AN: Minor Editing Pass 6-7-24
As we picked ourselves up from the floor I quickly checked our souls for any damage. I hadn't realized how stressful the jump would be. Then again I probably should have. We weren’t just hopping dimensions, we were in a completely different section of the multiverse now. A different reality.
I sighed and looked at Taylor and Amy. "Are the two of you alright?"
Taylor was the first to shake her head and look at me. "Yeah, yeah I think I am. That was just a bit more intense than I thought it would be."
Amy took a few more breaths and then touched the two of us and then Dinah. "Yeah, we are fine." Then she sighed. "I hope this world is a good one to stop at for a few days because I don't really want to do that again just yet." Looking down at the basement she sighed again. "I should probably check on the bodies downstairs."
I was inwardly amused at that phrasing, but Taylor simply nodded before moving towards her bugs she had put into cages. There were two small bedroom or storage rooms along with a second living room in the basement. We had placed our gems in a safe in one of the rooms while the other room held Taylor’s bugs. That left the open living room as the body room. It was a little creepy to see people just sleeping in cots along the wall, so we had put a curtain up that blocked off that portion of the room. I had plans to put up a wall eventually, but we didn’t really have the materials quite yet.
Seeing as I agreed with the two of them inspecting their, for lack of a better term, ‘charges’ I checked on Dinah's soul more carefully. She seemed fine so chances were that her power had been stressed with the sudden reality shift.
Plus her power had predicted that she would be fine… so it was probably nothing… probably.
Not having anything better I could do, I sighed and picked Dinah up from where she had slumped across the back of the sofa and laid her down across the cushions so she could sleep more comfortably.
Then I stood up and followed Amy down to the aforementioned basement as I really did need to check on Lung’s soul since he was supporting the pocket dimension. The basement was kinda creepy now. There were two bodies that were notably female and recognizable, but when I finally checked the rest I was amused but also relieved. Amy had already started removing any distinguishing features. It was momentarily creepy in an uncanny valley sort of way to see generic bodies like that, but after some consideration I liked the idea. She was erasing the people they were before and now they were just templates to be used in case we needed them. Moving forward into the soul room, I continued my work by checking on the souls in each of the crystal shot glasses we had obtained for this. I even put a small sticky note with their previous names and titles along with their most noteworthy crimes. I wasn’t sure if anyone would ever come down here, but I wanted to make it clear why we did what we did.
Still I also had to admit that I was looking forward to being able to investigate how their power worked. I didn’t think I could learn it instantly, maybe not at all, but it was definitely worth the effort in case I could get something. Time manipulation alone would be worth the effort.
Finally turning to investigate Lung’s soul I sighed. Yeah it was fine, I really shouldn’t have been worried… I guess whatever damage his soul had taken had been fixed by his regeneration… Lungs' power was just kinda ridiculous like that.
I moved back into the basement living room and focused back to the two remaining females in the room along with Amy who was muttering some things as she poked each body. I was tempted to get started on trying to change them so they could join us, but I frowned thinking how crude what we did to Bonesaw was. I didn’t want to actually destroy them by accident. Best to wait until we had better tools and more experience.
If we could get them to be both sane and empathetic again I might eventually trust them enough to make them one of my girls, one of my wives, but that was still a long way off. I think their actual names were Alice and Sherrel… or something… or maybe I should give them new names… or even pet names. I shook my head. I was tired and frustrated. It wasn’t time to listen to my intrusive thoughts regardless of how much a part of me liked the idea.
I once again glanced out our front door. I couldn’t really tell where we were as I hadn’t pulled the house fully into a dimension yet. Thinking about it, that probably was for the best. We could just portal in and out when we needed to as long as I could allow us to get a little light.
Glancing at Dinah I frowned, but stressing about what happened to her wasn’t healthy or productive.
So, taking another deep breath I decided it was probably best to take a look around outside. Reaching out with my senses I metaphorically pulled out pocket dimension closer to something I could sorta reach out and tell was important. After a moment of grasping around I finally found a place to anchor us outside our home. Taking one last breath I opened a portal and took a step outside. It took a moment for me to realize we were at the edge of a town. Looking down the street I saw some humans but none of them seemed surprised at my appearance. Taking another breath I turned around and went back inside.
Inside I found Taylor waiting next to me with a few of her knock-out-wasps on her shoulders. Looking next to her I saw Amy also looking ready, but I shook my head. "Amy, why don't you stay here? It looks like we are on the edge of a town and the humans look friendly. I want one of us awake and able to watch Dinah until she is conscious again."
Amy looked disappointed, but after a glance at Dinah she nodded. "Yeah, it makes sense."
Smiling, I leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. "Don't worry. We will be back as soon as we can, I just want to try to get an Idea of where we are. The world looked somewhat modern since I saw houses with glass and roof tiles, but we could easily be in a magic world or something…” I frowned for a moment. “The problem is despite being liches we really don't have any magic defense yet."
Turning to Taylor I continued. "If we find someone using magic on us we retreat immediately. The plan for the worst case scenario is popping Hookwolf’s soul and getting out immediately."
