Mature Content Warning: This particular episode is fairly tame, but there is combat and sexual innuendo, and mild swearing. I figured that I'd just make sure that these warnings are on every chapter. :)

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Episode II, Chapter 1

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Novel Chapter Chapter 7

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Scott glanced down at the boarding pass in his hand. It would take them to their new job. Since he had finished a few bodyguard missions and package delivery runs, the guild had decided that he was ready for a more definitive role.

The new gig was a security mission at a cave system known as the Abados Caves. Relics of an unknown civilization were discovered a few months back, but not long after the discovery was made hoards of weak humanoid monsters began to appear within the caverns. They were not classified as demi-humans due to their general appearance and completely non-human genetics.

He settled in to wait for the train to arrive. It was already a half hour late, but that was fine. It gave him time to rethink what he had discussed with P-chan earlier that morning. Scott said, “HUD, open status menu.”

A soft beep echoed from his helmet, followed by the sudden display of his vital statistics.

StatusName: Scott JacobsRace: True HumanLevel: 1 (96/400)Class: Adventurer (Soldier)

Scott Jacobs is a novice soldier employed by the adventurer’s guild. He has not distinguished himself. He is a known criminal.

Age: 28

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color: Brown

Height: 6’ 2”/ 188 cm

Weight: 210 lbs. / 95.25 kg

Blood Type: A+

Guild Rank: Novice

Guild Level: 1

Life Force: 150Mana: 160Attack: 10(20)M. Attack: 10Defense: 15(25)M. Defense: 11Strength: 14Agility: 13Resilience: 14Vitality: 15Intellect: 18(20)Charisma: 16Will:15Spirit: 16AbilitiesStaff Mastery: Level 2Unarmed Combat: Level 4Swordsmanship: Level 3--AttacksNone

His test scores had finally come back. The difference between his statistics when he first arrived and what he rated as now were startling. His physical attributes were all above the human average; in the mid-teens. He noted that they had a system that seemed fairly similar to old table top RPG scores, but the scale went much higher due to the nature of demi-humans.

The scoring system had a twenty point max for normal human development instead of eighteen. A fit, healthy, human would have scores that ranged between eight and twelve on average. His lowest score was a thirteen, and that was for agility.

He chuckled to himself at that. It certainly explained why he hadn't been able to avoid many of Nina's attacks. Now that he had bonded with Nina, the old rules did not apply. The enhanced E.X.P. development would allow him to break out of human biological maximums. It was one of the important factors of the bonding experience. A human who was not bonded would find it difficult to progress beyond level one.

The level system was based on sudden growth brought on by an overflowing amount of E.X.P. Humans produced very little of this energy naturally. Only meta-humans, humans who were born of the union between human and demi-human, could naturally increase their level beyond level one or two. Even that expanded growth usually only allowed for a few more growth levels to occur. Forging bonds with demi-humans was the only way to continually increase your level as a human being.

His physical stats were higher than they had any right to be. He had not even gained a single level, yet. What really astonished him though was his intellect, charisma, and will scores. Somehow he'd rated in the high teens. He'd known he was fairly intelligent back home. School work had come easily, and puzzles were not difficult to figure out for the most part. Still, his intellect had increased quite a bit since arriving in this world.

His magical and psychic potential rated at least as high as a lesser first tier magic or psychic demi-human. Though for some reason he couldn't quite manage to use spells or psionic skills. There seemed to be something missing.

He'd memorized the spells, and knew the right imagery to use. His scores showed a great deal of potential talent. Yet, he could not manifest any usable abilities.

The good professor theorized that maybe he just needed more life experience, or to keep trying. There may even be some sort of psychic baggage blocking his ability.

Scott had thought about it himself, and began wondering if maybe it was because all the spells here were used by demi-humans and thus had a sort of wave length requiring monster DNA to be readily usable.

