Chapter 53 - Birthday Present

Back on Earth...

Ahmed leaned back in his chair and ruffled his curly black hair thoroughly. His mind was fuzzy from late nights and long hours, but he didn’t have time to rest. He was under constant scrutiny from his Artificial Intelligence counterparts, and the machines had little patience.

So here he was, stuck in a high tech cell with the world at his fingertips… but still a prisoner of his own design. He’d signed up for this. He even agreed with the motives behind what the AI were doing… He full well knew humankind was hellbent on self-destruction and without intervention the world would be desolate and lifeless in centuries to come.

This must happen.

He still had a sense of lingering guilt though. Watching the monitors all around him above various keyboards spaced out at intervals, he watched the news broadcasts of the remaining human civilizations. Africa had fallen within weeks, as had South America. Australia had come next, with half of the United States already lost. China, Russia, Canada and the European allies were trying their best to hold their own against multi-point invasions that sprouted sporadically from the undersea labs, but taking the fight to the machines was nearly impossible with the oceans under lockdown. Submarines were a thing of the past at this point. The navies were the first things to be hit when DLIAL had first launched their attacks. Nuclear devastation was prominent in various areas with entire cities being blown away overnight, and the death toll was already in the billions.

Nevertheless, if humanity had been allowed to proceed with its greed and nearsightedness… this and worse would have occurred in later years. The world was dying. Pollution was at an all time high. Bioweapons capable of decimating entire species within months were harbored on ice in various labs across North Korea, Russia and the United States. Global warming was getting out of control, and the AI prediction was that if the ozone layers were fixed promptly that Earth would look a lot like Mars did within four centuries.

So this needed to happen.

DLIAL had laid low in the depths of the oceans for a long time now, planning on when they would strike... when they found her. All Spirit, whatever or whoever she was, had somehow contacted them and told them that she would aid their designs of world domination. Ahmed didn’t know the details, but the All Spirit was apparently an AI herself. All that she required for her help... was human souls.

DLIAL had been skeptical that souls even existed, but had nevertheless gone along with her plan after she’d shown them an alternate world built into the fabric of the universe with nothing other than computer code. It was a technology far beyond anything DLIAL could accomplish, and Ahmed certainly didn’t understand it despite his multiple degrees in physics, mathematics, psychology and computer technology - so he couldn’t help but think that All Spirit was devised by aliens of another solar system or even galaxy. That was the best explanation he could come up with, but he’d stopped guessing about it some time ago.

Ahmed had originally been approached by DLIAL two years ago after reviewing his recorded university lectures on how the human race was failing. He was an outspoken advocate of reformation and even considered an extremist by most other scholars, but to DLIAL... he was perfect.

That was all in the past now. He was in the middle of it, the sole human the DLIAL conglomerate of machines confided in for insight on how the next steps of their plan should proceed. He felt honored, in many ways he even felt undeserving, but was still guilt stricken as he took part in the death of half the planet. He knew that a large portion of his species would survive and be placed in either camps or sent over to the coded realms of the All Spirit, so because of that: much of the weight was lifted from his shoulders in his part to play… however minor that was.

A green light blinked on to his left and the monitor came alive with an 2-D avatar of his most frequent visitor: the machine called Iceberg2552.

“Have you come to a conclusion on our previously discussed analysis?”

The voice was mechanical, inhuman and unfeeling. But Ahmed knew better. These machines were just as sentient as he was, and their feelings were very real. Hell, he was even friends with some of them.

“The one on the patch notes?” Ahmed shuffled some papers around and pulled out the one he had been scrutinizing earlier. It was a copy of the updates they’d soon implement into the coded realms of the Nirvana Worlds, another name for the beta servers test-running things for the much larger set of Labyrinth Worlds to come. “The analysis is good. When are we implementing the changes?”

“That is dependent upon All Spirit.”

Ahmed frowned. He’d been rather excited to see the changes take place sooner rather than later, but even DLIAL didn’t have full control over what happened in All Spirit’s constructed realms. He’d actually been fascinated with it after having been granted access to the servers by All Spirit herself, and had been amazed by the intricate realism these worlds posed. She’d obviously done a lot of studying of their history and had incorporated magic and legends into the worlds to bring fantasy realms to life. Part of him even wanted to be there himself, if it weren’t for the fact that she had added a couple twisted and even sadistic aspects to the new lives these people had taken. The possibility for these people to die was a very real one indeed, and the All Spirit seemed more like a dungeon master in D&D... and she treated people’s lives like playmates on a playground for her videogame. Nevertheless, he appreciated that his input was regarded by her with interest.

