Chapter 12 I Find Out I'm a Sex Maniac

The Guild was packed with people. People were waiting in line to be seated at a table. There was even a line curling around the side of the wall where people were waiting for a spot at the Guild counter. Every spot at the counter was manned, even Mildred was there handing out coins and paperwork.

I had been told to meet Dunbar in one of the meeting rooms in the back. As I walked past the line, I could feel the dirty looks of people thinking I was trying to line jump. I pulled out my Guild ID and waved it a bit. The tension in the air immediately decreased. I could just imagine what would happen to me if one of those ax-wielding muscle guys got a hold of me. Best to remain on their good side. I even tried smiling at a few of them. I even got a few head nods for my effort. Look at me being friendly with the locals.

I showed the ID to the clerk closest to the entryway to the back. He looked at it, frowning, pointed me in the direction I needed to go, then immediately went back to helping reduce the line. So much for being friendly Mr. Grumpypants.

"Oh, Eri," Dunbar came striding down the hall, "right on time."

"Is it always this busy out there?" I pointed towards the way I had come.

"Around this time of day, yes. People are just coming back from their morning hunts and are waiting to be paid. Then they usually want lunch too, so they wait in line for that. It will die down around 1 o'clock. Most people try and get here before the rush, but it can't always be managed.

"I'm glad you're here on time. I just got finished with some paperwork or I would have met you near the door. Did you have any issues getting to the back?"

"No, considering the lines, I was able to pass by without any problem."

"That's good," he commented as we both stood in front of the conference room door. He opened the door for me and ushered me in. "I had left a memo that you were coming, but you can't always trust that all employees will read the memos."

The conference room was lined with windows along one wall so a lot of natural light shone through. The rest of the room was gray, gray tables, chairs, floors, and white walls. The one spot of color was the very familiar looking brown haired man with the charming smile.

Crue wasn't wearing his pink vestments today, but he was wearing some fairly bright blue clothes. Dark blue pants and a light blue shirt with a gray belt that matched his gray boots. To be fair, blue really looked good on him with his is tanned complexion and blue-gray eyes. He stood as we entered the room and beamed when he saw me.

"Eri, I never would have thought you'd be the new Surveyor. So the meeting you said you had was with me," he laughed hands on his hips and shaking his head.

"The two of you know each other?" Dunbar asked.

"We met last night at the temple," I explained, "Crue showed me around."

"Yep, we even had a date planned for later tonight." Crue chipped in. Hey, now I wouldn't call it a date.

"I see, that makes things far simpler if you two are already acquainted." Dunbar nodded his head in acceptance. Don't just accept that! "So we can skip the introductions and get right to business."

"It's not a date," I hissed at Crue as I took a seat beside him.

"If you say so," he hissed back with a smile.

"Now then," Dunbar interrupted. "Does Crue know something about your skills Eri?"

"He knows about my inventory, but about other specific skills, I don't think so."

"You mentioned your Gamer Glass yesterday. It helps you allocate your Exp," Crue added.

"With your permission, Eri, I'd like to share the list of your skills with Crue," Dunbar pulled out the paper I wrote my skills on yesterday. "I think it will give him an idea of where to start in your training."

"I don't mind," I nodded at the paper as Dunbar handed it to Crue.

Crue looked at the paper, glanced at me, then back to the paper. He put his hands on the table and you could see him thinking. Then he picked the paper up and looked over it again. Then he glanced at Dunbar then back at me.

"The reason you were given the position of Surveyor has to do with one of your Blessings, right?" He tapped the paper in front of him. It didn't have my Blessings listed since I had discussed those personally with Dunbar.

"Yes, I have All Map Exploration. By using it in tandem with Gamer Glass I can search for monsters on the map and I can see how many are in the area. That's why Dunbar," I nodded at the older man, "offered me the job. However, as you can see my survival skills are lacking." I leaned over and tapped the paper.

"Lacking..." Crue trailed off. Then he looked at Dunbar and sighed.

"It's not as bad as that," Dunbar said misinterpreting Crue's sigh. "Eri has two other Blessings that can easily make up for the lack of training. One of his Blessings increases the amount of Exp he gets when he completes a task. The other decreases the amount of Exp he needs to level up. So it shouldn't take as much time to train him as you are thinking."

"That's not the issue really," Crue glanced up. "Though that explains some things."

He looked down at the paper again. Then back up with a frown.

"Eri, how much of this has changed just since yesterday? I know when we were together you gained two new skills. You activated one of them, but that means you left one inactive. This," he held up the paper, "only shows your active skills. I'd also like to know what your inactive skills are."

"I have gained seven new skills since yesterday, I think. Though, I only activated the one."

"Seven!" Dunbar looked surprised. He jerked a bit in his chair and looked like someone smacked him upside the head.

"I see," Crue looked at Dunbar. "Sir, I'm afraid to bother you, but I think I need to speak with Eri alone.

"I formally agree to train him as Surveyor, so you don't need to worry about that. We can work out the compensation at a later date."

"Seven," Dunbar was really shocked it seemed. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts.

"Right, I was mostly here to offer introductions and to get your formal consent to this training. Since the two of you already know each other and I now know that you will train the boy, I don't see why we can't move forward. I'll talk to you later then Crue." He stood up and shook Crue's hand.