It reminded him of the difference between monsters and player characters in roleplaying games. The monsters gained spells and abilities naturally based on race, whereas humans and player characters generally had to learn them. Sometimes a game would still automatically provide spells when a level was gained, but that was a game mechanic that wasn’t used as often anymore. Customization was king, currently.

He hypothesized that maybe the scientists who had created the demi-humans embedded the magical and psychic abilities of random monsters into the soldiers and volunteers who were available. That would allow them to naturally acquire specific powers at certain growth levels, but they would still be able to learn new skills due to their human nature.

Analise's 'Black knight' sighed. He reread his report as it filtered across his H.U.D. He seemed to have an affinity for white magic, and elemental energies.

He should have the capacity to learn spells. Yet, he just could not manage to use them.

It was annoying the hell out of him, and it caused him to be distracted enough that he entirely missed the arrival of the train. The blast of the horn sounded several minutes later, startling him a little.

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StatusName: NinaRace: Demi-HumanLevel: 1 (213/240)Breed: Slashette

Nina is a Slashette currently owned by the adventurer Scott Jacobs. She was captured on the High Road between the Ophun Research Institute and Oldtowne. She likes to sing when she is happy.

She uses a weighted rope and hook as her main weapon style, and her libido seems to be higher than average.

Her owner theorizes that she simply wants to show her affection for him due to her previous partial-regression experience. She is expected to calm down in the near future.

Age: 18

Eye Color: Blue

Hair Color: Blond

Height: 5’ 8”/ 168.8 cm

Weight: 140 lbs. / 63.5 kg

Blood Type: B+

Breast Size: Generous C-cup

Appearance: Human Standard

Body Type: Curvaceous

Role: Frontline Fighter

Position: Alpha

Enhancements: Enhanced Weapon Usage Proficiency

Life Force: 190Mana: 230Attack: 15(27)M. Attack: 14Defense: 15(20)M. Defense: 15Strength: 22Agility: 34Resilience: 21Vitality: 19Intellect: 16Charisma: 21Will: 18Spirit: 23AbilitiesChain Weapon Mastery: Level 3Swordsmanship: Level 2First Aid: Level 1Cooking: Level 1Scholarship: (Intermediate)Unrated------AttacksSwing: Level 2Trip (Unrated)Counter (Unrated)Deflect (Unrated)

Scott turned off his display after he read Nina's information. It all seemed a little different than the stories he'd written back home. It was much more detailed. A few things bothered him though.

He had thought that all demi-humans were a great deal stronger than humans. It was true that she did have a very high starting base for her level one stats. She had several attributes above the supposed human maximum. Still, you'd think they'd have an entirely different rating system. Of course, he was close to the theoretical human maximum for humans without a demi-human partner bond. It wasn’t really a fair comparison.

Without any training at all, she had stats that were much higher than a normal human could achieve alone. Even meta-humans would have supreme difficult achieving some of her basic ability. Her agility alone was nearly twice the maximum that biology would allow a human to develop.

He glanced down at the D-ball in his hand and sighed. He wanted to release her to have someone to talk to, but he knew that as soon as he did turn her loose she'd be all over him.

While he didn't mind her affections at all, it could become quite distracting. Scott debated the situation briefly. He had another six hours until they arrived. He might as well get to know her a bit better.

"Nina, come on out." he said before tossing her ball over to the seat across from him. A red flash of light erupted outwards and the amorous blond girl appeared. She blinked sleepily, but the grogginess wore off immediately when she spied the black armored form across from her.

"Master!" squealed the girl happily before she leapt across their short divide. She landed in his lap then unleashed a devastatingly happy giggle.

Scott flushed a little inside his helmet. He did not know why he acted like a school boy since coming to this world, but it seemed like he blushed or became embarrassed frequently. He had always considered himself to be a bit of a pervert, but in the face of so much constant affection he had been helplessly outmatched.

He stroked her hair lightly and she snuggled into him. Sure, his armor might not be the cuddliest thing in the world, but she didn't seem to care.

