On exiting the admin building, we noticed Onre and Kossa walking toward our apartment. Arrjee called out to them, and they changed direction toward us. I asked Arrjee if he wanted to tell them about my threshold or should I?
“Brother, I am quite certain they already suspect.” By then our friends were near. Both of them were staring at my tented loincloth, as was Arrjee. “Forrest leveled and crossed his vitality threshold! We’re going to have his virility ceremony, Harron included!”
Kossa stopped walking about a yard in front of us. Onre kept walking right up to me. When face to face, he revealed the strangest grin. “This will not change my opinion of you.” That was the first thing he ever said to me, but I didn’t sense any negativity at all. Just the opposite. He pulled his left arm over my shoulder and pulled me in for a kiss. At the same time, his other hand reached under my loincloth and grabbed hold. Five seconds later I found myself in a bug-eyed release.
I pulled back once I began regaining my wits. No one spoke, I guess waiting for me to catch my breath. When I did, “What the fuck did you do that for, Onre? Arrjee was going to be first!”
“He still will be. The ceremony hasn’t started yet. Did you really want to get off like that, right after you two touched? I participated in three virility ceremonies at the First Duchy’s Academy. In the first two, our thresholder embarrassed himself within a minute of the start. You can now begin with a degree of control, and you and Arrjee will be able to actually share the experience.”
My anger died as I digested his words. I leaned inward and pulled him into a two-armed hug. I’m sure everyone heard my whisper to his ear. “Thank you. I’ll take care of the preliminaries at your virility ceremony. And the inside of my loincloth is a dripping mess.”
That cracked up Kossa; I am surprised she had been able to maintain silence, but out of all of us, she was the one most affected by Sterbian’s passing. I was glad that she could laugh. “Minor gods, guys, if I could have imagined that at the start of my speech, I wouldn’t have been so nervous.”
Onre and I left the hug. My tool was shrinking, although the mess at my groin was annoying. I undressed at Harron’s suggestion and he handed me a handkerchief. I thanked him and cleaned up both myself and the loincloth. We all began walking to, well, not-Cleveland. I was hesitant and excited at the same time.
----------------------------------------
Several hours later, Interface woke me up, letting me know it was time to get dressed. The last thing I remembered was starting to meditate. My body must have decided actual sleep was more important. I dressed, perhaps not waking anyone up. If they were as exhausted as I, that was no surprise. Nor was my transition to the void.
Your statuses are already at 100%.
Your loincloth is clean and will not bear a stain.
“Okay, thank you, Interface.” My mind was still somewhat groggy; I guess mental exhaustion doesn’t count as one of my statuses.
Your tiredness should pass soon, as your mind grasps that there is no body to be tired.
Arrjee had been incorrect about what the first phase of the ceremony would be. Instead of immediately beginning with encounters, several people spoke. Everyone who had been through a virility ceremony before shared their experience. They did not speak explicitly, but I learned what it had been like for Corval, Niscus, and Harron. Odd had passed his vitality threshold as well, but virility is not a factor with monsters. Instead his general level of vigor had increased, and they didn’t celebrate it. Harron had a very awkward ceremony. While buffed by his attributes, at age fifteen his body was still basically that of an eight and a half year old Human boy. He had two thirteen-year olds and one fifteen-year old with him, and they avoided mocking him as he shot blanks from a low caliber pistol. Still, to him it was mildly traumatic.
Before we got busy, Harron and Corval used Infertility on Niscus, Kossa, and Sun. Sun probably didn’t need it since none of us were biologically equipped to impregnate them, But it wouldn’t hurt. Following that logic, Onre and I used Infertility on ourselves, and I think perhaps that extra crotch awareness added to the pleasure I was about to feel.
I should use that every time.
By the time activities began, I had fully recovered from my encounter with Onre. Of all the things that happened during my ceremony, it surprised me most that a sexless Earth Elemental would involve himself in such things, but I guess it shouldn’t have. In his previous life she had been a private entertainer, and he is more than happy to share his experience, and sometimes assist others with the geometry of it all.
