[https://cdn.midjourney.com/9b729060-fd0c-4498-b1e8-073195124364/0_3.png]
The lost nights—hers and Isla’s fault— had taken a heavy toll on Rowan. He yawned all the time during breakfast, and then excused himself and went up back to sleep. The hardest thing, for Grace, was to leave him some space. She yearned to go and ask: Do you still love me?
An awkward silence descended around the living room, and she resolved to gather the dishes, to avoid the embarrassment of looking into Cora’s eyes. Oblivious to the unease floating in the air, Lizzie’s happiness shone through her eyes and merry voice.
“Auntie Cora, what do you think about the schedule?”
Cora fondled the girl’s head. It looks great, Lizzie. Everybody will have a fair share of Rowan’s—”
“Hugs!” Grace hissed.
“Hugs.”
[Grace to Cora]: She’s six, for goodness’ sake. Don’t you dare mention anything but hugs around her, or so I swear, I’ll—
[Cora to Grace]: Sure, err… how should I call you now: Big Sister? Madam? Older Wife?
The Nekojin’s face looked sincere, so either she was truly candid or hid her sarcasm well.
[Grace to Cora]: Call me Grace.
“You’re free today, right, Cora?” she continued aloud.
“Yes, why?”
“A family shares the good, the bad, and the chores. Are you ready to join the latter?”
“Sure, what do you want me to do?”
“Take care of Lizzie and ask Dmitri about the ways of this house. Chores rotation, everything.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you my routine, it’s easy,” the Greek promised. “You’re going somewhere, Grace?”
“To train. I don’t want to be left behind. Sweetie, Auntie Cora will take care of you today. Show her what a blessing is to babysit a six-year-old.?” Kissing Lizzie on the forehead after whispering the last words in the girl’s ear, Grace exited the house and beckoned to Bree, who was on the last legs of her twenty-hour shift and fretted around some rose bush in the garden.
“Is that a Princess Marga—"
“Ask Dmitri, he planted them. I need to clear my head, lose myself in something... anything. Are there any quests around?”
“I know the feeling… There are those moments in a marriage when you wish to get far and forget everything.”
“You also have two co-wives, or whatever this shit is called?”
“Nope, but we argued a lot in the past, when Sam lost his job, and… sorry, not your problem. I’m taking a look at the party search. There is a call for clearing a Mini Dungeon, level fifty-five. Two more free spots on the team… You want me to come with you?”
“You’re free? I mean, you worked a lot, and—”
“I’m good, sweet plum. I’m used to hard work, and if I come for a quest, I’ll be free for the week. OK, we’re on. I booked us on, for the job. My shift will be here in five, and then we can rock and roll… So, you sort it out, in the end, huh?”
Grace sulked, crossing her arms. Yes, things have been sorted out, albeit not like she wanted. She summoned the notification, just to check if she remembered it right.
Grace Garcia Larmontel has lost a battle of sexual and mind manipulation. Nine stacks of Negative Karma have been detected. A Karma dice roll had been applied by I, The Warlord to consume them.
Consequences:
Your Sexy and Dangerous Perk has been lowered from Legendary to Epic tier and will only work on hostile targets.
Aphrodisiacs and Seduction have become mild buff passives that can be applied only to friendly targets, with their consent.
The System had determined that the Assassin class is not fit for you. Change it to something more suitable. The available options have been selected judging on your past performances. Choose wisely.
I, The Warlord wish you to learn from your mistakes because remorse is a battle.
She had not yet looked at the new options, so she tried to raise the menu, but Bree touched her arm. “We can go, my shift is here.”
“Where?” Grace looked around.
“In some tree, he’s a Ninja…”
“Oh, well… everything is possible now. Where are we going?”
“We’ll go to the Border, then the Core will open a portal to Huntingdon, and we drive for forty miles to Rothrock State Forest. It’s in Pennsylvania. We need a ride, by the way.”
Grace nodded. “Let’s take my car. Do you mind driving? I need to adjust my build.”
“No problem. Automatic, right?”
“Yeah. Point and shoot.”
“Perfect.”
Going inside the vehicle, Bree started the car and drove north, while Grace leaned her chair back, and closed her eyes.
Choose a new Secondary Class:
1: Sniper (Rare). A master of camouflage and picking valuable targets. Main Stat: DEX
2: Gunslinger (Rare): Short Range AoE discipline. Discharges flurries of shots to clear ads or inflict DOTs on multiple enemies. Main Stat: DEX
3: Tactician (Epic): Available because of your Tactical Planning Perk. You can develop into a valuable field general. Albeit underestimated in favor of Strategists, a Tactician is the one winning the Battles. Main Stat: INT
Thinking back, Grace didn’t like the Assassin class at all. It was imposed by conjuncture. Now, the logical choice was clear: Tactician, but her heart was drawn to Gunslinger because she liked shooting. But fun was not as important as helping Rowan, and being together. He owed him one, for all her wrongdoings, so she sighed and went for Tactician.
