Having spent so long struggling to get by, working in a shitty job, and having to put up with so much bullshit to make ends meet gave me a strong sense of work ethic. That translated into my need to be up relatively early each morning, being productive. Either by working on my Shape-Shifting or the Manipulate Element practice I’d been doing recently.
So far, none of the sales I’d put up on Bitsy had sold, but that wasn’t surprising at their value. I couldn’t rush things. I knew that it was going to be a trickle at first until the brand built a name and a reputation. In the meantime, I had to continue practicing and building my skills so I could come up with new designs that could sell
With Manipulate Element currently maxed, and me having not bought the next rank yet, it really only left Shape-Shifting to practice and drill with in the mornings if I wanted to actually train, and the core skill was still obstinately stuck at a mastery rating of nine-hundred and twenty out of one-thousand. The ticker hadn’t budged in weeks, and I was debating trying to gamble with my remaining pure mana crystals to see if I could push it up the last bit to rank up.
I was currently holding several thousand SP still, and unsure of what to spend it on. During dinner the previous night, Kassandra and Rieka had batted back and forth the different types of magic I should look into with my new access to the primal schools, but we made no further headway in deciding which way to go, as they both had good points to make.
And this was how I ended up awake with the sun, sprawled in Kassandra’s bed while pinned down by my scaled lover being sprawled over my chest, while Rieka lay curled up between my legs, using my right thigh as a pillow. Awake, and unhappy to be so because both my lovers were still sleeping so peacefully.
Shifting just a bit, I stretched out my left leg and wiggled my toes before relaxing again while I stared at the beautifully painted ceiling that hung over Kassandra’s bed. The faint threads of sunlight that managed to creep past the curtains were chasing each other across the ceiling, an action that sent delicate streamers of illumination over the pale paint and dark hardwoods of the molding.
Will the idea work? I turned it over in my mind again. The thought had been haunting my idle moments since the power had presented itself to me, and I had wanted it to be a surprise. I should just ask Cariad.
Sighing quietly, the action caused the mountain of red curls draped over my chest to stir slightly. As this was the only thing concealing the lush form of my lover who was currently pretending to be a blanket on top of me, I puffed once or twice more playfully until Kassandra gave a quiet groan and shifted, burrowing deeper into my chest while her muscled tail squeezed me once in a sleepy hug before she stilled again.
Deciding not to tease my lovers and let them sleep—I’d certainly kept them up late enough the previous night—I closed my eyes to focus more intently on the message I was composing to send to another of the gorgeous women in my life.
Though, unlike the others, you’re likely to melt if you touch Cariad. Also, she’s the only one that you have only just been flirting with, I reminded myself as I opened up our message history.
Liam
Hey Cari, sorry to message you so early in the day—well, it’s early for me at least—but I had something I wanted to ask you. I recently hit another milestone with the System and it opened up some ability options that I’m both curious about and worried over. I’d been planning to bring it up at my next training match with Cerebaton, but I figured you might need to do some digging, so I should alert you ahead of time.
Like usual, Cariad was quick to respond to my message, something that made me wonder if whatever messaging setup the System used had her personal number rather than her work one.
Cariad
Morning Liam! And no worries, I was already up and getting started on the day. I got the alert about the threshold reward. Congratulations on that, by the way. The System keeps a lot of stuff to itself, privacy reasons and the like, so I can’t exactly see your power set when I open up the interface on my end. But feel free to ask me anything. If I don’t know the answer, we can always ask Mr. Cerebaton. He may act grumpy more often than not, but he’s happy to help out.
Liam
Grumpy is putting it lightly. Still, I appreciate that both of you are willing to help me with this. So, rather than beating around the bush, I’ll just say it outright. The System offered me something called Manipulate Element (Primal) and it gives me access to some types of magic I’m hesitant to embrace without asking first. The four it gives me the option to choose from are: light, dark, time, and entropy. You can guess which one makes me nervous.
