Mature Content Warning: Not much really, unless bouncing breasts and giggling is mature to you.

Author's Notes: I put out a call for potential contributors earlier, and mentioned that I would be trying to at least get a basic site set up for the world-setting. So far the only real options are blogspot and wordpress, as I don't want to jump into a full on paid for domain and website, yet. I will try to blogspot one first, as at least I can easily set it as adult content.

I am still trying to find a 'free' forum hosting setup that allows adult content. Every decent one I know has issues with such content. So, the forum may have to wait till I can purchase hosting. So, there isn't much there except for the word 'placeholder' but Crystallim Core is up for commenting

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Chapter 11: So Supportive...

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A loud cry echoed through the room followed by the sound of a sweet and innocent Alraune slamming brutally into a heavily reinforced wall. Dark energy arced and skittered from her fallen form for a few brief seconds.

“Flora is down!” called out Kidda.

The Alraune gasped softly and then cried out as her dream form dissipated into the ether. She could no longer maintain her presence due to the psychological backlash caused by the powerful attack of her new big sister.

Pirouette nodded. “She’s getting better.”

Scott smiled at the overly powerful dark elf then lightly stroked the dimly lit green Crystallim core. Flora would need to rest for a while before she could manifest her form one more time.

Two days had passed since their first meeting. During that time Scott and the girls had relocated to the Ophun Institute. It would be their temporary base of operations and training while Scott was under his ninety-day trial period.

Kidda had come out once per day to act as a referee during training bouts. After regular training was finished for the day, Flora and Shaia would train against each other and the winner would attempt to fight Pirouette. So far Flora had won the training battle with Shaia twice, but lost against Pirouette.

The dark elf stretched languidly and then smiled. “Level four again already... My, how the time flies.”

Scott laughed at her a little then nodded. “Some of us gain levels slower than others...”

“Aww, is my poor widdle master sad?” Pirouette curled his hands into fists then pressed them to her eyes and twisted them gently before making a fake crying sound.

“Someone’s cocky...” said Scott.

“Do you think so? Care to try me again?” asked the dark elf before gesturing to the arena.

“Sure, I’ll give you a go.” said Scott. If it was for the sake of training, etiquette was not an issue.

Pirouette gently ran her tongue along her bottom lip then smiled sensually. “Break me, master...”

Scott shook his head then equipped his combat gear. A shimmer crossed over his body. A set of powered gauntlets appeared on his hands, one of them linked up with his bracer. A black body suit replaced his normal street clothes and a gold colored torc now rested comfortably around his neck.

He did not have much personal equipment in that regard, as he felt he would be mostly support until he gained a few more levels. Still, his stats increased accordingly.

“That outfit does not leave much to the imagination...” said Pirouette.

Scott smiled at her then took up a fighting stance. She wore no special equipment but her stats still eclipsed his by a good bit. He would do his best, but at his level and with this equipment, the fight would be rather short and they both knew it.

The Harpy Raven, Kidda, raised her hand. “Battlers ready!”

Pirouette nodded. She had expended most of her vital force against Flora by using her shadow bolt skill. She would have to defeat Scott using hand-to-hand combat.

Scott nodded. He had no attack abilities that would be useful against her. The only attack skills that he had access to were of the same element as his opponent. It might hurt her a little, but it would just be a waste of his vital force when normal attacks would do the same amount of damage.

“Begin!” cried Kidda before slamming her hand downward. The raven grinned when the battlers cried out at the same time and then raced toward each other.

Pirouette was a sword and shadow type of girl. She had neither to work with at the moment.

Scott was a gun user most of the time, but all ADF soldiers learned hand-to-hand combat. In raw unarmed skill he was slightly superior.

The dark elf casually ducked under her master’s expert feint then delivered a powerful strike to his abdomen that hit with crushing force. Scott had greater unarmed combat skill, but comparing his stats to Pirouette’s was the same as comparing those of a small child to a veteran warrior.

The hunter was immediately put on the defensive as a flurry of blows rained down upon him. His vital force dropped like a rock tossed casually from a bridge. However, Pirouette did not realize that she had given him an opening to use.

The dark elf’s fighting footwork was like that of someone who fought wielding a light weight sword. She lunged forward to lash out at him with a powerful strike, but her opponent dropped down suddenly and kicked out with both feet in an unexpected whirling motion that struck both of her legs in critical stabilizing points.

Pirouette cried out in pain and panic as she was rudely dropped to the floor. Shocked by the sudden turn of events, she could not prevent her master from mounting her.

It was Scott’s turn to rain blows down upon his beautiful opponent. His powered gauntlets slammed down with furious strikes that were assisted by failed crystallim drivers. Each hit struck with nearly twice the attack force that he could naturally generate.

