Ikrei P.O.V.
“The need for sex is increasing, I cannot go back yet. Not without the song or I won’t be able to do the last two hunts.”
The problem in Zunar for hunting musky bears isn’t the fearbeasts. It is the availability of them. Musky bear hides are coveted for multiple reasons. From clothing to the strange nature of some of the bears cores. In Zunar, they are almost extinct. You have to jump into an ancient rift to find them.
Ancient rifts are the remnants of the conflicts of the gods in the bygone unknown history era. All this according to Puri. The bears still live there, plenty of them. They are stronger even; their cores are special due to where they live. In order to enter many of the rifts that are mapped out properly, you need to go through the kingdom procedures. This is where Queen Abrila really makes her money.
Agent Black was going to be busy for a while. Money, lots of money and a piece of ass.
‘Need to talk to Krigsain about my condition.’
Sarkan told me, “Figure it out yourself. You have plenty of help already.”
Yes, that was what he said. Cold.
‘When the hell are you coming back master?’
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I was listening to the finalized version of “Fǎngwèn Yúkuài”. The song I gave the boss as my first assignment. A good level of polish in comparison to my original work. Then again, the band here were professionals. The joyful happy tune was a success among the gathered.
“Half of them are drunk out of their minds, though.”
The western version with my lyrics was playing. Glass in hand with the strange barman, in his meticulously worked counter. The seat was very, very cushy. The main reason I mostly took my drinks here.
“♪I can’t tell whether you are drunk
Or you are all about to be
All I know, is you are in our bar
Beautiful things in your hand
Girls, is all that you’ll find
Think no more, visit our rompy bar♪
♪ Drinks on every dark corner
Songs are sung by the lovers
Add a little to your kin apple
Hey! Throw me a Thurskan bottle!
Are you already that drunk?
You are in our rompy bar♪
The small added bridge resounded. The piano was nice.
“They seem to like it.”
“It’s a song for drunkards, Sochu.”
“Where is this playing again?”
“It’s just a joke, a joke that somehow works here.” I explained.
“Just do something better next time then.” He gave me a thumbs up.
“You have no idea, no idea, my barman.”
More drinking, lights and an effervescent crowd.
♪In our little rompy bar
Music plays to push you through
Many fun things that you can do
Inside this little rompy bar
We are all friends for life
Think no more, visit our rompy bar♪
The chorus I wrote kicked in, I stopped listening by then.
“You got some face on you kid? The cases getting harder?”
“Sort of Sucho, sort of. Just have my drinks ready when I return. I will play ketar in the corner after this few are done.”
I left the bar with the raucous crowd shouting.
“Money for nothing, tits for free!”
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Agent Black: Case 41
A widow, a Zurian widow living in Zunar. Probably my last pro bono case. She’s being pressured by a ruffian gang and their associates, they want her lands. The ones left by her former husband. Her faith has landed her in hot water since she refuses to sign the deeds over to the son of her husband. The son of another woman.
The kingdom does nothing, they want their taxes, it doesn’t matter who pays them. The Zurians do nothing, their king likes Abrila, they don’t want to intrude. They told the widow to return to Orlum, she refuses. A salad of conflicting interests.
Enter me.
‘The only Qi Gathering crazy enough to take the case, why?’
One, using Yun Hee’s powers has a drawback, demonic and malgrunian influence. Unless you are trained in her arts as she has been. You will be affected, recklessness a plenty. Second, Teng, that is it, Teng.
“I have been having a need to retain something from my own self, lately.”
The widow asked for help.
Something pure soul did was write scripture back then.
“Help a child of god, the poor, the sick, the needy, the children and the widow. If thou doth it, thou shall be doing it to me.”
The scripture he wrote on the wall of his room back in our old house.
“Zur, god of the Zurians, they say you are the light of miracles. She needs one now and so do I. Is the Will greater?”
I have a plan; it is a bit risky but the risk may provide a great reward. Puri says that Zur will answer when no one else will only if the praying one is a true faithful. I need a little of Zur’s blessing to counter my problem, long enough to finish up matters in Zunar. If all else fails, I will bolt.
‘I am not a hero, Teng. I have a malgrunian consort for goodness sake!’
In general, all this is a test of the Will, I think, so that’s out the window.
‘Yeah, I’m rolling the dice heavily here. It is getting harder to control certain urges.’
The widow was praying in a small moad, the praying structure of the Zurians. No sculptures, no paintings, just light, orgon, gold and the stars. It was nightfall. I was going to follow these bastards back to their hideout.
‘The ruffians have first core awakened hired hands and probably one second core, according to the briefing.’
Steps were heard and the widow walked away with whomever came for her.
The widow is in reality, kidnapped. She is taken somewhere with care not forcefully but with a modicum of grace, she is travelling with her cat.
She told them she was willing to sign off the papers if they left her with some money. But will only deal with their leader to close the deal. There are several properties to go over and a lot of legal procedures. The gang can’t receive it officially; it is the evil son that will benefit.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
She is travelling in a carriage towards the hidden destination with her cat. The cat fearbeast she has raised since she was a child. The thing is, that this time. The cat is not the cat but me. A ring wearing black cat.