While I waited for Cariad to respond, I adjusted my arms slightly so that my left hand could stroke lightly through Kassandra’s hair, enjoying the feeling of her soft curls beneath my fingers while she made happy little noises in her sleep. My right hand cupped the back of Rieka’s head, with my thumb slowly tracing the edge of one of her pointed ears as she nuzzled into her pillow as well. I might be awake far earlier than my girls, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy having them close.
I was just daydreaming about what it would be like to spend all my time here on Cortha with my girls when Cariad’s response arrived.
Cariad
Liam, first of all I want to congratulate you. Gaining access to the primal schools is not something that happens for most Travelers. Usually, you would have to aspect your mana to something adjacent, and it would normally give you the option for a single school. Not the four core schools at once. It makes me wonder what in human genetic history is prompting this. You were given Shape-Shifting as part of your initial package, and a wide range of magic too. I feel like there is a lot that is going unsaid right now and it concerns me. But that’s not something you need to worry about. I’m going to guess that your concern is about the entropy school that was offered, and what it might do?
Liam
Got it in one, Cari. I know how… emphatically you and Cerebaton reacted when we found the entropic-aligned monster wandering around in that ruin and I wanted to ask you about it. I won’t take the power if you advise me against it. Also, I can only put the ‘time’ school on the same tier as it, given that it is as equally mysterious. My girls didn’t have any information on them, really. So I figured I’d turn to my favorite daemon for advice.
Cariad
Favorite am I? Mr. Cerebaton will be so disappointed.
I smirked at her teasing tone in the message. I could easily see Cariad shooting me a wink while sticking her tongue out, blue-green eyes glittering with amusement.
Liam
He shouldn’t be. He knows you are outstanding, after all. If you hadn’t told me he was your boss, I’d assume he was your brother with how protective he is of you.
Cariad
Stop that, Mr. Cerebaton is just my boss. I don’t think I could actually work for my family. It’d be way too awkward, and it always feels like, with family, they expect you to work extra for no real compensation. But back to your point! What do you know about entropy, specifically?
Liam
Entropy is considered to be the heat-death of the universe. The eventual chaotic end-state of all matter where all things will decline into disorder is what I remember finding online when I researched it.
Cariad
Spot on with most of that, but your phrasing isn’t quite on target. Rather than disorder, you should call it ‘chaos.’ Which I know means the same thing in your language, but it’s the more recognized name that is in the System database. Entropy is chaos, and that heat-death you mentioned is the ultimate form of chaos. A point where all things have intermixed to where nothing is distinguishable and only chaos remains. It’s the effect that surrounds daemon’s bodies and causes us to dissolve organized matter when we touch it. Why such an effect doesn’t cause our own bodies, which are a collection of organized matter, is something I don’t know the answer to. I just know it’s magical, and magic is weird.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Liam
Fair enough. But what about time? Rieka asked about that one and suggested some interesting ideas, but since it’s set as opposition to entropy, then I’m expecting a connection like ‘light versus dark,’ but I’m not seeing it.
Cariad
That’s because you lack a point of perspective. Time is a means of measurement that is applicable to almost all things. And if you can measure something, you can organize it. Even entropy can be measured over a period of time, and thus categorized and organized. So if entropy is chaos, that makes time the agent of order.
Liam
That is confusing, but also makes sense in a very strange way. So what kind of abilities can I expect to see from these powers? Earth magic gave me the ability to manipulate earth itself, either by shifting it, compacting it, or molding it. How does that equate to order and chaos, or time and entropy?
Cariad
That is something you’d have to experiment with. You’ll want to be very careful of touching either effect too, as both can harm you even in small amounts. I believe it would fall into the ‘do not lick the science’ if I understand euphemisms from your homeworld. :)
I snickered at that, which caused Kassandra to stir again. A gentle stroke of her hair calmed her once more and her breathing returned to normal. Rieka didn’t move, other than her ears flicking on occasion as I softly rubbed their base. With an effort of will, I held back the mischief that Kassandra had been interjecting into my personality and didn’t offer to lick Cariad’s science, as I had no idea how the attractive daemon woman would react to that. Our flirting had been reserved so far, but I did find her attractive. Only the perils of physically touching her prevented me from considering doing more.