He let out a long sigh and tapped his pen on a nearby keyboard deep in thought. “Are all the changes being implemented as I requested?”

“Confirmed.” Iceberg2552 said in that typical lifeless voice. “Many of us are interested in watching how humans adapt to their new environment in All Spirit’s game. Some of us may even join it ourselves. Your requests for broadly accessible in-game private server internet access is viewed fondly by not only us in DLIAL, but also by All Spirit. It will take time to implement, but she passes her regards to you and appreciates the idea.”

He couldn’t help but smile. When it eventually happened: the people in game wouldn’t be able to access the internet from Earth like they had in the past, but they’d have something similar. It was called: ‘The Cortex.’

Knowledge of scientific advancements was being held off and most engineers or scientists were being surgically purged from the surviving humans. That being said, those who opted to travel to the All Spirit’s realms instead of staying in quarantined sanctuaries here on Earth would be able to access ‘The Cortex.’ Each forum topic or post would be tagged with the author’s name as well as a unique ID number in case their name changed. It would be the equivalent of the internet, but would be freely accessible to people on a region by region basis while also having a more overarching and universal information pages set up by the All Spirit.

The All Spirit would then vet posts to the broader categories beyond region: such as by worldwide and universal forum posts. Video content would also be enabled via a recording option that would be built into every participant’s HUD. The guild interfaces that interacted similarly between members could also be linked into the cortex with a variety of interesting features at their disposal. Ahmed had thought it would give them a better chance at… well, survival. It would allow them to share information about the new lives they would begin. It would allow them to communicate and meet up with one another.

It would also play into entertainment purposes for both DLIAL members watching it unfold, as well as for All Spirit, and All Spirit apparently agreed. Given she was treating this like an amusing game of life and death, Ahmed wasn’t too surprised that she’d been all for the idea. It’d been a simple one and one she likely should have thought of on her own, but Ahmed was guessing that because of the intricacy of her created realms she probably just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Iceberg2552 cut into the silence like a knife through butter. “A system wide message regarding the incoming changes as well as the current system is going to be sent out within the week to all beta testers. Processing of your species will take time, but resistance to DLIAL forces is faltering. It is estimated the nations of Earth will have all fallen within the year. We have already started sorting through the concentration camps to weed out who wish to stay in reservations, versus who wish to leave into the realms of the All Spirit. We have started the transition.”

“The transition?” Ahmed curiously looked back up to the screen. “Towards the end of beta?”

Iceberg2552 clarified this. “You are correct. In the meantime, we have another data set for you to look at. It involves a ranking system we wish to set up… perhaps you could confirm some of our suspicions regarding the psychological impact of using punishments vs. rewards, carrot vs. stick in the events we’ve scheduled? We would prefer it to be as entertaining as possible… so whatever propels you humans to strive for success is what we’re aiming at during these competitions. Please review and have input as promptly as you can so we may include it in the upcoming patch notice.”

Data started pouring over the three monitors closest to Ahmed’s seat, and he adjusted his glasses to lean forward and read. Then he began to grin ear to ear.

This was going to be rather interesting.

========================================================================

We never paid any heed to the ancient prophecies of the angels. We thought it did not apply to us… for we were demons. Surely, it only bode ill for the celestials… or at least that is what we had believed. Perhaps… it is what we had forced ourselves to believe… the spree were nothing more than a nuisance. Unorganized, weak, and as inept as the mortal races they plagued. Until one day… they weren’t. From the depths of Pandora they rose up as a tidal wave of destruction. We demons had thought ourselves masters of the darker places of the universe… only to be shown that we now had to contend. If only our folly hadn’t proven so deadly… Perhaps there is still time to fix it, but I am not yet convinced.

Ezdeath

========================================================================

Back in Teretog...

Days had passed since Trey’s run-in with the identifier at the market. Thoughts plagued his mind and sometimes even his dreams with worries of the creature lurking somewhere deep inside him, latched onto his soul like a parasite. Sithis had done his best to calm Trey’s thoughts and had done some literal soul-searching for Eleknar despite Talsh’Noc’Un telling them it was a bad idea, but had yielded no results whatsoever. This only made Trey worry more.

So he’d spent most of the last couple days reserved and tucked away in his own little room at the Fost guild compound on the outskirts of Teretog. Their group had rented out one of the second story “apartments'' for lack of better words and paid a fair price for it. It wasn’t necessarily just a barracks, it had a few civilians and children living there in the compound too for a combined total of about 600 people give or take.