However, all good things must come to an end. Pirouette regained her senses then quickly asserted her dominance. She caught her master’s arm during his next punch then used it to force him to roll over. A brief struggle ensued, but it was over the moment Pirouette achieved a dominantly mounted position.

The dark elf sat astride her mast and repeatedly slapped him on the forehead until he surrendered. “Say my name!” cried the dark elf.

“Pirouette, dammit!” exclaimed Scott.

She leaned down and casually licked the side of his face, to taste the blood coming from a shallow cut. “Mmm, it sounds so nice to hear you say it, master.”

Scott gasped for air while he felt his body go limp. His vital force had been drained and he was unable to do anything but lie there helpless before her perverted might.

“Hunter Scott is unable to battle!” cried out Kidda. The raven then tilted her head and winked at Pirouette. “To the victor go the spoils.”

The dark elf flashed a beautiful smile at Scott and the man struggled to speak his disapproval. Unfortunately, at this point he could do little more than pant and pray that he managed to breathe in enough air.

It was her complete victory and Scott could do nothing but accept her desires. He was surprised when she curled up next to him and cuddled in close instead of molesting him as she typically did after a fight.

She kissed him gently on the ear and then whispered, “You’re so cute when you’re helpless.”

Pirouette casually crawled on top of him then took up a dominant position once more before taking a nap. She had taken a lot of damage in that fight and she needed to guard her spoils while she rested.

***

Scott glanced out of the office window and took in the sight of his team training. There was only so much experience that they could gain from defeating each other repeatedly, or by physical training. However, he planned to explore those options fully before going out into the wilds.

Shaia specifically needed to receive a lot of training before he refined her core up to C-Rank. Pirouette had allowed for a small loan for that purpose, when they had first met. The interest rate was terrible, but he would be able to get the Caesg to a decent rank after she completed her initial training.

No matter what, she needed to train her abilities to skill level ten. That way she would keep her skill levels after refinement. The harder she trained now, the more likely she would be to gain a star level as well.

Skill level ten was the bare minimum he would accept before taking the girls out hunting again. All of their skills had to be at least level ten prior to leaving the training area. Scott held himself to the same standard, but he currently needed to look into another issue. The girls needed equipment and he needed to acquire at least one Shadow and one Earth element ability before the month was out.

He could not use the shadow abilities that Pirouette granted while she was actively manifested, which would be most of the time. Something like shadow teleport would have been good to train despite that limitation, but simple shadow attack abilities would be next to useless unless he fought a psychic or vitality type.

The basic armor was easy enough to procure. He would buy the girls each a body suit, color matched to their alignment of course, and a torc. That would set him back a little over one gold credit, but it would improve their defense by a decent bit against physical and elemental abilities. They would be useless against higher level opponents, but the sort of Nightmares they would meet within the next few months would not be as much of a concern.

Water sprayed against the window and the blinked. “Shaia can already reach this far with her water attack?” He would have to praise her later. She performed well whenever he did that.

Scott looked through the GTN Global Net trading catalog and considered his options. He had access to water, plant, shadow, and earth due to his bonds with his team mates. He had a natural inclination for psychic and vitality energies, like many humans.

Techniques were expensive, too expensive. He thought about what he really needed at that exact moment.

“Ability usage takes a lot of vitality. Solar absorption helps with that, but I have to stand still while I use it. What I really need is more vital force and vitality.” The hunter nodded after speaking his mind aloud. What he needed right now was not new abilities. He needed augmentations.

Scott changed his current view with a wave of the hand. He waved through the various screens and stopped on the augmentation section. GTN was an exceptionally well known company, but they tended to have expensive or common augmentations. He might need to check another company. However, for now he would try to find a cheap common one.

Most were for things like stamina boosts or strength. Thankfully, vitality and resonance were popular augmentations since most people did not want to spend their precious points. Intellect, resonance, and vitality were the three key components to developing elemental abilities.

The hunter looked at the various augmentations and his old hunting instructor came to mind. The man had likened ability usage to driving a vehicle. Intellect was the skill of the driver. Resonance was the capacity of the vehicle. Vital force was the power supply. Vitality was partially power supply and partially how fast it could be recharged.

Someone with a lot of vital force but low resonance or intellect could spam-use weak abilities, but their actual effectiveness would be lower than someone else with a similar skill level but higher intellect and resonance.

“If I want to really go the ability-user route, become a mage, I need to develop four stats.” Of course, that was why few humans could make it as a mage. They would have to spread their points out evenly, but the skill-level of an ability determined how much vital force it would cost. It would be easy for it to become too energy intensive, quickly.