"You too Eri," he shook my hand as well. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing some amazing progress from you. Good luck." He patted my back and left the room.

Crue waited a few seconds before he brought up the topic he'd been dancing around.

"Eri, you managed to get to these stats in less than a day." He waved the paper around in a circle. "Do you have any idea how insane that sounds?"

"They seemed normal to me. I thought it would look suspicious if I showed up at the gate as a level 1 considering how old I'm supposed to be."

"Well yes, it would look odd for you to be eighteen and be a level 1," then he stopped mid-sentence.

"How old are you?"

"On Earth, I was twenty-four. Amoris said that she was going to reincarnate me as younger since it would have been harder for a twenty-four-year-old unemployed newbie to show up at the town gates."

"That is true," Crue nodded, "I'm just glad you're not actually a fifty-year-old man. That would have been odd." Then he flashed me his signature toothpaste commercial smile.

"In all seriousness though, if you keep progressing this fast you might have issues later. Strong people get noticed and that's not always a good thing. People will want to know where you came from, what you were doing, how you managed to get that strong. For you, this would become a problem since you literally have no history.

"The Guild may be able to protect you to some extent, but if you show too much progress..." He trailed off looked at the paper and gave me some serious direct eye contact. "There are people who will stop at nothing to use you." He sighed running his hand through his hair and leaning back in his chair.

I could see how that would be an issue. Shit, I hadn't even thought of that, but what was I supposed to do about it? It's not like I could change my stats... or could I?

I quickly looked up the information about my racial abilities.

I held up a finger when Crue looked like he was going to talk again.

"Wait a moment please, I think I might be able to fix this."

*Hidden Among the Masses- 20. With this ability, your status screen can be altered. It allows one to blend in among the dominant race of the area. It is a race-specific disguise ability that will fool even the All Seer. Currently receiving a Title power boost from Emissary of Amoris, Devotee of Amoris, Oracle of Amoris, and Grateful Petitioner. At level 10 your gender will be concealed. Your current alteration is male. You can not alter your gender at this time. At level 20 you can alter your Race/Species category can be altered. Your current alteration is Human. Would you like to change this now? Yes/No~

Once again I selected no. Would Hidden Among the Masses let me change other things about my stats? I didn't know, but would it be worth spending the Exp to find out?

"Crue," I paused, considering how to bring up the matter, "do you know of a skill called Hidden Among the Masses."

"I've never heard of it," he shook his head. "What is it?"

"Did Amoris explain the particulars of my reincarnation? Did she tell you the deal she made with me?"

"Only that you were given Blessings in exchange for you being reincarnated and for service to the gods. Why?"

"That was only part of it," I paused. I didn't really know him that well, but Amoris said I could trust him. Did that include this information too? Shit, at the last minute I decided to play it safe and keep quiet about it. After all, Amoris had proven herself to be rather flighty. "The skill is sort of part of the deal we made." Not really a lie, exactly.

Crue tilted his head to the side. I knew that look. Amoris was talking to him again. A small lump formed in my stomach. She had to know what I was. Was she telling him?

"You are not human. This is a racial skill," Crue looked at me. I could feel my face draining of blood. So much for Poker Face.

"It's a lot easier to talk to you face to face than to keep messaging you both." Amoris appeared from out of nowhere behind us and scared both of us nearly out of our seats. She had her hair braided today but other than that looked very much the same.

"My Lady!" Crue jumped up out of his seat and literally dived to the floor in a bow. Was I supposed to do that too? I wasn't feeling very bowy today.

"There's no need for that child," Amoris sat down across from me and pointed to Crue's chair. "Please, sit down. It will be difficult to talk to you if you are on the floor.

"Cake?" She looked at me and materialized a slice of strawberry cake and a fork. Thankfully, it wasn't pumpkin.

"Why not," I said with a sigh and took the cake. She placed another slice in front of Crue. He looked at it as if it was a precious stone. "If you're not going to eat that I will." That prompted him into taking a bite.

"I think I should get to the main issue at hand," she waved a strawberry speared by her fork in the air.

"When I reincarnated you, I ran out of power. You were stuck in the Abyss for a while. You got my message about that. What I didn't tell you is that it wasn't just my power that reincarnated you. I put my best into it but didn't have enough power in the end. So, there you were stuck. I guess my mistake really upset my lover," She sighed and examined the berry.

"He is not happy that I left a half-formed mortal floating around in his territory." She bit the strawberry off the end of her fork and chewed.

"The Lord of the Abyss, Edomael," Crue whispered into his cake.

"That's right. Anyway, Eri, it was his power that pushed you into full reincarnation. You are a child born of both our powers. Milk?"

Crue started to cough on his cake. Little crumbs scattered all over the table as he tried to clear his windpipe. I thumped him on the back a few times and Amoris gave him a glass of milk.

"This child has figured it out rather quickly," she reached over patted Crue on the head like a puppy. Crue nearly choked on his milk.

"Edomael is your lover? I thought he was your uncle?" Leave it to me to focus on the unimportant part of the conversation. I thought Crue was going to have a seizure when I said that. I pounded his back a few more times.

"Stop hitting me, you idiot," Crue got out between pats. He swatted at my hands spilling his milk. He tried to discreetly dab it up with the hem of his shirt.