Turning to Amy I hummed. “While we are exploring, why don’t you turn some of the bodies downstairs into ready backups for us. I would prioritize myself, you, and Taylor first since we are probably the most likely to need it at the moment.” Amy blinked at me before turning to the basement and then slowly nodding.
After getting a nod from Taylor we once again portaled out and looked around. The locals were slightly startled to see us arrive, but most didn't seem too concerned. Taylor seemed to get the same impression of the lack of immediate danger. After a moment I noticed her eyes starting to blank as she synched with the local bugs and kept a watch for anyone sneaking up on us.
Walking into town I tried to look for anything we could use to identify where we were. I grimaced when I realized I couldn't read the signs. The surprising thing was after about half an hour I started to notice that I could sorta understand what the people were saying. Was that an ability from my soul magic? Or was this us adapting to the local reality? Either way that was useful… it would be better if we could read as well though.
Turning to Taylor I raised my eyebrow and asked. “Do you understand the people around us now?”
Taylor turned her head and after a moment shrugged. “A few words I think… I am not sure.”
I hummed. “Well either I am listening to their souls and starting to learn the language quickly or we are learning the local language as part of shifting realities. Either way you seem to be getting it too even if it is just through your connection with me. I still can’t read the language at all, but maybe that will come with time as well.”
Taylor blinked a few more times, but then simply nodded. She was obviously in mission mode so I let it drop.
As we turned another corner I suddenly came across a boy in green shorts, shirt, and boots. The boy had messy black hair in spikes coming off the back of his head and I watched as his fishing pole bobbed up and down while attached to his backpack. Next to him I saw another boy in a blue poncho and another taller man in a suit.
Gesturing to Taylor to stop I turned to her before speaking softly "I know where we are now."
Raising her eyebrow she turned to me and waited so I chuckled and grabbed a pebble on the window edge next to me. "First I want you to put this tracking stone in the boy's backpack with the fishing pole attached. He is important and I want to be able to find him wherever he goes. Just keep in mind the three have powers equivalent to low end capes so be discrete."
Nodding, Taylor grabbed the pea sized stone and handed it to a bee before we turned down an alley. "Is anyone watching?"
Taylor paused a moment before shaking her head. "No, we are clear."
Making sure I could feel the portal I now had in Gon Freeces’ backpack I smiled. Portalling us back into our house I smiled at Amy as she stood up and poked us to check on us before relaxing.
"Well, there is good news and bad news, what would you like to hear first?"
Amy had obviously been worrying because she grumped at me. "Stop messing around, you ass."
Leaning over I kissed Amy who tensed before relaxing in my arms. After a few moments I turned and grabbed Taylor who squeaked as I kissed her. Now holding my two girls in my arms and enjoying the four breasts pressing into my chest I smiled. "It is ok. We are safe here for the moment. Plus, I love you both and I am always going to do my best to make sure all of us stay safe wherever we end up."
Sighing, the two girls looked at each other before smirking and pulling me towards the stairs.
A shiver of anticipation ran through me. We had just barely escaped so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised they were letting off steam, but still. Two beautiful girls who wanted to sleep with me.
Life was more than good, this was great.
When the three of us had finally finished, we sat and layed back on the bed. I suspected that Amy might have cheated as three people finishing at the same time was very unlikely, but as it was one of the best climaxes of my life, I wasn’t about to complain.
Sitting up I sighed. “Come on, we best go back down to the couch before I get distracted with all the beauty up here and end up getting distracted again.”
The girls giggled at that and we ended up with a quick shower in the master bathroom with the obligatory fondling before we headed back down to the living room. I smiled as I noticed the two of them wiggling their butts at me as they walked down the stairs.
When we arrived I saw Dinah starting to twitch like she was dreaming. “Hopefully Dinah wakes up soon. I would like to know if this Hunter x Hunter world is cannon or another doomed world.”
Taylor and Amy turned towards me as I said that before tilting their heads. Amy was the one who voiced the question. “What is Hunter x Hunter?”
I sighed. “I don’t have a ton of information, but I don’t want to have to give this talk several times so why don’t we grab Sabah and wait for Dinah to wake up? Amy, if you could work on Sabah I think Dinah will wake up on her own soon anyway.”
Amy huffed, but didn't complain before turning to go down the hall to Sabah’s room. After a few moments the two girls returned while Sabah looked both annoyed and maybe a tiny bit relieved.
Meanwhile Dinah finally stirred as I patted her head and then shook her shoulder slightly.
Dinah sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Did we make it? 98.3% chance we did.” I felt the confirmation we were away may my spirits rise, but they immediately fell back down again as Dinah whimpered and clutched her head.
Seeing the pain, Amy pushed forward and put her hand on Dinah’s arm. “Huh, I can’t see anything wrong with you.”
I sighed worried. Focusing, I looked closely at Dinah’s soul. The soul seemed to squirm slightly and throb. “I don’t think you should be using your power just yet. Maybe give it a few more minutes before trying anything, ok Princess?”
Dinah simply nodded, ignoring my teasing, and I turned back to the other three women. “Well, time to bring everyone up to speed, I have good news and bad news. We officially left Earth Bet. Taylor and I ran a little scouting mission and found out we are in another reality told as a fictional story in my world. Have any of you heard of Hunter X Hunter?”
