Isabella Von-Stein, first princess of the of the Goblin Sovereignty looked at the floating letters that had appeared before her. It was rare but not unheard of for people to get messages like this one, but they were usually due to an action taken or a deal with some divine or demonic power. The floating letters asked her if she would like to be impregnated and carry a baby to term. And there were two options, Accept/Deny. And that was it. She actually took it into consideration for a few moments before denying it. She didn’t know what the consequences would be for her if she was suddenly with child, even though she was actually curious about it simply because it was so unusual.
*
Mindy, a human girl with no last name moaned in false pleasure as her customer finally finished. She was a whore in a small town on the outskirts of The Empire as it was called, and she had no real hope of ever going anywhere in her life. Whoring was the only thing her skills were useful for, and it was getting her nowhere. But she had money and could afford food and medicine for herself and a place to live in the brothel. She wasn’t going to complain too much about her lot in life. At least a few of her customers were actually good in bed.
While Mindy was cleaning herself up and getting ready for her next customer a box of floating text appeared asking her if she would like to conceive a child and her eyes grew round with fear as she immediately slammed on the deny option thinking of how utterly ugly her last customer had been and there was no chance in all the hells that she would want to conceive a child with that man. At least she had gotten an option this time though. Last time she’d had to go to the old witch doctor to get a potion to abort the pregnancy.
*
Selina Tinker Tot, a pixie living deep in the emerald forest was staring at the floating text in front of her in shock. And promptly smashed the Deny option. There was no way she was giving up her freedom for a full five years while a baby gestated inside her. She had too many responsibilities as it was and having children was not on the table for her.
*
Scenes like these were happening all over the many kingdoms, empires, and other governments on the outermost layer of the world. In all honesty the system program in charge of delivering the soul of the human to its new mother’s womb did not expect the number of rejections that it had gotten to its query, but it simply kept on going. Someone would eventually accept.
*
Ameillia Crumbl, a gnomish tinker and alchemical dabbler lay beside her husband in the late hours of the night. Looking at the floating letters that were the answer to her and her husband’s prayers. They had tried for fifteen years to have children. When they’d finally mustered up the courage to seek advice on the subject, the healers at the temple had given her the bad news that she was in fact, unable to have children. A natural defect of her own body that they were unable to cure ensured that she would never have children. Nothing short of an act of the gods would make this possible. And here the gods had delivered.
Tears of joy in her eyes and trembling slightly, she mentally accepted the floating message with the reverence of a priest finally meeting their god face to face. She then turned to her husband and gently shook him awake Tears streaming down her face as he blinked his bright purple eyes at her in a questioning manner.
“Gerald… Honey, I’m… I…” She hiccupped slightly, overwhelmed with joy, a little bit of fear and just an overload of emotions “I’m Pregnant Gerald.”
Gerald’s eyes widened and he looked at her stomach that back up to her eye, “Are you sure?” his voice quivered slightly like he was unable make himself believe it.
“I’m sure... I received a message like the ones you get for skills asking me if I would like to bare a child and I accepted. One of the Gods has answered our prayers, Gerald.” Her voice quivered as she reached out and embraced her husband. Their lives were never going to be the same.
*
Leon
Leon’s world went from black and soundless, to black and relatively noisy. He was unaware of how much time had passed but it did not feel like much time had passed at all. His body felt strange and the noises around him were oddly comforting. He was warm and cozy and felt like he could just take a nap right then and there. But first he needed to figure out where he was and what was going on.
Suddenly floating letters appeared in his vision, and he would have jumped if his body was capable of moving right now.
Congratulations!
You have been awarded the following titles and gained the following Trait.
Outworlder: This title is gained by successfully transferring yourself to another universe without dying. Effect: Learn any language 250X faster than you otherwise would.
Monster Biologist: This title is gained by having extensive knowledge of the anatomy and biological makeup of over 150 different monsters. [regardless of whether or not those monsters actually exist.] Effect: Gain a perfect affinity for Flesh, Blood, and Bone Magic. Gain instinctual knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of any monster that you are familiar with or observe enough.