"Technically, yes, he is," she smirked like she thought the entire thing was funny. She handed Crue a napkin and he blushed red from the tips of his ears down his neck. "Divine beings don't really have familial bonds like that. I was born of a concept of love. Edomael was born from the Abyss. So while yes we are related as niece and uncle we aren't actually blood relations. Though there are a few gods who are a lot more picky about that distinction between Edomael and I so be careful not to bring up possible incestuous relationship ideas with other gods.

"You missed the point though. I am here to tell you what you are. As you know you aren't really a human. We discussed the possibility of you being born as something other than human."

"Yes, but that information seems to be hidden from me. I can't access it from my Gamer Glass."

"That's because you haven't matured yet. I've already updated your information. It would be quicker for you to read it then ask questions." She took another bite of her cake and waved at me to hurry up with her other hand.

"Would you like more milk, tea?" She asked Crue. He shook his head no.

I opened up my status screen everything still looked the same. I checked my inventory and nothing new there. I looked at Amoris through the transparent screen for help.

"Try searching for Succuba," she said gently. "S-U-C-C-U-B-A."

*Race- Succuba

Succubus – Female

Incubus – Male

The Children of Amoris, the Lady of Love, and the King of Dreams, Wings of Death, Edomael. Amoris and Edomael had mortal twins Samil and Esau. Both twins were gender fluid and could become female or male at will. They became the mother and father of the Succuba race.

Most Succuba have only two forms. The first being the humanoid form they are born into, this form is usually the same as the non-Succuba parent. The second form is the appearance of a Succuba.

A Succuba has a very distinctive form. Much like bird Zyanthropes, they have feathered wings that can be used in flight. These are usually smaller in size than the bird Zyanthropes and only have a wingspan slightly longer than the Succuba arm span.

Bird Zyanthorpes usually have a very low bone density and they weigh very little despite their overall appearance. Succuba with their smaller wings do not have a low bone density and weigh just as much as the average humanoid. This trait leads scholars to believe that an unknown race specific magic may be involved in supporting the Succuba while in flight.

Succuba will also have a prehensile tail that is capable of supporting the weight of an adult Succuba. The tail, while prehensile, has limited functionality. It can grip objects but lacks the dexterity of a hand. They are most likely used for stabilizing the Succuba when landing in windy places. It is usually just about equal to the Succuba leg length, but in some cases can be shorter or longer. The appearance and color of the wings and tail are usually familial traits passed down from the Succuba parent.

Succuba, like Elves, have difficulty breeding with other Succuba. Succuba born of a Succubus and Incubus are extremely rare. Because of breeding difficulties, Succuba tend to breed with other humanoid races, most often humans and Zyanthropes.

Unlike with Elves, the children of Succuba and humanoid races are never half beings. They are always either born as a Succuba having the appearance of their humanoid parent until they mature at the age of eighteen, or they are the same race as their humanoid parent. (The exception to this would be the child of two Succuba. The child of two Succuba could inherit the humanoid form of either parent. For example, one Zyanthrope Succuba and one Human Succuba have a child. The child could be born with the appearance of either human or Zyanthrope.)

Mature Succuba will find themselves needing to supplement their diets by absorbing the magical energy of love, sex, and lust. It is believed that this diet helps feed the magic needed for a Succuba to maintain their race-specific abilities.

Be aware that an adolescent Succuba coming into maturity can be potentially dangerous. The change to maturity can take nearly a week. An entire week of feeding off the magic of one person has the potential to kill that person if not fully prepared. It is recommended that a Succuba have several partners to choose from during their transition, to alleviate any risk of damage to any one partner. Many Succuba utilized the services of professionals during this time as well.~

My mind went blank. My ears actually started to buzz with a high pitch tone. I thought I had prepared myself for becoming another race. It had seemed like a nice idea at the time. Shit, wings and a tail, that sounded like a demon to me. On top of that, I was racially required to become a sex maniac. Black spots dotted my vision. Shit.