"How are you feeling this morning Nina?" he asked her softly. His electronically synthesized voice caused her to lean back and look at him.

She beamed happily at him. "I'm good! Um... master..."

Scott winced a little. He didn't know about this whole, 'master', business. He'd tried to get her to use his name, but she had constantly returned to that term after a few minutes into any conversation. She seemed to be stuck in master mode for now. "Yeah?"

"Um... could you take that off?" she asked cautiously while pointing at his helmet. Nina hoped that she wasn't overstepping herself. As far as she knew, she was born a demi-human. However, she'd never been tamed before she had met Scott. That particular fact had been hard for the man to believe, consider her disturbingly erotic skills, but she knew that he had accepted what she claimed.

Still, she had no real experience with having a master. Her memories were practically non-existent at the moment. She could only remember her name and a few tiny fragments about her life. However, she did feel strongly that she had never been with anyone before.

Scott smiled to himself and nodded. The clasps detached themselves, and he removed his 'brain-bucket' revealing his slightly reddened face to the girl.

"Master, are you sick? Your face is so red!" exclaimed the girl in concern.

"No, no... I'm good. It's just the way the helmet sits." He was not a particularly good liar, but he saw her reaction and felt that he had convinced her.

"Ohhh." she said, before she smiled and leaned forward to kiss him tenderly on the cheek. Her arms slipped around his neck and he rubbed her back softly.

He knew what she'd want next, but he tried to keep them in this innocent snuggle for as long as possible. Long as possible, turned out to be about eight minutes.

"Master...how long is this train ride?"

Scott sighed and said, "Another five hours or so, and can you please call me something besides master?"

"Good! We have time then!" she exclaimed giddily, while conveniently ignoring the rest of his request.

The man shook his head slowly then smiled. She'd be the death of him yet, but what a way to go! A few minutes later the cabin was littered with pieces of armor and discarded clothing.

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"So, when's this guy supposed to get here?" asked a green haired demi-human to her companion, a blond girl who looked like a cross between a pigeon and a teenage girl. They had been waiting for over two hours for the train to arrive.

The bird girl shrugged. "When the train gets here I guess. It's running late."

The inquisitive girl sighed then twirled her green hair around her finger. Waiting around for these adventurer types was getting annoying. They'd had to come pick them up several times, and none of them had managed to clear the old caves of those creatures. They'd even lost two researchers due to their incompetence.

"We need to just say screw the guild and put out a tamer all-call." muttered the green haired demi-human.

The bird girl nodded then shrugged once more, "Yeah, but the guild is cheaper and you know how tamers are. They do nothing but bitch and moan if one of those gets broadcast."

"Attention passengers, the train will be arriving in five minutes." came a voice over the loud speaker. It repeated itself a few times before cutting out.

"Well, let's see what they sent us this time." quipped the feather demi-human.

Her companion nodded. They might as well greet them, even if the new arrivals were probably scraped from the bottom of the barrel again. Hell, the report said this guy was only a level one soldier. He probably wouldn't last the night.

The train pulled in to the station a few minutes later and they held up a sign with Scott's name on it.

They watched as half the passengers unloaded then noted someone in black body armor stepping off. He was followed by a blond girl who carried herself like a demi-human.

The armored person looked around briefly then noticed the sign and walked over. "Excuse me? Are you two the research site representatives?"

"Are you Scott from the guild?" asked the green haired girl.

The armored man nodded and she scanned him with a device that looked a lot like an oversized cell phone. She groaned loudly after reading the display screen.

"I just knew they'd send another wannabe." The girl sighed loudly then shook her head.

"Excuse me?!" snapped Nina, coming to the defense of her beloved master.

The bird girl sighed, "Don't mind her. She's just fed up from being sent the dregs of the adventurer’s guild. We need someone with a strong harem and powerful abilities. Yet, they keep sending us weak, low-level people."

