We go to the main road that crosses the town and with our dinghy, we stop near the top of a house. Hana floats beside us with Roxanne in her arms, who has her bat wings out, Alissa turned into a small fox and stole Lina's place in my lap so she and Ciel hug my arms tight. Gify rests on top of Alissa's head and Aoi curls on my neck, giving me an occasional lick on my cheek until I flick her forehead. The golems are on the prow of the dinghy, standing still, their lifeless eyes stare down the street.
The skies are filled with flying races and those like us who have a [Fly] vehicle. The streets below us are filled to the brim with people and surprisingly the guards don't have to work hard to keep the middle of the street open. There's also an incredible number of nature spirits, it almost feels like we are in a plushie store with all the cute spirits standing still and looking at the street.
Before we see them we hear them, a true marching band is coming.
The first thing we see is the line of priests casting spells repeatedly, [Materialization]. Ghostly figures of people appear behind them, some are completely normal, others look disfigured, plenty look fragile and sick.
The spirits move around searching for their loved ones, some of the living receive them with tears but most with happiness.
Plenty of people move forward, urns with ashes in hand, out of half of these urns spirits come out. The living show bitter smiles when no spirit comes out, it means the spirit decided to move on with the cycle.
It makes for an impressive ethereal sight with the transparent and ghostly figures all around the street.
"You think Hilde would be here?" I ask Lina.
"No," she says a little sad, "she died too far away and I don't think that she's the kind that would wait if paradise is waiting for her."
Ciel leans over and talks, "Do you still think about her?"
"No... not anymore, I don't want to become like Logan, stuck in the past."
"Do you feel sad when we talk about her?"
"No, well a little. But I'm fine, I made my peace with that, now I can control my fate."
Roxanne is looking at us, her lips puckered into a thinking expression.
"Do you know what death is, Ted?" I ask.
Both golems turn to us in sync.
"Yes, it, is, cea-sing, func-tions," he answers.
"You don't fear death, right?"
Both golems shake their heads.
"Death, part, of, life, e-ven, us," Suzy says.
After the priests, come the skeletons, I'm not sure if they are being moved by [Telekinesis] or Necromancy. The skeletons dance like clowns, they spin, twirl, jump, walk on their hands, and on four feet, they wear colorful wigs and there's makeup on the bones of their faces. In the middle of the skeletons, a line of them spreads confetti and flower petals.
After the skeletons come people wearing skeleton suits, wearing similar wigs and makeup. They carry instruments and march on, constantly playing the song.
It's a way to celebrate death as just another part of life, show the dead, and how it's not so scary and people will be more motivated to live on, even on bleak times. This is what made people survive the Age of Opression.
After them comes the actors stands. In raised platform actors retell the life stories of people without words. A commoner that becomes a miner and brings the metal to town; a kid that grows into a blacksmith and process the ore into a sword; the farmer that brings food into town to feed the workers; a guard that gains levels and buys a new sword; a cook that feeds every guard after a hard day's work; a veteran guard that trains the new generation; the young one's fight with a monster leads to their deaths; an adventurer that finds the sword and moves on; his delve into a dungeon that ends with their deaths; the new generation of people who grow and delve again into the dungeon, going further than before; the priest that joins the group and keeps them alive; the same sword is found and used to break the dungeon's core; a new noble family is born, they find a wild place to settle and start a new mine, bringing in more commoners and keeping them safe. With every death an actor dressed as a spirit starts to follow the living until the cycle starts again and they go away, their purpose in life fulfilled.
"The Wish is complete and the cycle continues. Progress comes, inch by inch," says a priest coming after the procession.
Hana tires out and lands on the dinghy midway through. Alissa also turns back into humanoid and hugs me by the neck.
The procession continues towards the Coliseum to open up the yearly martial arts contest. What better way to get motivated to fight than literally seeing your dead ancestors come back to observe you?
We go back home after seeing that, we don't have tickets for the Coliseum this time.
"Did any of you meet your dead ancestors before?" I ask.
Hana smiles nostalgically and says, "I met my grandparents from my father's side. They were quite happy with how we were growing last time we met but it was two years ago. If they are still in this realm then they wouldn't be very happy with how things went."
"Mine lasted long enough for me to meet them once, when they saw me and Allura were both healthy they left the realm," Alissa says. "They were very sweet, I wished I could have met them when they were alive."
"Mine are still alive, but even then we barely talk," Roxanne says.
"Why is that?" Ciel asks.
Roxanne sighs and adjusts her glasses, then she speaks, "Mom never got along with our grandparents. When my parents found the treasure they cut ties with them."
