“I have great news!” John declared when he entered the living room.

“I have greater news!” Rave shouted back from the couch and waved him towards her. “Or funnier news, at least. Check this out!”

Walking over, John leaned over the back of the couch, while the Lightbearer raised her phone to let him see what she was talking about. What greeted him was the sight of some man looking like his soul was leaving his body through his open mouth. “Why are you showing me some dude’s blowjob face?” John asked, highly confused, then he noticed the green-skinned redhead between the guy’s legs. “Is this Worlina’s video library?”

“Ja,” Rave responded, snickering a little bit. With a swipe of her finger, she scrolled over the thumbnails. All of them displayed Worlina sucking a guy off and that guy looking absolutely lost in ecstasy.

All of them except the very last one, which displayed the goblin limply lying on the glass table, eyes rolled up, wearing only torn stockings, tongue lolled out and covered in absurd amounts of cum. That was the state they had eventually left her in. Rave had to close the show, since the actual host hadn’t been able to say anything anymore.

“Took them almost a week to make that public, but there it is now. Hilarious,” his girlfriend laughed, then proceeded to read the comments about her ass. John didn’t find it quite as funny as she did, but it was amusing. After climbing over the back of the couch and dropping on the cushions, a needy Eliza came crawling his way. “Anyway, your news?”

Before answering, John had to pay some attention to the naked submissive that was putting her chin on his knee like a sad dog. “What are you doing on the floor?” he asked. The nude part of things was hardly surprising. He was disrobing quickly himself. He was in his living room, after all.

“Dumbfuck cumbuckets don’t get to sit on that dead-cow-covered pedestal,” Eliza grumbled.

“She’s been mopey for the last half hour,” Rave said. “Stupid depressed teenage phases.”

“Go fuck yourself with a Bad Dragon cock, you seizure inducing cunt-muffin,” the blood mage cussed, much in the usual manner. “Just having a mood.”

“I feel like you’re missing an adjective there,” John pointed out.

“Big fucking mood.” The clarification didn’t clarify anything at all; the tone really didn’t make it sound like she wanted to actually fuck. Instead, she just looked up to John with big eyes.

With a theatrical sigh, John bowed down and grabbed her under the shoulders. Quickly, he pulled her into his lap and placed her ass against his immediately growing erection. Whether she was in a fucking mood or not, her cushion of a butt surely put him in one. The focus lay on cuddling her though. “Just feeling down?” he asked and kissed the back of her neck.

“Yes,” Eliza answered. “I don’t deserve cuddles…”

“Nonsense,” Rave chimed in and cattishly got in on the hug by nuzzling against them. “You deserve all the cuddles, ya mood-swinging subby thing you.”

“Noooo…” the white-blue haired girl meekly protested, but she was already too deep inside their arms to get out.

“Aclysia is going to make dinner now, that’ll cheer you up,” John promised and stroked her hair. Until then, he would just cuddle her and deliver the news. “Anyway, what I was getting at was that I got the Puppeteer Challenge beat.”

“Oooh, nice,” Rave sounded at least adequately excited.

Two days ago, John had reached level 220.

And since then spent most of the time trying to beat the Class Challenges. Conveniently, he was able to get through most of the stuff while doing Assaults anyway, so he was able to squeeze out another level by today. Most Challenges presented to him were tests of basic knowledge in the Possession area, just scaled up for his new limit of Possession Slots. Only the final one had been a bit more difficult being a parkour he had to run inside an ongoing Assault, somewhat resembling beating a co-op Portal 2 level by himself. Only Jack and the Possession spell had been allowed as tools. All the while, his familiars had to fight off the usual waves of enemies and the occasional boss monster.

He had managed it on the first try, beating the clock by only twenty seconds. It was largely thanks to his high Mental Stats that he got the puzzles solved so quickly. Otherwise, the timer he had been put on by Gaia would have beaten him.

The big reason why this level was so interesting: it was the first time he got a Class into the double digits. If this had been another Class, the girls couldn’t have cared less, but since this was another upgrade to Jack, they were somewhat invested. Their lover’s double had spiced up the sex life by a considerable margin, after all.

“Ya spending that Class Level now?” Rave asked.

“That’s the plan,” her boyfriend answered and opened the window. Having to take one hand off Eliza was a bit of a shame, but short-term sacrifices had to be made for long-term gains. He pushed the Level Up confirm button and a whole slew of windows opened, where he had only expected one or maybe two if Gaia was feeling like handing out an Achievement. First and foremost of all came the expected one.

‘Wait, final level? Ah, let’s not get distracted, one thought process at a time,’ John reprimanded himself and read through the actual choices. “Oh, that’s juicy,” he said, something that Eliza and Rave hummed in agreement with. They were able to see and read the window as well, thanks to being in a party with him. While the Gamer quickly arrived at the decision he would make, he was still interested in their opinions. “Well, ladies, what do you say?”

