allowed me to actually draw information directly from a recorded medium, and Perfect Memory gave me perfect recall and information retention. Mental Fortress was confusing, since it just said that it provided a mental space.
While puzzling over what it meant by 'mental space', I found myself standing in a large library that seemed to stretch out beyond my sight. I was pressed into the back of the stacks, between rows of shelves and a large card catalog. I stepped into the nearest aisle, pulling one of the books from the shelves. It was a fluid mechanics text I had read years ago. The books seemed fairly sparse, but I recognized every text I passed as one I had read before. This place was huge, and something told me that I could quite easily become lost in its depths. As I worked my way through the stacks, searching for the exit, I suddenly felt a wave of pleasure wash over me. My body felt like jello as I fell to my knees, and a huge amount of tension in my back that I hadn't even known existed, suddenly released.
Snapping awake, I let out a moan as I heard a CRACK and someone grunting. My towel had fallen away from my face as I laid on my back slightly twitching. I saw a large, tanned, and muscular young man sweating as he kneaded my flesh. “FUCK!” I said as something cracked again, and my body slumped, leaving me drooling. Chalice started laughing as she got up from her chair, and poked me. “See?” she asked with a grin. “Now move over. I want my turn!” Chalice said poking me again. It took me a few moments to get my limbs to move, or maybe for me to work up the desire to move them. I slid off of the table, falling to my knees weakly as grabbed my towel. Wrapping the towel around me I made my way over to the chair to find Marie grinning at me. Alice was getting a massage from another man, and looked to have passed out. One of the attendants held out a glass of wine to me, before she started working on my feet.
As I began dozing again I glanced at the last overlooked trait...
Alter Reality (Limited)
Through force of will alone, gods may alter facets of reality around them. Though limited in scale, it allows gods to endow their mortal followers with blessings, or curse those that anger them. The blessings of a God are permanent, and though curses can be removed, they can only be removed by the God that placed them, or by a god of higher rank.
I bolted up, causing the women doing my nails to jump. Marie looked at me confused, while Chalice, and Alice just continued with their massages. “I'm sorry...I need to go...” I said as I stumbled out of the room to the half-hearted objections of the drunk sisters. “Your nails! They need to dry!” the attendant called as I stumbled out into the hallway, looking for my things. “Shit...Um...clothes...” I said as I grabbed one of the attendants. “My clothes, have they arrived? I need my things.” I said, trying to convey urgency.
“Is something wrong Ms. Lusatra?” Antoinette asked as she came around the corner, fully clothed once more. She looked somewhat surprised, and as I approached her I saw Mrs. Lebonne smiling at me.
“Ahh, Yes...I need my clothes. I just remembered I have an errand I need to run. Silly me.” I said holding the towel around myself. Antoinette nodded and stepped into a side room appearing with a wrapped package, a hat box, and my satchel. “Of course. It came just a few minutes ago. Mr. Dromard was quite distraught when he found out the state of your new outfit. Luckily he had this one finished.” she said, handing me the bundles. Taking the packages I stepped into the side room, apparently my changing room from earlier, and began getting dressed.
Instead of the simpler attire from before, Arthur's shop had provided a white ruffled blouse with lace cuffs and collar, a blue corset coat and what looked like riding pants. The hat was another cavalier style one, with a white feather in it. My boots looked like that had been cleaned and polished to a shine. As I was trying to get the straps done, Antoinette cleared her throat. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but I thought you should know that I've found an estate that more than meets your requirements.” she said, walking over to help tighten my coat. “It turns out that quite recently Marquis Roland Lebonne has decided to dispose of the assets of his late uncle. It contains a townhouse here in Kisk, a full twenty thousand acre estate just a day's ride from the city, and a few other minor assets.” Antoinette said, glancing back toward Mrs. Lebonne.
Reaching back, Antoinette closed the door to the hallway, and stared at me as I started putting on my boots. “So what's wrong with it?” I ask, looking up at her. The silence was telling, as Antoinette stood there considering how to respond.
“With the townhouse? Nothing, it's fully furnished. The country estate is mostly rural, with a few hundred acre of farm lands broken up between a handful of farmers. There's was a copper mine on the property, but it's long since abandoned. The most notable feature is the Chateau of Montevue, and the surrounding township. The township itself is in disrepair, though I think the villa only suffers from superficial damage. The estate has back taxes that have to be paid, in addition to purchase price. The late Count had failed to to provide adequate forces in the territory, and hostile monsters became a problem. As you have considerable assets, employing a small force to clear the area should be a simple matter.” Antoinette said, trying to reassure me. “And of course the land come with the title of Count of Montevue...” she said the last with a wide smile
I stared at her for a moment trying to process what I was hearing, “Hold on...That...They just allow nobles to sell titles to whomever comes along to buy it?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “And why wouldn't the Marquis just handle all of this himself, or hand it to a family member?” I asked as I stood up, and put on my sword belt.
“Ahh...Well, that's a bit complicated. You see the Marquis was ordered to relinquish the estates by the Emperor, due to concerns over him also holding large territories near Cathris, Ascir, and the blue river province. The assets he already had in and around Kisk were seen as creating a liability once he inherited his uncle's properties. The Marquis's forces are stretched thin in Cathris, and he's looking to raise funds to expand his influence and forces there. As it is, most of the other nobility are waiting them out I believe. With the back taxes and other costs, Marquis Lebonne was probably looking at disposing of the assets at a loss..which would put him in an even worse position.” Antoinette said with a shrug. “You have an abundance of funds, the current backing of Blackfield, and apparently the approval of Bishop Amon. You'll pay a premium, but I'm told that the Lebonnes will support your 'appointment', if you pay their asking price.” she said, pulling out a sheet of paper from her bag.
“How much is that exactly?” I asked, looking at the paper suspiciously. “A hundred and fifty platinum Bak. Of course Blackfield's Bank is willing to front the money, given your willingness to allow us to sell the natural Orichalcum you've placed with us.” Antoinette said, handing me the paper. I felt like I was being railroaded, and everything about this situation was sending alarms off in my head. “So let's say I pay the price. The Emperor has already forced the Marquis to sell the property, what's to prevent it from being taken from me outright once I've dumped a king's ransom on it?” I asked, looking at Antoinette coldly. She frowned, and nodded. “I won't lie, territories are held by suffrage of the Imperial court, and they could be taken from you. However, you'll be purchasing the support of Marquis Lebonne and his family. Montevue isn't a strategically important property beyond its proximity to Kisk. I can't imagine anyone exerting more effort to separate you from the property, than the Marquis's influence would prevent; Especially after you fund an additional ten thousand troops.” she said with a shrug.
Antoinette handed me a quill, and as I looked at it I could see a faint hue of magic on it. “I believe this opportunity is fortuitous, and at the very least the risks to your assets are minimal.” she said as I looked at the paper, noticing three other signatures on it already. As I scratched my name into the paper it glowed gold before fading to black. “Wonderful. Congratulations Countess of Montevue.” she said causing me to roll my eyes. At the very least I had apparently purchased a townhouse, and as of right now I had a method to free my mother of her curse. “If you'll excuse me, Ms. Bastier. “I said as I rushed from the room. I heard Antoinette calling for me to wait for Charles, but I didn't want anyone knowing who my mother was or her status at the moment.