"Wow, that's unfortunate," I say.
Aoi swims towards us and crawls up on Roxanne, she curls on her neck and licks Roxanne's cheek repeatedly.
"Thank you," Roxanne says with a chuckle.
"What about on your father's side?" Ciel asks.
"He's an orphan, marrying Mom was the best thing that happened in his life," she answers and sighs again. "And that's what made grandmother mad, he was just an average but a pretty-looking mage. She even called Dad a coward when he left the town guard."
"So you inherited his magical powers?" I ask.
"And part of his face, the rest of my beauty is all Mom's," she says with a hint of pride.
After a pause, I look at Lina, "What about you?" I ask.
"I saw my great-grandparents a few times, since we live on the same place for a long time the spirits feel comfortable lingering for long," she answers.
"Did you ever ask how things were? How things changed since their time?"
"I didn't have to ask, they keep saying how things are 'just how we remember'," she says imitating an elderly voice with a shy smile.
This is more evidence to me that the world was "stagnated", perhaps I was sent here to push things forward somehow?
"So, let's try [Fly]?" I ask Aoi.
"KWEH!"
"Calm down, little one," Hana says and pinches the nape of Aoi's neck, "what I said about anger works for any other emotion."
"O-kaay."
I put my points in [Wind Magic] and cast [Fly]. Suddenly my body feels like I'm in zero gravity, a bubble that distorts my vision lightly forms around me, then I crash on the ceiling with a thought.
"D'OH!"
I dispell [Fly] and cast [Telekinesis] on myself so I fall slowly to the ground. Alissa catches me and we both run our hands through my head where I hit the ceiling.
"These spells are getting dangerous," Ciel says.
"Well, they are normally cast by mages experienced with the magic schools, so these things normally don't happen," Roxanne says with a wide grin.
"Cheating as always."
Aoi comes to me and licks my hand, feeling meek.
"Not your fault," I say and pat her head.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
This time I put on my padded helmet and meditate before trying again. I cast the spell and feel my mana dropping continuously.
I open my eyes and see I'm floating a few centimeters away from the ground.
"Can you try to push air towards me?" I ask. The girls wave their hands and clothes towards me, making a weird scene like I'm an ascended master being tended by my women. Not far from the truth, though.
Hana summons her wings and flaps them at me, throwing a strong gust of wind in my direction. I don't feel the wind but I start to slide backward, just the power of the gust is enough to push me away.
"Interesting..." I mutter.
"Seems it's not a good idea to use [Fly] during storms," Ciel says.
I wish to move forward towards Alissa and I quickly slide past her. I can't control where I want to go, just the direction and speed. The sensitivity is also very high, this spell is made to move forward and fast, carefully moving on our living room is not how this spell is supposed to be used, maybe if I find a way to alter it's "power settings"...
Today is the 2nd.
-
I go down and make breakfast with Alissa, Aoi and Gify patiently wait in the table for the food while we flirt. Ciel and Lina are taking their time coming down, when they appear, Roxanne and Ciel both have the same distracted-but-happy look while Hana and Lina look very satisfied.
"I'm feeling jealous again," I whisper to Alissa.
"Then use me all you want," she answers and kisses my cheek.
I hug her from behind and her fluffy tail tickles me as it sways rapidly.
"Say, Wolfy, have you ever ridden a horse?" Hana asks.
"Nope," I answer immediately.
"Thank the Gods you are cheater then, you won't learn how to ride one without the system's help," Ciel says.
"Do I really have to? Can't I just ride an elemental or something?" I ask.
Hana strokes her scales on her cheek in thought and says, "I don't think it's a good idea, a man's image is closely tied to how well he can ride a horse and yours is in need of improvement."
"And why do I need to improve it?" My feelings just slightly hurt.
"Well... while our next employer was impressed with our accomplishments and my body, mostly my body," -she smiles wide- "he still wanted to confirm how strong you were and I bet the first meeting is not going to go that well."
"Well shit. I will ride a horse then, but can't I make a menacing earth elemental horse to keep people off my back?"
"Maybe," she shrugs, "but riding a proper big horse would have a guaranteed effect."
"What was that about your body?" Ciel asks, narrowing her eyes.
"The poor boy almost proposed to me, I wished he had, I would love to reject him," Hana says with a sadistic smile.
Ciel massages the bridge of her nose and regrets asking.
While the girls go do their things I spend my entire morning naked with Alissa. I give her points in [Massage] and we take turns pleasing each other, it compounds with [Hand Technique] -.