Scott was normally calm and collected, but these girls had completely ruined the good mood that he’d had going. He snorted. "Whatever, it's easy to talk shit to people you don't know."

"Feh! Whatever? You'll probably be killed in the first encounter, He-ro." said the bird girl in a snarky tone of voice.

Nina growled and whipped out her rope. "He beat me in a fight and didn't even use a pet! I think he can handle a few midgets with spears!"

The girls glanced at each other and then laughed their asses off. They had just heard something truly hilarious.

"What's so funny?" asked Scott.

The two wiped the tears of hilarity from their eyes and then the green haired girl managed to say, "Th-that's hilarious! They sent us a guy with no gifts who has only one pet, and that D-girl is so weak a normal human can kick her ass!"

Scott stared at them, and then activated his H.U.D.

StatusName: UnknownRace: Demi-HumanLevel: 5Breed: Generica

The Generica is the default demi-human breed. They were the first breed created during the ancient wars. They possess no outstanding traits or inherent special abilities. They are known to have twice the general human capacity as a base.

Age: unknown

Eye Color: Green

Hair Color: Green

Height: 5’ 6”/ 163.6 cm

Weight: unknown

Blood Type: unknown

Breast Size: Borderline D-cup

Appearance: Human Standard

Body Type: Average

Role: unknown

Position: unknown

Enhancements: Double human statistical standard at level one. Twice the average human growth potential.

Life Force: 150Mana: 140Attack: 9M. Attack: 9Defense: 11M. Defense: 12Strength: 13Agility: 19Resilience: 17Vitality: 15Intellect: 16Charisma: 22Will: 14Spirit: 14

StatusName: UnknownRace: Demi-HumanLevel: 5Breed: Avianette

The Avianette is a low-ranking bird based demi-human breed. They were the first breed created during the ancient wars who were capable of independent flight. They possess elemental affinity to the wind element. They are agile creatures with the power to summon the wind.

Age: unknown

Eye Color: Red

Hair Color: blond

Height: 5’ 5”/ 165.1 cm

Weight: unknown

Blood Type: unknown

Breast Size: Solid C-cup

Appearance: Winged Humanoid

Body Type: Lithe

Role: unknown

Position: unknown

Enhancements: Elemental Wind Affinity. Agility three times the human standard at level one.

Life Force: 140Mana: 170Attack: 9M. Attack: 5Defense: 7M. Defense: 5Strength: 14Agility: 37Resilience: 19Vitality: 14Intellect: 12Charisma: 15Will: 12Spirit: 17AttacksGust------

He registered them both as only level five. His scanning equipment could only register minimal information, mostly the generic information for a given breed. It was able to display level and possible stats based on the aura of the one being scanned, but that information could be highly inaccurate. Only the breed and level information was always perfectly accurate.

The Avianette's best attack at her level was gust, and it was unlikely that this one would have any other skills given her approximated stats. The Generica wasn't even a combat capable girl. Her stats were mostly below average for her breed, especially for a level five. Below average meant that an average Generica would have had between twenty and thirty points in all stats by level five.

At level one they would be around twice as durable, strong, and quick as a normal human. Even at level give she could probably punch, kick, and bite efficiently with those stats but her threat level was minimal at best. Generica without weapons or solid martial arts training are just stronger humans. This one had stats higher than any normal human, but she was quite inadequate compared to the average member of her breed.

The man shrugged, "Yeah, well I'm sure she'd kick the crap out of either of you. No wonder you wusses need help, you're pathetic. Hell MY strength rating is higher than yours." he said while pointing at them. It wasn’t entirely true. His strength was equal to the inadequate Avianette.

The Avianette stared at him then shook her head. "Not only are you weak, you're an idiot. Your pet is a melee-fighting type, genius! She's four levels below me, AND I have a major type advantage due to my ranged attack."

The man smirked, "So what? That's just words on a screen. Your best attack can only be done if you're close enough to hit her with it. Otherwise, it would just be a pleasant breeze."