Alpha and Omega: This title is gained by being the first and last of your particular variant species within the system. Effect: Survival type skills are 10X easier to learn and level. Additionally, all skills related to survival require slightly less mana and have a slightly greater effect.
Progenitor: This title is gained by being the only member of your variant species with the capability to reproduce. Effect: Sexually mature females who are capable of breeding with you will find you more attractive and are more likely to conceive offspring with you.
Paragon Earth Variant: This title is gained by either system or divine intervention. Effect: You are a Paragon of your Variant and will grow into what your variants ideal human is. Smarter, Faster, Stronger, Better Looking, Longer Lived. The perfect human.
Hero: This title is gained by accomplishing an extraordinary feat that saved the lives of at least a Billion Sapient creatures. Effects: Doubles the Effects of all Titles and Traits, makes all skills 10X easier to learn and level, makes all Sapient creatures more likely to trust you, and gives you a perfect affinity for all Wretched and Divine magical schools.
Body And Mind Of The Traveler lvl 1 (Trait)
This trait was gained as a reward from the system itself by combining the skills Strength, Constitution, Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Perception, and Willpower into a trait. (Note: Traits are inherent in the soul of an individual and do not count against the total number of skills a person may possess. Traits may be leveled
Effects: Total body and mind enhancement by a small degree every level. Additionally, your soul has a source of mana directly tied to it. Never run dry.
That was a lot of information to have dumped on him all at once but that wasn’t all that was coming. No another block of text popped up in front of his eyes right as Leon finished reading the last line.
You have been awarded a voucher for 7 System skills usable at any time.
Finally, it appeared that the notifications were done. The fact that Leon had essentially lost eight skills kind of peeved him a little, but he’d gained more than he’d lost in that exchange. The effects of the Hero Title gave Leon pause. Mainly because it seemed like it was broken as all hell. It meant that he would learn languages 500 times faster have a better than perfect affinity for three forms of magic (whatever that meant) he’d learn skills for survival at a minimum 20 times faster and depending on whether or not the Hero Title applied multiplicatively or additively that could either mean 30X or 200X was the upper limit and they would require even fewer resources from him than before. He’d be basically irresistible to women (that one could be a problem) On top of that he’d basically be a perfect human specimen that was double perfect? The System was obviously setting him up to be a Portal Isekai Harem protagonist who was overpowered as all hell. It was nice, but Leon didn’t really feel like he had earned any of this. In fact, Leon was feeling some pretty intense survivors’ guilt right now. He knew it, but he allowed himself to mourn for the passing of all of his followers, less so his family, and the rest of the world he didn’t really care for.
After an indeterminate amount of time mourning for everything that he had lost. Leon decided that it was now time to think on what he had gained. He didn’t want to use his skill voucher until he’d gotten his bearings in this new world. He had two skills that he could use [Meditation+++ lvl1] and [utility pocket+++ lvl1] he didn’t know where the plus signs had come from, and he didn’t know what it meant. But it seemed like it would be a good thing.
Using his [utility pocket+++ lvl1] skill didn’t seem like a good Idea right now, because he was pretty sure that he was inside of the womb of his new mother. Draining the amniotic fluids or stealing his new moms’ organs from around himself was probably a one-way ticket to a very early death. So, Meditation it was.