Scott wished that he could have learned more than the psycho-diver ability from his time with Seventy-Two, but the ADF forbade such things. He could learn new abilities now that he was not involved with them directly, but without a psychic bond it would take longer to develop new talents.

“What I really need is a stat-development augment.” Stat development augments would allow a human to actively train a specific stat, but at the expense of EXP energy. They were expensive and had limited usage, but they would drastically increase his capacity over a period of time since he did not need a massively high level at the moment. Sadly, only one could be active at any given time.

He considered his options. He would not be able to use the money he had borrowed for any reason other than refining Shaia. After checking the listed augments available, he realized that he could not afford to augment one of his basic stats.

“Hold on...” said the man. He could not augment a stat like vitality or resonance, but he could afford to augment vital force.

“Two gold credits for a basic V.Force stat-development augment...” It was still expensive, hideously so for most people. It was almost two year’s salary for an entry level commoner who had never had a job before. Yet, Scott had that much to work with. After he purchased the equipment for his girls, the augment, and refined Shaia, he would only have a handful of silver credits and a few hundred copper credits to his name. They could survive on that long enough to go on a few hunts.

Scott checked the information for the augment then nodded. He had thought as much. One point of V.Force per twenty-four hours, per one hundred EXP energy assigned. “Yeah, definitely a basic augment.”

A higher grade augment could allow for faster growth. Still, that would greatly increase his capacity over time.

He finalized his purchases and felt like a part of him had died when his money drained away. Still, he had new items to pick up. He had decided against paying extra for delivery. Money would be tight for a while.

***

Shaia sighed loudly then stretched out as fully as she could. She had worked hard that day and she was tired. After her stretched she looked down at her bountiful bosom and grinned. She had been given a suit of armor by her master.

Armor was a relative term, however. Shaia’s bodysuit was more like a sport’s bra. She could not help but bounce up and down whenever she was alone. Her breasts seemed to defy gravity even more than usual whenever she wore her new outfit and this pleased her greatly.

“So bouncy...” She giggled softly and bounced some more. She had never known someone and something could be so supportive! Her master really thought highly of her as far as she could tell. Plus, he had given her this tight blue armor that accentuated one of her many positives.

She bounced once more then swayed her chest from side to side. Her armor was so supportive and her back never hurt at all now. The water had helped before, but on land everything felt like it weighed more.

“So much support...” She bit her bottom lip and thought of the man who had given her such a thing. Perhaps he was not so scary after all...

While Shaia giggled and bounced in only the way a shy but intrigued mermaid could, Flora currently considered her image in view screen.

The pert green plant girl rotated her finger and took a look at her backside on screen. She wore a body suit as well. Hers was light green with dark highlights. It was form-fitting and felt amazing.

The back of the outfit had an open portion for her vines and bulb, but the opening perfectly accentuated her curvature. She smiled then hugged her hands to her chest. Neither of her old masters had given her so much as a shirt. Yet, Scott had granted her something like this!

Sure, at the moment she would have to receive it from him each day when he called her out to train, but that was only a concern until he could purchase a specialized MISS unit for her core to sit in. Even Pirouette would need that outside the institute.

She giggled then twisted from side to side. Her armor was so pretty, and look at the torc he had gotten for her! Flora turned her head from side to side and admired how it shined in the light. She had never gotten a present before, let alone one that was so pretty.

She jumped up and down a little then shook her head from side to side. It was almost like he had gotten her a piece of jewelry. Could anyone imagine such a thing? A human master giving a low-level Crystallim something like jewelry was unthinkable. Yet, look at how shiny the torc was. Flora immediately wondered if perhaps she should give him a special sort of present...

The innocence of youth was something that Pirouette had long since abandoned. However, she could not help but feel happy for the girls as they enjoyed their new gifts. Such a simple thing like a set of clothes was enough to make them happy.

She already had weapons and army from her old adventuring days, so her new master had not purchased her anything new. That was slightly depressing, but she understood. Money was an issue. The institute could not give out loans constantly, or there would be questions. She owned the place in spirit, but Turner Industries owned it in name.

The dark elf gazed at the mermaid sitting on the bench. She laughed when the girl raised her arms up, clenched her fists, and looked down at her chest to watch it bounce.

Pirouette watched Flora giggle and twirl along with her view screen. “So innocent...”

Had she ever been that innocent? The dark elf did not take long to consider it. She had been a young girl, smitten with a man at some point. Her innocence had died with him, however.

She thought of his face, his form, his scent, for a brief moment and then let him go. He had been dead for over sixty years at this point. As much as she wished for his presence, she had chosen to move on at last.

Pirouette gazed upon her new sisters and granted them a brief, but heartfelt smile. A single tear slid along her cheek. “Let’s hope your innocence lasts for a while longer.”