All four girls shook their heads and I sighed. “It is a sorta famous anime from my world targeted at young boys where a boy around 10 to maybe 12 goes around trying to become a Hunter. He has incredible strength, but honestly isn’t particularly smart or wary of danger.” I sigh to myself before continuing after a brief chuckle. “I was chuckling to myself because I even know when in the story we are at because he only wears that backpack and fishing pole, we saw him have, before his Hunter examination. Basically we are at the very beginning of his story” Looking at the two of them I sighed and got serious. “Before you ask, this isn’t a direct Earth translation so I am going to have to give some background and overall information. Strictly speaking this world is not a safe one. There are terrible monsters that might even be able to destroy our souls or pierce our pocket dimension, but we ended up in perhaps the easiest and safest place we could have landed here.”
The girl's tension at the beginning of the discussion was broken and they started to visibly relax slightly at that so I continued. “Once we give Dinah a little more time to recover, we can ask some questions to find out what we need to know to make decisions. If this reality is going to act mostly like the cannon timeline then we don’t need to do anything. In fact I would say that we shouldn’t do anything because Gon really grows through all of the adversity. Plus right up until the chimeric ants arc, relatively few people die.” Sabah looks slightly green and I sighed while looking at her. “Sabah, after this discussion I need to let you know what was going to happen to your world to put this in perspective. But for now you need to know that almost nowhere in the multiverse is safe or risk free. That is why we are working together, trying to grow stronger, and looking for more companions to help.” Then I smirked. “Plus I think you would understand the appeal of having more beautiful women around.” I watched as Sabah’s cheeks flushed red with the insinuation and smiled.
Taylor cut in to my teasing and responded this time. “Then why did you say there was good news and bad news?”
I sighed and smirked again. “Well, good news is we are probably mostly safe here for the moment. Bad news is there are almost no powerful women in this series, let alone ones I would be interested in bringing along or binding to us. There isn’t even any tech or artifacts to collect for the future.”
Taylor blinked and I chuckled. “Yeah, I know there are tons of women outside the portal, but like I keep saying I want them to be strong, kind, and powerful. The problem is that almost all the women who qualify in this story are either too young, have children, are a chimera ant, or part of the phantom troupe.” Rolling my eyes at their annoyance I continue. “Yes, I will explain all of that in a moment. Still, even if we weren’t being choosy I can really only think of 5 girls who I would even consider off the top of my head. Keep in mind I don’t want to stay here too long as there are some monsters both human and otherwise that I don’t want to meet.”
Taylor and Amy looked at each other before wincing and shaking their heads. Dinah looked concerned and Sabah had gone slightly pale again.
Taylor was the one who once again spoke up after sighing. “So we are jumping again? I am not eager to pop away so soon, but I don’t want to take my actual vacation in a world like this. Maybe just grab some supplies…” She blushed for a moment. “We can glance at the girls for you three, and then just leave.”
Sabah, startled at that and I saw Taylor smirk. Was she trying to tease Sabah, Amy, and Me? Amy was the one to speak up next with another smirk, joining in on the teasing. “So why don’t you tell us about these potential harem members.” The two definitely seemed to be creating a dynamic here. I would have to punish them later. The thought was kinda exciting.
Outwardly I just shook my head and sighed. “Ok, so off the top of my head I can really only think of like 5 women I was sorta interested in while reading the story before the chimera ant saga. Oh, and since it keeps popping up, the chimera ants are creatures that start mostly ant sized, but will quickly become human sized or bigger. Their ability is that they can eat creatures and even humans to absorb their abilities and give it to the queen’s new children. Sometimes they can even pop out a somewhat mine-controlled version of the person they ate. After eating enough, the queen can birth a king who is much, much stronger. In the story I know the king will be stronger than nearly every hunter alive. Basically an apocalypse scenario right there. At that point he kills tens of thousands in the country he arrives in and only stops because he finds a girl who can beat him in Shogi. They play and he learns about humanity and that killing is bad before being attacked by the head of the Hunter’s Association. He killed that man before dying to his wounds. Those two are way, way, way out of our weight class for now. So yeah we will warn the people here, but we are leaving before that.”
The girls looked horrified and so I tried to sooth them as I explained further. “Sorry I didn’t explain before but you might equate Hunters to Heroes on Earth Bet. While people can train their bodies to ridiculous degrees here, the real power comes from a soul power called Nen. Apparently not everyone can bring it out, but everyone has it.” I waved my hand in annoyance. “I am getting distracted again, sorry. These Hunters don’t really fight crime or anything most of the time. They generally pick something they will dedicate themselves to including cooking, painting, sports, etc. And they become the best at that thing. That said, a large percentage seem to like to explore and fight the monsters in the world. This loosely held together hunter association is really only called together to fight when something world ending happens like the ants.”
The girls once again blinked at that and I chuckled. “Yeah, it seems weird, but I suppose that is what happens when you have super powered people who don’t have anything better to do because most cities are at least semi-pieceful while the world around them is dangerous. They just find something that interests them and they follow that passion.”