"You wanna go, human?! You adventurers are all the same! Too stupid to be real tamers and too weak to ever have any truly useful D-girls." snapped the green haired chick.

Scott shrugged, "I'm ready if you are. How about you, Nina? Wanna show them who's boss?"

She adjusted her grip then started to whirl her rope around. "Oh yeah! Lemme at em!"

"Hold it!" came an excited shout from behind the irate research girls.

They all looked over as a man in a security guard uniform came running over. "No battling in the train station! What's wrong with you?!"

"This idiot started it!" whined the Generica. She took special care to try and look both cute and innocent.

"Bullshit!" snapped Scott. Nina raised her rope in support.

"Look, if you want to fight so badly do it outside." snapped the man, as he fingered his D-balls. He whip out D-balls before anyone knew what happened if they gave him any shit. Yep, he was really good at pulling out D-balls.

He never got a chance to show his skills, however. They argumentative party left without any further incident.

The quartet moved their confrontation to a field across the street. The two irate demi-humans smirked at each other before the green haired chick made a show of cracking her knuckles. This was gonna be an easy win for them.

"If you apologize for being idiots we might go easy on you." said the Generica haughtily.

"Funny, I was thinking the same thing." murmured Nina, causing Scott to smile.

The humor of that taunt was cut short by a sudden blast of wind that slammed into Nina with enough force to hurl her off her feet. She was knocked back hard and landed on the ground with a loud thump.

"Ha! Losers! She got taken out already!" The Avianette laughed obnoxiously.

Scott glanced over at his fallen partner, his worried expression hidden by his helmet. His concerns were allayed the moment that he saw Nina start to get back up with little trouble. Type advantage or not, that gust did little damage to anything but the Slashette’s pride as a fighter.

The battle line was drawn. Opponents were chosen. Scott drew his sword and squared off against the green haired girl while Nina made ready to retaliate against the bird.

"Are you nuts? You really think a mere human can beat a demi-human?" asked the green haired girl incredulously.

"Been there, done that" replied Scott casually before he ran towards the girl with his weapon held in a solid two-handed grip.

The girl snorted and leapt at him. She easily cleared the distance remaining between them. Scott was caught off guard by her surprisingly aggressively movement. He found himself getting kicked solidly in the chest and propelled backwards. His momentum from his short run had been countered by surprise, if not strength. His sword was knocked from his hand during the fall.

"Heehee, that's what you get for picking on a lil’ ole girl like me." snickered his opponent just before she narrowly avoided a rock that came hurtling toward her head from Scott's direction.

She snorted. "So rude!"

"I'm gonna enjoy tying you up with your own rope, you bimbo!" cackled the Avianette before she flew up just out of Nina's range then unleashed another gust attack. Truth be told, it really was her only ability besides flying.

Nina easily avoided the attack since it had petered out a few feet before it reached her. All she had felt was a slight and pleasant breeze. The bird girl may have the advantage, but the universal truth was apparent here as in most places. Low level characters are weak. Whether they were attacking or defending, it didn't matter.

The Avianette grumbled to herself. That idiot tamer had been right. The only thing keeping her from being whipped all to hell was her ability to fly. Her gust attacks, even up close, barely annoyed the girl that she was fighting. In another ten levels, she thought, the fight would be hers easily even if the slashette was still reasonably close in level. Right now though, things weren't so easy.

Scott grunted in pain as a strong fist hammered down on him again and smashed against his chest plate. She couldn't break his armor like Nina, but enough force still traveled through to bruise him if she hit solidly. It was like fighting a professional boxer who looked like a fitness model; albeit, a fitness model who had taken a few months off from work to eat doughnuts and watch daytime soap operas.

She laughed while she slapped her hands around his helmet and began shaking it back and forth. Her laughter stopped a moment later as some of Scott's old army training merged with his recent unarmed combat skill development. She suddenly found that her left arm had been grabbed in a solid grip and maneuvered in such a way that she was forced to roll over onto her back.