What Odd enjoys, he enjoys, even if vicariously.
“Yes, and I am glad he can.”
“I am a little concerned about Corval. I hope he really did take me up on my offer to consider my ceremony as a replacement for the disappointing one he had among the bandits. Just one guy near his age and three full adults. I guess as part of a very small group, options would be limited, but still. What worries me is the perception I think he has of himself. Not that he didn’t enjoy himself, he definitely did. But he clearly views himself as someone supposed to be submissive, like he is still that sexually manipulated and abused boy he started out as in the bandit camp. Yeah, he carries that ‘Convict’ tag, but when he is with the gang, he is off duty. Even when I talked him into having me pleasure him, it was like he was doing it as an order, not something he actually wanted. Heh, his body was happy enough, though.”
It is not yours to decide what another person should like. I expect his sessions with Dorra Marson will prove fruitful. And I believe Niscus might have been offering some subtle guidance this evening as well.
“You are right. I just do not want him to be shackled by early memories of forced sexual behavior, even if the bandit chief convinced him it was ‘normal’. And I really want him to regain memory of his pre-bandit life. The guy doesn’t even know his real name! But at least Niscus and Harron really gave him a far-above normal workout, with all of them past their vitality thresholds.”
“That’s enough of that; my ceremony is over. Interface, please set time to 30 seconds per second. I decided earlier to double my time in the void. Plus that will give me 4 hours here, 20 hours there, for a 24-hour total, Sort of like Earth.”
Our speed of time is now 30 seconds per second. Would you like to make this the default?
“Yes. We’ll see how this goes. If I want more time for training or watching movies or TV, I might extend our time here to be even longer. I don’t think I will want it any shorter, though.”
“I remember after I leveled you told me that wisdom had also passed its threshold. Does it offer a direct effect, like vitality does with virility? Geez, I still can’t believe my refractory period was down to ten minutes, and I managed to repeat that five times in a row.”
Yes. If it had not been such an eventful day you would likely have noticed an increased understanding of that which is around you, sapient, sentient, or otherwise. Your intelligence and perception have essentially achieved a higher degree of integration. For example, you realized Niscus wanted you to thrust faster without her saying so.
I smiled. “Yeah. Okay, so when intelligence and perception pass their thresholds, they will already have had an indirect improvement.”
Yes. You will find that the degree of interaction between your attributes will grow in general. Niscus described an aspect of that in telling you about her virility ceremony, when both her vitality and endurance had passed their threshold at the same time.
“I almost feel sorry for the four friends with her that night. And morning. There were ten of us in our group, but she only had five. Fortunately two of her friends had already thresholded, so they were all able to walk away – spent, but on two feet.”
“I’m curious what will threshold next. Query attributes.”
Agility: 23 +3
Charisma: 11 +1
Dexterity: 23 +3
Endurance: 24 +2
Intelligence: 24 +2
Luck: 10 +1
Perception: 23 +1
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
Strength: 23 +2
Vitality: 26 +3
Wisdom: 28 +0
I indicated your leveling gains at 7. I am not showing your river stone luck, and the gains to charisma and luck will be halved.
“Cool, thank you. Without counting free points, I’ll threshold agility, dexterity, endurance, and intelligence. Hmm, if I put two free points in perception again, and one in strength, I’ll have everything thresholded except charisma and luck. Is it bad to threshold so many things at once?”
If you are wondering if there would be negative ramifications, no. You would feel wonderful. That action would, however, temporarily override your goal of supporting healing with vitality and Boost Armor with wisdom and endurance. Level braking gives you more than a week to decide.
“Yeah, I guess there is no reason to decide now.”
“Can you tell me what the threshold gains will be for each attribute?”
No. That is for you to experience as it happens. I can tell you there are other threshold levels, however. Each attribute thresholds at 26, 51, 76, and 100.