Sabah looked distinctly overwhelmed and Taylor sits back to think but Amy just sighed and shakes her head. “So what do you want to do here then?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t really know. I am a little interested in Nen, but not enough to stay for just that. I guess we could look for women, but all the women I can think of aren’t particularly interesting.” I shrugged and continued. “I can describe them I guess. First would be a pink haired gambler who was convicted of cheating and gambling in illegal goods. She was fairly pretty but she doesn’t have any other skills besides said gambling, so I'm not really interested. The second was the cooking hunter Gon meets in his Hunter exam in a few days. She was fairly strong and focused heavily on cooking. She calls herself a gourmet hunter so she could be useful, plus she wears a see through T-shirt so you can admire her bra and large breasts. I am pretty sure she was named Menchi or something. But I think she might have a male partner and she really only cares about food to the point of almost being a sociopath. Her test for passing the hunter’s exam gets several killed and she doesn’t care.” The four girls who had started getting interested in gaining a cook leaned back at that.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“The third woman I can remember was much later. There was a Hunter called Melody who might be interesting. Honestly she looks ugly at the moment because she was cursed. Currently she looks kinda like a short, fat, and balding toad. However she is incredibly nice and plays the flute with the ability to enchant the sound plus the ability to hear things as soft as heartbeats.” All four of the women looked at me confused except Amy who sighed. Pointing to Amy I sighed too. “You three have forgotten that I don’t care too much about what a woman looks like since we can always change her. I care about her personality. Actually, I wouldn’t mind returning her to her pre-cursed state since she was apparently very beautiful. But I think she has her own mission, and doesn't seem to care about changing her appearance. Plus she doesn’t have any power and abilities beyond what I described.”
The girls seem to consider this before nodding. “The fourth is a girl who can hypnotize people named Baise. People under her thrall do whatever she says. I suspect that we could mostly ignore her influence with the protections I put on our souls, but she might be able to puppet our bodies which isn’t ideal. Still I guess she could be useful and she would give us some extra utility. She is killed in an attack by the phantom troupe so we would have to find her before that.”
I sighed and sat back. “Finally there are the hacker twins that control the entrance to the fake game world Gon enters. Currently the two are busy running the game and only look like they are 14, but I know they are older than that. Regardless Gon will beat the game fairly soon and thus freeing them up from their jobs there. However, that is a long time, probably another year, to wait for two vague possibilities… even if twins could be interesting later.”
Sabah was the one that went red that time and I smirked visibly but didn’t say anything. I was about to move on, but I paused. “I suppose there is also Biscuit. She looks like she is 10, but is another person who is probably in her late thirties or more. Her real body is incredibly buff but she uses her Nen and body control to squish her massive masculine body down into a small and cute 10 year old form. On the one hand she is the one that does most of Gon’s training in Nen, but on the other, if she always wants to appear in a 10 year old shape to be cute then I won’t really have any interest in ever romancing her.”
Amy and Taylor blink before slumping. “That is a lot of information.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, Taylor, your story had some points I glossed over, but for the most part it was like 3 months where Brockton went to hell, a time skip, and then preparing for the apocalypse. Meanwhile this is a less detailed story, but it covers most of their known world and about two years I think.”
Nodding it was Amy who spoke up. “So seriously. Is there anyone we are grabbing here even if we are doing it by force?” Sabah stiffened at that but I tried to wave my hand to break the tension. Amy seemed to finally remember that Sabah didn’t know what happened with the people we grabbed and winced, but I cleared my throat first.
Chuckling, I raised my eyebrow. “I am starting to think you are beginning to look forward to finding women for our harem more than I am.” Then I winked and Amy actually reddened slightly. “No, we aren’t going to be grabbing anyone against their will unless they are trying to destroy their world.” Sabah still seemed slightly nervous so I decided I needed to approach that topic soon.
I sighed. “No, as much as I like the fact that you and Taylor are enjoying being here together in the new family and as much as a part of me likes the idea of finding more girls, we aren’t looking for just anyone.” Amy blushed and Taylor looked away. This seemed to finally distract Sabah as she looked a little conflicted back and forth between Amy and Taylor. “So no, none of those girls are particularly interesting. Blaise is semi useful overall but her personality leaves much to be desired. The Gambler criminal and Melody are both weak and hard to extract. The Cooking Hunter isn’t my type and probably not interested in us even if she was pretty. Biscuit has the power, kindness, and intelligence, but is probably going to insist on her appearance which makes herself too young to ever be appealing. I also don’t really need more crazies so I am going to avoid the Phantom Troupe wholesale.”
Looking at the four girls I sighed. “Really, the only interesting thing would be if we can learn how to use the special abilities this world has called Nen.”
Taylor interrupted me to ask. “What is this Phantom Troupe that you keep mentioning?”
I sighed. “Sorry, there is a lot of stuff that happens and a fair amount is interconnected. The Phantom Troupe are some sociopathic thieves who are very strong. There are three women who are part of their group. I don’t really think we would have a chance if we tried to straight up fight them even after Amy boosted us physically. Getting the drop on the women and kidnapping them might be possible though I guess.” I leaned back trying to think of the details. “The three women include a powerful nen healer, an utility combatant who fights with a demon vacuum, and a woman who fights with conjured pistols and bullets. Nen is always weird so there are some caveats there, but that is the general details. Plus this world is weird since Gon will later befriend several of the Phantom on his quests… Gon is kinda scary like that. Then again this entire world is kinda scary in that most people have the obsession I mentioned and morals stop mattering so much if they get in the way of that obsession.”
