A confusing storm of thoughts and emotions was rampaging through Tess’s mind as she sat on a distant hill overlooking Havenport. Charles was right that the city lacked the power to stop her from objecting to their ridiculous laws, which she had opted to flee in embarrassment from rather than force her way into the city.

It seemed that the reason that Havenport had bodies to throw at serious issues was a result of laws practically forcing maternity on all women living in or passing through the city. Charles had tried to lie about Tess’s pregnancy status, which would have resulted in her classification as an ‘Orange’ woman. However, her touching the crystal and the subsequent ‘Red’ classification that had been applied to her meant that if she entered the city, Charles would have to before she was reclassified as a ‘Green.’ Once ‘Green,’ any man in the city could have at her.

She considered it a vile set of laws and as Tess thought about it, her anger towards the city grew. Then she would think about the innocent people that would be injured if she destroyed the city, whether it was from her own power or the displacement that would occur afterwards. While she vehemently disagreed with their practice, she was not in a position to instill her own beliefs.

She subconsciously grabbed at the necklace still around her neck, its deep red crystal glowing softly. ‘Deep Red’ was actually a further classification of the ‘Reds’ which meant the wearer was untouched. This distinction was generally only held by the young women of the city that were underaged, so knowledge of Tess’s lack of experience being widely known was what had further caused her embarrassment and flight. She knew how things worked, but had just never been with someone intimately. Her hand drifted down from the necklace and stopped over her stomach.

“Charles?” she whispered.

It was not as if he was bad looking. She definitely felt like she knew something about him and to some extent he knew a lot about her. Feelings she had never had before about anyone else bubbled inside her when she thought about him. Would it have been so bad if it was him? Her mother had once said something about choosing the right man, but it had been so long that Tess was struggling to remember what it was.

She flopped onto her back with a sigh as she stared at the sky. There was a lot to think about with Charles and what it was she felt about him, but right now she needed to focus on the immediate future. There was a great battle just around the corner with Chariel and the complicated situation that was Olivia and Viktor.

Tess had already acquired so many new skills since being here that it was hard to test them. Passive ones where she was able to activate and never think about again were easy. It was the active skills that required specific conditions or had specific effects that were more difficult to test for skill synergies that might be overpowered.

Two skills that she had already been shown by Charles were likely going to be key in bringing down Viktor. The first was one called Hostile Aura, a passive skill that allowed Tess to sense anywhere within a certain distance around herself where hostile individuals might be. Charles had mentioned that he had relied on this one a lot during the brief duel he had against Viktor. What apparently was broken about it was that it expanded to encompass ranged attackers when their hostility targeted the wielder of the skill and that the skill could not be deceived by faking passivity and getting in close before attacking. The ranged element of the skill had helped Charles avoid Olivia’s out of control spell, which Tess had thought strange given that Olivia had been focused entirely on her at the time. Charles had explained that hostility, to the skill at least, meant that someone or something either could or would cause harm.

The second skill that she had found useful was called Blink Strikes. Blink Strikes unleashed a rapid series of melee attacks from multiple angles, while also temporarily teleporting the user to the spot they were attacking from. It was something Tess could almost replicate with her speed alone, so she was confused about how this was better at first. The difference was that with her speed, she had to move in between her attack points, which meant that she could be intercepted or interrupted whereas Blink Strikes put her in position for the next attack immediately while also further boosting her speed. It was supposedly broken because those who had been intended to receive the skill would never have the Fortitude stat high enough to endure the effect on their body during its use, resulting in them losing parts of their bodies during the teleports. It was only because Tess and Charles were less bound by the limits of build that they had the Fortitude to endure it.

Sadly, neither skill possessed the synergy to be the threat to Chariel that they were looking for. Whoever Charles’ contact in the city was better be worth it, or she might just indeed have to punish the city. Lightly, of course.

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Charles was struggling. He had really hoped that he would not have had to explain the laws of Havenport to Tess. Yet she had walked right into the trap that the city set up, so the explanation was inevitable. Perhaps it was because she reminded him of Therese that he hoped to spare her, for he never would have brought Therese here. If Tess had been completely helpless, he never would have come here either. It was because she was strong that he figured that she could handle it.

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That was until his plan was thrown out by the unexpected change. The guards had screwed everything up. There was no way that Tess was going to forgive him for compromising her purity in such a way. No, not just compromised, but rather exposed in public. He had felt the lustful gazes of the nearby men at the sight of a deep red crystal. While she had been panicking at learning what that meant, he had unleashed a menacing aura that shut down the blood rushing through those fools towards certain organs.