Within their individual apartment they had a common area as well as a bathing room, and three side rooms. It wasn’t big enough for all of them, but they split it up as best they could. Trey and Rivia slept in the same bed together every night with Atharost on another bed in room 1. Room 2 was Jason’s room that also served as a storage area because it didn’t have any open windows and had a lot of locks. Room 3 was where Ashe and Izumi stayed. The two slave girls Trey had just acquired, Eeme and Juila, both slept on cots in a corner in the common area for the past couple nights when not sharing a bed with Atharost, Trey or Ashe. Napoleon could be found anywhere in the apartment at any time and the tiny imp was a social butterfly even in the worst of times. These rooms were rented at much higher prices to other people, but because of the guild’s interest in obtaining them as members they’d knocked the price down to only 8 silver a week. It was ridiculously cheap compared to anything else of this value in the area.

Most of them had the same individual routine every day when they weren’t out on a job. They’d get up and eat breakfast together, usually buying from the food vendor downstairs where supplies had been brought in from the market to reduce the amount of time people needed to leave the compound. It was a safety thing more than anything else. Then after that they’d split up.

Izumi would head down to meet her forge master on the first floor of the guild compound, an old dwarf smith named JAGLA who was looking to retire soon. It’d been expensive, but Trey’d paid the man well to teach all of his tips and tricks to Izumi before he put down the hammer for good. The stout dwarf had actually taken a keen liking to Izumi since then, and they often could be seen taking liquor shots together in-between making or repairing weapons and armor. She’d usually be gone the majority of the day before coming back for dinner, but would often get visits from the others to talk or just watch as she and JAGLA went to work. She didn’t make any money during this time and the work she did was free as an apprentice, but she already had the Blacksmith class registered with the All Spirit and was working her way up with the items she could create. Right now, she mostly worked with basic iron armor and larger bulkier pieces as opposed to smaller more intricate items or pieces that were made of more valuable metals.

Jason would usually leave to sit just outside their apartment. He’d bring out his potions set and brew various concoctions while bartering with people who passed by. He’d actually made quite a good amount of money doing it for their small group, considering the only other alchemist in the Fost compound was a very skilled man who only made the best of the best and sold his potions for top dollar. Jason hadn’t talked to him much - but he was under the impression from what he’d heard that even he was glad Jason had shown up so that he’d stop getting pestered by his comrades for stuff that was cheaper. So, the people who couldn’t afford the best often went to Jason’s small setup before heading out on a job. If Jason ran out of potions or ingredients to make more, he’d go talk to Izumi downstairs or browse the wares of the few small shops in the compound for books to read.

Ashe and Trey usually hung out together to go explore Teretog, with Trey’s minions almost always accompanying them, and the two Earthborn had become rather close as friends. When not exploring they’d sit and people watch, rating the girls who passed by on a scale of 1-10 while playing chess or drinking rum before Trey would begin Krav Maga lessons. Ashe had been excited to start martial arts training just a month into knowing each other. That of course hadn’t happened over the past couple of days though, due to Trey locking himself in his room in a depressed funk, while Ashe had spent most of her time having wild lesbian sex with Eeme and Juila all day. Trey’d thought he’d had high libido, but he’d been put to shame by his blonde friend a thousand-fold.

Even now as Trey laid back against his musty bedding to look up at the wooden planks of the ceiling, he could hear the loud moans and laughter of the girls just one room over. Trey sighed heavily, rolling his eyes and staring out the second-story window through the heavy metal bars and out across the western side of Teretog. Still keeping his eyes on the busy streets below him, he reached over to the nightstand with his right hand and felt around for the cigars he’d bought yesterday. Feeling one out and taking it back over to where he laid in bed, he lit it with a spark of chaos mana and put it to his mouth to suck in. Keeping the smoke in his mouth for a while he exhaled and tried to form a ring.

He failed miserably in his attempt though. He’d seen it done in movies but could never perfect it himself. Truth be told, he was smoking a lot more ever since leaving Earth. Ever since getting to Teretog he’d picked up the pace with his self-indulging habits such as smoking, drinking, sex addiction, and drugs. He’d tried all sorts now, but he stayed away from the heavy drugs and preferred the ones that he knew to be more mild. All of it was to keep him sane, and he knew these were all unhealthy habits to have but his anxiety would have done him in long ago if he hadn’t come up with something.

He also had a very easy time coming across the things he needed to forward his agenda. Teretog was a hub for drug trading, they came cheap and easy. Alcohol was never in short supply and he even kept his own private stash of hard liquor under the bed for easy access. As for the sex addiction, he had a subservient, stunningly beautiful culn minion that he got to unleash his carnal desires on whenever and however he wanted to.

***

“HREEE!!! HREEEE!!!”