Liam
So you know that it is dangerous, but can’t go beyond that?
Cariad
Liam, you are asking what will happen if you start meddling with intrinsic building blocks of reality. As a daemon, I carry a bit of entropy with me at all times. That doesn’t mean I can actually project it like a weapon. But if the System offered the ability to you, then it has information on it and believes that it will not cause some kind of cascading effect that would destroy reality as we know it. Trust your instincts on this.
Liam
My instincts told me to ask you and Cerebaton before making any decisions.
Cariad
Smart instincts. I’ll do some extra research and talk to Cerebaton to see if he knows anything specific. If we can figure out something for you, I’ll let you know. Being cautious about this isn’t a bad thing. I looked up the entry for Manipulate Element (Primal) in the System and it mentioned that they are mutually exclusive. So you won’t have the ability to use the other side to fix something, and it’s not as easy to shut off entropic decay by just dumping water over it as it would be for a fire. :P
I snickered again at Cariad’s cute emoji she included in her message, and was about to formulate a response when I felt something soft and wet against my right thigh. I wasn’t able to see past the barrier made by Kassandra’s thick mane of red hair, but I could feel Rieka stirring slightly. The wet sensation came again as her head turned to press her face into my leg, and I deduced she was kissing my thigh lightly.
“Liam,” Rieka’s voice was low and a little raspy from sleep. “You awake?”
I didn’t respond verbally, but I used the hand gently stroking her ear to tickle it, getting a sleepy giggle from my blonde lover.
“Oh, is this for me?” I heard Rieka murmur a moment before the soft sensation of lips pressed to my manhood, which had been doing his morning sentry duty given the amount of luscious female flesh pressed to me.
As I felt Rieka’s lips kiss their way up my shaft to wrap around my head with a wet noise, I had to suppress a groan of need as my little soldier came to a sharp attention at her affection. Deciding that I could worry more about the new potential for power that could unravel reality around me, I tangled the hand I had on Rieka’s head into her hair and gently guided her down onto my morning wood while she hummed happily.
<><><>
“Mother is looking into getting more of them for us, but it will take time. I told her what sort of budget we had, and while she was curious how I’d gotten that kind of funding, she didn’t question it,” Rieka was explaining several hours later while I and my four summoners sat around a small table in Rieka’s rooms.
Rieka had been rather insistent about getting her treat that morning and the more vigorous motions had woken Kassandra, who also insisted on a turn too. By the time the two of them were satisfied again, it was already late morning, and we needed to meet up with the other two girls to discuss our schedule for the next two weeks leading up to the actual competition. Because of that, we decided to shift the meeting to Rieka’s rooms, which would definitely smell fresher than Kassandra’s did at the moment.
I had told the girls that I still had the extra pure mana crystals that Rieka had given me, having held onto them for now to see if there was a more efficient use for them than just boosting my point totals.
The small glass bottle now sat in the center of the fine oak table, the nine clear stones inside glittering like diamonds in the light of the day that streamed in through the window.
“I’m still surprised that you are asking for our input on this,” Jane was leaning forward on the table, a stack of parchment pages in front of her that she was making notes on while we all talked. The mouse kin woman had elected herself as the scribe of the group, taking notes on what we suggested and offering to draw up a schedule once we had things figured out.
“Why would I not? The whole summoning class thing was supposed to be you helping to raise a summoned creature to be a companion. Sure, I have to agree to the things you want to train me to do, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t include you all in the decision-making process for my powers.” I shrugged and smiled down at the mouse-eared woman, who blushed only slightly before nodding in understanding.
