Book 2 C 23 The Test

I got the next set of upgrades going now, we are starting on Keep level 7, Inner walls will be on their last upgrade at level 6 while the outer wall will be level 4. After that, the only upgrades left will be the Keep itself.

I look and our upkeep is nearing 1 million gold per month, and we still have over 200 million gold in the treasury. The last set of upgrade got extremely expensive costing 25,920,000 gold. Without the Transmuting of the Builders, I doubt we would have reached Keep level 3. I am grateful to them and hope we can assist them in some way, but their time will be coming to an end here soon, if only there was some way to keep them around after.

I went over several things with Rick and Alexander. A few of our people tried to sneak into the Elven district and got caught. Rick had them thrown in the Dungeon to cool them down for now. They claimed they had a right to go in there and see the Elves for themselves, not understanding the dangers and got angry when Rick and Alexander refused. Rick believes 3 days in the Dungeon should cool their heads.

Linda Murray visits her husband daily who continues his rambling on justice and God's will. It seem he has lost it completely now and rambles on for hours. Linda leaves the Dungeon crying quietly each time. The Elves have already started planting their trees and plants in the area they were allotted. A small Forest has now emerged in the area, the trees are still growing daily.

Aerleras has left to go see her people and give them the news that she is now the Queen, one of four wives. I wanted to go with her,but she said she had to do it alone first before I was introduced to her people. She would call for me when the time came. It has already been four hours since, but I sense from her a calm and happiness and remain calm myself and wait for her call.

Julie and Cindy have also been busy. Julie is back to work doing her population updates, assigning Professions and handing out tasks. She believes once the Elven integration happens, the Farms can benefit from the Elves magical abilities to grow plants. This will benefit us greatly if that can happen. Cindy is back to training her apprentices even harder and has picked up 6 more after word got out about the Trolls and the Fire Mages effectiveness. Their numbers are now 17 Fire Mages.

The Elite picked up another 78 people to help watch the walls. Their numbers are growing too. We also got another 8 teachers who became Scholars. It seems we even have a Chemist among us who became an Alchemist as his profession. He assisted Doctor Mathews in the Aerosol spray creation. He can change the properties of medicines and chemicals and create potions as well. His skill is basic, but as he grows so will his ability. His profession was added to the list, but no one seems to have taken an interest in it.

I told all four of my wives that tomorrow they are not to schedule anything, I want to test something with just them in my party. Of course they each searched my mind and found my plans and got excited at the prospect. Secrets are now a thing of the past. I am able to close my mind off to them when I want privacy as can they when needed, but deep down, there are no secrets.

Our people in general are happy with the Elves here, and a promising future seems to be developing. Everyone has been informed of the Elves nature, able to turn us into crazy with lust creatures, just by being near them, but we also explained about the Aerosol and the ability to adapt over time. Now many hang out in the Cafeteria just to breath in the air, far longer than the 15 min we asked, so now the guards must ask people to leave to make room for others, as a line has now formed and people wait patiently for their turn.

Three days passed quickly for me, I lost track of time during my lust phase. Had Doc Snow not come, we may have even starved ourselves to death. Our check ups went well, he found nothing out of place in any of us, but we are to return at least every other day for now till we have adapted to Aerleras.

I am not complaining tho, it was a glorious three days and nights, one I will remember for a long time. Aerleras is a beauty beyond imagination and a goddess in her own right, not that I am saying Cindy, Julie or Ki'Diera are any less of a woman that she is, but she is, if one had to describe her, perfect in looks, if a man had to dream of the ideal woman, she would be that dream. We found that her sparkling hair, skin, and tears were a concentration of her racial trait when her emotions ran especially high.

We believe even if we adapt, if all the Elves became emotional at once, it would even overwhelm the Ny'Har'en and their immunity.

“So you went and got another one huh?” Rick says to me jokingly. We are sitting in the Cafeteria going over the past few days.

“I'll be honest Rick, my mind was not working and the girls made the choice.” I say to him.

“Still a fourth wife Scott, that is going to wear you down.” He says laughing.

“Well then Rick maybe you need to step up and take some of the pressure from me and marry the next ones that come around huh?” I say to him now smiling at him.

“Oh like that will happen, haha, I got my hands full now with........” Rick says then goes silent quickly.