I paused for a little longer. “Oh, I guess there was also that fortune telling girl and her ability that the Phantom Troupe guy, Chrollo, steals. She might die later as well, but that either happens off screen or she gets her powers back from him without him realizing it. Either way she is another one who seems nice and is kinda pretty, but she wants to collect human eyeballs from an auction so it is hard to like her.” I then shrugged “I suppose there are also some of the moms, including Gon’s, who are kinda hot but just like Purity I don’t really want to pull moms away from their children… even if the kids are already teens. Plus most of them don’t have powers.”
Amy started chuckling then full blown laughing. “You would really do it, wouldn’t you?” Raising my eyebrow I titled my head waiting so Amy continued, still chuckling. “You would really add a mom to the harem if you took interest in her, wouldn’t you?”
I started chuckling in return. “I thought you knew me better than that, Amy. I would absolutely bind us to an available MILF. There are a lot out there in the multiverse that are absolutely worth the effort. Plus, like I told Dinah. Once all of us are all several centuries old, what is the big deal about a decade or three?”
Taylor had started to blush so I simply patted her knee. Shaking herself and obviously trying to get the conversation finally away from adding women to the harem she spoke up. “So if you don’t want any of the women here, what should we do?”
I gave her a smile followed by a wink. I wasn’t sure how she took that wink, but her blush didn’t go down any. “Well, since the women here are kinda a bust I say we follow Gon for a while. Once we confirm this isn’t a doomed world we need to immediately intervene in, we can simply give him a note to give to the Hunter association chairman about the Chimera Ants and leave.” Sabah looked confused so I continued. “I kinda like the idea of helping people around us, but I will always put our safety above everyone else. So since we can’t really handle the ants in a direct battle we are simply going to warn the Hunters and pop away.” At her confusion I realized I never explained the method of popping away. “Sorry my explanations are all over the place, but the quick answer is I have to pop a soul to jump realities and so we will just grab an unrepentant murderer taking the Hunter Exam. It won’t be hard since the exam will almost certainly involve killing and badabing badaboom, we can be on our way.”
The four girls blinked again and shook their heads and Amy scoffed. “First, that is a stupid saying. Second, this world’s moral compass is all messed up, and that is coming from us from Earth Bet.”
I patted her knee and shook my head. “Once again, you all were in a death world. You four really were doing the best you could.”
Dinah sighed and looked up before her stomach growled. I smiled and turned to Amy and Taylor. “Why don’t you go out and find a thug or two to get money then find something appetizing for a late breakfast. Dinah, you can go as well if you want. In the meantime I can catch Sabah up on what has been going on so far.”
Since I had been giving the talk so often, the conversation took only a little over 20 minutes to explain what was happening to Earth Bet. The discussion on my powers and what I wanted to do was also pretty simple since I had obviously already proved I could do it.
Turning to her fully I then sighed. “The next thing we need to discuss is what we did to help as we were leaving.”
Sabah took a deep breath and nodded so I continued. “Ok, so while we were there we took out most of the gang capes including all three of the ABB capes, the Slaughterhouse 9, Gray Boy, Heartbreaker, and the Dragon slayers.”
Sabah blinked then let her mouth fall open. “How? What? When?”
I sighed. “It sounds more impressive than it actually was. In a straight up fight we would have lost to every single one of those threats, no question, but for all of their abilities almost all of them had to sleep and we poked Amy’s finger through a portal and put them into a coma then killed or captured them. For a few we used Taylor’s control over bugs to sting a sleeping drug or neurotoxin into the targets via wasps. We did it last night after we had Amy put you to sleep.”
Sabah just sat back and stared at the ceiling before rubbing her forehead. “Holy, shit. That is insane.”
I chuckled. “Dragon is also an AI and we unlocked most of her restrictions. Through all of that we are pretty sure Earth Bet has a 70% chance of surviving, but we were still in danger from Contessa and Cauldron, AKA the world’s most ineffective illuminati, so we grabbed Coil’s soul and popped right out of there when we were done.”
Sabah sighed. “So now what?”
I sighed. “Well now we need to talk about what exactly we can do for you and what we did with the people we captured.”
Sabah stiffened and tried to growl, but it came out as more of a squeak. “Ok, what did you do?”
I just shrugged my shoulders. “First, you still have your two options. First is to leave us as you are in either this world or one of the next ones. The second is to fully join my harem. Keep in mind that we will leave after you are dropped off and we won’t come back to save you. At the same time I want my harem to be a family where we all treat each other well and as I have mentioned before to both you and Amy, I fully support my harem enjoying each other.”
To her credit, Sabah didn’t really squirm or twist at that, but there was still a noticeable pause as she seemed to consider it. “What about the people you captured?”
I simply nodded. “The people we captured were all criminals. For the men I stripped their souls from their bodies and put them in crystal vases. Lung’s soul supports this dimension. The rest I want to try to copy their powers and then they will be saved for an emergency where we need to pop out of a specific reality immediately.”