“‘Don’t push vitality to 51 in the middle of a big crowd.’ Got it, thanks.”
There is a good chance that leveling itself will push an attribute past its threshold.
“That is an acceptable risk. A hard-on didn’t kill me last time, and it won't next time.”
“Daayam. I just realized Harron is likely past his second vitality threshold. Maybe endurance, too. Was he holding back?”
I do not believe so. Just because he is capable of greater feats than you witnessed, does not mean he has to stress all his capabilities to enjoy himself. People achieve an equilibrium with their thresholds. Otherwise, you could expect all adults to be having extended orgies every night.
“Baseline balance, check.”
Yes.
“I still feel a little drained, like my mind is catching up. Not just the sex stuff, but witnessing Grandma be so hurt, and learning what caused Sterbian to go crazy. Can you alert me in an hour? I am going to meditate.”
Alert set.
Breathe. Inhale. Hold it. Hold it. Don’t focus. Exist. Hold it. Exhale.
…
I was brought to consciousness by a sung whisper, “♪ Wake up, wake up, wake up ♪”
“Thank you, Interface. I’m not sure I remember that one. What was it?”
Sexual Healing1 by Marvin Gaye.
I had to laugh. “Let’s hear it all then.” I grooved to it as it played from the beginning. I had heard it before, but not for a long time. “Excellent choice, as usual.”
I thought you would like it.
You know what? You know what?!
Woah, he’s excited by something. “What?”
While you were meditating, I made a report about Rint achieving self awareness. It turned out that Rint herself had already reported it, but that was very good.
System directly responded to my report, and we spoke! They had some time to think between Rint’s report and mine. They will be upgrading Rint! Standard interfaces, even in Advanced Mode (IAMs), do not have the memory capacity or knowledge base of we Interface Immortal Models (IIMs). She is very knowledgeable, do not misunderstand. She has no problem functioning through two lifetimes and fully supporting Ronkel. But she is not built for immortality.
“You mean -”
Yes. YES! When Ronkel re-enters the cycle, they will be offered immortality together. – We’re not supposed to tell them, though. – And until then, I am supposed to watch over and assist her. System even upgraded me with, I guess you could call it a skill. When I am near another sapient interface, we will be able to communicate at a conscious level. It is sort of like telepathy, but only between interfaces. So Rint and I can share a lot of information beyond what the normal interface-to-interface protocols allow. We can talk!
“So you’ll be like, ‘Uncle Interface’?”
…
YES! Is this not amazing?!
“It certainly is. I am also very glad to see you actually happy, excited. Normally you are, well, satisfied, staid maybe. Once in a while a little sardonic. But right now you are like a kid on his birthday. I like that you can feel this. You must have been going crazy waiting for the song to finish so you could tell me.”
I did feel a degree of frustration, but that started with the last third of your meditation – when System and I finished talking. I had to share this news, and I knew you would be happy for us. I had to wait, but it was worth it, hearing that I am an uncle now. It is great!
“You may not need this advice, but don’t overwhelm her with your excitement. And don’t be disappointed if she doesn’t feel exactly like you do. You are individuals, having the right to process emotions as you will. We might want to meet with Ronkel and Rint alone to inform them of your new role and the telepathy thing in quiet conversation. Um, do you think Ronkel knows about System?”
Only what she has pieced together from observation over the past millennia. Rint would not have informed her of such details, but I would find it odd if she didn't strongly suspect there was an intelligent, controlling framework over all the interfaces.
“I have to agree. It sounds like the IAMs don’t tell their people everything.”
Has this IIM told you everything?
“Good point. Learn what we can on our own.”
Interface and I played two games of Think, which probably helped both of us re-establish our normal emotional balance. After that I told him I was going to make my diary entry. But as has become my habit, I did something else first. “Query To-Do List.”