‘Yun Hee will be puking blood due to the extensive use of the ability and eventually so will I. Sorry not sorry, beautiful plump. Follow your lord.’
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We eventually arrived at a set apart villa somewhere in Zunyl.
I had prepared for three days for this case and the one right after this.
‘Again in the red, for returning late. Boss is going to give me an earful.’
“This is pro bono! Pro bono, do not over spend hours on them!” I could already hear her scowling.
Anyways, if these guys were one of the “big boys” they would have entered through a rift and into another space. Protection, nullification, disabling of artifacts, etc. Since the report allowed for someone like me to apply, this was the threshold.
A magical ward of Akathos’ level would have disabled the connection from my ring to Yun Hee. Still, rifts of any kind will cause interference. First step, successful.
“Meow.” The obvious signal to my employer.
Asking permission, I was left outside in the garden while she headed inside the villa.
I started playing and digging up dirt and making holes and drawing the faces of the guards of the villa nearby. I hid in the holes and came back out, a catmole.
“Meow.”
I went over to a guard to point him with my paws to his face drawn with dirt and grass on the earth.
He laughed.
“Aren’t you a cute little thing. The intelligent beasts of the nobles, ain’t you?”
“Meow, meow.” I nodded combing my fur with a paw. Extra cute pose, Ciel style.
Ciel is a lover of cats, she even has a cushion cat set embroidered by herself.
I began doing jumps, cartwheels and runarounds with the guard until he got bored and left. Not before giving me what I needed from him.
His seal coin. The seal coin of whomever was his boss.
Not everyone can have proper temporal rings. Small time thugs don’t have the funds for them. This was actually a pretty big score for them. Having that second core awakened was already pushing their resources. That is why they resorted to this backhanded deal. The properties of a barely affluent widow.
‘5000 Ucra is a fortune for these guys. For me, it is barely worth the price of half a nipple.’
I dug deeper into the garden and created a tunnel to the underground and headed into the house. I knew I had about sixty breaths before the guard started looking for me. They are idiots, but idiots in awakened terms. They are better than a proficient normal human in their thinking.
Tunneling speedily, I reached the magic ward underneath the villa. Using my disabling ability from my runic ring the artifact powered protection dissipated. An elongated power claw later, I made a hole.
Puri’s history lessons gave me a general layout of Zunar architecture, thankfully, this was a standard construction. I entered the basement liquor and wine cellar.
‘Who says black cats are bad luck? Suck-u bus pawah!’
I transformed into the guard, his face mostly through the alchemical mask. I had to save the real transformation for later. I didn’t have his clothes; I was wearing the elemental cloth given by cultivator Jin. With an infusion of minimal energy, the cloth morphed into the ones that the guard had.
‘The marvels of cultivator design. Indeed Mr. Jin, indeed.’
I searched the lower floor with the seal coin tightly gripped in one hand. The other guards had it too, or should have it. I just took the one that was at hand first and didn’t want to risk it. Of course I saluted and knocked out the couple of guards that were at the entrance of the low level armory. The big boys were in the second and third floor most likely guarding proceedings.
I made speedy calculations and took everything that didn’t look to valuable. Weapons, parchments, pills, a few herb crates. Nothing extraordinary. They were supplies for their grunts, the daily usage materials. In total about 2500 Ucra worth of stuff.
‘Who would think that a thief would have better artifact stuff than the stuff he was stealing? Well, not really. Taking from those who take is allowed in the Seachar.’
“If you give no quarter, you receive no quarter, if you give no peace, you will be made pieces yourself.”
A nice verse, very nice. Sadly, I am not Iru, I don’t know where exactly that verse is. I can’t name the book. I went out of the villa carefully. I stumbled upon the same guard making his rounds.
Fifty-seven breaths. PHOW!
I knocked the man unconscious, he didn’t expect to see himself without drinks, I suppose.
I put on the necklace artifact for Ciel one more time and scanned the house and my surroundings infusing a quarter of my remaining energy into it.
[Calculating location with present inputs. Wait a moment, please.]
I had spent an entire day going through pictures, archives and layouts of the entire capital in the public library just to be able to input the information into the device. Whatever this artifact was, it was otherworldly.
‘Krigsain is a monster, a monster I say!’
[Estimated location, Hyul Borough, Zunyl capital city. Nearest station of Gildeon Knights. 400 furlongs straight ahead and then 100 furlongs to your right. Street stalls not considered in calculations.]
I had my street directions, at least I knew the area was populated. One last transformation with the last of my reserves. I choose a Zurafin. The closer you are to your transformation target, the better the results will be. I also wanted to catch the attention of any passerby. The more people knew about it the better. The ruffians will think twice before messing with the knights.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
The stomping was exhilarating. Even though my heart was about to break as I dashed away.
The thugs weren’t going to kill my client, if they did, the properties would be held back in paperwork and court cases for years. The money she gets would be around a thousand give or take. Add my 2500, that’s 3500. Better than nothing. She would have to come through for me later as per our agreement.
