I had my apartments renovated to include a small tree with a sunroof in one chamber. That way, I could teleport to the underground lab freely.
I decided I would delay my debutante ball as long as possible. The reason was that the [Fleshcrafter] botched his treatment. He was supposed to attach healthy male organs and remove my female ovaries. Had he done that, I would transition into male puberty naturally. However, with both sets of gonads, my physiology was a fucking mess.
I was in the underground lab, testing my blood for hormone levels. Testosterone was supposed to suppress the female organs and cause the transition by itself but the male genitals that were grafted on me had suffered damage from being stored for too long. The testes I had weren’t making enough of the hormone to completely suppress the ovaries.
If I let things continue naturally, I would probably never reach puberty or develop some weird stuff. I didn’t know, because I was basically working with Renaissance-level knowledge at best.
Thus it led me to a small moral dilemma. Should I use the male corpses I had in the item box? The answer I reached was yes. I couldn’t see anything inherently evil in using those bodies. What was the difference between butchering a dragon for his blood and body parts and a human? The fact I was one? Burial traditions on Earth were based on religion. We called a grave “final resting place”. However, in Yznarian cosmology, it was known for a fact that souls moved on. The body was just a shell used and discarded by the soul in its eternal journey of being reborn and bleached for the profit of the deities.
I slept much better now that I was granting my faithful half of the power they accumulated back to them. It worked more like it was supposed to do back before the Gods came to this world. Souls would reincarnate and keep some of the power they accumulated in previous lives, making them a bit stronger in their future incarnations. The System streamlined that process of growth but stripped the soul of their power before sending them back to square one.
Back to my puberty problem and moral dilemma. No, I saw no difference between butchering a man or a dragon to use their body parts. To do so would be speciesist.
That’s what I did. I laid men and women, elf and orc and goblin on stone tablets, and surgically removed their organs, still good for transplants if needed. These organs were kept in the timeless item box, as fresh as the moment they were removed from the corpses. I knew I could use them to heal people. I also kept legs, arms, bones, skin in pristine condition. While magic could grow a person a new arm, sometimes it was hazardous or nigh impossible to do so, as is was the case with the scavenger gnomes, for example.
I didn’t have storage constraints. So I diligently processed the bodies, storing everything back in the item box. Blood went into sterile glass jars, separated by type, cleansed, purified, and oxygenated by magic, ready to be used for transfusion or processed for its component materials.
After a week of tests and organ harvesting, I finally refined the process to extract testosterone from blood plasma with alchemy. I didn’t pump myself full of it yet. I would monitor my hormone levels every day and give me only enough to tip the scales slightly toward the male side. Enough to keep me from developing breasts and widening my hips. I had to stall puberty as long as possible.
I took naps during the boring tutoring sessions. With one brain hemisphere at a time, I could wake up and react to questions or anything else. At night, I would withdraw to my quarters and spend the night underground training my proficiencies.
> Clubs [ 301 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Homerun: Attacks knockback enemies (P – Enemy Endurance /30) meters away.
>
> Combat Technique [ 601 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Melee Specialist (U): Add (P/5)% to your melee damage. You gain (P/10) base HP. You gain (P/50) Strength and Endurance.
>
> Spear [ 502 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Zephyr Lance: Increase your spear range by (P/10) cm, Accuracy by (P/10)%, and gain (P/50) Dexterity.
>
> War Technique (**) [ 401 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Shining Beacon: If you are engaged in battle along with your troops, up to (P) allied soldiers gain (P/50) Strength, Dexterity, and Endurance. Bonuses shift to new troops when the current holder is knocked out of combat.
>
> Spellcaster (**) [ 416 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Spirit Caster: Gain (P/50) to all spiritual Attributes.
>
> Alchemist (*) [ 426 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Condense Pill: You can convert potions, medicine, and ingested chemicals into pills. Pills are more effective, purer, and the last longer by (P/5)% than the original.
>
> Enchanter [ 633 ]. Select 1 Ability.