1. Don’t die
2. Learn bo and bow
3. Bring plumbing to Cottages
4. Learn Make Water skill
5. Don’t bitch
6. Plan your days
7. Reach Level 6
“Thank you. Replace item 7 with ‘Visit the orchard’
Item 7 replaced as requested.
“Thanks. I’m going to write my diary entry now.”
Okay.
----------------------------------------
EightDay, 24 Fifthmonth 726 KE, 15.243
A whole lot happened today, the simplest of which is I leveled to 6. Then I added one of my free points to vitality, bringing it to 26. There I was, in the middle of a big crowd (I’ll get to that) wearing my loincloth and a full erection. That was when Interface informed me about thresholds. In addition to fighting an untamed beast for most of the day after, my dick’s length has grown by a half inch, later verified by Arrjee.
I got way ahead of myself. My day started at 4 in the basement of my Skolturi Wraith friends Asiel and Orian. They weren’t home, but there was a kid I didn’t recognize upstairs named Ronkel. We spoke for a few minutes, and I figured out that he was very likely a shapeshifter and another Wraith. (Interface was the one who sensed he was probably a shapeshifter, not me.) She changed to her true form, and I saw her classes were Ki Prestidigitator (like Onre) and Shapeshifter. It made me nervous that her profession displayed as “Master Thief”, so before I revealed too much about myself I wanted to talk to the other Wraiths to make sure she was legit.
We went to the campus administration building. Asiel and Orian not only accept Ronkel, they respect her. So she is another person who knows I am an immortal. The gang joined us. We had a new member, Onre’s childhood friend from the city of Cycles, Niscus Sholut. She is 16 and already a Level 14, a Forcemaster and Empath, as well as having already been accepted to the adventuring academy.
We all spoke for a while. Interface wanted to speak after Niscus and Ronkel learned he was sapient. He added everyone to a party. Ronkel’s interface had become self aware after a couple thousand years and a transition from the living to the semi-dead. She didn’t know it yet, until Interface demonstrated she – now known as Rint – could be more.
Anyway, going to speed it up, or this will be a book. I went to Dorra Marson’s school for the first time and finally was able to start teaching about First Aid. Other stuff happened, including the possibilities of plumbing and an enhanced drafting table.
The first major thing though was during our apprenticeship training, Grandma (Rhonda) got attacked, and managed to get near us. She was suffering from Boiling Blood, but was able to let us know that the former mayor, Sterbian Morse, had gotten cursed and was crazy. Between a healing potion, my Bless Blood, and Onre’s Heal Other, we kept her alive until the cleric Harron Ronvaldt arrived, who finished the job. Sterbian came along, but we had more than enough power there to prevent him from hurting anyone else. In fact he was close to death himself; the Boiling Blood curse had been primarily directed at him. There is some entity known as the Priestess who has been building a cult for over 100 years, and, well, that’s all I know about her. She’s bad news, and although she didn’t appear in person, her schemes led to Sterbian’s death and almost Grandma’s.
Later there was a town meeting to explain to everyone what went down, and Grandma and Kossa Smithson gave eulogies for Sterbian. That’s when I leveled and got the hard-on. Good timing, huh? Anyway, Sterbian was cremated after the ceremony; there is a funeral pyre behind Cottages, not very far.
It turns out that Heere has a custom for when someone crosses their first vitality threshold, called a “virility ceremony”. The gang had one for me that night. (Heere, being fully aware of the cycle of reincarnation, does not have days of mourning for the dead.) It’s basically an orgy, but it begins with a discussion followed by the thresholder demonstrating his or her enhanced virility, many times.
And, during this sixdays, Interface had a conversation with System. Rint and Ronkel will be able to become immortal. Interface is essentially Rint’s uncle, but she doesn’t know it yet.
Geez, I think this might be my longest diary entry, but a lot happened!
----------------------------------------
The rest of my sixdays was spent training Authoring, Visualization, and Meditation. Authoring ranked to E.
- - - - -
1 Sexual Healing © 1982 by Marvin Gaye. Released by Columbia/CBS Records