“When my kids were toddlers, and we lost our house, I worked as an erotic camgirl for a year. That allowed us to buy our camping trailer. I felt… dirty, and we argued a lot about it, but we survived. Don’t whip yourself too hard, we all have our skeletons in closets.”
Grace stared at Bree for a second, swallowing a lump. The Ranger had misinterpreted Grace’s sigh, yet she had hit the target. What Grace did, tricking Isla and Rowan, for her own sake, was foul. Having sex with Isla, using her seduction abilities on both her best friend and Rowan? Dirty was the nicest word for it… But at least, now, that was water under the bridge.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Thank you,” she fondled the Ranger’s shoulder, tears flowing down her cheeks. “You’re a good friend.”
“Pleasure. You know what? Let’s socialize more. As soon we find a proper house, come visit. Our kids are the same age.”
“Aren’t you living in one of those mansions in the Central Square?” Grace jerked her head back.
“Not anymore. We moved back into the VR. Have you seen the size of the bathrooms? And no open space? Who build those damn’ things, some European?”
“Worse. Cora. That’s why we didn’t move into the official mansion. The kitchen is in the basement, and we’re supposed to have servants to bring the food up. I don’t want to have servants, I want to cook myself and socialize with our guests while at that. Do you know Cora pees in a litter and dislikes water? She has an ultrasound shower in her room, some weird tech stuff… Sorry… I shouldn’t have ratted…” Grace covered her cheeks.
“That explains a lot of things… however, she’s a sweet girl. Give her a chance.”
“I’ll try,” Grace sighed.
“Try harder. Friendship, relationships, and decency are the only things holding the world together. Cora could have just shot me when we met, but…”
A little dirty alien… but cute, I’ll give her that… And she’s not holding grudges… guess we’ll have to learn to be friends… Grace thought, Bree’s words fading from her ears for a moment, then reappearing again.
“Sam is thinking of getting a farm around here. The mana-infused potatoes are a good crop,” Bree’s voice appeared in her ears again.
“The County will pay for it,” Grace said on autopilot, looking outside.
It was the same road where the Battle had been fought, a few weeks prior, and her heart skipped a beat. Then, the blue portal appeared and they passed through seamlessly, appearing on another mountain road, with snow around. Bree turned on the heating, but Grace extracted a pullover from her spatial inventory, just in case.
“Don’t you find it strange that every mini-dungeon we found was in a forest?” Bree asked.
“Cora says the ship teleported them by design into remote areas, to avoid detection. Sorry, I need a moment to check my stats.”
Grace returned to her Character Menu. It didn’t look great. She had joined Rowan for claiming a mini-dungeon Core, once, and leveled to forty-five, but had been too preoccupied with her promiscuous nightly activities to invest in builds.
Name: Grace Allinder, Class: Seer/Tactician, Level 45 (10 free APs)
STR: 15 / DEX: 29 / CON: 50 / INT: 31 / WIL: 25 / CHA: 31
Fuck… I need INT, but don’t have enough APs…
The wise choice would have been to wait, but Grace felt the urge to throw the ten free APs into Strength and then inspected her perks.
NEW! Strength perk, Threshold 1, Seer: Sure Body, Sure Mind. Ignore all CC effects that don’t have a strong Physical component: Blindness, Daze, Confusion, Disorientation, Deafness, Hypnosis, etc. Active effect: uses your Seer senses instead of your vision or hearing, but consumes 5 Mana /second.
NEW! Strength Perk, Threshold 1, Tactician: Handler: You have better control of weapons and can dual-wield heavier versions, both in ranged and melee combat. Improves aim, stability, and balance. Synergizes with WIL and DEX first threshold Perks.
Dexterity Perk, Threshold 1, Seer: + 25% damage with ranged weapons. You can See weak spots and have a +25% chance of delivering Critical Damage to them.
CHANGED! Dexterity Perk, Threshold 1, Tactician: Anticipates the enemies' movements. +25% to Parry and Evade.
Constitution Perk, Threshold 1+2, Seer: Enhanced Toughness +50% Physical Resistances, immune to small arms bullets.
MODIFIED! Constitution Perk, Threshold 1, Tactician: Synergic Additive. Adds +25% Physical Resistance to Seer’s CON perks 1+2 by consuming 5 Mana/second.
MODIFIED! Constitution Perk, Threshold 2, Tactician: Blood Gift - Sexy and Dangerous (Epic perk)
Grace already knew what that CON perk did so she skipped it. It was time for her Magical stats.
Intelligence Perk, Threshold 1, Seer: Manager. From businesses to logistics, your daughter's chores, or homework, you have a knack for organizing things.
