It was morning and Lily was busy feeding baby Stardust. She made sure to chew up the meats carefully so he could easily swallow them.

When baby Stardust was able to grow teeth, he crawled out of Lily’s arms to devour the rest of the cooked meat. It was supposed to be dinner for the rest of the girls but they all watch in astonishment as he quickly grew in size. He grew to a 9 years old body before the dinner ran out. Then he ran over to the excess uncooked biomass and gorge on them until he grew back to his former peak adult body. He wiped his bloody mouth with a spare pelt.

“ Girls… I was trying to tell everyone yesterday that I wanted to eat more food to regrow faster, not be tossed around like that.”

All the girls apologized to him and he accepted their apologies. Stardust also realized he was naked right in front of them yet they weren’t disturbed by it but rather curious, especially Lily focusing on his lower region. He quickly scavenged the camp supplies for clothes and put them on, as the entire party was still staring at him.

“ QUIT STARING AT HIM!” shouted Lily as she tried to protect Stardust by standing in front of him to block them from seeing more. All the girls didn’t listen but rather stared at their master as he was putting on clothes.

After his nudity show was over, Luna went on to cook more meat for everyone to eat. Lily was about to hug tackle Stardust but another bitch was in the way.

“ Could I talk to you in private,” asked Violet.

“ Sure,” replied Stardust.

Stardust and Violet were jogging together away from the camp. Lily was staring daggers at Violet.

( Lily) >

The two of them reached a place where nobody can eavesdrop on them.

Violet asked, “ Stardust… so… why did you choose Lily? Logically and emotionally it doesn’t make sense. She is a useless drain on the party and she is using emotional manipulations on you and the others. She genuinely doesn’t give a fuck about anyone else except you. Why would you even love such a devoid woman? I know you won’t change your mind about it…. But please reconsider. You don’t have to listen to her... Even though I know you love all of your NPCs and wish us no harm. Everyone would accept your decision to get rid of Lily and re-roll a different and better NPC. You said it yourself, her karma is -100, the maximum value of evil…. Do we need such an NPC if they are that evil?”

“ Because I’m not a pussy who can’t handle a challenge,” said Stardust.

“ But that is too illogical!” retorted Violet.

“ Indeed Violet. You are a very rational, logical, and selfless woman. You will make decisions that are the best for everyone without and do the needed jobs that no others would do. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“ Then why….” asked Violet “ Is there any good reason for you to choose Lily?”

“ ....if I ask you to trust in me completely, would you?”

“ …I… still believe you are making the wrong decisions…”

“ Alright, I will tell you the reason why I chose Lily. After I tell Lily the reason why I chose her.”

“ What Lily doesn’t even know the reason why you even chose her to begin with!”

“ Hmm well it’s not like she asked me… but if she did, I would have told her.”

“ Okay then, please tell Lily first.”

They returned to the camp.

Lily walked towards Stardust for a warm embrace, “ what were you two talking about?”

“ Don’t worry, I will tell you everything,” replied Stardust. “ Let’s talk in private.”

“ Yes!” beamed Lily.

Stardust gave her a piggyback ride as they made their way to a private place.

“ ...Lily do you know the reason why I chose you?”

“ It’s because I’m the most beautiful woman!” boasted Lily.

“ Well yes but there’s another important reason…. It’s because you’re an absolute rarity. There is something I haven’t told you all other than the karma value. There is a loyalty factor and yours is at 100% Which is technically impossible to get with the randomization. There are ways to create 100% loyal NPCs. Even if I created a billion more NPCs with biomass only, I doubt I would ever get another 100% loyal NPC like you.

> ( Stardust)

“ Haha I know I’m one hundred percent loyal to you. Since the others aren’t, are they going to betray you?”

“ Nah, they all have positive loyalty and the baby incident had increased their loyalty towards me as well.”

“ As your wife, I don’t want you to do your baby form for any of those bitches again.”

“ Yeah I don’t want to either and please don’t call them bitches.”

“ I’m sorry! I won’t say such a rude word anymore.”

( Lily) >

“ Thanks. You see, I’m going to reveal to everyone about the loyalty factor. Since you’re the only one at 100%, I’m sure you will be okay if I told everyone about it?”

“ Of course I am! All of them will truly understand why I’m the best woman for you!”

***** NPCs Loyalty *****

Lily: 100%

Rainbow: 99%

Marla: 95%

Luna: 89%

Violet: 80%

Remi: 62%

Queen: 20%

***** End *****

They went back to the camp and Stardust told everyone about the loyalty factor. They were surprised that Lily was at 100% and thought that was the reason why Stardust kept her alive and betrothed her.