“Wizard double… not,” Eliza declared. “That shit is useless for you. You don’t need that thing to be close around you and 10 mana per second flat is going to be irrelevant at some point any-fucking-way. Only good thing it offers is an easier time at throwing your arcane bullshit from two different locations more effectively, but since you can already do that, it’s a giant fucking waste of a level.”

“I mean, I would have just gone with, ‘seems kinda bad’,” Rave chimed in. “But that sounds smarter, so let’s go with her explanation. I think ya should go with Warrior Double. Having it equip its own items seems kinda busted and good Physical Stats mean ya have a good front liner.”

“But do I need one?” John asked, just as the rustling of pans echoed from the open kitchen.

“Touché?” Rave said in an uncertain tone. “So ya wanna go with the Ambassador Double?”

“That would be my choice indeed,” John confirmed. “Its Stats are a whole lot lower, but the utility it offers I can’t get anywhere else. With the Ambassador Double, I can get so many more things done than are realistically feasible. With as big as a country we will end up once this is over, the ability to be at the east and west coast simultaneously, while allowing the elementals to travel with me and having the ability to stay in mental contact with everyone, just seems absolutely busted.”

“But it’s worse in combat,” Rave just made a statement.

“But it’s worse in combat,” John echoed with a nod. “A sacrifice I am willing to make. I have more things to worry about than maximizing my odds in combat.”

“Hmm.” His girlfriend swayed her head in one direction. “Hmm,” she continued to hum, swinging her head in the other direction. “That sounds smart and all, but I kinda want ya to invest in power wherever ya can. Don’t want another Sigmund situation, you know?”

“I absolutely get that,” John nodded. “But always being afraid of the worst won’t let us make decisions that carry us best into the future.”

“…I trust ya, so push the button,” Rave said.

“Just don’t ever get fucking hurt ever again, or I will have to rip them a new one as well,” Eliza growled. He kissed her white head.

John confirmed his choice, and so that was done.

Those were some pretty incredible rewards, especially since Gnome was due for a Skill Evolution, having recently maxed out. What still irked him slightly was the fact that there was this limit on Class Levels. Of course, there had to be one somewhere, but he had hoped it would be level 20. That way, he could have levelled Elementalist until he paid no mana for the elementals anymore. Not that 50% cheaper was anything short of insane, especially since the mana cost would doubtlessly rise with future patches.

“…I need to make a call,” John said and grabbed his phone out of his inventory. As Gaia eluded to, the choice was blindingly obvious. Manipulator wasn’t really his style, neither was Maker, and the choice of Master didn’t tickle his fancy because of the acquisition bonus. He really didn’t need a fourth Artificial Spirit in his life (fifth, if he counted Metra).

Metracana Master immediately provided him with another 3 Consumption Attributes for Aclysia and Beatrice, as they would be upgraded from Epic to Legendary quality. That same upgrade would give them +4 in all Base Stats, aside from Libido. Not a giant upgrade, but noteworthy. He also hoped that this would be the way to eventually get that internal metal cultivation of those two to create Astrotium, which would be absolutely insane.

However, he didn’t want to just go ahead because of the way things were formulated. If this proper binding was sudden and without consent, he didn’t want to just suddenly bind the First of Wrath to himself. There was no indication that she would refuse or that she wanted out of the current contract they had, but just doing it without asking her would have been against his principles.

“…So, that’s the situation,” he summarized the last few minutes to the berserker babe, after having reached her. “Are you fine with me making that choice?”

“…Hmmm…” Metra hummed over the phone, “maybe if you… no, you know what, I’ll just say yes.”

“Really?” John asked, having heard her intention in that dropped demand. “No ‘if you declare yourself king’ ultimatum?”

“Look, I’m pretty invested in you at this point, I won’t let you take a suboptimal route because of this oath,” answered the ancient weapon swiftly. “Moreover, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m right and that there can be no Abyssal state where the head isn’t a moral person with absolute power in force and administration. It just doesn’t work, not in a world where it takes one extremely powerful guy to fuck things over and your glorious state blocks itself at every corner. Peace is too fragile.”

“In other words, you think that there will be some crisis in the future where I HAVE to declare myself king in order to solve it?”

“Dictator, king, emperor, any of the three,” Metra said and yawned. “I think you basically moved yourself in a position where it’s inevitable with that wonderfully idealistic Federation you cobbled together.”

John disliked that he couldn’t deny that possibility. “We’ll see, with time.”

“Yup,” Metra yawned. “Anyway, push that button.”

Without further hesitation, he did. Nothing immediately happened, so that was a bit disappointing. Then, after about five seconds or so, he suddenly felt something seething pressing against his mind. ‘What in the…’ he was busy thinking, then realized what was happening.

‘Oh, hello there,’ he heard Metra’s voice in his head. ‘Just had a window pop-up in front of me, asking whether I really wanted a permanent connection. Guess I’m stuck with you for now.’