-
"Wolfy? You alive?" Ciel asks.
"Hmm... yes," I answer weakly.
"Are you going to help with lunch?"
"Sorry... can you girls take care of it without us? Every muscle hurts, I'm too tired..."
"Saaame..." Alissa weakly says, moaning in pain.
Ciel snorts once and leaves.
"Oh Gods, Hana went to the guild to fight, I still have to appease - her..." I say, dreading the pain -.
"[Heal] my ears, please, you've bitten too hard."
"Sorry..."
She scooches over me -.
-
As we come down to lunch I see Hana narrow her eyes at us. She comes over and sniffs us and frowns. "You - did it too much, didn't you?" She asks.
"I require the help of everyone in containing Hana, we must all - do her together or otherwise she might kill me," I immediately announce.
She smiles and looks around [Intimidating] everyone. "Bring it on."
I crawl out of the pile of limbs, Hana is passed out, finally defeated. Me and Roxanne are the only two survivors, used to being abused, we have more - stamina than everyone else. Aoi crawls over and - kisses me, the following pleasure is too much and my consciousness is severed, leaving Roxanne as the only surviving member of Hana's Subjugation of 02/10/ 68,599.
Dinner is an "Items"-ready meal because everyone is too tired to do anything. We drink a little and play cards after that, they have something similar to UNO here so we played that while tipsy (we gave some good stuff to Hana so she would get drunk too) and then fell asleep -.
Today is the 3rd.
-
When I wake up again with the smell of breakfast I see that my [Enhanced Semen Recharge] increased by 2 (now 9). My orgasms are getting close to being continuous, what kind of monster am I becoming?
I drink lots of water to help with the slight headache and cast [Heal], [Purify Body], and [Refresh]. It helps but not completely, the priests knowledge about hangovers must be somewhat limited.
As I wait my headache to pass I observe Lina, who's working on her enchanting. She has the dagger with [Double Strike] on the table, she occasionally uses the enchantment, swinging in the air in a methodical way. Then she turns to her tool carving station and moves the two needles around, once they are in position she feeds mana to both and a thin, glowing line, comes out of the tip and enters the crystal held in the middle of the station.
The two lines hit each other and a small ball of light is created, colors dance in this ball and I feel a very faint amount of mana coming out of it.
"I assume the higher quality carving stations don't leak mana?" I ask Lina.
"Yes and no. A good enchanter doesn't let the mana leak during carving, but a bad carving station makes that impossible to achieve," she answers without looking back.
I spend my morning leisurely training my [Soul Manipulation], I'm a little hesitant to work hard since we are going on a long work trip soon.
We finish lunch and the girls go out shopping for some clothes while me, Alissa, and Hana stay.
"How's escorting like?" I ask Hana, I shiver once her strong hands start massaging my brain.
"Boring, annoying, draining," she answers in a monotone.
"You don't sound too happy about your past," Alissa says, her fox mouth faintly moves as she speaks.
Her cute paws crawl up my chest, she nuzzles her snout on my throat and closes her eyes, her tail sways slowly.
"I may be exaggerating a little but once you taste the good stuff you don't want to go back to eating slop," Hana says with a little bitterness on her voice.
"I understand it's boring but why was it annoying and draining?" I ask. I pat Alissa's heavenly fur and sigh internally at the reaction it has on the middle of my legs. Now I have been corrupted.
"I was single and a virgin all this time, which meant I was a pile of anger and hornyness. We take our time before finding someone so we can direct all our anger towards fighting, 20-years old me would eat current me alive due to the tenacity I had back then. But that doesn't mean that time was pleasant."
"At what age do dragonkins normally marry?"
"20 if you are weak, 30 if you are strong. I was certain father would wait until I was 30 to find me a husband."
"Sounds frustrating," Alissa says and whimpers like a fox.
- "It was," she says in a low, sultry voice. "You have no idea how much I love you, Wolfy."
-
"I think I do."
"Oh, no, you, don't," she says in a low growl that gives me shivers -.
"Why didn't you ever go against your father and lose your virginity?" Alissa asks.
"Never had the courage. Dad did so much for us I thought I would betray him if I did."
"Aren't you in charge of your own body? Shouldn't you be able to choose who you - lay with?" I ask. Alissa sniffs the air and her fox face smiles.
"I am, but I am also not. I want a cushy life, Wolfy, I want to retire one day and have servants do my bidding. If being a virgin would increase my chances of finding a husband, even if the husband was one of the purity fetishists, then I would take that chance."