*Special Skill Gain- Abyss Walker

*Title Gain- Prince of Dreams

~~~~~~~~

A warmth flowed through me. It felt like I was cuddled up in my favorite blanket and I had just found that sweet spot on the couch. My body didn't want to move. I was so comfortable.

"It's not my fault this happened," a female voice echoed in my dream.

"How is it not anything but your fault?" There was the sound of birds flapping.

"There is no way I could have predicted he'd be like the twins," the female hissed back.

"I could have told you that!" Oh, the birds were flapping again, "You didn't bother to inform me that my power had altered him too." Flap, Flap, Flap pretty birds.

"Excuse me," that voice sounded familiar, "I think he's waking up."

"He should be," more flapping, "I'm not the King of Dreams for nothing, child."

"Yes, sir." Oh, it was Crue. I remembered Crue. Nice guy, nice butt. No, we do not think about other guys' butts.

"It's perfectly fine to admire his butt, he really does have a nice one."

"You would say that in front of me," the bird sounded a little upset, "I am not a bird.

"Wake up, mortal, we need to talk." More birds, chirp chirp little bird. I just wanted to go back to bed to the sound of nice little birds.

"His name is Eri, at least be polite," the female scolded the bird.

"I am NOT a bird!"

"Eri," Crue hissed by my ear, "you really should get up now." Was I laying in his lap? Was he pinching my arm? Damn it that hurt. I opened my eyes.

I was looking directly at Crue. His face was really close to mine so I could see the relief flood over him when my eyes opened. He looked a bit pale. Was he ok?

"You fainted," Crue told me rushing over whatever it was that Amoris was about to say, "you went really pale then just passed out at the table. I've been trying to heal you, but you wouldn't wake up. Our Lady tried too. Um, but..."

"She nearly killed you, the only smart thing she's done today is fetch me for help." A young looking man with an average body, pale skin, dark eyes, and white hair began to talk. He was wearing a black bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.

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"I did not kill him," Amoris protested crossing her arms and stamping her foot at the guy in the bathrobe.

"Only because that young healer kept him from falling back into the Abyss, I swear woman. The next time you decide to take a mortal home with you think about the consequences."

"I wasn't trying to take him home, I was trying to bring him to you."

"Instead of just waking me up and asking me for help? You know how much strain it causes a mortal when they are taken into the Abyss. He was already in a dream state did you not think that taking him into the home of the King of Dreams would be a bad idea?"

"I thought it made sense. He was left dreaming and you are the King of Dreams, so obviously you could help."

"You had the right idea, but the wrong execution," the bathrobe guy sighed. Then he glanced at me.

"I am not Bathrobe Guy. My name is Edomael. Hi," he waved slightly in my direction.

"How was I supposed to know he'd react so badly?" Amoris was looking like a little dog all puffed up and ready to fight.

Edomael laughed, "She does sort of looked like a little puppy ready to pick a fight." He began to snort. Amoris gave me a dirty look.

"It's not my fault you guys are reading my mind," I protested.

"I guess not," she didn't look happy about that admission.

"Anyway, what happened to me?" I tried to pull myself out of Crue's lap but he slapped me hard in the chest making me stay put. "Ouch, what the hell?"

"I'm still in the middle of healing you, don't move."

"You could have said that without hitting me."

"Consider it revenge for leaving me alone in a room with two bickering gods."

"They sound just like any other married couple to me," I responded.

"Have you ever been stuck in the middle of a couple who is fighting?"

"I see your point," I could imagine how surreal it must have been for Crue to have not only his Goddess there being chewed out, but her lover was doing the chewing. Looked like he'd quickly lost the awe he'd been feeling before.

"It seems like you aren't your typical Incubus. You take after the originals of your race, our twins. She," Edomael pointed a thumb at Amoris, "failed to spot that. So when instead of explaining the situation to you she added the information into your Blessing, it basically triggered your maturation.

"You are a bit different from any other Succuba," he bent down and look at me. "You have some of my power inside you. If you aren't careful you can fall into the Abyss."

"You mean I'll die? I still don't understand what happened." I was beginning to panic. A bit of a delayed reaction, but I would be gearing up into a full on attack here soon.

"You know who I am right?" Edomael glanced back at Amoris, but he was addressing me. She shrugged.

"He should know."

"You are the God of Death, Dreams, and the Abyss." I croaked out the answer around the lump forming in my throat.

"Reincarnation too, but yes, that's me," he nodded.

"What happened was that when she reincarnated you she left you half formed floating around in my Abyss causing all kinds of congestion on the road of reincarnation. In order to clear the path so others could be reincarnated, I had to do something about you. So I finished forming you and sent you on your way. My job is to give form to reincarnated beings and only a few ever show signs my power residue. I keep a close watch on these beings. Typically, these beings end up becoming my priests or hers." He cocked another thumb at Amoris.

"You are a bit different. You didn't show any sign of having my power residue, so I left you alone for Amoris to handle. I didn't know when I found you that you weren't originally part of this world's reincarnation cycle. I had thought that Amoris had just messed up another Blessing and it killed you leaving you half formed."

"I only did that once and you've never let me forget it," Amoris huffed crossing her arms.

"Anyway," he spoke over her, "I basically became your godly parent when I finished forming your body. Not really a child born of me, like our twins, but of my power.

"What this means is that you are like Samil and Esau. You will most likely develop some gender fluidity. I don't know yet if you will be able to do a complete change. Your personality won't change, no matter what, so don't worry about it too much."