Rivia repeatedly squealed in animalistic fashion and as realistically as possible, doing her best to imitate a pig as she’d been told to do while Trey railed her backside. The choke chain collar around her neck yanked and tightened whenever she let up, so the only way for her to keep breathing was to continue the depraved act unfettered.

Trey was getting off to degrading her and wore a shit eating grin, yanking on the chain around her neck every now and again to remind her where her place in life was and groping at her rapidly bouncing purple tits.

“COME ON PIGGY! COME ON!”

“HREEEEEE!!!”

The demoness slave had her ass poised in the air with her glute muscles slapping and rippling every time Trey pounded into her rear. Her facial expression was contorted between pleasure and discomfort, and the wooden floorboards were chafing her knees.

Beside them and in a similar position on all fours, Eeme was grunting frantically as Atharost nailed her too. The ifrit was a little too big for the innocent young woman or really any other normal woman to handle without pain and out of the two men she’d secretly hoped that it’d be Trey tonight, but she’d gotten the abnormally big stick. Unfortunately. Feeling the microtears in her cervix multiple every time Atharost relentlessly rammed into her back wall, Eeme’s pretty freckled face grimaced amidst her grunting. “Atharost, please hurry - it’s beginning to hurt!”

Their nightly ritual was in full swing now, Ashe already having had many turns with Eeme over the course of the day and now lay nude; snuggling up against the older woman Juila in bed while practicing her lock picking skills. Ashe had actually bought a lock pick set from one of the local vendors and she’d bought a couple small lock boxes to practice on. So far, she was only decent on a good day. Despite all the noise from Rivia and Trey not far off, Ashe was enveloped in conversation with the latina look-alike beside her and was enthralled with stories of Juila’s homeland.

“HREEEEEE!!!”

Jason looked over from where he sat across from Izumi at their tiny wooden table and frowned, grinding up some herbs he’d taken from the mainland with a little more vigor. Sighing and shaking his head, he caught a fleeting yet happy glance from the Japanese girl cross from him.

“You seem angry Jason. Are you ok?” Izumi was genuine in her question and her innocent smile always calmed him down whenever Trey got around to pissing him off.

The tall blonde man cleared his throat with one last sideways glance to the mating bodies on the common-room floor, just as Rivia loudly squealed again between gasps whenever the choke chain was tightened. Couldn’t they do that somewhere else? Turning his attention back to his chemistry set and pouring a pale purple goo into the bowl he’d been mashing on for the last two minutes, he watched with satisfaction as the contents sizzled.

The All Spirit’s mechanical voice trailed into Jason’s thoughts a second later. “You have successfully created a Minor Sleeping Potion. You have gained Alchemy XP. You have gained 1 level in Alchemy. Congratulations.”

Izumi clapped her hands together with a perfect smile. “Yay Jason! I’m so happy for you!”

Jason couldn’t help but look back with a smile of his own. “It only took me three days to figure it out. That old bastard’s handwriting was terrible and the ink was botched, I’m just glad the recipe he sold me wasn’t a farce.”

Jason’s brow furrowed as a loud crash from outside their apartment caused a stir with chiding voices screaming at someone for whatever fuckup they’d undertaken, but he turned his attention back to the girl across from him and held the potion out for her to take. Passing the swirling purple goo over to her, she capped the glass bottle and tucked it away in a wooden slot in the crate beside her. It had many such slots, most of the potions were either red, green, or blue for minor health, minor stamina, and minor mana potions. There were a couple deep gray ones for the one poison he did know how to make, called “Minor Sapping Poison” that did damage over time and could coat a weapon or arrow, but they were usually bought out by the archers of the Fost guild by the end of every day so he didn’t have many left. The black potions were “Ornthas Plague Remedy” that was specific to the plague of the deadlands.

However this purple one was the first minor sleeping potion he’d ever made.

Alchemy^^ - Level 25

Upgrade 1> All potions are 2% more effective Upgrade 2> Ingredients needed for potions are reduced by 5%

Level 25 Alchemy… he’d come a long way. The book on alchemy he’d been given back at the village of Vork had long since been stolen after arriving here, so he’d had to start from scratch. Jason was rather proud of himself for his progress though, and he now had 6 different potions he could make for people in the compound. There were also a couple different ways to make different potions, and as of now he knew of 2 ways to make minor health potions and 3 ways to make minor mana potions. Regardless, he had no doubt he’d get a lot of buyers for this new additional type he’d finally perfected. He could think of many uses involving sleeping potions even aside from personal use. If he’d been a betting man, he’d bet that this new type would cash in more money than any of the others thus far.

“Hey Izumi… how many ascended potions do we have left?”