Meditation worked exactly as he had imagined it would. Leon had activated the skill almost instinctually and felt himself almost… falling into himself. It was an odd sensation. But he soon found himself floating in an inner world. He didn’t know if what was around him was his imagination or really a true representation of the core of himself. But that didn’t change what he was ‘seeing’. Leon was in a vast, and by vast he truly meant vast, spherical crystal cavern. If he were to guess the distance between one side and the other, he would say that it had to stretch at least 2000 miles. At the center of the spherical area was a massive stalagmite and a stalactite that didn’t quite reach each other. Leaving a gap of about ten miles between them. And directly between the two points was an orb of softly pulsating light that was barely the size of a basketball. The oddest thing for Leon being here was that he was aware of everything within the massive crystal cavern. It was like he was everywhere at once and also very specifically where he wanted to be. He could be anywhere within the cavern at any given time without regards for the distances between everything. Leon felt… no knew, that this place was malleable to his will. He felt that he could change things in here. But it also felt… He hesitated to use the word ‘sacrosanct’. Leon didn’t even know what the word really meant, but he felt it deep down that it seemed to apply here.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Giving the whole of this strange space within himself a quick cursory once over, he found that mostly everything within was the same entirely featureless clear crystal. The only place where things had any definitive deviation from the same clear crystal were the stalagmite and stalactite. Every time the orb of light between them pulsed softly Leon could see what seemed like optical fibers light up and pulse down the length of the one he’d deemed to be the stalagmite (as there didn’t really seem to be an up or down here) for a brief second before petering out only to repeat the pulse as soon as the last one faded. Each optical fiber seemed to contain a slightly different color of light. Like somehow the light of the orb floating at the center of his Core and between the stalactite and stalagmite pair was being passed through a prism. It was only noticeable when he focused on the stalagmite intently, but the fibers seemed to run the entire gambit of the rainbow and even into colors that Leon had no name for. He did not understand why only the one was pulsing and not the other, but he figured that it would come to him in time.
Looking to the most interesting thing in the entire space Leon focused on the orb of pulsing light. Trying to figure out what it was. His awareness attuning on the orb with intensity as he tried to understand what it was. The orb felt both foreign and entirely familiar at the same time. Like it was both part of this place and not at the same time. Contemplating it for a while, Leon decided not to mess with anything here for the time being. He needed to know what this place actually was and how it affected him before he started doing anything here that might hurt himself. So, Leon simply contented himself with observing the space for any changes that might be occurring naturally. Just trying to learn what he could about this place.
Gerald Crumbl
Gerald Crumbl was a blacksmith by trade and skill. Gnomish smiths were disadvantaged in metalworking when compared to most other species because of their smaller stature. Gerald himself being a bit of an outlier standing in at four foot tall exactly made that disparity a little less impactful. But even then, Gnomes were not known for their smithing, and it was not seen as one of the more desirable paths to follow among Gnome kind. Gnomes were generally known for their enchanting prowess and engineering. Blacksmithing was important to much of their crafts but it was limited to smaller things. Gnomish smiths were known for making gears, springs and cogs meant for smaller magitech contraptions and such. What Gerald was known for specifically, was none of those things. He was known for catering specifically to one type of client. The Dungeoneers Guilds Rogues were his clients. And the gear he made for them were things like daggers, throwing knives, lockpicks, caltrops, garroting wires, shivs, and more.
Needless to say, Gerald was not among the favorite people of the local authorities. As many of his wares were used in less than savory ways when rogues of the guild got bored and decided to practice their craft outside of the Dungeons where their skills were indispensable. But Gerald was not begrudged or held accountable for the things that people did with his wares.
Ameillia, Gerald’s stunning wife, being a tinker with some proficiency in alchemy was the main reason why his wares sold as well as they did. She would treat his crafted daggers and throwing knives in alchemical solutions that prevented corrosion and improved overall durability and edge retention. Her crafts helped his in every way, while she also worked as a tinker, repairing enchantments and broken clocks or time pieces. In fact, their partnership in business was what had allowed them to move to Dungeon City #1-39928 in the first place.
But right now, Gerald was not thinking about business, no, right now he was overwhelmed with joy. For years he and Ameillia had been trying for a child. Long lived species like gnomes usually tend to have a hard time conceiving anyways. It was normal for it to take anywhere from 5 to 10 years for a child to be conceived. And after they had been trying for nearly fifteen years, they had finally decided to go to the temple of the Healer. There they had been informed that Ameillia had a rare condition that made it so that she would never bear a child. That had been three years ago. And ever since then his wife had lost some that fire that used to be in her eyes. Some of the joy in her life had been permanently removed from her and she’d had occasional bouts of extreme depression since then.
That fateful night She had woken him up just after he’d managed to get to sleep. When Gerald had turned over and looked at her blinking the fogginess of sleep from his eyes, she was shaking ever so slightly, and tears had been in her eyes. At first, he’d been concerned that she was coming down with another bout of depression. But that worry had been cleared up immediately by what she’d told him next. The gods had answered their prayers and she was now with child. That night had been a little over a month ago now. And today they were heading to the temple of the Healer to get a checkup and possibly learn whether it was a boy or a girl.