Since Queen was the lowest at 20%, they became a little more careful around her but once Stardust told everyone that having a positive loyalty means that an NPC won’t betray him, they felt assured. Despite the universal truth of the loyalty factor, Violet was the most unhappy about it. It didn’t help that Lily kept on rubbing it on her face that Stardust had to stop her.

Remi and Violet both don’t fully trust Lily and were secretly watching her every move.

Lily was having a wicked good time being known as the most loyal NPC. Although Rainbow was trying to compete with her and prove herself even more loyal than her.

( Rainbow) >

Luna had finished creating the full bone armor with her [ Basic Tailor LVL 5] skill for Marla. Although making clothes and armor are completely different, Luna still was able to do a pretty job at it. It will protect her against the poisonous centipedes. Many adjustments were made to ensure maximum flexibility and defense for Marla. She was hotter and sweating more than usual while wearing the armor but Marla persevered thanks to her [ Heat Resistance LVL 6]. She could overheat if she fought too long while wearing the armor. She was joyous at being a full-fledged knight with everyone admiring her new look.

It was time for the advance party to make a 3rd expedition to conquer the remaining two enemies, the desert apes, and the giant centipede swarm.

The support NPCs gave their cheers for the fighter NPCs as they embarked on their journey. If successful, the entire party wanted to re-locate in the berry bushland.

“ FOR THE BERRIES!” shouted everyone but Stardust and Violet. The berry cult was going hyper strong.

The four girls advanced their way deep into Desert Area 2, searching for the giant centipede swarm. They found a swarm currently eating a few of the dead rabbits in the area. Marla charged forward to attack them while the other three stay behind to observe. They were going to rescue Marla’s NPC core if she were to die and run back to the camp while leaving behind even more dead rabbits for them to eat as a decoy.

Marla smashed into the swarm with her bone gauntlet. A couple of the centipedes got splatted from her attack, the rest of the swarm perked up at their intruder and invaded her body. They tried to bite into her body to inject their poison but the full-plated bone armor proved to be a hindrance. Marla wasn’t letting them freely overrun her as she danced around them smashing them with her fist, kicking them with her armored leg. Even grabbing her bone sword to slash some of them from time to time. She didn’t have one fighting style she stuck to, but a mix of fighting techniques. More and more dead centipedes were piling up.

After a few minutes of Marla mercilessly slaughtering the centipede swarm, they gave up as they were going to all be annihilated if they kept on fighting her. They all scattered in different directions to avoid being crushed all together if they fled in the same direction. The centipedes would later regroup and either hunt down a weak animal or scavenge a corpse for food. While many of the centipedes died, it wasn’t a problem because they can quickly regain back their numbers with their fast reproduction rate.

Rainbow, Remi, and Violet ran over to Marla while killing the fleeing centipedes as they celebrated their overwhelming victory.

“ With this, we are one step closer to have good skin forever!” beamed Rainbow.

“ Let’s track down those desert apes,” said Remi.

They left the carnage of the dead centipedes to search for the desert apes. As the girls left, the centipedes from earlier came back and devoured their fallen comrades. They weren’t going to waste any precious food in the desert.

The girls jogged towards the berry bushland to search for the desert apes, not because they wanted to snack on the berries. When they got there, the girls gladly ate some more berries while stuffing their bags full of berries.

Violet said,“ everyone! You didn’t forget the reason why we are here right?”

Marla, Rainbow, and Remi stopped packing more berries into their bags and dropped them to the ground.

“ Of course we haven’t,” said Marla. “ We are here to smash the desert apes.”

“ We will come back to our berry bag later, I guess,” said Remi.

As they explored the huge berry bushland, they encountered many more rabbits munching about. Then Remi spotted a group of desert apes that appeared to be eating and collecting the berries as well. They had crude bags as well to store their berries. There were no cactus monsters around so they didn’t have to risk the desert apes doing a suicidal attack against them if they used their poisonous weapons.

Violet suggested, “ let’s use an attack and run strategy. Remi and I will use our poisonous range attacks while you two guard us as we retreat and wait for them to die from the poison. If they don’t chase after us, then we can go on the offensive with our range attacks.”

“ Nah,” said Marla. “ I wanna fight them head-on. I will gather all of their aggro so support me. Rainbow stay back and protect them.”

“ Marla… there is no need to do such a risky thing…” rejected Violet.

“ I’m doing it anyway!” declared Marla.