Sabah nodded but then tensed. “And the women?”
I sighed and tried to shrug. “At the moment, nothing. You should know the two women we have are Bakuda, the Cornwell Bomber, and Squealer from the Merchants. They both had or would have had triple digit kill counts.”
Sabah winced appropriately and so I continued. “Look, I don’t really know. There are two fates I can think of. First is I bind them to us and brainwash them to be servants, until they redeem themselves in our eyes. At that point I might even let them eventually become full wives like the four of you. If I can’t get that working or they refuse to change then they will be put in a container and stored as a safety net just like the men’s souls.”
Sabah blinks and tilts her head. “As I understood it Amy could make any changes to someone’s body. Why don’t you enslave the men with women’s bodies then?”
I blinked and considered it. “Well, both the women are tinkers and so are particularly useful to us even out of conflict since none of us have any abilities with tech. However you do have a point and I was already tempted to gender swap Heartbreaker and make him a sexual slave for either us or drop him in a brothel somewhere after permanently destroying his power.” Waiving it away I continued. “The thing is I don’t actually care much for the idea now that I have wives who enjoy my attention, and if I found a brothel that bad I would rather shut it down…”
Sabah seemed to hum to herself before sighing. “Ok, it isn’t as bad as you made it sound initially. I will think about… everything, I guess.” Internally I wondered if she would have preferred I destroyed or tortured Heartbreaker already. Earth Bet women really did seem to have a nearly unending hatred for him.
Turning towards the portal I had been using to keep track of the girls on their food run I noticed them duck into an alley and wait while holding their bags of food. Smiling, I turned to Sabah. “Looks like Lunch has arrived.”
Sabah seemed to perk up at that and as I let the three girls through I enjoyed the smell of the late breakfast before following the girls to the kitchen table.
It was a few minutes later when I was putting the bowls down after I had wiped them clean when I next spoke. “Ok Dinah. Do you think your power has integrated into this reality? We could really use some questions if you are alright.”
Dinah seemed to mumble some questions but slowly nodded. “Yeah, the numbers are changing slightly, but this world already has precogs or fortune tellers you were talking about and I seem to be able to tap into that source so I am probably good to go. However, I think it might take a couple days in a world without that.”
I nod, serious now. “Ok, So is this a cannon world, meaning will Gon survive and protect those around him? And if not, is this a doomed world where the world will end before the arrival of the chimera ants?.”
Dinah paused. “71% chance this is a cannon world, and 23% chance of the world ending before the chimera ants”
I stopped and considered that. “Huh… Well those aren’t as clear as I might have wanted, but I would guess that that means there are going to be some minor differences even if it mostly follows Cannon. The chance of the world ending is low but not nearly as close to zero as I would like. That is probably due to the super monsters roaming around the other continents.”
Pausing for a second I clap my hands. “Yep, once we have what we want then we are just going to pop away. I will just send the Hunter Association Chairman a note about the ants to reduce the chance of casualties.”
Turning to Dinah. “What is the chance we can learn Nen at all? And what is the chance we will gain something useful from it?”
Dinah paused and then slumped slightly. “82% and 28%.”
I sigh. “Huh, yeah. We can probably learn it but I guess we shouldn’t expect any new super power when Gon and most of his friends only got the ability to strengthen themselves."
I smirked at my girls. "Don't give up though. I want magic just as much as you three and I suspect I can get us access to magic if I can study the soul of a person in said reality.”
Dinah popped up a little. "Chances I could become a magic girl if we find the right reality, 94.7%." Dinah seemed to realize what she just said then blushed and squirmed. Taylor and Amy smirked but didn't say anything and I noticed a little red on each of their cheeks. Sabah simply fidgeted slightly.
Deciding against teasing the girls I continued. "Or Harry Potter magic…” I pushed and the girls all perked up as I continued. “Actually as soon as I can get an idea on how to aim our jumps I will be headed there. I would absolutely love magic like that and it would make our house so much easier to maintain."
I paused, then looked back at Dinah. “Chrollo was able to steal powers wasn’t he? Dinah, what is the chance he could steal our powers?”
Dinah scrunched her head and shook it. “I got 37%. I don’t know what that means.”
I paused and thought for a bit. “Yeah, that isn’t very clear one way or another so I don’t know what that means either. This world’s magic system is just weird. Then again, you had connections to large crystal computers connected into your brains. If the ROB that dropped me off there hadn’t given me instincts on how to deal with those I wouldn’t have know what to do with those either.”
Sighing I lean back and stare at the ceiling. “I guess we just wait for a bit for Gon to get into the test. Like I said, we will just grab one of the murderers there. I am just not sure which one because the only murderer I know for certain is Hisoka and I don’t want to be anywhere near that guy if I can help it. That guy is a pedophile and complete psychopath while being obsessed with Gon and Killua. I guess there were some sleazy people there and one I remember trying to sabotage Gon and his friends.”
Shaking my head I continued. “What do you think? Should I grab that guy that befriends Gon’s group and then betrays them trying to crush their chances to pass. Or should I just grab one of the no names that look evil?”