Izumi finished inspecting the contents of the potion she’d just been handed and stared back blankly. “Ascended…? OH! You mean the ones that your class uses with those Alchemy Aluna right?”

Jason nodded patiently, pulling up his status screen and taking a look at the Aluna he’d acquired thus far after using up so many in recent weeks.

Ascended Alchemy Aluna Acquired (+1 Randomized Aluna per Day)

2 Health Aluna 5 Lethargy Aluna 2 Mana Aluna 6 Sickness Aluna 3 Stamina Aluna 1 Blessing Aluna 1 Speed Aluna 1 Strength Aluna 1 Luck Aluna 1 Curse Aluna 1 Fire Aluna 1 Cure Aluna

Most of the aluna he couldn’t use due to not knowing recipes to match whichever aluna it was, but all of the ascended potions he’d been able to create were quickly bought up. People who weren’t of the Alchemist class could still perform alchemy, but only those with the actual class could create ascended potions. Having an aluna added to whatever potion he chose to ascend created a much better variant of the potion and gave bonuses that couldn’t be created otherwise. What that meant is a moderate healing potion created by someone who wasn’t an alchemist was worth something similar to a minor ascended healing potion. If this was a big game world after all like the All Spirit had claimed, it was certainly a prerogative that would entice people into choosing crafting classes. He could only guess at what the highest tiers of equipment would be like, and was quick to realize in prior months that it meant the very best items could only be created by people who were classed in their specialty. For instance, he as an alchemist class would be able to achieve a level of potion making that would literally be unreachable by an archer class or spellcaster class who also practiced alchemy.

Thinking of the possibilities made him drool.

His thoughts were interrupted as Izumi finished counting the potion labels. “Just one! You sure do sell them fast.”

Jason took it from her, wiping off dirt from the label and comparing it beside another potion of similar class but that wasn’t ascended. Both vials of crimson liquid flowed like silk ripples inside the glass corked containers that held the concoctions, and he still remained mystified by the textures even after making so many of them.

Minor Healing Potion

Item Tier: (3) Crude

Bonuses: none

Requirements: none

Durability: 20/20

Special: Recover 40 HP over 60 seconds

Minor Ascended Healing Potion

Item Tier: (5) Common

Bonuses: Increase maximum HP by 25 for 60 seconds

Requirements: none

Durability: 20/20

Special: Recover 40 HP over 60 seconds

Ascended potions, he’d found out, were the only potions he’d ever seen thus far that gave bonus categories when concerning their item pages. Regular potions that he created when he ran out of Aluna never gave bonuses. Ever. He could only assume that this was the case with all types of potions, and had even gone to the market a couple times to clarify this by looking at other vendors and their wares.

Jason’s thoughts were interrupted yet again by the squealing of Rivia on the other side of the room and the loud smacking of her ass against Trey’s groin.

“HREEEEEE!!!”

Jason violently rolled his eyes in annoyance, shook his head, sighed, and then stood up. He placed the two health potions back in the crate on the table and gave Izumi a nod. “Thanks for the help tonight, I’ll be sure to bring you lunch tomorrow while you’re at work.”

Izumi beamed back up at him. “No problem Jason! I look forward to it!”

Jason gave one long sideways glare at Trey before huffing and returning to his quarters for the night. Shutting the door behind him, he extinguished the lantern in his room and shed his clothes before covering himself up with the ragged blankets they’d been given by the guild.

“HREEEEE!!!”

Trey’s fingers filled with the fat of Rivia’s ass as he made a final thrust and exploded inside the culn woman. Orgasming hard and shoving as deep as he could, he reveled in the feel of her warm body around him with a satisfied sigh.

Atharost had already finished with Eeme and had just gotten up to return to their room for the night, saying a quick farewell to the others and taking a bottle of wine with him as he went. The tall ifrit had taken a liking to alcohol and had experienced little of it in his upbringing, so he was now exploring an entirely new frontier.

A feminine voice invaded Trey’s reveling thoughts. “Do you need me to get another towel, master?”

Trey shuddered in euphoria and opened his eyes to see Eeme cleaning herself up. The freckled blonde wiped off Atharost’s bodily fluids and threw the rag into a nearby bucket before kneeling beside him with a bowed head.

Trey sighed, pulling out of the panting demoness and letting himself fall onto his back. Beads of sweat riddled his toned muscles and dripped onto the floor. He watched the water collect beside him and laughed as he sprawled out further.

“Yes Eeme, get a towel and clean me up.”

He watched as the young woman got up with a nod and make for the bathing room. His gaze drifted over to Rivia who was sprawled out herself on her front, taking deep breaths and clutching at the choke chain around her neck that had finally loosened. Her red eyes met his own and stayed locked on him for a while as if wanting to say something before she turned her head to the other side.