“Hmm what is this, Rick you almost spilled it” I say quickly catching on.

"Well, erm yeah, lately I have been kinda seeing Beverly Copp,” Rick says shyly.

“Really now? When did this happen? Come to think of it when we rescued them, she flew into your arms pretty quick back then”, I ask quickly taking an interest.

“Well a few weeks ago she approached me and we had a few dinners and drinks together, just hanging out” He says," then recently she got her own place and invited me over for dinner a few times and one thing led to another, well you know how it goes right?” he says scratching the back of his neck.

“Well good for you! I wish you both happiness and many children!” I laugh and say to him.

While sipping his coffee he suddenly spits it all out at my words and begins to cough.” Really Scott, must you curse me like that?”

“What? You think you will not have kids?” I ask him now seriously.

“It is not that, I am too, old for that sort of thing anymore” He says to me.

"Um, Rick, have you looked in the mirror lately and forgotten you are 18 again?” I ask him in wonder.

Rick looks at me and his jaw drops after realizing and understanding my words to him, ”It actually never occurred to me Scott, umm wow, yeah now that you mention it, oh boy!” He says adopting my saying.

“Well then all we need is the wedding right?” I say to him laughing at his reaction

“Woah! Slow down there I am not you, you know!” He says quickly.

“I know that, but it will happen, the choices are rather limited here you know? She is a fine woman if you ask me” I say to him.

“Oh now you eyeing her for your fifth, if I do not take her?” Rick says now staring at me intently.

“HAHA oh hell no Rick, I think I am in trouble now as it is, that has to be the last.” I laugh seeing his expression as jealousy seems to emerge from him.

“Well good then, you know, I will give it some thought, having a woman around might just be what I need.” Rick says as if convincing himself. But sadly it already seems he has fallen into Beverly Copp's trap and has fallen for her.

“Ok Rick, well I am off and will see you later, maybe bring the misses with you next time huh? Introduce her properly.” I say to him

“Are you nuts? If I bring her around your wives, who knows what will happen to me.” He says laughing.

“You hurt me Rick, that was low” I mock him as I walk away and laugh once more. I go in search of Montgomery and Halloway.

I find Montgomery and Halloway at the Radio tent, we have not had any more contact in a the last week. We are considering sending out scouting parties further out, past Albuquerque, just far enough so they can be back in a days time. However our concern is still what lays out there. Taking the risk is big, but knowing what is out there, will help in the long run too.

Terry Williams and his team have been working to modify a Hum-Vee to be lighter and more durable, with more armor, enhanced by the Builders. The efficiency would go up, as it would use less fuel. We are trying to see if we can convert the engine to mana operated, but so far all attempts have failed. The new Hum-Vee Mods actually look amazing, almost futuristic in looks. The shell of the vehicles is angled armor with a lower profile, but a turret sits on top giving the gunner full protection.

The Armor itself is mana enhanced and light weight, far more protective than previously. Once they finish the prototype, we can convert the others to be the same in no time. And once the Hum-Vee's have been converted the armor from the tanks can be modified as well but even better and thicker than the Hum-Vee's, the next step is more effective weapons for them, as they barely put a dent in the Trolls, and we know stronger creatures exist.

After my meeting with them I head back to my room and check on the upgrade status, which I started right away after Doc Snow left. Tomorrow I can order the rush job. The Builders were confused when they returned not understanding the delay, but once advised of my condition, they all seem to begin laughing inwardly. Each time I see a builder I hear a snicker coming from them. It seems they are developing a sense of humor being around us.

In my room I start to work on Bracelets and regeneration rings once more to give to to the new Elites and other professions to get caught up. What took me an hour to make 3 rings I now did in 15 min. The new regens were ridiculously fast. Even my willpower recovered at an insane high pace. I received no xp from the bracelets and made 72 in an hour now. 12 Rings in the same time, the rings yielding some xp. I even made one of the wedding bands as well. it took only 18 min to make now.

My Skill xp is crawling up slowly, but I need to get this done before I can move on. I spend the remainder of my day doing so. It seems the girls are monitoring me from afar, now that they can sense my awakened status.

Aerleras sends me a message in my mind saying a meeting of her people will be held tomorrow and I will be introduced then. All went well and she was returning to our chambers. It literally took all day of talking and convincing to finally get all to accept me. However she did not tell them of the child within her. She wanted to be certain before giving the news to all, as it would usher in a new age for her people, the birth of a healthy half breed.