>
> * Engrave Core (U): You can engrave complex enchantment sequences into Cores, creating a variety of utilities.
I finally gained the ability to create Dungeon Cores. And other complex Core to control other functions. For example, Sky Island could use a single engraved Core instead of thousands of floating rods. The dead magic zone was also created by an Engraved Core. I also could understand the Dungeon Cores I handled before and how they worked. It was a time-consuming process, a single Dungeon Core could take years to complete. Of course, Bit didn’t waste that long. He just magicked the Cores into existence using Divinity. But I couldn’t do that for two reasons. I was a miser and had no idea how to do it. Basically, I sucked when it was time to do Divine feats. But I wouldn’t have time to make an Engraved Core so soon.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
----------------------------------------
A month passed before I managed to put everything in place to bring the girls to the secret garden. Marion resigned and stopped trying to cockblock me. Well, not exactly cockblock but one could get the picture.
“Why are you taking us to your private chambers, Your Highness,” Mona cheekily asked.
“I got a secret to show you. Follow. And wipe that grin off of your face. I can hear your thoughts,” I rebutted.
“No, you cannot!” She protested and pouted.
If she only knew. Mona was almost as spoiled as a [Princess]. Because she was and Marion wouldn’t dare discipline this brat.
“Respect the [Prince],” Madge berated her sister.
She was the quiet brooding one, keenly aware of the distance between us. Sometimes Madge would become melancholic as if she remembered something. At rare times she would be as mischievous as her sister, but with a level of refinement. She was probably Lorna, I hoped. Especially because since we weren’t blood-related, we could have a real relationship in the future.
“Now, now. We’re like siblings here. Follow me without fear, for no harm will come to you with me,” I pointed toward the open door.
I led them to the tree.
“An inner garden?” Madge asked when we entered the modified room.
I closed the doors and engaged the multi-layered wards. “Yes, but not this one. I have to ask, do you trust me? Completely?”
“Of course!”
“No!” I raised an eyebrow at the sassy Cinderella. Madge elbowed her. “Yes, I guess. What is it?”
I leaned against the tree and reached out. “Hold my hands.”
Once I grasped their delicate appendages, I dragged them through the tree. We ended up on the patch of grass underneath. The sound of running water and birds chirping added to the mystique of the glimmering water channel surrounding us.
“This is so beautiful!” Madge gushed.
“Where are we?” Mona demanded.
“A secret place I made. Only you two and I know it exists. You cannot tell anyone of this location. It’s safe, you can explore the surroundings.”
“I’ve never seen these flowers! Where are they from?”
“Where do all these birds nest? I don’t see any bird poo on the ground. Who cleans this place?”
We walked through the secret garden until the inevitable question came, “Who lives in this building?”
“Nobody. Now, let’s sit by the gazebo and talk.”
They ignored me and kept going around. Only after I sat and laid the table with my own pastries did they came, drawn by the smell of freshly baked Honorcoin Fruitbread.
“Where did you get the food? The cooks of the palace never baked anything like that!” Madge exclaimed. “And aren’t these elven scones?”
No, they are peko bread. Not-scones.
“Where are we?” Mona asked stuffing her mouth with a slice of warm bread. “Oh, this is divine!”
At least she had good taste. The bread was baked by a Goddess, after all.
After they were stuffed to the brim and wheezing inside their corsets I could finally talk to them.
“You are going to get the System soon,” I said. “And I need to prepare you for what’s to come. You need good Classes and grow strong enough people can’t just eliminate you.”
“And how are we going to do this? I don’t think we’ve unlocked good Classes and not everyone can have the [Emperor] grant them, ultra-rare Classes,” Mona complained.
With this update, you couldn’t go without a Class. Unless you had something lined up, the System would slap you with the rarest Class you unlocked. People without options ended up with crappy Classes.
“I can grant you good Classes. What do you want to be?”
“I want to heal people,” Madge declared.
“I want to be a [Homemaker]. I’ll keep your apartment ready for you, Your Highness,” Mona teased.