Hell, yes I was worried. It was bad enough that I would grow to look like a demon, but that I would also turn into a woman. I didn't sign up for that. I tried taking deep breaths to prevent hyperventilating.

"You kinda did," Amoris commented.

"You are not helping," Edomael scolded her.

"You are not a demon," he shook his head, "I know that in your world demons are often depicted with wings, a tail, and horns. I can assure you, you are not a demon. Demons in this world resemble humans more than any other being," he paused. "They do have horns though. You don't have horns, so there's that.

"Succuba take their appearance from me and their need for love from her." He waved behind him at Amoris.

"You don't have wings or a tail." In fact, he was rather normal looking for a god, even if he did have white hair. Amoris was sort of an exotic bombshell. Maybe she was the exception and all the gods looked normal?

"How sweet." Amoris began to play with her braid and smiled.

"Am called the Wings of Death for a reason." He took off his robe. He was wearing blue and orange paisley patterned shorts. Did Amoris pick out his underwear too?

"I like these," he protested looking down at his shorts.

"So do I," Amoris touched his shoulder. They were both giving me a look. Solidarity over underwear. I wasn't going to argue. It just wasn't my style.

"To each his own," Edomael muttered. Then he turned around and showed me his back. It looked like a normal back, maybe a bit more muscled than an average person, but normal.

Suddenly, white feathery wings appeared fully formed on his back. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure I was watching, then extended them. Underneath the wings was a tail. It was thicker at the base near his spine and tapered down to a point. It would have looked like a lizard tail if it wasn't covered in fine white fur.

His skin also changed. I didn't think he had dumped a bucket of crystal dust on himself when I was looking at his tail. He looked like one of those sparkly vampires all the girls were crazy about a few years ago.

"Hey," he turned hands on hips indignant, "everyone knows vampires aren't sparkly."

"You'll probably have black wings since your hair is black," Amoris added.

"Will I sparkle?" I really didn't want to look like I walked out of a glitter factory.

"Maybe, but if you do it won't be this bad," he held out his arm and sparkles caught the sun from the window and made him look like a disco ball.

"So pretty," Amoris sighed touching his exposed side. "You should see him when he's naked flying in the sun. It's beautiful. It's not fair that a God of Death is the prettiest one of us all or that he keeps it all hidden being holed up in the Abyss all day."

"We are getting off track," Edomael smiled at her. They may be bickering, but their coupleness was giving me cavities.

"The point is when you passed out you went into a state of shock. When you found out what you were, you were forced into puberty so to speak. You have begun to mature as an Incubus.

"Have you ever heard of something called an out of body experience?"

"Yes, you see people talking about it on talk shows." Is that what happened?

"What is a talk show?" Crue asked.

"Something from Earth," I told him, "I can explain it later."

"You went into shock and while your body stayed here, your spirit decided to take a trip. Since you are newly reincarnated your tether to this world is a bit tenuous. Your spirit was trying to protect itself and you ended up popping into the Abyss.

"So when Amoris tried to drag you back, then tried to bring you to me, she actually thinned the tether connecting you to your body nearly killing you. You are lucky this one," he pointed at Crue, "was here to stabilize you."

"When I realized what had happened I went to fetch him," Amoris commented.

"I was able to reattach your soul to your body," he mimed taking something out of the air and stuffed it into his other hand.

"What is problematic is that this will probably happen again. Hopefully, in a more controlled manner next time."

"What do you mean?" I just wished they would give me a straight answer.

"You can travel through the Abyss. With enough practice, you might even be able to take your physical body. My twins were able to travel using the Abyss. It's one of the reasons you can find the Succuba race on every continent on this planet. To make it simpler you will be able to use the void of the Abyss to enter from one place and exit in another.

"It will take some work, and I'm not even sure you'll be able to get past the soul wandering off phase. That part can be tricky."

"Tricky?" It's not like I wanted my soul to take a morning constitutional into the Abyss.

"I wouldn't worry about it until it becomes a problem. It might not even become an issue at all. Amoris will be watching to make sure you don't wander off from your body again and accidentally kill yourself. She'll be monitoring you through your Gamer Glass. Think of it as a vital signs monitor. If it stops beeping on her end she knows you've wandered off." He danced two of his fingers across his palm.

"So if I'm following, I read about Succuba and that triggered a forced puberty. My body went into a state of shock. That caused my spirit to jump ship, which was made worse when Amoris tried to fix me. You did fix me. Do I have that right so far?" I asked them both.

"It's simpler if you put it that way," Edomael nodded.

"Now when Amoris left me floating in reincarnation land, you finished putting me together accidentally adding your power to Amoris' making me a special sort of Succuba. This super Succuba can travel in the Abyss and turn into a girl whenever, correct?"

"We don't know yet how much of those attributes you'll get. We can't know until you fully mature." Amoris cautioned, "Right now we know you are reacting like our twins would have reacted to similar stimuli. This makes us believe that you could be a 'super Succuba'," she used finger quotes.

"So you know he's got some of the traits, but you don't know how much they will develop until he develops?" Crue asked. He was probably as confused as I was about this craziness.

"Yes," said Edomael.

"That could be a huge problem," Crue said forthrightly. "We were just talking about Eri's incredible growth rate. If the people in power find out about all this then it could spell trouble. He won't be able to go anywhere unsupervised because he'd be considered a possible threat to the kingdom."

Huh? We had talked about my fast progress becoming an issue, but what was this about being stalked by the kingdom?