ENHANCED! Intelligence Perk, Threshold 1, Tactician: Enhanced Tactical Planning. You can put up a plan for attack or retreat in mere seconds, for a party or an army.
Will Perk, Threshold 1, Seer: You have better control of your body and emotions when under stress. Useful both in combat and for your private life.
MODIFIED! Will Perk, Threshold 1, Tactician: Resolve. You have the patience to apply your plans, despite the obstacles in your path. You don’t lose hope easily. + 25% Mental Resistance.
Charisma Perk, Threshold 1, Seer: Trustworthy: When your intuitions are true, your words can convince others about their truthfulness.
MODIFIED! Charisma Perk, Threshold 1, Tactician: Bespoke Attraction. You have gone to great lengths to ensnare the man you love. Despite your not-so-good actions, the intentions were true. You and your husband, Rowan Allinder, have an increased mutual attraction and connection, both physical and mental. This can translate into an intense love life, endearing family activities, or high-quality stage performances.
The last perk almost made her cry, but Grace forced herself to sobriety. And it was time, there was a police roadblock just ahead.
“Hi, are you with the Classed team?” a policewoman asked when Bree stopped.
“Yep.”
“Thank goodness! Godspeed, can’t wait to get rid of it.”
“That was a friendly welcome,” Grace stated as they drove on.
“According to the mission’s brief, this dungeon was discovered a while ago, but the government kept the information under the lid. They sent the Army to clear it, and failed, then tried with the Neeks, and failed again. Now that the government is gone, the local authorities cut a deal with us, they want the Dungeon gone. It’s near a huge college campus and cuts the main communication roads. A lot of college nerds tried to clear the dungeon as well and got killed. The good thing is this dungeon lets you get out if you feel like it. OK, here we are.”
The car slowed and parked near two other cars, a minivan and a 4x4. Next to the road, on a clearing covered in snow, people trained. There was Carla, two Asian men, one in Samurai armor, and a tall blonde Grace could recognize from a mile away. The Vampire who had kissed Grace, giving her the Blood Gift.
“What’s she doing here?” she blurted, trying to extract her handgun from the spatial storage. Which was not quite organized, as instead of the gun, there was first a purse, falling out, then another purse, various makeup items, a pair of nylon socks, some sexy underwear she kept at hand for… a more speedy approach to her and Rowan’s dalliances, a pack of cigarettes she used to smoke in secret, once in a blue moon… and the deluge stopped there because Bree caught her hand.
“Hold your horses, sweet plum. She’s our ally now.”
Grace braced herself for a yelling argument, but after inhaling deeply, she relented. Bree was right. “I forgot. You know her?”
“I forgot. You know her?”
“We worked together for the last couple of weeks. She trained us, hasn’t Rowan told you?”
No, because he fell asleep every single minute he could catch alone… My fault… mine and Isla’s.
Thinking of Rowan made her miss him so much that she had to call, never mind waking him up. “Hi, honey,” she blurted as soon as he answered.
“Mmm… Hi…” his sleepy voice said.
“I’m going with Bree on an adventure. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe… I’m sorry… for what I did.”
“Water under the bridge. I'm happy we cleared with storm together… I really want to make this relationship work,” his voice suddenly got revived.
“Thank you... Me too… Have to go… love you.” Closing the phone, Grace busied picking up the mess she created from the car’s floor, avoiding Bree’s amused gaze. Finally, she exited the car, shivering under the colder weather.
“Use your movement Perks, you fucking rookies,” the blonde Vampire yelled. “Like this!” she demonstrated a lightning-fast move, forward and backward.
“Are those our guys?” Grace asked. “Never saw them before.”
“We’re working together with the other towns to gather cores,” Bree said. “We help there, they help here.”
“The Countess?” the Vampire frowned. “Come here.” The Vampire grabbed Grace by the elbow, pulling her behind the car. “What have you done with my gift? Downgraded to Epic?”
“I have my stats displayed?” Grace frowned.
“No, but my Inspect is unbeatable, I’m a Scout. I don’t need you to tell me how it happened, you have the Warlord’s mark all over you. Keep a low profile, people, don’t you realize he can end you with a wink? OK… let me see… well, at least you kept your offensive capabilities.
"You do have some body armor, right? How about a bow and arrows? This is a Goblinoid dungeon, we need stealth, or we will be overwhelmed in no time. No guns, too noisy. You have five minutes to prepare.”
Sighing, Grace fiddled around in her inventory, finally extracting her bow and quiver, medium body armor, and a light leather helmet. She managed to get ready in four minutes.
“Accept the party invite and let’s go!” the Vampire yelled. “Just follow my orders and everything will be fine.” She reminded Grace of Isla, only colder and meaner, and by far not so sexy. Much too skinny and pale.