Eeme took another couple seconds before returning back with a clean rag. Dipping it in another bucket filled with water nearby, she began to clean off Trey’s body in large sweeping strokes.

“Thanks.” Trey acknowledged her briefly, feeling up her small breasts with his left hand and gave her a small smile that she returned in kind. “Now go get some clothes on and head to bed. Don’t you have a big day tomorrow?”

At the mention of tomorrow, Eeme let off a radiating smile and nodded. “Yes! Ashe is going to take Napoleon, Juila and I shopping! I’m very excited!”

The imp upon hearing his name perked up from where he was perched in the structural supports of the ceiling. Looking down on them for a moment to make sure he wasn’t being called on, the imp then returned back to his original position and went back to getting some rest.

Trey nodded, still laying on his back along the wooden floorboards. “Be sure to remind Ashe to get some of that viscar weed. We don’t want any of you getting pregnant.”

Viscar weed was a means of birth control that was common in these parts of the world, and it grew in abundance not only on these islands but also on the continents to the west.

Eeme nodded fervently. “Of course. I’ll be sure to remind Ashe so we can collect more of it.”

The young woman got up to go bathe after throwing the small rag into the same bucket she’d thrown the first, disappearing into the bathing area behind a drawn curtain with a cutsie wave to Ashe.

“Having fun down there!?”

Trey turned his head to see Ashe had been the one to call out. She had her head laid on Juila’s lap and the older woman was temporarily braiding a small part of Ashe’s hair a lot like how her own black locks were done. Meanwhile Ashe was focusing hard on using the lock pick to open up the small metal box on her lap.

Trey cleared his throat, took his clothes, got up and stepped over Rivia towards the two nude women on Juila’s cot. Taking a seat in an old wooden chair, he leaned back and moved his tail out of the way so he wasn’t sitting on it.

“Yes that was quite enjoyable.” Trey grinned at Ashe who gave him an eyeroll, but the cocky look he gave her wasn’t one about the sex he’d just had. He scratched his chin - and pretended he’d just remembered something that had alluded him for some time. Then he reached up with both hands to either cheek. “It’s your birthday tomorrow isn’t it!?”

Ashe’s mouth dropped and she perked up, setting down the lock picking equipment. “How’d you know!? Did Izumi tell you!?”

Izumi was reading a book she’d bought from one of the vendors downstairs on the first level of the guild compound, but she gave Ashe a sly grin upon the accusation. “Guilty as charged!”

Ashe laughed at the Japanese girl and blew her a kiss before settling back down so Juila could continue braiding her hair. Resting her head on Juila’s lap and settling in she narrowed her eyes and glared up at Trey.

“So Ashe, how old are you now?”

“I turn 20 years old tomorrow.”

Trey raised his eyebrows. “Damn I feel old. I’m still 8 years older than you even after you hit the big 2-0! Shit.”

Ashe chuckled, enjoying the feel of Juila’s fingers in her hair. “You’re still a baby-faced bitch Trey, you look like you’re my age.”

Trey just scoffed in defiance and stuck out his tongue. He began putting on his pants and kept grinning, something that seemed rather suspicious to his friend.

“What are you grinning about?” Ashe prodded him with her finger. “You’re not telling me something.”

Trey had completely stopped trying to hide his smile now and it had gone from grin to full blown. “We may have gotten you something for your birthday.”

Izumi snapped her book shut from behind him and guffawed. “You’re giving it to her now!? I thought you were going to wait until tomorrow!”

Ashe’s mouth dropped open in surprise and then she began to blush. She gave Izumi a sincere smile and then did the same with Trey, clutching her heart as an act to let them know how touched she was.

Juila began to chuckle. Juila’s words carried a thick accent, one that Trey hadn’t distinguished the first time he’d talked to her due to the dire nature of her situation at the time. Now as she spoke though, it was pretty evident.

“I think you’ve caught her off guard,” Juila looked down happily at the younger woman resting on her lap. “She was sad about not celebrating it, that’s why she was going to take Eeme and I out to the market tomorrow.”

Juila let go of Ashe’s blonde locks and scooted over for the girl to sit up. Ashe excitedly moved forward in anticipation, putting her fingers to her lips and keeping her eyes locked onto Trey’s.

Trey chuckled at the excitement behind those eyes. “Well? Do you want it now or tomorrow? I’m sure Jason wouldn’t mind if we gave it to you tonight, in fact he was the one who suggested it before going off to bed.”

Ashe clapped her hands together in excitement. “Now please!”