Julie and Cindy join me and bring me dinner, and see the piles of Bracelets and rings before me, I lost count and could not even estimate right now how many were made as I alternated each hour making each.

Aerleras and Ki'Diera join us as well for dinner, the girls are feeling heavy in their abdomens so eat lightly that night. It also seems after the three day lust fest, our urges have subsided some, it is more manageable now, as we lay ourselves to bed and sleep.

Morning arrives and as one we wake up, Aerleras is amazed by it still, how we know each other so well. We all get dressed and head for the showers and then the Cafeteria for breakfast, it is now 7:15 am as we arrive.

Alexander as usual is standing by to see me, to report and receive orders for the day. We go over briefly the orders of the day. At 8 am I will be going to the Elven Settlement to be presented by Queen Aerleras and to meet my new subjects. After that we will head out to do some hunting, Cindy, Ki'Diera, Julie, Aerleras and me. I am quite excited for the coming hunt, the girls too, are getting excited.

Rick, Montgomery and even Alexander insist we take a protective detail with us, but I turn them all down, telling them they would only get in the way, each giving me a confused look, but accept my orders.

At 8 am we head over to the Elven village, Julie is quite excited at seeing their progress. Several large thick pines stand on either side of the entrance while wild brush and brambles cover the front, leaving a gap of 15 ft for entry into the village. Trees have sprouted all over removing the village from view. We walk a long path covered in tree everywhere on either side of the path, entering into the village, it is has a rounded open center, a massive tree in the middle, standing taller than the rest, it's base is 7 ft wide and rises high into the sky, with a spiraling stairway going upwards, from there the trees are all inter-connected by walk ways, while many layers of individual huts or housing can be seen in each of the connected trees as many of the dwellings are still being formed. Many Elves are all gathered at the base of the big tree, while many more are up in the trees looking down.

Aerleras stands proud and tall, her 5'8” slender frame, covered in her white huntress robes, she wears a slim brown belt at the waist to hold her dagger which accentuated her breast even more, with her golden hair flowing down past her tiny butt, her hair sparkling in the sun. She did not wrap her D cup breasts in cloth today, as Cindy introduced her to a bra that fit her, from one of the clothing stores we plundered at the mall. They stood firm and proud from her chests drawing eyes to them as soon as you looked at her. She possessed now a vast assortment of lingerie and undergarments, which she delightfully accepted and tried on to my satisfaction and happiness. I, and my manhood needed no Elven intervention to fully appreciate her beauty in them.

I look at each of my wives in turn and see Julie, the 5'5” red head beauty with green eyes who stole my heart years ago. She is wearing a simple dress today for this event, it is yellow in color and clings to her slender toned body, her C cup breasts look perky and full. Her face is slim and her lips are full, tinged with red lipstick, a shadowing mind you, enough to give them color. She is also wearing open toed gold colored heels, adding to her height by two inches. Her finger nails and toe nails have a clear glossed look to them

Then I look to Cindy, standing at 5'3”, she too, is wearing a simple outfit, a slightly loose light blue blouse, probably to hide her small breasts as she is still conscious of them, an above the knee length white skirt and heels too, white open toed sandal style, that wrap up above the ankles almost to the calves. Her brown hair is loose as it falls over her shoulders to the small of her back. Her face is childlike in appearance giving the impression of a 14 or 15 year old girl with those big brown eyes. She is wearing red fingernail polish on finger and toenails. If one did not know she was really 38 before the event I would be in serious trouble.

Then I finally look to Ki'Diera, the smallest of the four wives, standing at 5 ft tall small and petite, but her C cup breasts now stick out even more. Julie had her try on a blue dress, that stopped just before the knees, that fit her perfectly. Her long blue hair is brushed back, and falls down to her calves, it seems it has never been cut before or slightly trimmed to keep it off the ground. A hole was cut into the dress so her tail could be exposed and a black belt is around her waist to keep the dress in place. Her blue fur covered ears stand erect making no doubt she is Ny'Har'en. She is wearing flat black sandals, as the concept of heels and their purpose eluded her. She tried walking in them and nearly fell over several times then tossed them in frustration opting at last on the sandals she wears now. Her face is petite and small and her Silver eyes once again, like the others can take your breath away.