I stared at her. “[Maid] is good enough for you. Maybe not, it’s [uncommon]. A [Janitor] can clean too.”
She huffed, grunted, and glared at me. “I hate you.” Madge cleared her throat. “I hate you... Your Highness,” Mona corrected herself as she rolled her eyes.
“Sister...”
“Okay, okay! I want to be a [Wizard]. Happy?”
I grinned. “Perfect. Girls, do you mind Classes related to the Matriarch?”
I knew they didn’t. Religion took a dip in people’s minds, but Loki was correct. Being the Goddess of Protection, Crafts, and Wisdom had a huge advantage.
“Wait! First, do the knight thing with me!” Mona demanded. “I never had a chance to ask again.”
I did the ceremony with her, and she repeated the same vow as her sister. With that settled, she calmed down, thankfully.
I summoned Pandora on one hand and placed the other on Madge’s forehead.
“Madge, I grant you the Class [Paladin Hospitaler]. I grant you the Perks, {Head Start III}, {Fairy Goddaughter}, {Poison Resistance V}, {Fire Resistance V}, {Extra Proficiency}, {Healing Magic Affinity}, {Light Magic Affinity}, {Water Magic Affinity}, {Status Obfuscation}, and the default Perks of being a priest of the Matriarch. I also grant you the [unique] Perk, {Matriarch’s Champion}.”
That cost me 500,000 permanent Energy, plus a shit-ton of Divinity. Points well-spent in my opinion.
Madge stared at me like she’d seen a ghost. “Are you even allowed to do all that? Is this just make-believe?”
I shook my head. “No. It’s all true. You’ll see when you activate the System. It’ll be soon enough.”
“My turn!” Mona was giddy and excited like it was Christmas.
I gave her about the same list of Perks, but her Class should be [Holy Thaumaturge]. She gained {All-Elemental Magic Affinity} instead of the other affinities, and her unique Perk was {Matriarch’s Wisdom}. Mona’s blessing was more expensive than Madge’s, at 630,000 Energy.
What they didn’t know was that these two Classes had only one wielder, themselves. That bumped the Classes all the way up to Unique, so they would have a better Attribute and resource progression than me. Status Obfuscation would make them look like they had rare Classes to {Appraise}.
We left the secret garden with oaths of secrecy between us. The girls didn’t believe me, thinking it was all a game I played with them. Nonetheless, I knew they liked being pampered by me very much, as they kept much closer to me the following month.
----------------------------------------
* Matriarch’s Champion (unique): you are the Divine Champion of your deity. You gain +10 Endurance and Willpower. When defending the faithful, you gain 50% evasion, damage, and accuracy. When healing the faithful (including yourself), your spells' effects are quadrupled. This Perk persist through your future incarnations.
* Matriarch's Wisdom (unique): You are granted the vast wisdom of the Matriarch. YOu gain +10 Mind, Willpower, and Magic. Once per day for every 10 points of Magic you have, you can ask the Matriarch for guidance. When casting a spell that furthers the Matriarch Ethos, protects the faithful, or punishes the sinners, this spell has double the effect and costs only half. This Perk persist through your future incarnations.
This way, I managed to mark both of them for future lives. Fate allowed me to do this because it was less conspicuous than the ring, and I had no way to know who had the Perk for real. But it was a step toward making them easier to find in the future.
> Level 34
>
> Strength*: 49+65 (114) / 75 - Dexterity*: 37+98 (135) / 75 - Endurance*: 47+85 (132) / 75
>
> Mind*: 41+81 (122) / 75 - Willpower*: 48+76 (124) / 75 - Charisma*: 38+90 (128) / 75
>
> Magic*: 48+61 (109) / 75 - Faith: 37+12 (49) / 75
>
> Ego*: 55+60 (115) / 75 - Luck*: 43+82 (125) / 75 - Soul*: 43+82 (125) / 75
>
> HP 44.572.846 (153.632 HP/s)
>
> Energy 48.268.126 (74.252 E/min) (-1,150,000)