"We are aware of your family history, child," Edomael pulled a chair around with the back at his front and straddled it so that his tail and wings dangled down behind.

"We are prepared to help you in that, it's actually part of the reason I decided to show up in person instead of just sending a message." Amoris patted Edomael on the shoulder.

"You were talking about the Succuba racial ability Hidden Among the Masses. As you guessed, Eri, it will help you a great deal. As you add Exp to the ability you will be able to alter more than just your race and gender. This ability is specially designed to keep you hidden or inconspicuous. Your level will be what you most want to keep concealed, after your race and gender of course. They all will show up every time you are asked to touch an All Seer.

"However, you may want to keep in mind that the system the Guild uses will also give them some idea of your real power. It might be in your best interest to hide some of your ability levels as well. If you go from a grade E adventurer to a grade A purely based on your stats it will also raise questions.

"So you shouldn't have to worry too much about that issue." She waved her hand in the air to show how much of a non-issue she thought it was. Not very reassuring.

"What will be problematic, from our standpoint, is a Succuba special skill called Party," Edomael commented. Amoris nodded in agreement.

"Party is sort of complicated. It originally was used so that Succuba could keep track of their mates. You would be able to know where your mate was at any time if you thought about them. There were unexpected side effects of this skill.

"When you use the Party skill on someone, it is permanent. So if you had broken up with your mate after using the skill, you can't cancel it. You are stuck with that person's location every time you think of them."

"That's originally what it was used for," Amoris interjected. "Now it's used for something much different.

"Another side effect of Party was that you shared some portion of your Blessings with the person you used Party on," she looked at me, "You see how that can be an issue if you use Party on someone with your Blessings?"

"They would get the four Blessings I have?"

"Not the Gamer Glass or the All Exploration Map since those are more like items. I should say your more intangible Blessings will be shared. Mainly, your Exp points needed to level up divided by your current level and Exp increase times your current level."

"Times your current level..." Crue muttered. Oh, right this was probably the first time he'd heard about that part of the Blessing. I'd been tactful with Dunbar and left that part out.

"So, anyone I would use Party on will have the same issue of concealing their levels that I would have."

"Yes, though they would only receive part of the Blessing."

"Then I just won't use Party," seemed simple enough for me.

"That won't work, seeing as you have Gamer Glass."

"What do you mean?" How would my having one Blessing effect a skill I didn't have yet?

"Crue," Edomael shifted his weight to better look at Crue. His skin went all disco again as the light refracted. "Ask Eri to go do something with you. It doesn't really matter what."

"We were supposed to go shopping later today. Something like that?" Crue asked.

"That will work fine, but you need to make it a very clear invitation to go shopping."

"Ok," Crue looked down at my face, "Do you want to go shopping with me later?"

*Special Skill Gain-Party~

*Party is automatically activated. Activation of Party has used 10 Exp. ~

*Crue would like to join your party Yes/No~

"Is this?" I questioned through the display screen.

"That's what I was talking about. It won't do that for everyone who asks you to do things. It will just do it for people you consider to be friends or companions. So if a prostitute asked you to join her for the night it wouldn't activate." Leave it to Amoris to use a prostitute in her explanations.

"Go ahead and select yes. If you say no, you won't be able to go shopping with Crue without that pop up appearing every 30 seconds." Edomael waved at me to hurry up.

I pressed yes.

*Crue has been added to your Party. Would you like to place a tracking marker now? Yes/ No~

"That will let you follow him on the map, it's very different than the old way it used to work. You should be grateful that his location isn't automatically sent to you whenever you think of him. Go ahead and say yes. Then look at the map."

I pressed yes again. My map opened up and right in the center was my solid yellow marker, but beside it was a yellow marker with an aqua blue border. I tapped on it and Crue's stats popped up.

* Name- Crue

HP 4590/4590

MP 434/1500

Level- 28

Age-20

Human

Male

Occupation- Priest of Amoris, Surveyor of Adventurers Guild

Exp- 78

Physical Power- 330

Stamina- 310

Defense- 196

Agility- 370

Intelligence- 232

Magic Power- 196

Water Magic Lv 4

Healing Waters Lv 3

Bubble Bomb Lv 1

Liquid Bullet Lv 1

Healing Hands Lv 1

Poison Resistance Lv 1

Skills

Basic Sword Lv 4

Skull Bashing Lv 1

Slicing Lv 2

Slash Lv 1

Martial Arts Lv 3

Stance Lv 2

Grappling Lv 1

Smooth Movement Lv 2

Blocking Lv 2

Archery Lv 4

Shooting Lv 1

Aim Lv 2

Sniping Lv 2

Stalking Lv 2

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Scouting Lv 4

Eyes of the Hawk Lv 2

Distant View Lv 1

Telescopy Lv 1

Trap Detection Lv 2

Empathy Lv 2

Therapy Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 2

Discretion Lv 1

Mediation Lv 1

Organization Lv 1

Dismantle Lv 3

Alchemy Lv 2

Pharmacology Lv 2

Scribe Lv 1

Special Skills

Sexual Healing- 223

Titles- Priest of Amoris

Devotee of Amoris

Oracle of Amoris

Dedicated Runner~

"I can see all his activated skills and abilities," I exclaimed. I couldn't see his unactivated skills like I could on my own status, but being able to see his stats at all was surprising.

"Really?" Crue asked. "What's my highest ability?"

"That would be," I scrolled through his stats again, "Agility at 370."

"You really can see it?" Crue shook his head.

"Eri," Amoris got my attention, "will you open your Gamer Glass' explanation of Party for me? It should tell us all how Party will work with your Blessings."

I did as she asked, opened then tapped the tutorial area while selecting Party.

*Party, A race specific skill used only by certain Succuba. Party will allow you to track your followers and companions. This can be activated only after a being is added to your party for the first time.

Party members can share Blessing benefits. The degree of Blessing benefit will depend on the amount of Exp expended on Party.