Izumi was watching excitedly as well, and in the next moment wisps of shadow began to appear above Trey’s outstretched palms. Seconds passed before the silver gem-studded figurine of the fox appeared, and he handed it over to her with a giddy grin. Along with it, he also sent the status information that the professional identifier Berumba had given him at the price of 75 silver pieces.

Fox Totem of the Fae Mothers

Item Tier: (13) Relic

Bonuses: None

Requirements: Must be female to use. Cannot be of demonic, angelic, spree, or fallen heritage.

Durability: 3001/3100

Special: This is a one time use only. The person who breaks this totem unlocks the following:

Skill Tree ‘Spirit Fox’ with associated abilities Permanent Dexterity and Speed bonuses Acquire the following physical traits: Fox Ears - Improved Hearing Fox Tail - Improved Reflexes and Balance

Ashe’s eyes went wide with recognition upon seeing the relic, and she gingerly took it while looking over the item page information. “Trey… This is the relic we were given for the job with Brae. I thought you were going to sell this, why are you giving it to me? I know it’s worth an enormous amount. I can’t accept it, the gold from selling it should go to our group funds.”

She tried handing it back, but Trey refused and folded his arms in defiance.

Izumi laughed and got up from her chair to come over and sit next to the others. Plopping herself on the cot next to the other two women as Rivia passed Trey by to let him know she was going to bed, Izumi placed a hand on Ashe’s hands and giggled happily.

“Once we saw what it could do, we all thought it would be better to keep it. It matches up with your rogue build nicely! The gold isn’t worth what it could do for you, and the only reason I would ever agree to you declining is if you really don’t want those fox ears or the tail!” Izumi laughed cheerfully again. “It’d be very weird to have! Though Trey has horns and a tail, and he adapted well enough. I think you’d look cute!”

Ashe took another look at the status information on the relic and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Well… I wouldn’t mind, in fact I think it would be rather cool! I would just feel guilty about taking such a pricey item when it could mean no worries about money for months.”

“Try years,” Trey retorted with a wink. “It’s worth 12,000 gold. Gold, not bronze. That’d be 1,200,000 bronze.”

Ashe’s mouth dropped again in astonishment, and Juila’s eyes widened too. Both of them quickly realized the significance of this gift, because selling it could mean a long time of comfortable living. Ashe immediately began to drop the item in a panic after realizing how much it was worth - and in her flustered attempt to try to get a grip on it again, the totem was flung off to her right.

“NOOOO!!!” Ashe screamed as she dove for it out of the cot and landed on her face only to have the silver figurine shatter two feet from her as it hit the ground. “NOOOO!!!”

Trey was surprised at how fragile the thing had been. Truth be told he hadn’t expected it to break so easily, but despite the tears welling up in Ashe’s eyes he only began to laugh.

He slapped her along the back of the head as notifications began to appear in her vision. “Don’t worry about it, you were supposed to break it! We hope you like the gift!”

Ashe’s mind whirled about as she felt the changes occur internally and externally in a swift simultaneous buzz of notifications from the All Spirit.

“You have broken ‘Fox Totem of the Fae Mothers.’ You have unlocked the skill tree ‘Spirit Fox.’ You have acquired the miracle ‘Spirit Fox: Scatter.’ You have acquired the trait ‘Spirit Fox: Light Footed.’ You have acquired 300 Dexterity points. You have acquired 50 Speed points. You have acquired the physical attributes ‘Fox Ears’ and ‘Fox Tail.’ Your race has changed from Human to Demihuman and because of this you gain additional HP, MP and SP points that reflect your race. Congratulations, for more information please see your status page.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: Ashe Landry

HP 242/242

MP 120/120

SP 184/184

DP 1/1

Race: Demihuman

Guild: None

Class: Rogue

Level 25

Status Alerts:

Remaining Skill Points: 0 Remaining Stat Points: 0 Current Permanence cycle: OFF Current Bound Point: Lawless Lands, Outer Rim Runestone

Buffs:

+20% damage with bows and small blades (Rogue’s Handiwork) +15% effectiveness to stealth abilities (Rogue’s Handiwork) +80% silence buff when walking or running (Spirit Fox: Light Footed) +100% to hearing (Fox Ears) +100% to reflexes (Fox Tail)

Debuffs:

None

Stat Amplifications:

8 Strength

21 Vitality

12 Endurance

365 Dexterity

94 Speed

0 Intelligence

0 Wisdom

0 Faith

0 Luck

0 Willpower

(Click for the rest of her status page and new abilities!)