‘Metra, fucking hell!’ Salamander suddenly weighed in. ‘Your mind feels like I’m standing next to a boiling pot of water all the time!’

‘Hey, I’m pretty calm right now,’ the First of Wrath responded. ‘It’s just this piece of shit door squeaking whenever someone goes through it. Having to guard the hallway while Scarlett runs around reprogramming things in her tower is fucking annoying.’

‘This’ll take some getting used to…’ John thought, his mind expanded by yet another person able to converse through it. The network of souls connected to his only grew more busy.

Shoving all of that away to have some quiet, feeling on-going conversations flowing through him without listening to them, he checked on this actual new Class.

‘Well, it’ll take a while until I can level that…’ John thought. Not only did he doubt he could find any Astrotium anytime soon (unless touching Metra somehow counted), he also had other things to focus on. Now that he had filled out one Class, that was a good sign to give something else some attention.

Before he could make a decision as to what, though, he had a few other windows to chew through.

“New toys,” John hummed, he really liked those. Gaia was so stingy in handing them out, probably because she was afraid of feature creep. Not that John could blame her; his powers had long since exceeded the basic paradigm of ‘get levels, grow stronger’, even if that was still at the core of everything.

Best to check out what those new toys actually were, starting with the Modification.

That wasn’t insanely powerful, but in terms of utility it wasn’t to be underestimated. Since he had lost the reach of his gaze, having to rely on his hands alone had made Possession less useful than he liked. It was only a supporting Skill in his current set, but the ability to cast it with this whole body definitely made it more viable. The Extension part of it was also insanely useful.

A bit underwhelming, though, that this was something he couldn’t keep all the time. Not that more customization was a bad thing. That he could only have one Modification at a time meant that those things could have a bit more oomph behind them. Largely because John couldn’t combine them for ridiculous effects.

Now, there was hoping that Overclock would be more ridiculous.

“That is so cool… and so underwhelming,” John sighed.

“Whaddya mean?” Rave asked, reading through things.

“When would I ever use this?”

“Uh, when there are a bunch of enemies inside a building and ya want to smoke them out?” she suggested. “Like, Possess the entire building and then throw stuff at them!”

“Two giant flaws in that,” John told her. “One, I would only have five minutes to do that and I don’t know if even my mind is able to comprehend being an entire building quickly enough to do a lot with it. Secondly, this consumes ALL Possession Slots,” he took a small pause and, when Rave blinked in confusion, elaborated, “that means I can’t use Spellcarrier along with it. I would literally just be the building. I could scan with this Skill, but Gnome is more reliable at that and doesn’t leave me blind afterwards.”

Because of the Overclock Drawback, John would be completely blind for one day after using the Skill and blind on one eye for another one after that.

“The only situation that I can think of that this would be useful in is if we get into another Warsaw situation. I could use this to make one of those giant golems attack the other. Or I could have taken over the Construct of Order. That’s not insignificant, but rather niche, all things considered.” He closed the window with a sigh of disappointment. “At least the Ambassador Double gives me what I want.”

“Where is Jack anyway?” Rave asked since she couldn’t see the Mandala Sphere around.

“I’m currently using him to do paperwork,” John told her. “Do you see how useful it is to be in two places at once? I can be a ruler AND chill nude in my living room, cuddling my sweet, little Eliza.”

“I’m not sweet, and I’m not that little, and you’re a perverse cuntfucker,” the same grumbled, her mood clearly improving.

“You sure you want to give me ideas?” John asked, moving his hips just a little and making his dick slide up and down the smooth valley between her butt cheeks. The answer to that was a resounding yes, Eliza twisting her head around to offer her lips for a kiss. An invitation he gladly took. About twenty seconds later, Eliza’s pussy was enveloping the head of his cock and she was slowly sliding down.

“Imma have a go in the shower later,” Rave declared, evidently still satisfied from earlier that day. At least satisfied enough to not get ahead of the two maids that were looking enviously out of the kitchen and doubtlessly wanted to ‘serve him’ under the table during dinner.

Still cuddling Eliza while she bounced in his lap, John continued talking. “I’m having my monthly grinding day tomorrow.”

“I remember,” Rave kissed him on the cheek. “Ya told me at the start of the month.”

“Sure was an eventless month so far,” he sighed in a pleased fashion, half because of that, half because of the way Eliza circled her hips. It was already the 19th of August. Outside of birthday celebrations, the interview and the one date having turned into the uprooting of a slaver organization, nothing had really happened. There was no sign of anything outside of Salamander’s, Undine’s and Sylph’s contract days coming up next week either.

“Kinda like that, kinda hate that,” his girlfriend mumbled. “Ya know, no danger and no fighting make Jane one bored thrill seeker.”

“I would have thought facing your parents was enough of a thrill for a year,” John joked and was quickly stabbed in the side by two fingers.

“Don’t ya dare bring that up, I will actually punch you!” she warned.