Your current shared Blessings are Exp Points Required by Level Up / Current Level and Exp Increase X Current Level.

Party cannot be revoked once accepted. However, a party member can become inactive.

Active Party Members are members added to your party who are actively completing a task with you.

Inactive Party Members A member of your party who is not completing a task with you. ~

"It's not as bad as I feared," Amoris commented to Edomael.

"What did you think would happen?" I asked, honestly I had every reason to be a bit suspicious when it came to Amoris.

"Don't worry about it. The worst didn't happen so we should be happy with that." Amoris waved it off.

"I still have an issue though," Crue pointed out, "I mean if I'm part of this Party skill then I'm sharing his Blessing. That means my stats will raise. While I don't dislike the idea of getting stronger faster, I don't have any way of hiding that like Eri."

"I wanted to see how Eri's Party worked before I suggested this, but why don't you give him a Blessing?" Edomael said to Amoris. "He's your priest wouldn't that be the best solution?"

"Yes, but what if he Parties with someone else? Do I have to give Blessings to them all?"

"I see," Edomael muttered tapping his fingers rhythmically on his thigh.

"Can't you give Hidden Among the Masses skill to Crue?" I asked.

"It's a race-specific skill. A Blessing, on the other hand, can circumvent that, but if I give out too many Blessings I'll get yelled at by the rest of the gods. I'm already in trouble for granting you four, but I got a pass on that because Papa requested it no matter what." She was twisting her bracelet around her wrist.

"I could do it. However, since I don't have any connection with the Priest it will have to be worked through Eri," Edomael said, "but we still have the issue of additional Party members."

"What if we made it into an item?" She held up her wrist and showed him the bracelet.

"We could make it so that it can be duplicated," he looked at me. "We'd have to add duplication provisions. Can't have him going out and making thousands of them creating a super army."

"Hey!" What kind of person did they think I was. I wasn't the type to go out and take over the world.

"We can make it so that he has to request permission from you before it can be duplicated. After all, you are the one who will be creating the item," Amoris pointed out.

"I don't want to deal with it, I'll just make it so you can give permission. You are his godly liaison anyway.

"To make an item that will work with Party, his Gamer Glass, share the Blessings, and be required to have divine permission to duplicate it, the item would have to be large." He held out both hands and expanded them to about two feet apart.

"Not necessarily, if you have the item pierce the skin the spiritual flow will more than triple and you can keep the size of the item small. If we connect it to Hidden Among the Masses then it should reduce the size even more, but then you have to factor in the type of material so that the item can grow along with skill. I've had some success in that with these," she reached down and twisted her belly diamond.

"Maybe earrings?" Edomael thought out loud, "no, in some southern areas having your ears pierced means you are a slave." He shook his head.

"He already has the piercing as my priest. So it might be best to go with that. It won't get yanked out in battle and is in a fairly covered location. If you add stones it will conduct the magic of the skill so that it can grow. Oh," she exclaimed with a hand clap, "make it pretty."

"You OK with that?" I looked up at Crue.

"I do already have the piercing. Though, we usually tend to go for simpler designs," he looked at Amoris' diamond glinting as she played with it, "it's not against the rules to get something a bit more intricate."

"It being a gift from a god shouldn't hurt either," I remarked.

"That too, I'm sure Dickson will give even the gaudiest ornament a pass if it was a gift from a god," Crue nodded smiling slightly.

"It won't be gaudy," Amoris pouted at him. I immediately thought about the paisley underwear. Amoris gave me the look again.

"Yellow cores, I think," Edomael held out his hand the other remaining at rest on his thigh.

"I need both of you to touch my hand. You don't really need to do anything." Crue let me sit up so that we could both reach out and touch Edomael's palm.

His palm began to glow white, like phosphorus on fire. After a flash that left white after images on my vision, Edomael held up a gold stylized sun.

It was about the size of a large man's thumb. It reminded me of a depiction of an Aztec sun. The metal was gold and was covered in dozens of tiny yellow stones. The back of the sun had a bar that would pierce the skin and a metal ball at the end that had a larger yellow stone. Once Crue put it on the circle part of the sun would surround his belly button while the end of the bar would be in the center. It was indeed pretty like Amoris requested.

"If you were to equip it now the only stats that could be changed are your race. Not much good, since you don't have the ability to change either of those. However, when Eri gets around to adding Exp to his skill, other options will open up for you as well." Edomael handed the item to Crue.

Then he did his white flashing hand thing again. When he opened his palm a similar sun lay there, but this one looked like it was made with black metal and had tiny black stones. I expected him to hand it to Amoris since she had been looking at Crue's sun with a bit of consideration.

"This one is yours," he held his hand out to me.

"What?" I was confused. Why did I need a belly ring, I already had the skill.

"The item works by piercing the skin and being a magical conduit between the person who has the skill and the person who needs to use it. His won't work unless you have one. You hold the main skill, which means you are the main source of the magic. That," He pointed at Crue's hand holding the tiny yellow sun, "will be nothing but a piece of shiny jewelry without yours to fuel the magic of his."

"I'm not pierced," I complained. I had never even so much as pierced my ears. My belly button with my slab of flab wasn't going to happen.

"We can fix that," Amoris said almost gleefully. A tray with all sorts of medical looking stuff popped up on the table. "Hold him down, dear"