After she had fled, Charles wanted to chase after her, but thought that perhaps she might want to have some space instead. As such, he moved forward with his reason for even coming to this place of what some might call degeneracy. Truthfully, in many respects the city functioned on a normal basis comparable to the few others on Ubeta or the countless scattered across the various worlds of the multiverse.

He had come to meet with someone who, if they were still alive, Charles was certain could assist them in finding that unique combination of skills that would bring Chariel to his knees. The city had changed much in the hundreds of years since he had last been here, but Charles recognized several of the older buildings still standing from way back when, which helped him keep his direction.

One such older building was a cathedral-like structure with two large, square towers at the front. A large circular window of stained glass sat between the two towers on the front, though the pattern within was not what it once was. It now depicted a lewd scene between a man and woman, which Charles was shocked to see so prominent on a church building. He had to stop a passerby and ask if he was imagining what he saw.

“First time, eh?” they had laughed at him.

From the brief explanation he received, it seemed that the church had tried to fight the procreation laws of Havenport, only to be defeated and driven from town. As a mockery, the cathedral was converted into the center of a new religion who emphasized those same laws. With the new religion in town, things had changed much in the nearby neighborhood, which was where he had hoped to find his long-time acquaintance.

The green crystal district was perhaps what most other cities would call the red light district. Here though, it was not shunned and relegated to a dark, seedy area. Shops plastered with images of nude men and women in their windows advertised selections from every species as Charles tried desperately not to let his gaze linger. Some women even called out to him from doorways as he hurried past, begging him to join them for ‘sessions.’

His mind blank, he somehow arrived at his intended destination without succumbing to the temptations of the district. The shop sat directly across from the cathedral, and looked just as old despite having clearly had touch ups over the centuries. A dull, cracked coat of green paint with silver stripes textured the stonework. The curtains were drawn on the inside a large window that had been installed since his last time here, blocking an easy view into the interior. As he stepped up to the door, he heard the floor squeak as the old wood carried someone towards the door. Before he could even knock, the door was pulled open to reveal a young looking woman peering back at him.

Charles noticed the sweeping horns that grew from her skull and parted her silver hair which fell past her shoulders. Her skin was both soft and rough as it seemed to be patches of skin and scales seamlessly transitioning between the two. The scales had the same silvery color as her hair. He could see a reptilian-like tail swishing back and forth, though this was completely covered in the silver scales. Sharp golden-colored eyes glared at him as several sharp-looking teeth jutted just slightly out of her closed mouth. Her short stature drew his gaze down, which kept going to the oversized bosom for a woman of such size.

“Up here, pervert,” she snapped.

Charles had gotten caught staring, though he honestly had not intended to. Bringing his eyes back up to her face, he saw she was likewise wearing a crystal, though hers glowed yellow, one of the colors of pregnancy.

“Is Atho still here?” he asked.

The woman cocked an eyebrow at the name drop.

“He only let two people call him that, and I’m one of those. The other is dead. How do you know that name?”

“I’m not dead. Just went away for a while. Glad to know he’s still alive.”

The woman said nothing, but continued to stare intently at Charles. Finally she backed up and gestured him inside.

“Have a seat I guess. I’ll see if he wants to see you. I’m not sure if you’re actually who you claim, but Atho will know.”

“Please do.”

She disappeared through a door into the backroom, so Charles took the opportunity to glance around. The shop was simple and sold a few items of a magical nature. It was perhaps an odd place to have the shop, what with the district around it, but given that it had been here long before this had become the green crystal district, it worked.

The rapid thuds and the squeals of the old stairs in the backroom echoed to his ears as Charles picked up one of the nearby items to read the tag about what it did. The door to the backroom swung open with a crash.

“Damn it. Gotta fix that now too,” said a robust voice, “Oi! You think you can disappear like that for… how long is it now?... and just waltz in here like nothing happened?”

“Your handwriting is still terrible. What does this say?” Charles asked without turning around, holding up the item he had been examining.

“It says ‘screw you, asshole.’”

Charles did not move, but a smile started creeping onto his face.

“Fine. Increases virility. Popular here since the church left.”

Charles’ smile turned to disgust as he quickly set the item back on the shelf. He finally turned to greet his old friend.

“How are you Atho? I just… What the hell happened to you?”