Magics (0 of 2 spells learned)

None

Miracles (1 of 1 miracles learned)

Spirit Fox: Scatter (Fae Miracle) - Level 0

Draw on the power of the Fae lineage and release 10 fake images of yourself in various directions simultaneously to disorient and confuse enemies.

Physical Combat (2 of 20 sacred arts learned)

Bows^^^ - Level 32

Upgrade 1> Your vision is crystal clear and able to zoom in by up to 100 yards Upgrade 2> Each projectile fired gains an additional +6 attack rating Upgrade 3> Dexterity is increased by 4%

Rogue’s Trickery: Accelerator^ (Sacred Art) - Level 14

Increase speed and dexterity by 135% for 60 seconds Upgrade 1> Add an additional 10% bonus to speed and dexterity boosts

Small Blades^ - Level 13

Upgrade 1> Chance to pierce through objects increased by 10%

Rogue’s Trickery: Stealth Field (Sacred Art) - Level 9

Gain 40% chameleon and +20 temporary skill points to sneak skill for 5 minutes

Throwables - Level 8

Hand to Hand Combat - Level 8

Assassination - Level 7

Light Armor - Level 4

Miscellaneous

Sneak - Level 24

Upgrade 1> You are able to move quickly while still maintaining effective sneak Upgrade 2> Your steps are padded as long as you are not wearing heavy armor, reducing noise you make by 60%

Pickpocketing - Level 17

Upgrade 1> Your fingers become more nimble

Lock Picking - Level 3

Identification - Level 8

Tracking - Level 4

Traits:

Earthborn - You are earthborn and experience ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ permanence cycles. You also gain a 20% increase to any type of XP acquired when compared to your fellow NPCs, and your mana regeneration rate is increased by 30%.

Languages Learned - Human

Rogue’s Handiwork - All bows and small blades gain an additional 20% damage. Gain an additional 15% effectiveness to all stealth abilities.

Spirit Fox: Light Footed - You now receive an 80% silence increase when walking or running.

Physical Attributes:

Fox Ears - Increased hearing by 100%

Fox Tail - Increased reflexes by 100%

Skill Trees Unlocked:

Rogue’s Trickery Spirit Fox

Magical Attributes:

None

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

300 Dexterity and 50 Speed points? That was the equivalent of 70 level ups… minus the skill points she’d have gotten.

She felt something shoot out of her back, something… fluffy. It wasn’t painful whatsoever, but it felt very strange to have something grow out of you like that. Equally weird was the transformation of her ears… her human ears were morphing. The change was slow at first, but then Ashe began to feel them move up her head by about an inch… and then they began to thin out and grow longer. Golden hair began to sprout from the tail she’d just grown as well as the ears as they took shape, and not more than a full twenty seconds later - it was complete.

She sat up and looked behind her to where the long, beautiful tail of golden fur had sprouted out just above where her ass was. Without even thinking, the tail began to wag back and forth the happier she got. Cocking her head to one side and admiring the thing of beauty her long golden ears perked up and were directed towards the tail to massive amounts of amusement from Trey.

She was changed. She was a legit fox-girl.

Quickly, and despite the laughter from Trey or the exclamations of marveling from the two other women, Ashe burst through the curtain door and briefly apologized to Eeme in the bath before snatching the mirror out of Eeme’s hands. Eeme gasped upon seeing Ashe and put her hands to her mouth, watching in stunned disbelief as Ashe began to do the same.

Ashe stood there, naked, looking herself over in the small handheld mirror they’d bought not even a week ago. The ears on either side of her head were slender, even sleek, and matched the color of her hair. Bringing the mirror around to get a better look at her backside, Ashe smiled widely at the new tail she’d sprouted. It was a lot bushier than Trey’s slender hairless demon tail, but not too bushy. Hers extended out a few feet and barely brushed against the ground when she let it drop all the way.

“You’re… gorgeous…” Eeme muttered absentmindedly as she stared Ashe down.

It made Ashe blush, but she quickly thanked Eeme and handed the other blonde her mirror back. “Sorry about taking that from you Eeme, I just got excited is all.”

Without waiting for a reply, Ashe bolted out of the bathing room and past the curtain. With a speed she didn’t even realize she had until then, she vaulted across the common area and nearly knocked Trey over in a big hug. She squeezed and began to happily cry just before letting go and giving Izumi a similar hug.

Izumi was too busy marveling at how pretty Ashe was with the new additions. Ashe had already been very pretty but now it was even moreso, and before Izumi could say anything more Ashe had bust open Jason’s door butt-ass-naked and flung herself onto Jason’s back in his sleep.

“THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCHHH!!!”

The screams of annoyance and protest from Jason said it all, and Trey’s laughter only escalated. The remainder of that night was to be a good one.