Edomael got up out of his seat and pushed me back into Crue's lap. He only touched me enough to get me in a reclined position, but once there my body refused to move. I couldn't even talk.

*Skill Gain- Restraint~

Amoris walked up and sat on my thighs. She lifted up my shirt and slid the pants down enough to expose my stomach. Shit, I really did have a nice layer of flab.

"Now this won't hurt, much. Besides I can heal you right after it's done." She started wiping my belly button with a cloth covered in brown liquid she got out of a bottle. Then she pulled out the thickest needle I had ever seen and a set of clamps.

Oh, hell no! Move body, move! Damn it! I took a deep breath, vowing to close my eyes when she came at me. She pinched the skin around my belly button with the clamp then quickly followed through by piercing the needle into the skin. I didn't even have time to close my eyes before it was done.

I had this needle sticking through my skin. I stung like hell, but it didn't hurt. She put her hand over where the needle stuck out and her hand began to glow. Then even the sting went away. She pulled the needle out of my skin and there was a completely healed hole. No need for starter bars or saline solution for me. She attached the black sun into the hole. It really didn't suit me one bit.

Edomael must have released his magic on me because I could move again. Though, having a goddess sitting in my lap was a good incentive not to move.

"You'll lose weight and you'll start to grow into it. Trust me, in about three months it will look just as good on you as it does him," she waved at Crue. Traitor, letting a goddess pin me down, skewer me, and not even saying anything.

*Item Equip- Succuba Star will allow members of your Party to use Hidden Among the Masses. You may choose to replicate Succuba Star when a new Party member is added. You will have to send in an item request to the Goddess Amoris.

This item will only work with Party members, active or inactive.

When Exp is added to Hidden Among the Masses Succuba Star's power will also increase to reflect the change.

Item will not work unless worn by both the host of Hidden Among the Masses and the recipient.

Succuba Star can also be used as an MP reserve. The MP of any Succuba Star can be accessed by any member of the Party also wearing the Succuba Star. The amount of MP storage depends on the wearer's base magic power. ~

"It can store MP," I said surprised. I glanced down, but then quickly up again. She was having fun teasing me. She leaned forward a bit to show off her assets.

"It won't be able to store a lot, but it should be enough for emergency measures. If a member of your party gets into trouble they can access the collective MP reserve." Edomael shifted trying to get a better view of his lover.

"Oh, I see, why you did that," Amoris commented jiggling a little for effect, "Good thinking ahead."

"About that," he looked at me again, "I've slowed down your maturation, but when you near the end of your puberty phase you will need that MP to keep your party alive. So be sure to fill it as much as you can every day."

"What is going to happen when he matures?" Crue asked.

"Normally, a Succuba will go into a state of heat. They will literally need feed off of three things sex, love, and lust." Amoris was practically laying on top of me at this point. She reached out a hand and began to play with the hair by my ear.

"Any combination of the three will work, but sexual intercourse will be what he most craves. He won't be able to make very rational judgments during this time. He will be hyper-focused on getting enough food to complete his transformation," she paused and laid her head on my newly pierced stomach. "They don't feed literally of course. It's more of an absorption of the emotions and spiritual energy that is given off when a sexual act takes place."

"So actual physical intercourse isn't technically necessary?" Crue asked. Good question, I didn't want to go around to visit prostitutes with possible nasty diseases if I didn't have to.

"Going to a prostitute will be your best bet during that time. So you should reconcile yourself to that eventually. However, Crue is right in that you don't actually have to be physical with someone.

"As long as you are able to bring your partner to orgasm, or vice versa, then there should be enough emotion and spiritual energy generated to sate you for a short while. The acts of kissing and touching will also generate small amounts of emotion you can feed on, but it will be like taking little sips of water when you are in the desert dying of thirst.

"Crue is actually well suited to be your support during this time. He has the Sexual Healing Special Skill," she paused again stiffening and glanced at Crue from over my body. Crue had subtly shifted his weight pulling himself from underneath me. Amoris sighed and lifted herself up and sat on the floor leaning against Edomael's leg. He reached down and pet her hair.

"People can be unusually cruel, child," Edomael whispered looking Crue in the eye, "It's not shameful to want to distance yourself from that toxicity."

Crue got that tilted head look he got when Amoris was talking to him in his mind. He shook his head sadly and looked at her, then shook his head again.

"We can't let this continue," she said to Edomael looking up at him.

"I will support you in whatever decision you make, but tread lightly, you know what happens when we interfere too much."

I was out of the telepathic loop so to speak, but even I could tell by body language and conversation that something had happened. I'm not that dense to atmosphere, so I didn't interrupt with dumb questions.

Amoris stood up and squeezed Edomael's bicep. Then she walked over to Crue who had his head down and turned away not looking at any of us. His arms were crossed and he was hunched in on himself.

"My child, we aren't as cruel as to turn a blind eye when something like this is presented before us. We can't fix every wrong. It's even taboo for us to interfere in most cases. We are supposed to let mortals work out their own problems, no matter how horrific they may be." She touched the top of Crue's head and stroked down to his chin forcing him to look up at her.

"There are exceptions to every rule. The biggest exception is when something horrific is happening to a child and the mortals cannot act. I swear to you now," she waved back at Edomael, "we will deliver justice."

Crue tried to nod, but it was only slight since she still had her hand under his chin. Then Amoris began to glow silver and they both disappeared in a flash of silver light.