I stay quiet and kiss her hand, I notice that her scales wave slightly when she expresses delight.
-
"When we will you give us children, Wolfy?" Alissa asks, her voice sweeter than normal.
If I could, all the time -.
"When you pass 20 years old, you have to enjoy your youth more," I say.
I see Alissa try to pout in her fox form but she quickly stops and goes back to laying on my chest.
"So, when are you going to impregnate me?" Hana asks, grinning wide.
"In a few years, we also have to enjoy our time together, don't we?" I say -.
"Let's make a Gluton eat his words, Alissa."
The girls come back gushing with happiness, Aoi and Gify are good luck charms when buying things. Ciel had a dangerous cleavage that she refused to acknowledge that it helped, I wasn't jealous of her showing herself but I think she should admit her own growing depravity.
At night we practice more [Fly] with Aoi and the golems, we do it outside so I don't crash again into the ceiling. It's quite easy to go high, it's like my bubble is lighter than air so I feel I have to concentrate to keep on ground level.
Today is the 4th.
-
"What's so fun about breasts?" She mutters a question as I harass her during breakfast.
"Who knows? Who cares? They are fun to play with," I say with a shrug.
"I need a better sash, my back is starting to hurt," she says and I - immediately start massaging her back. "They are more of a bother, really."
"You take that back!" Lina cries.
My [Wind Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+2).
There have been graduation ceremonies at the university these days but I didn't feel like attending. The beginner's one is quite simple and it's mostly for commoners and knights to show themselves and make connections with nobles.
We pass by there in the morning so I get my documentation making official my graduation and Scholar titles.
Then we go have another go at the restricted area, now that we know where to look we simply compile all the info that we can. Lina and Hana are interested in [Cursing Magic], the spells that reduce "Strength" and "Speed" would be very useful in melee.
After lunch I go shopping with Alissa and Hana, now they need a few new pieces of clothing, including lingerie. Aoi seems to love the attention the people on the street give her so she walks beside us, she can grow up to nearly a large dog's size with some effort so she's becoming quite eye-catching.
We pass by the hunter's guild one last time to check on bounties and other dangerous monsters.
My eye gets attracted to a group of young adventurers, well young for my standards. They seem slightly older than me and look much more buff, tall, and manlier than me. Fucking genetics. Though they seem to be having some problem reading the bounties.
"Now that I think about it, what does the system look like for people who don't know how to read?" I ask.
"The same for everybody. The system automatically uses the language you are most proficient in, so for people who grow listening to Andraste it will open the first time in Andraste."
"Wait... my system is in English, this language is from Earth and doesn't exist in this world or in the system," I say.
The girls stops and look at me, even Aoi and Gify look at me weird as if I'm an alien.
"Gih?"
"Yeah, seriously. Can you change the system language?"
Gify pops out of existence.
"You can wish for it, like when you wish to cut the sense sharing with the summons," Alissa says.
Ok, system, I want you to be in Andraste.
...
Nothing happens.
"Nothing happened."
Gify pops back in existence.
"That's, uh, weird," Alissa says, looking blankly.
"Gehging gings gis gih girg."
"Not even Gecynd has any idea?" I ask.
Gify shakes his cute head comically.
"Well his soul was said the be warped, right? Maybe his system is... broken?" Hana asks, slightly concerned.
I feel a shiver, I sure as fuck hope I'm not broken. What would that mean for my children?
We go back home and ask Ciel what she thinks.
"The system is a gift from the Gods, this makes no sense, how could it be 'broken'?" She questions.
"Gecynd said his soul is warped already," Hana says and Gify nods.
"Warped is different from broken, he has some oddities on it but to think it's fundamentally broken..." She sighs and reclines back on the sofa, her twin hills look like tall peaks with how her chest is protruding upwards.
"Children inherit skills, right? Could this cause problems for our children?" I ask, very concerned now.
All heads snap to me, Gify pops out of existence.
"It shouldn't..." Ciel says, lowly.
Alissa grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes, her orange jewels burn with resolution, "It won't, we can do a lot of things, there's always [Alteration Magic]," Alissa says.
Gify pops back into existence, "Gih."
"I agree, the children might inherit a ridiculous amount of skills but to think their souls would be warped is too much," Ciel says, nodding repeatedly. "From what we know, souls are created by the Gods and sent to the womb, the semen and the egg hold some information, like skills and genetics, but Gifts aren't known to be hereditary."
"That's very reassuring," I say and exhale.
Hot damn, that was stressing.
We go to sleep early for tomorrow we leave and we have to wake up before sunrise.