As I admire my four wives and their individual beauty, Aerleras then steps forward. Her face looks like a goddess of myth, sleek and angular in all the right places, her violet eyes now sparkling, as she raises her slender arms and speaks in a loud carrying voice to her people.

“Today I bring to you my Partner and Husband! Before you stands our King Scott Smith, let us together, walk a path to the future where Elves, Human and Ny'Har'en as one, unite and prosper. Let us embrace our new destiny as one people united and begin that journey today!” she cries out.

I see a faint glow emitting from her as her words sway those around her, I feel the magic in her voice, but I am unaffected by it. As she continues her speech, speaking on what we can all accomplish, how a future of the joining of the races benefits all, many nod and smile, some start to clap, she had accessed my mind and became inspired by what she had seen of my future plans. And then it is my turn. I step forward to her and take her hand into mine to show unity to the Elves.

“Each of us, the Elves, the Humans and the Ny'Har'en have faced hardships that could have wiped us out. But instead we have come together to unite and survive, to live together in Harmony and prosper as one people. It is my dream that in the future, we are not Elves or Humans or Ny'Har'en, but one people under one name, where each is equal to one another, no fear or regret. I, as your King, with Queen Aerleras at my side, will lead us all to a tomorrow that is filled with hope and joy and hope that you will all help me in accomplishing this dream.” I say loudly as my leadership kicks in and I receive a notice it has leveled. I then turn to Aerleras and present to her two rings and a bracelet. The wedding band, the regeneration ring and the bracelet and place each on her in turn. She then hold forth her left hand proudly, to present it to her people.

Many of the Elves now cheer as Aerleras and I embrace before them. Cindy, Julie and Ki'Diera look on smiling. After the speech is done, Julie races up the stairs with Aerleras and receives a grand tour of the village, over joyed by it all. Cindy, Ki'Diera and I follow and smile watching interaction of the two whom seem like close sisters now.

The tour lasts the better part of two hours when we finally leave the village and return to the Keep. The Elves had many questions as we walked thru the village and we stop to answer them in details. One question that came about stumped me and made me nervous for some reason.

“Do you love Princess Galalond?” Asked a tall Elf, He was older looking in his 30's if I had to guess, or if going by Elf standards, in this 300's, He had long Green hair tied into a pony tail and blue piercing eyes, a blue that was like crystal clear water in the sun. From the years of training and hunting his muscles were well toned, his skin bronzed from constant sun exposure. He stood 6'4” tall, slender no fat to be seen. His features were almost female like, pretty if one had to say, attractive even for a man.

I looked at his serious eyes, and see he cares for Aerleras deeply, maybe there is love there, I am not sure, but she is the leader of her people, so many hold her not only in admiration, but also close to their hearts.

“I vowed to love and be faithful to my Queen always, and to be at her side for life. There is nothing that can part us now as one. What we now have goes beyond love or simple feelings that one one can possibly understand.” I say back to him, staring into his eyes as well, hoping the words of what I said make sense to him.

He stares at me a little more, then slowly smiles, it is a gentle smile and one of understanding,” I see, your Majesty, and I truly hope you two have eternal happiness”, he says bowing to me. I look about and more Elves are bowing as well at my words, finally accepting me as their King. It took me stating that I would cherish their beloved princess and protect her, for them to accept me instead of all the speeches and words of unity.

We arrived at the keep and the girls all quickly changed into their battle gear. Aerleras was already dressed so simply waited. The girls did not put the items into inventory, but instead wanted to change and hang the clothes back up in their closets.

Once all changed we merged into one, the five of us. I see in the mirror, there are 5 bodies overlapping in one space into one body, each body tries to come forth in appearance, never staying the same rotating places continuously, one second you can make out my face the next you see Julie's face, then Ki'Diera, back to me, then Cindy, then Aerleras, then back to Julie all in a split second. The actual body is a merge of all 5 and seems covered in a white energy of some kind. It is fascinating to see as we all look at the reflection in the mirror.

With Aerleras added to the merge, I noticed the power increase. She was the highest level of the five and her level set the standards by which we were to fight, raising all our level dependent skills and equipment. Our stats all merged using the highest from each and each of our skill sets opened up to us all.

