Blake lay awake with his half naked Korean girlfriend. At least, he thought she was his girlfriend. In the robo-apocalypse and after the re-forming of reality they’d come to call ‘The Great Game’, old relationship rules seemed…rather out the window.
There was, after all, no Facebook status to check. There was no internet, for that matter. Most of the world was just an empty, swirling maelstrom of natural life and monsters trying to kill you. But Blake had made peace with that. He sighed and looked at the beautiful girl asleep in his arms, her exposed breasts squished tight against his chest.
Her name was Seul-ki, and she was a ‘player’ in the game like him, as opposed to ‘civilians’ who couldn’t hurt players and vice versa. She had helped him greatly in deposing the former chief of their settlement—currently called Nassau, though he supposed he might change it. And despite their various intimacies, she was somewhat mysterious.
He didn’t actually know the name of her class. She could even alter her appearance, which she did with everyone but him. He was the only one who knew how beautiful she was. That thought rather pleased him, and as she sighed slightly he pulled her in even closer and kissed her hair.
Yeah, he decided. Girlfriend.
Probably. But then it wasn’t like he could meet her parents.
They’d all entered this ‘new world’ alone, told their ‘old commitments and ties’ were officially gone.
But that wasn’t true for Blake, nor for his brother Mason who’d bled and killed his way to Blake through a giant forest. This thought, too, made him smile. They had been together since the age of five—orphans adopted by the same family. Blake had sworn nothing would ever separate them, and he meant to keep that promise. Even if RoboGod had other plans.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?” Seul-ki mumbled and kissed Blake’s chest.
He sighed. Because my mind is filled with thoughts on how to level and how to grow and develop this town and also about your naked body?
“Restless. I might just get up.”
“Do you need help sleeping?” Seul-ki trailed a delicate finger down Blake’s chest and stomach, and he felt his dick twitch without her even touching it.
It wouldn’t help, he knew. Empty balls almost never stopped Blake’s mind from running off for more than a minute.
"I wouldn't mind a massage..."
Seul-ki rose up and yawned with a cute little sound, her eyes half closed as her breasts jiggled with the movement. Then she dropped down to her hands and knees and leaned in for a sleepy, intimate kiss. Blake cupped her face and deepened it, tasting her tongue.
“OK,” she said, grinning against him. “But later you owe me.” Then she shifted him over and straddled his back, working her magic fingers into his shoulders.
Seul-ki was a virgin. She was from a conservative culture and family and had yet to get past the idea of sex before marriage. But Blake was working on that. He was, in fact, improving their closeness with his magic powers—a reality she both knew about and encouraged him to keep doing.
Life in the apocalypse, it was fair to say, was complicated.
Blake inhaled as Seul-ki’s elbow dug into a particularly stubborn knot.
He forced himself to focus with a healthy dose of will.
Just enjoy it and relax. Let her do her thing.
He decided to further distract himself by pulling up his neglected profile.
Blake Nimitz
Level: 6
Class: Arcanist
Strength - 2
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Dexterity - 2
Vitality - 3
Intellect - 8
Will - 6
Presence - 10
Luck - 42
Titles: Alpha01, Alpha Tester, Patron, Killer
Powers: Mental Influence (enhanced), Telekinesis, Meditation, Mind Bend, Arcane Affinity, Arcane Blast
There was some stat increases in there for sure. Blake actually had two levels waiting to be assigned—level five and six, which he’d earned after defeating the former chief of Nassau and taking the town. Everyone had a time limit, but it seemed just being Blake or by becoming a town patron increased that time limit considerably, giving him several days.
Tonight, though, was his last, and mostly the reason he couldn’t sleep.
[Warning: Two level(s) to apply. Please make your choices, or bonuses will be automatically selected in six hours.]
Yeah, yeah.
He might have been annoyed, but instead he sighed at the feel of Seul-ki’s hands sliding up his skin, his tension draining away.
Focus, he reminded himself. You’re almost out of time. You have to make a damn decision!
The problem was this: Blake was currently an Arcanist class—a very broad generalist that gave him a huge array of power choices. But level five was forcing him to specialize. And as usual, his list was immense. They were listed in alphabetical order, and he’d counted at least fifty-three different class options. Most he discounted instantly.