They stalked closer to them with Remi taking the lead to readily ambush them. The desert apes noticed Marla getting closer and dropped the berries as they strike a fighting pose while shouting out to terrify the unknown enemy.

Marla taunted the dumb apes, “ COME AND FIGHT ME! COWARDS!”

They all thought she was alone so they all charged together at her. Remi was hiding nearby and shot her needles into a few of the desert ape’s eyes with her poisonous needles, blinding and poisoning them. Marla was engaged in melee combat with a few of the desert apes. Several of the desert apes broke off the main group to charge at Remi.

The desert apes’ punches were quite strong and could break her bones but her bone armor protected her well enough, only leaving her bruises underneath. When a few desert apes got slashed by her poisonous bone sword, they realized they were poisoned and became enraged, focusing purely on the attack while ignoring defense. Individually the desert apes weren’t that much of a threat to Marla. She was poisoning as many of them as she can while mostly running away and fighting defensively. The dying poisoned desert apes latched onto her arms and legs to prevent her from moving while the others are free to pummel her with their fists.

Several desert apes that chased after Remi shielded their eyes with their arms as she shot more poisonous needles at them. They too became enraged and focus purely on the attack while ignoring defense. Remi was doing her best to run away from them to wait until they die out from the poison. But another desert ape had ambushed her, making her fall to the ground with the others catching up to pummel her with their firsts before dying.

Marla was getting brutally beaten underneath her armor as she was struggling to keep on fighting. The desert apes realized that her weapon was poisonous and was trying to steal it from her but Marla’s firm grip wasn’t going to let her poisonous bone sword go. Rainbow came to reinforce her as she kicked off and killed a few desert apes off her. Marla was able to get up and run again. The desert apes that latched onto her earlier had finally succumbed to their poisonous death.

Violet was going to help Marla at first but saw that Remi was being chased so she ran over to help her. Violet was shooting poisonous arrows at the desert apes on top of her as they kept on pummeling her with their punches. It gave Remi the chance to break free. She was able to kick off the desert ape onto her before slashing him with her poisonous dagger and retreating to Violet. The poisoned desert apes charged at Remi while the non-poisoned desert apes retreated. When their attackers died, the two of them then went to support Marla and Rainbow with their ranged attacks.

In the main battle, the desert apes were constantly losing their members without being able to kill any of their enemies despite sacrificing many of their members to try and get an advantage, so they all retreated.

In the aftermath of the battle, they killed 25 of the desert apes with the rest of them fleeing. Marla suffered some minor damages as her armor took the full brunt of the force and was partially broken. Remi suffered some damages and could only fight at 50% capacity in her current state. Rainbow and Violet suffered the least damages as they were mostly supporting their partner.

The girls rested on the ground from their exhaustive battle while eating the berries to replenish their lost energy. It was a victory for them but perhaps with more proper gears and more NPCs, they could minimize their losses much more. If they trained their skills and stats more, perhaps things would be easier next time too.

Violet was keeping an eye on their surroundings to make sure the desert apes would come back with reinforcements but no enemy could be found.

“ Those apes are too suicidal! They would sacrifice themselves for the group,” said Marla. “ They were trying to steal my poisonous sword too. It would have been ugly if I didn’t hold onto it.”

“ Those stupid apes knew to protect their eyes with their arms to not lose their vision, even though they were getting poisoned anyways,” said Remi. “ Enemies that don’t fear death are quite annoying.”

“ If only I had a healing ability like master Stardust so I can heal everyone,” said Rainbow.

“ Ultimately we emerged victoriously!” cheered Marla. “ Let’s gather everyone and move into the berry bushland!

All the girls rejoiced but Violet was silently smiling in the background.

Then the berry cult members filled up their bags with berries. Violet filled her bags with the ape meat. As they run back, the pace was set by Remi as she couldn’t run as fast while being injured. If Stardust was here to heal them, they would be able to fight the desert apes once more. They didn’t encounter any more enemies willing to fight them as they made their way back to the camp.

At the camp, the advance party was healed by Stardust and they boasted about their battles. Knowledge of their battle experiences was passed down to everyone.

***** Desert Area 2 Enemies *****

Desert Tiger - easily defeated

Giant Centipede Swarm - easily defeated

Desert Rat - can defeat

Desert Rabbit - can defeat

Desert Fox - can defeat

Desert Wolves - can defeat

Desert Apes - can defeat

***** End *****

> ( Stardust)

They rested for one day before gathering all of their supplies to head for the berry bushland. If the dead desert apes’ biomass were still there, Stardust could potentially create a new NPC with it.