Gerald was excited as he locked up their shop, which was on the first floor of their three-story home. The second floor was their home, and the third floor was where the forge, tinkering and alchemy setup were located. Ameillia and He walked beside each other, hand in hand, as they made their way through the bustling streets of the Dungeon City.
One could say many nasty things about the Dungeoneers Guild. But one thing was for certain. They knew how to design and maintain cities like almost no other group. The streets were wide with four designated lanes, two lanes for travel in one direction and two lanes for travel in the other. And beyond that there was a wide area on either side of the cart paths for pedestrian foot traffic. And the dungeon cities were all laid out the same way. Each dungeon city was a giant grid pattern within a square defensive wall. The walls had four entrances, one at each cardinal point, which were always at the corners of the walls and not their centers. Each time that the population within the city started to reach maximum capacity, new roads would be built out to exactly five miles from the corners of the current walls and new walls would then be raised. Encapsulating the city in a new layer of defense before every road would then be laid out and all of the new parcels of land then marked and either sold or rented out to the expanding population. Of course, it was not only the roads and walls that the Dungeoneers Guild built and maintained. They also had a sewer system and freshwater system that they maintained. Plumbing could be routed into any building for another minor fee. And if one was interested, they could also route a hot water line as well for an additional fee. All in all, the plumbing fees were very inexpensive, and the sewer system also doubled as a trash disposal. All of the waste dumping into the Dungeon where it simply vanished into thin air as the Dungeon ate it. At night the city was illuminated by enchanted streetlights which were also maintained by the Dungeoneers guild. The streets were always clean and the city guards maintained order through the use of their highly trained skills and the authority given to them by the guild.
It only took the happy couple a few minutes to flag down a passing Rickshaw and tell the young Centaur pulling it where they wanted to go. It was only a few minutes later that they arrived at the temple of the Healer. Climbing down from the Rickshaw first Gerald offered his hand to Ameillia and assisted her down off the centaur drawn carriage. He flicked a sliver coin to the young centaur whose eyes went wide at the sight of a full silver ten piece. That was as much as he’d normally make in a full day.
“Keep the change boy and go treat yourself to something nice.” Gerald said with a smile on his face.
“Th.. Thank you, sir!” the young centaur replied bowing slightly as he slipped the coin into his saddlebags and started making his way down the street.
Gerald and Ameillia walked arm in arm into the temple of the Healer ready to get some good news.
Leon
Leon hadn’t stopped his usage of the skill Meditation at all since he’d started using it. It didn’t seem like time mattered here inside his inner world. The whole time he’d been watching for changes. And boy had there been some. Although none of those changes had occurred inside of what he now was coming to think of as his soul. No, the changes were happening on the exterior of the crystal. Six giant (limbs?) or (tentacles) maybe had begun growing out of the sides. Three of these growths were heading on a downward trajectory, while two were shooting off to the side, and one heading directly up. They were made of the same crystal substance as the rest of his inner world, and he was intensely interested in what they were for.
After watching the growths as they first appeared Leon tracked every minute change that occurred with them. After some indeterminate amount of time Leon saw dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of tiny offshoots starting to grow out of the massive growths. He watched the growth happening in fascination as a form was slowly taking shape. He’d taken a step back to get a good look at the whole exterior and he’d noticed that the tiny growths at then ends of the giant ones looked like hands, feet, and a head, with the arms and legs slowly coming into focus. As time passed, the details continued to fill themselves out until suddenly it was finished.
The entirety of the growths extending away from his core, looked like a hyper realistic image of a teeny tiny baby boy. But on top of just the outline it showed the organs and blood vessels, bones and even what Leon thought seemed to be nerves. Leon had to do that thing you do to trick your eyes into looking at a screen door instead of through it in order to see the entire whole as the image of a baby. It was like a three dimensional anatomical model that showed everything in a clear crystal structure.