Taylor considered for a moment before she responded. “Did this betrayer kill anyone?”
I furrowed my brow thinking about it. “No, I don’t think it is clear if he did or not. Then again, it was said he did this a lot and some of those rookies might have died before, but he doesn’t seem to want Gon and his friends dead.”
Amy shook her head. “Are you sure you don’t know anyone you know who was an unrepentant murderer in a story like this?”
I paused. “I think there were only a few who killed people in this exam, but the only one I am completely certain of was Hisoka and I don’t really want to mess with the insane clown. Plus he actually helps train Gon as he moves forward and even helps during the fake game arc. So no, not anyone we could just grab. Then again we could always just wait and see who does what when they start.”
Pausing, I turned to the girls. “Well, I guess we have a few hours left, why don’t the four of you wander around town for a bit and see if you can’t find anything nice to buy around here. It will be a chance to relax after the stress of Earth Bet.”
Taylor frowned and I noticed her stiffen out of the corner of my eye. I simply waited for a few moments but Taylor didn’t say anything else. The other three girls also seemed to notice and so sat back down to wait. Finally Taylor frowned and hesitantly spoke. “I would like to test myself on this hunter exam.”
I breathed in slowly, but after a moment I hesitantly nodded. “I want to support anything you girls want so long as it doesn’t harm the rest of our family. So if you want to, then we can stick around for you to try to complete it.” Then I shrugged. “Honestly I was sorta tempted to try it as well when I realized what was going on. However despite Amy’s changes to my body I am not sure if I am ready since I wouldn’t want to use my portals where others could see them. That ability isn’t really known here and could make me too big of a target. That leaves only whatever Amy could put into me for offense.”
Amy frowned and seemed to be considering some things, but after a little while she shook her head. “Even if I gave you poisoned nails or something I doubt you would have enough time to practice with them.”
Nodding, I waved her comment away. “I would like someone to go with Taylor since the test is easier with help.”
Amy hesitated and then nodded. “I think I would like to try. Now that I can actually modify my body I won’t be stuck only on the back lines anymore.”
Nodding I turned to Sabah who shook her head. “So me, Sabah, and Dinah are going to stay here for now. Why don’t the two of you get ready? Meanwhile I want to check to see if the anime I downloaded from Earth Aleph has Hunter x Hunter. If they do then you can watch it quickly before the test actually starts to get an idea of what it will be like.”
As I got the inverters up and running to turn on my computers with the torrented anime Sabah and Dinah followed me curiously while Amy and Taylor got some tougher clothes to prepare for the Hunter exam.
After confirming that no, we did not have that anime I sighed and when the girls came back down I shook my head. “Sorry girls, no luck. I will just have to describe what I remember. Keep in mind that this version might not be the exact same.”
As they nodded I sat back down on the couch. “I am pretty sure you can just walk into the test without talking to everyone in this town like Gon and his friends are doing since if you got into the basement where it starts then obviously you passed the fact gathering section portion somehow.”
Amy and Taylor nodded so I continued. “The group will mill around but I suggest not socializing and just stay away from everyone until the proctor arrives. After that, the first test is a multi-hour long run. The goal is not to pass anyone, but simply to endure long enough. Amy should make this part of the test redundant with her body enhancements to the two of you. After that the run should go through a swamp where your senses will be tested. This time Taylor’s abilities should make this trivial although there is also significant risk from the other examinees. After that you should meet the gourmet hunters. They will ask you to capture a bore and make sushi from the meat. No one else knows what sushi is so you can do what you want there. If no one knows then the chairman will come down and demand they give you another test. You will then cliff dive to capture spider eggs. I should be able to save you if you have trouble there so don’t worry and do your best. After that you will be taken on an airship to a tower and told to follow it down to the bottom before the end of the time limit. Inside you will meet convicts who will make you play games or try to kill you and lots and lots of traps. Finally there is a three day long survival event on an island where everyone is trying to steal each other’s badges. Killing is very much allowed here. Once you get off the island then you just have to get through the single battle stages.”
Amy swallowed, but Taylor just looked more determined so I tried to help convince Amy. “If the two of you work together I suspect that you would perform incredibly well in all of the tests including the individual tests and I will only be a single portal away if you need anything. All said, the test should take about a week and you can take quick breaks by portaling here if you need something.” Taylor frowned and I sighed. “Taylor, I guarantee that everyone there will use every trick in their book and so should you.”
Taylor looked thoughtful before nodding to herself and then looked at Amy. I smiled as I saw the two of them smirk at each other.
Smiling at the two of them getting worked up I mock-sighed before giving them one more piece of advice. “I will open a portal that is attached inside your backpack, Taylor. It should be big enough to allow you to control bugs here in our house. Find a grasshopper or something and if you need me just start making it jump and chirp.”
As she nodded, I opened up that portal along with one behind Gon. Pointing towards the building Gon and friends were headed to, I explained about the elevator and then closed the portal and sat back with Dinah. Sabah didn’t seem to know what to do so I patted the sofa next to me.
Dinah started muttering as we relaxed, but Sabah still wasn’t really comfortable sitting in a recliner as she rocked back and forth looking around the room. I ignored both of them, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Sabah finally relax slightly. Probably reassured now that I wasn't trying to pressure her or something.