Final result, the thugs make money, the son gets the properties and my client walks out alive with more money than previously thought. Hope Zur is somewhat pleased.
“Ah! A fearbeast run!” “Knights, knights, where are you?!” I pay taxes you dimwits, catch that thing!”
The people called out the absurd situation.
Once I made enough headway and felt fluctuations of awakened energy I transformed again into myself. I used a 5000 Ucra dragon stele with preset coordinates near the location of the Inverted Titty.
Deep, deep in the red, but considering my next task, I was at peace with it.
URGWHOH!
The closing rift and its sound alerted many people but I was already gone, an abandoned subterranean training circle awaited me. One of the escape points for the bar’s employees.
The small vertical stone filled with runic engravings produced massive power. The dragon stele, the Lóng Bēi. A small demonstration of the Hidden Hand or as muscle mass calls him, timebreaker god. The headache was massive.
‘Cultivator world is dangerous too, scarily so.’
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Arriving at the Titty bar, I had no time for pleasantries. My energy was a mess and I was about to lose control. Excessive use of Yun Hee’s abilities and the ring, my forcefully created gaseous core was pulsating.
Baleful energy wanted to manifest or something else darker, overtaking reason.
The men of the Eternal Moon love their women but not the succubus necessarily. The malgrunian consorts are the realm of the truly rich, the truly powerful or the truly lucky/unlucky depending on your situation. There are considerable benefits but also considerable dangers. I was dealing with one of them now.
I headed with swift steps not even reporting to boss. I placed two old daggers from the ones I had “stolen” and exchanged them for a mortal pill and ran for the backrooms.
“Hey, Zuwan, your offer still on?” I asked hurriedly.
She took a few seconds to gather herself but happily nodded. I grabbed her by the hand and headed to the private washroom for the staff, one floor down, underground.
“This is crazy, he he.” She was giggling.
She was a tomboy, her parents wanted a boy but she was what they got. She was a normal girl, she cleaned me up one day when I passed out from drinking after my fifth killing contract. My dreams manifested in an inebriated state. My wood stood up and she held it. Sochu served a round of drinks for all errand boys that day. They say there’s a crystal record of that somewhere.
‘That’s what I was told anyway.’
Ever since then, as a working girl of the bar, I had a freebie option. A one-time coupon from her. Today was the day to exchange that ticket.
“Swallow.” She bursted out giggling thinking of a non-intended double meaning.
She saw the pill in my hands and grinned. She closed the door behind us with a double lock. And swallowed in one motion.
‘With that, there will be no unwanted consequences.’
The washroom was elegant and spacious, no need to find awkward positions. Regardless, we ended up near a wall. The reflection of her body was visible with the mirror. The walls were covered in crystal orgon. A mirror quality, the intricacies of cultivator taste, they like watching all angles.
“I’ve been waiting for this, Mr. Black.”
A second later, she gave me a big wet kiss. Her hands expertly sliding down to where my belt was.
I returned the favor with a passionate embrace letting her do what she wanted down below. My hands slipped down to her pants. I touched her over her clothes. She was already dripping through the fabric.
“Normal people fantasize of sleeping with the awakened, magi and the cultivators.”
It was showing.
The kiss lasted for long or for just a few minutes, I couldn’t tell. In my desperate desire to release all I knew was that her pants were down, her panties torn off and my member was freed from its prison.
Before me laid a moist clit and a v shaped red garden. Her eyes fixated on my “thing.”
Unable to take any more of the energy discharge within me, in one go, I lifted Zuwan and impaled her. There wasn’t going to be anymore foreplay nor care. This was survival not entertainment.
The dark energy wanted to engulf me. The core exhausted, dark thoughts, evil feelings came over me. All this while I pounded.
“Oh.”
Phat! Phat! Phat!
“Oh!”
After a few more strong repetitions with Zuwan’s accompanying moans my thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Phat! Phat! Phat!
The runic ring is a wondrous thing but it was never intended to be used like this. The strong control the weak and the weak benefit from it while being complaint. One gets an obedient person the other gets what they can never get by themselves. Fair exchange.
Phat! Phat! Phat!
I kept thinking and analyzing, not hearing anything.
Our situation as a dual cultivating pair was and is the reverse. The ring was brute forcing Yun Hee’s power into me. The Heavenly Demon’s way of telling the stronger one to break free from the fetters.
“The strong should never tolerate the whims of the weak.”
A repeated quote around here in the bar.
Phat! Phat! Phat!
‘I am already too deep in.’
Phat! Phat! Phat!
Many breaths later, I coughed up blood as expected. But the wild conflagration of energies was stabilizing.
I pounded into oblivion.
“Mr. Black, uh…Mr. Black, Ohh!”
Zuwan was enjoying herself. I was releasing the energy and regaining my senses. And a little vixen in a faraway villa was coughing up blood on the floor uncontrollably, certainly.
“Ah.”
“Ah.”
‘Sorry, really. Follow your lord.’