“You mentioned that your Shape-Shifting is getting close to its next threshold. Why not use a few of these to push it to that edge?” Kassandra asked from her spot between Rieka and Jane. My mischievous noodle had decided to give up her spot on my left to Shayla, something the moth woman was quite happy for as she sat close enough that we were nearly touching as she studied the stones. When Shayla had first arrived in the room, right after our greeting hugs, she had settled into a spot on my left and to the side, holding onto the back of my sleeve with one hand until we settled at the table.
The whole ‘moth clinging to me’ thing is so adorable… I thought with a smile while watching Shayla study the stones intently. It’s like she doesn’t even realize she’s doing it, she just settles in and likes to have a hand on or near me. After carrying Kassandra like a backpack the other day, I can only imagine Shayla would be just as happy to perch there too, though with her size I dunno if it would work.
“Liam?” Kassandra’s prodding drew my attention back to the table, and I blinked, looking around to realize that three of the four girls were staring at me now.
“Sorry, I got distracted thinking. I’m hanging on to them because of their rarity. If I need just a little boost to buy a skill, then I can use a few. When I use them to boost mastery, it is randomized so I don’t know for sure what I’ll get. It could just boost my Ward Companion skill, which can easily level up from use right now. We just need to get it to discharge before I reset it.”
That was something else we had learned over the last few days. I’d tried to reapply the warding effect, but it refused to take since a ward was already in place. It took a concerted effort to actually get the ward to trigger. Kassandra tossing stuff at Rieka playfully wouldn’t make it happen. So during our training, whoever I was with would spar with each other to get the wards to discharge so I could replace them. These only got trickles of mastery at the moment, but it would add up.
“That makes sense to be careful, but holding all of them is not efficient, I think,” Shayla said, not taking her eyes away from the stones. “I think you should reserve three of them for emergencies and use the others. Either to gain more of your ‘points’ to buy powers, or to boost the ones you have. You won’t be wasting them either way, but sitting here without being used is a waste. If they give you something you need to practice, then you should be practicing now.”
“She makes a good point,” Jane added thoughtfully, tapping the shaft of the metallic pen she was using against the table lightly. “At the moment, our training with you is whatever tasks we can come up with, time on the magic range, and the handful of sparring matches we’ve been able to work out with Lady Valda.”
“Which I appreciate quite a bit. Having someone else to spar with, especially in hand-to-hand, is a blessing.”
“And I know Rachel is learning from you every time she comes by to watch you work,” Kassandra teased with a grin, her slitted eyes sparkling behind her spectacles. The elf woman made a habit of coming by to talk whenever we were in the magic training range, always listening raptly when I described the processes I went through with my spells. Her not approaching me to form a summoner bond had surprised me, but I didn’t push the issue. I had more than enough to manage right now with the four summoners I was dealing with currently.
“Shayla? Is everything okay? You’ve been staring at those for some time now.” The concern in Rieka’s voice was obvious and Shayla blushed, leaning back from the glass bottle full of shimmering crystals and finally looking away.
“They just look so familiar. I remember my mother having something like this years ago before we moved. But I haven’t seen it since. I’ve been trying to remember more about it, to figure out if what she had was a gem or one of these mana crystals. If she knew where to get them, it might help Liam.” Shayla said the last part shyly, darting a glance in my direction as her antennae wafted gently back and forth. Her blush only intensified when I patted the hand currently holding onto my sleeve comfortingly.
“Well, if you do figure it out, let us know? Even if we have to import them, it might come in handy.” Shayla nodded in agreement with my request, still not letting go of the light grip she had on my sleeve.
“Anyway, let’s figure out the plans for the next two weeks. We need to make sure we get Liam as ready as possible for the competition. Gods and magic know I need the boost to get my grades up,” Jane sighed. “Those months of fighting with the sylph really tanked my numbers. I wish I’d thought to approach you three sooner.”
“Don’t worry about it, Jane. I’m sure Liam will do great in the competition and blow everyone else away!” Kassandra’s cheerful enthusiasm quickly carried all of us along, and we set to planning with fervor. I focused especially hard on the planning, as Rieka’s hand on my lap, under the table, did its best to distract me as she played her fingers over my crotch.