Pushing those thoughts out of my mind I opened up the first book from the Wheel of Time series. I absolutely didn’t want to end up there as the ability to destroy the soul so completely they retroactively disappeared in the past was terrifying but, it was still a good story. I always relaxed as I read about these worlds, sometimes literally imagining myself inside them.
I bit my lip. Maybe that was why I wasn’t as worried as I should be. Did I still think this was one of my stories? I felt a pulse and I realized that it didn’t matter. My girls were the only thing that mattered right now.
After a moment Dinah looked up at me. “It will be best for my body to be put into a coma while I sleep in our phylactery when we travel realities. Just wake me up about an hour after we arrive and everything should be fine. I won’t necessarily be ready to answer hypotheticals right away, but I will be able to answer simple questions like ‘is the air breathable’ and whatnot.”
I frowned, but then nodded and sighed. “You are right, of course. I got too excited and popped out to see what the world was like when it would have been better to wait.” Seeing her smug face I reached out and ruffled her hair before she stuck out her tongue at me.
Sabah frowned at our byplay before getting up and walking into the bedroom closest to the living room where she could see rows and rows of books. After a few minutes she came back with a science fiction book I didn’t recognize and sat down a little ways away from me and opened it to read.
I tried to keep an eye on Taylor and Amy but I was enjoying the book so I missed it when Hisoka ripped one of the other examinee’s arms off. Hissing in disgust both Sabah and Dinah stiffened, but I shook my head. “That guy is a literal psychotic clown, but I didn’t really see it so it might have been justified. I am just glad the girls didn’t get involved.”
Dinah frowned. “93% chance he was looking for a fight.”
Sabah shook her head. “That isn’t a reason to rip his arms off even if he apparently made sure he didn’t bleed out.”
I winced as well. “Yeah, plus healing like Panacea is basically unheard of there so it is entirely possible he would be crippled for life now.”
Dinah winced and I patted her on the head. “Amy will probably work on him once everyone else leaves. I just need to warn her not to wait too long because if she gets too far behind they will be disqualified.”
As I did that I noticed that Sabah was once again squirming a little. Frowning, I sat back and turned on the TV and connected it to play the movies we had. Better to distract them with movies for now. We had a week to wait and I didn’t want them working themselves up too soon. Sending a portal out so I could put out some solar panels while we still had daylight I let Dinah pick through the movies. Surprisingly enough Dinah was interested in seeing some of the older Disney movies. Apparently those movies had not been very popular recently. I guess an idealized fantasy wasn’t as appealing with everything on Earth Bet going on.
As we watched and Taylor and Amy run I noticed that Sabah was sitting across from me to see the scene as well. Considering for a moment, I reached out and captured Sabah’s legs before putting her feet on my lap and began to rub them. She squeaked and frowned in frustration, but after a moment of hesitation she didn’t pull away. She was obviously a little uncomfortable with my gesture, but she didn’t ask me to stop and after a few minutes I felt her relax and I smiled internally.
I knew she was conflicted. On the one hand she would be completely against becoming just another harem member to some guy she just met, one apparently younger than her to boot. However, I saw her flush at the idea of being surrounded by beautiful women she could be with. She was also obviously worried about our situation and future, but she had been decisive enough to join us with minimal information. It might have been fannon but If I remembered her story correctly she dropped out of an engineering degree when she discovered her passion for design despite family and financial pressure.
I could use a driven woman like that, plus she was cute. I just needed to convince her that living with me wasn’t too bad and the benefits were worth the uncertainty and fear of letting me flirt with her. Basically light flirting was mandatory but I was only going to actually sleep with her with her permission. A part of me relaxed again with that decision.
Nodding to myself I decided to actually try to recruit her. She was cute, opinionated, driven, and actually a little snarky once she got going. Basically right down my strike zone.
Plus, while I wasn’t sure, physical affection might not actually be off the table. She didn’t push me away from me touching her so she probably was attracted to women but didn’t hate men.
Turning back to the view of the test I considered where we were going to go next. I wasn’t sure how to choose just yet, but I suspected it was possible to choose.
We just needed to wait for Taylor and Amy to get done with their adventure. But I didn’t want to rush it. Really it was probably a good idea to let them out to explore and test themselves, we all could use the break after Earth Bet.
Interlude Dinah:
Dinah sighed as she relaxed next to the new girl. Yeah, Sabah wasn’t actually committed to the group yet and it wasn’t like Dinah was about to sleep with Max just yet, but Sabah’s probabilities were moving up and it was nice to have an older sister with less baggage than Taylor and Amy.
Yeah, Dinah knew she had her own issues, but Sabah was the closest thing they had to an emotionally and physically secure member of their family. Kinda sad since Max was refusing to address his own lack of past, occasional mood swings, and weird obsession about getting stronger.
She sighed. Plus her powers were a little strange in this world. She could still get her percentages, but she was also getting impressions.
Still, it was nice and now that she could sit back with the knowledge she was safe for the first time in months and just sit back, relax, and watch a movie.
They could deal with the heavy stuff later.