Purely offensive classes like ‘pyromancer’ were not his style, and likely also foolish. Live by the flame, die by the flame, and all that. What Blake really still wanted was flexibility.
The ‘Guild Mage’ appealed to him—it seemed associated with his status as a settlement patron, the idea being to lead a cabal of wizards and gain various bonuses. But the only ‘wizards’ he knew were Seul-ki, and a Bellarussian named Alex, another support class with ill-defined loyalty.
Kineticist? It matched his telekinesis power, but he rarely used it. And the class sounded vaguely like a masseuse.
His eyes rolled away from the text as Seul-ki ground into another sneaky knot He ran a finger across her shin in gratitude and groaned.
Right. Classes. Fuck it. It was time for brutal objectivity and honesty. He wasn’t even going to consider ninety per cent of the choices. When it came right down to it, after whining about his loss of freedom, he was going to take one of two choices: Arcane Steward, or Psion.
[Arcane Steward. Arcane affinity. Mana caster. Seer, advisor, battle mage. In and out of combat, the Arcane Steward can both lead and follow. Applicability: high.
[Psion. Mental Affinity. Mana caster. Master of mind magic. The Psion is a flexible and worthy adversary both in and out of combat. Applicability: high.
The Steward was clearly designed to be some kind of patron-wizard. It seemed like a ‘leader’ class, magic mixed with support functions. He didn’t have enough detail to know how it worked precisely and dearly wished he did. Such classes in video games could either be underwhelming and unnecessary, or vital to practically every team. But with the way this damn game worked he had no way of knowing in advance.
Psion, on the other hand, was the obvious choice for how he’d experienced the game thus far. His ‘mind’ powers were his absolute mainstay and how he’d survived. But he’d also picked those powers mostly on a whim, hoping he would greatly expand his repertoire of spells in the future, eventually having something for every situation. It seemed, however, the game wanted specialists.
He stared at Psion for the thousandth time and felt a different kind of willpower breaking down. He told himself again and again the powers he'd chosen were largely tactical and spur of the moment. But deep in his heart he knew he just wanted them.
Fuck it. You know the answer, he realized. Accept reality. You can’t have it all.
All his life he’d loved superheroes and villains, and if someone had asked him what one ability he could pick, it would be mind powers. A thought vaguely flickered through his brain, probably with far less concern than it should have.
Am I Professor X, he wondered briefly, or Mister Mind?
It didn’t matter. That was the truth. Life was grey and survival and didn't give a shit about little boys who ran away to be homeless and then in an orphanage because it was better, far better. Life only cared about how dangerous a man was. How useful.
He picked Psion, and watched the text swirl with results.
[Psion specialty class selected. Merging with Arcanist Powers. Synergy discovered!]
[Power: Mind Bend changed to Mind Control. Psions do not bend minds, they break them.]
[Item gained. Psionic gem: Extra mana for a rainy day. Innate.]
Blake shivered as a strange sensation flickered up and down his body, ending in his head and intensifying until a ringing sound overtook the world. It built and built until it became painful, then vanished as fast as it began.
"Are you alright? Is it too much?"
"I'm fine, thank you." Blake blinked back to reality. "Keep going, you're doing wonderfully."
Seul-ki kissed Blake's neck, then kept massaging with long, slow strokes, and he closed his eyes and sighed.
“Chief! Chief!”
Blake practically growled at the voice through his door. He recognized it as Garet Franks—a former enemy who worked for the old chief, now serving Blake as something of a guard. That he had entered Blake’s private wing of the main hall meant he had something he believed important.
“What is it?” he called back roughly.
“Sorry to disturb, Chief, but there’s people coming down the river on a boat. Thought you’d wanna know.”
Blake sighed. But it was hard to be annoyed while leveling and getting a massage. He sighed and turned over, giving Seul-ki a kiss and a squeeze.
"Rain check," he smiled. Then louder: “I’ll be right out.”
Then he slipped out of the bed without another thought, threw on some clothes, and walked out into the hall.