As one we equip Ki'Diera's sword and Aerleras' dagger, Cindy's fire envelops both of them as we use Ki'Diera's enhance body and weapons adding Cindy's fire to them too, Cindy's fire aura is even more potent. We access Aerleras' teleportation and think of the location we want to go to and instantly we stand before the Demon Hounds who look in surprise at our sudden appearance.

We do not give the Demon Hounds time to react, we teleport to each one in turn and slice their heads off in quick succession, our mana is barely being touched right now.

14 Demon hounds body shimmer and vanish in place almost simultaneously. We also receive 14 notices at once:

NOTICE!Your party has received 3749 xp each

As one, we all smile at the notice, the xp was nice for us. Ki'Diera's battle lust is seeping into us all.

We teleport around the area using the Crown and bracelet ability to detect presence of others, 112 m radius from us. Attacking swiftly before the Demonic Hounds can react to our presence. In less than 20 min a Km wide area is cleared of all Hounds. We each gained 2 levels while Ki'Diera gained 4 and Aerleras only 1.

Satisfied we teleport to the Rock Golems. Sheathing the sword and dagger we go with bare fists. Almost immediately, as we appear, the Golems emerge from the ground standing 10 ft tall and menacing, but slow, in our current state, our speed is enhanced and time has slowed down to us. The Golems seem to almost stand still as we move forward and smash into the lead one with our fist, using Aerleras unarmed combat. The result is devastating as the boulder section we hit simply turns to dust. The Golem crumbles on the spot not able to gather it's full body.

It tries to regenerate itself, but we smash the boulders and rocks in fast rapid attacks, turning each piece to dust in seconds. Another Golem nears us and we give it a back kick sending it flying into the air away from us. In the air, the boulders and rocks come apart from the blow. We turn to finish off the first golem, not allowing it to regenerate, until we get the message:

NOTICE!Your party has received 4200 xp each.

Having accomplished the test I wanted to perform, we then head to the worst of the beast discovered yet. The Terror Howlers level 175. They look similar to giant armadillos, but are low to the ground with six legs, scaly and very thick hides on their short legs. Their bodies are 8 ft long while their width is 5 ft wide and stand 4 ft tall. Walking tanks. They have a high pitch screech, one could compare to a Banshee from the online games. Once their victims are immobile in fear and panic, they charge at incredible speed, impaling their victims with the three horns protruding from their head and snout. Should they miss with the horns, the trample will crush anyone underneath as they weigh several tons.

The side effect of their charge is they have to come to a complete stop to change directions. The Supers hit it with everything they had, cold, heat, corrosive, and electrical, nothing phased it. Swords were used and one had to find a kink in their armor to penetrate, as slashing had no affect either. Even then it was almost to no effect on them. Simply driving your sword into them pissed them off even more. Their weakness was their underbelly, if you cold flip them over. However that was almost an impossible task, as they used their six legs to anchor themselves to the ground as soon as they felt themselves being lifted to one side.

The Supers were able to get one on it's back finally, and sliced it open from abdomen to neck, the soft tissue gave way easily to the mana enhanced swords. It took 8 supers nearly 30 minute to accomplish the task fighting the weight and anchoring ability of the Terror Howler, all the while it let loose screech after piecing screech, incapacitating some, while others were able to resist thanks to the bracelets.

We now face off against one such beast. It sees us as we stand before it, distance is 40 meters, it screeches at us and we get the notice we resisted the effect. It then charges, its speed would be frightening to most, but once again we see it moving in slow motion towards us. We teleport onto it's back, then using Aerleras Huntress Ambush ability, giving us an additional 100% attack bonus, combined with her Unarmed Combat attack, using Ki'Diera's body enhancement and my full strength and attack bonus.

The Scales crack in place, we hit it again several times in quick succession with powerful blows that destroyed the Rock Golems in one hit, and scale start to comes off. With the soft skin exposed underneath, we drive our hand, flat, fingers first, fully extended, into the skin piercing it and let loose one of Cindy's Cone of Flames inside the beast, pouring the flames into it in a huge torrent. It's eyeball pop and flame erupt from it's mouth and nose. Shuddering once the creature simply falls to the ground and we get the notice

NOTICE!Your Party has received 5250 xp each.

We all smile at the results. With the test complete, we teleport to our room to get ready for dinner, and an evening to relax and enjoy.

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