Once all the growths seemed to have stopped something about the crystals on the exterior changed ever so slightly. Leon focused on them as closely as he could until he noticed what the change really was. Tiny optical fiber like filaments of light seemed to be creeping down all of the growths and making their way towards his core.
When the thin lines of light finally reached his core, Leon popped back in to see what was happening within. What he found was both interesting and odd. The lights reached into his core and then sort of just dispersed. Slowly adding a fine mist of light that seemed to do nothing but drift along the edges of the interior of his core. After watching the mist gathering for a long while Leon decided to go back to observing the exterior as nothing interesting was happening in his core.
Ameillia Crumbl
Ameillia and Gerald were both stunned by the news they received from the Healers priests. When the Healer used his skill on Ameillia he’d frowned and then remained there with his hand on her bare stomach for an uncomfortably long time before she’d gotten up the courage to ask him what was wrong.
“Is something wrong?” She’d asked him with a slight tremble in her voice as fear started to creep its way into her psyche.
The priest seemed to suddenly snap out of his musings and retracted his hand from her bared belly. He seemed to collect his thoughts for a moment before responding.
“Not wrong… Just odd. I can tell you that the child is perfectly healthy and is a male. But I want to get someone else over here to confirm something really quick before I tell you two something that I am not sure of myself. It is nothing bad. Given what you told me of his conception. Just odd.” The Healer said while shaking his head.
The healer had then quickly exited the examining room while asking them to remain there until he returned. Ameillia and Gerald shared a look of confusion with each other before his face split into a wide smile and he almost whispered.
“We’re going to have a baby boy. Ameillia!” he gripped her hand tears budding at the corners of his eyes, “A baby boy!” he exclaimed as the realization swept over her and a huge smile parted her own lips.
In gnomish culture having a boy was always time for celebration. Mainly because the ratio of male to female births was nearly 70% female to 30% male. No one knew exactly why but that made males a hot commodity in Gnomish circles. It was not uncommon for one male to be married to three or four females. Ameillia and Gerald were outliers in this regard as they had never felt the desire to add more people into their relationship. Especially when she had been unable to conceive a child. Her position as First Wife would have been unbearable if her seconds had begun having children while she was left as basically a nanny only able to contribute to future generations by nurturing the young of others.
They didn’t wait long before the Healer returned with a gaggle of other Healers in tow. One by one they each placed a hand on Ameillia’s stomach and used their skills before nodding to the first healer with a confused expression on their faces. Once they had all confirmed whatever it was that the healer wanted confirmation of, they all departed whispering among themselves.
“Now that that is out of the way I guess I should tell you what this is all about?” The healer said, “You see, the baby is in fact a boy, and is healthy. But there is one thing that just does not add up at all about him… I want you to brace yourselves for this and believe me.” He said looking serious.
Ameillia and Gerald looked at each other then back to the Healer. They both nodded and the Healer clapped his hands together.
“Good. The thing that is unusual is that you are not carrying a baby Gnome inside your womb. It is a baby human. And the remarkable thing is that it is a normal sized perfectly healthy human baby. Perfectly sized for a months’ worth of growth that is. You should expect to give birth in about eight months to healthy human boy.” The Healer said.
Ameillia’s mind ground to a halt as the spoke. How? How was it possible that she was bearing a Human child as a Gnome? It did not make sense. She felt fear, anxiety, and multitude of emotions that she did not understand flooding through her as she glanced at her husband, who had a myriad of emotions going across his face before they settled down into a happy and determined look.
“Ameillia darling, the gods ways are always strange to us mortals. It may not be exactly as we envisioned it, but we are still going to be parents. The gods chose you to bear this child, and us to raise him. He will be our son. And I will be proud to raise him alongside you Ameillia.” Gerald said as small tears formed at the edges of his purple eyes.
With that said the damn broke and all of the turmoil within Ameillia dissipated as she reached out allowed Gerald’s strong arms to wrap her in an embrace. Tears streaming from her eyes. The gods had answered her prayers, even if not in the way she had imagined they would.
The rest of their conversation with the Healer Priest was about scheduling regular checkups every two weeks to watch the progress of the pregnancy and hopefully account for any issues that may crop up.