With Scott on top now, she struggled with as much strength as she could muster. Unfortunately for her, she learned that with him sitting on her chest with his knees buried in her arm pits she had little that she could manage to do about the situation. Her lack of basic combat training had come back to haunt her.

She bucked and tried to free her arms. For a brief moment she thought that she'd managed to make headway, but found out that somehow she had been maneuver onto her stomach. An arm snaked around her throat, and a gloved hand found its way to her forehead. Her opponent expertly combed her head back with his hand while his submission hold worked its magic.

Less than half a minute later she was unconscious. "Heh, it doesn't matter how strong you are when you wind up in the rear naked choke lady." Of course, it was an easy move to get out of if you knew how. Happily, though, she'd never bothered to learn even basic wrestling skills. She had tried to solely rely on her strength and speed. He was lucky that she was such a poor specimen for her breed. A properly trained Generica could have probably smashed his armor apart with her bare hands.

The Avianette danced around Nina's attempted attacks and continued laughing. That is, she laughed until a rock collided with her side.

Distracted, she lost focus on her primary target and asked, "What the...?"

Before she could finish her question, a metal hook slammed into her stomach forcing the wind out of her lungs. She hit the ground much like the rock that had hit her previously. She was caught in a sudden whirlwind of attacks from her aggravated opponent. She was rapidly assaulted from multiple angles, the metal hook slamming into her with bone-crushing force. A hard overhand strike that slammed the metal ruthlessly onto her back proved to be the decisive blow.

Her eyes watered from intense pain and she gasped like a fish out of water. Nina ran over to her and knelt down over her wheezing form. A few quick punches to the chest and slaps to the face ended the fight rather abruptly. The Avianette had started begging her to stop.

"You give up?" asked Scott, his sword drawn and pointed at her. The girl nodded rapidly while trying to breathe.

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"So, you're the new recruit that's here to guard the researchers when we go down to study?" asked an older woman with pink hair. She obviously had more than a little demi-human DNA in her blood work, but apparently didn't awaken. How interesting.

Scott nodded, and Nina smiled happily. There was really nothing else to say.

The woman nodded and said, "Ok. We have a long standing rule that we can only accept you if you manage to win a duel against one of the team's demi-human assistants."

Scott raised his eyebrow, though no one saw it. "Really? So, we have to fight someone else today?"

"Someone else?" asked Dr. Gera, the pink haired head researcher. Nina smirked as Scott related the story of how they met with the welcome committee earlier.

"You two beat Harriet and Sprinkles?" asked Gera incredulously. "But... they're three levels higher than your pet! How could a level two slashette beat two level five D-girls when one has a type advantage?"

"Actually, I beat the green haired girl. Nina beat the bird chick. She was level one at the time." stated Scott without missing a beat.

"You beat Sprinkles? How? You don't register any gifts at all!" exclaimed the researcher in a near shout.

"Her name is Sprinkles?" said Scott incredulously. His mind was reeling from the knowledge that he'd choked out a chick named Sprinkles.

"Yes... but... but... how?!" exclaimed the doctor again. The idea that a level one human could beat a demi-human was inconceivable to her.

Nina giggled in the background at the researcher's antics. It wasn’t like either of those girls were actual fighters. They were stronger than normal humans, but they were below average and had no real special abilities. Any human with training could have probably taken one of them in a one-on-one fight.

"Oh that? Rear naked choke." said Scott simply.

The doctor stared at him a moment. She let his answer set in for a moment. Finally, she came to the conclusion that he must know a strange type of sex battling technique.

Nina leaned on her master and he softly stroked her hair. She'd done well today and even managed to gain a level from the fight. Heck, she was halfway to leveling again due to the difference in level between her and Harriet.

"Well... if we can verify that with them, we can go ahead and give you the details." said Dr. Gera after a moment of introspection. Maybe they'd finally been sent someone competent?

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