“Hello,” the returning John greeted the living room.

Lethargically, Rave sat up on the couch and said, “Heeeeyyyy, tigeerrrrr,” in a vocal frill and then plopped back down. Throughout the room, other girls greeted him with as much energy as they could muster. Siena was reading a book, Metra played an RPG on the flatscreen, Eliza was browsing on the laptop and Sylph was lying with her back against the ceiling. In the kitchen, Aclysia and Beatrice were chopping up ingredients for dinner. Their movements lacked the usual master-chef speed, although their precision was still far above that of a normal person.

“Welcome back, Master,” the elder maid greeted the Gamer with a slight smile. “Food will be ready in thirty minutes. We’re having leek soup with ham.”

“Sounds lovely,” John hummed and let Velka enter the room behind him. “Thanks for holding the fort down, Cappy.”

“Call me that again and I will hold a pillow down on your head tonight,” the suncat warned, tail flopping against the backrest of the couch he was on top of. “Otherwise, you are welcome.”

Tapping over to Eliza, Velka poked the blood mage softly in the thigh to get her attention. Under normal circumstances, the pretty little psycho would have been doting on the Magryph the second both were in the same room together, but even Eliza was still recovering from yesterday. “Hmm?” she asked, closing the laptop to look down at Velka.

And the silver bunny sitting on her head.

“Wha-wha-whyyyy is there a bunny?!” Eliza exclaimed with a sudden rush of energy and reached down with a quivering hand. Reaching into the fuzzy fur, she coerced tiny honking sounds from the adorable critter. With a quick squeal, she removed the laptop from her lap and picked up the Silver Fur. At the same time, she tapped her empty lap. Velka took the signal and jumped up.

Insanely happy giggles echoed through the room as Eliza rubbed her face frantically against both Velka and the bunny. More than happy to receive this treatment, Velka erratically wound inside the hug, gave Eliza little kneading steps like a happy cat would, and softly nibbled on whatever was in front of her. The tiny bunny, in the meantime, had climbed on top of Eliza’s shoulder and was now affectionately pressing against the blood mage’s neck.

‘I wonder if it can sense good will or if it’s just that trusting,’ John thought as he walked towards his girlfriend. Discarding his clothes, he sat down next to her and allowed her to rest her head on his left thigh. “Is that even comfortable?” he wondered out loud.

“Ya use thighs as pillows all the time,” Rave responded, looking up to him with a somewhat tired gaze. It seemed like she had slept too much to pass out again, but wasn’t done resting yet.

“Yeah, but you have nice girl-thighs,” John told her. “Nice and smooth. I have brutish man-thighs, defined and muscular.”

“Ya know what my girl-brain says to that? Hamena, hamena, hamena, huuu.” Rave giggled by the end of her response. “My neck says ‘nice support’, so I dunno what your issue is.”

“The enigmas of sex differences,” John mused and brushed some hairs away from her forehead to get a better look of her beautiful face. “What about the thing between my thighs, hm?”

“Rave dot exe is currently not responding to sexual advances.”

“Should I try turning you off and on again?”

“Can’t turn me on at the moment. Libido in recuperation mode.” Rave gave him an apologetic look. “Must be torture for ya not having sex the entire day, tiger.”

“I’ll survive.” John grinned and bowed down to kiss her forehead. “You don’t need to feel bad because I have to go one day without sticking my dick into anyone.”

“Dunno, I feel like a housewife that’s not cooking for her husband. Ya know, if cooking for someone gave mind-blowing orgasms.” Rave stretched, her midriff curving off the leather couch in all its mildly defined and smooth glory. Her skin was down to a pink-white colour, the Lightbearer had lost most of her tan by now. “Just feels weird not being horny for a day.” With one more sigh, she laid back down and glanced at her boyfriend’s dick. Somehow, John managed to keep himself at half-mast. It was impossible to not get turned on at all in this environment, but the Wisdom was mightier than the Libido.

“That’s just how much of an animal I am,” John joked and got lightly pinched in the arm by his grinning girlfriend.

“Sure, ya total stud. Anyway, where did ya get that bunny from?” she pointed over to Eliza.

“Who is adorable? You two are adorable,” the blood mage’s energy levels had collapsed back down to the previous levels and now she was softly whispering to the two animals she embraced. Just as John was about to answer the question, Nia made her way out of the shower room, saw Velka and the Silver Fur, and immediately appeared next to the chair. Velka purred for two, as she and the newest addition to her hoard were thoroughly scratched behind the ears.

“I went on an Adventure,” John finally managed to get the words out, without being distracted by the display. He proceeded to tell Rave everything he had done since breakfast. Every word was broadcast through the mental connection as well, so the rest of the harem went up to date quickly. The talk managed to wake Sylph up, while the other elemental girls appeared in the room one after the other.

“And ya did all of that in twelve hours?” his girlfriend wanted to know.

“Ten, actually,” John responded, “I spent the last two getting the final Gamer Challenges done.”

“Ya can do that without getting your dick sucked?”

“Gaia was nice enough to give me challenges that amounted to: crack every highscore in the local arcade,” John responded. “This game isn’t well balanced whatsoever.”

“Did ya keep that Perk for me to gander at, at least?” Rave wanted to know.

“Yup,” John confirmed and watched Rave fight her way into an upright position. “I guess Lydia left?”

“Yeah, stormed out as soon as she could feel her legs again,” Rave moaned, the unsexy kind, as her head went vertical. In quick support, she leaned against her boyfriend. He put his arm around her narrow waist and pulled her close. Feeling her bubble butt press against him did threaten his zen state, but he managed to keep his lust at medium levels. “Where did ya leave Stirwin?” she asked, resting her head on his shoulder.

“He decided he should look after the Elemental Islands and make sure nothing was afoot while everyone else is out.” It was a decision John was most thankful for. The light spirit was as reliable as ever. “Alright, you ready?” he asked and got a weak nod in response.

Like the last two times, the choice was pretty obvious and the alternatives annoyingly attractive.

“Why would anyone ever pick Overhaul?” Rave wondered, once she had read through the choices herself. “Seems like a flat butt.”

“Well, it would enable a specific playstyle where one can focus on getting better and better Classes levelled up,” John analysed. “The two Max Class Level loss isn’t even that bad, honestly. Because I keep the Skills, Perks that gave me the summoning Skills for Siena and Stirwin are essentially refunded. It’s not that great in my current situation because I haven’t unlocked all that many advanced Classes, but I can see its value. Right now, it’s not that great though.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Rave said. “Dunno between the other two. Miracle of Stat is better, right? No, wait… Balancing the Sheet is? Not sure.”

“Depends on how you look at it,” John scratched his head with his available hand, only for Undine to put herself against that side. The rest of the harem congealed around his position swiftly, all taking an interest in the final choice of the Class. Eliza got to hold the bunny, while Nia placed Velka on the backrest. The Magryph enjoyed pats from all directions for a few seconds, then decided she had better things to do elsewhere.

“Miracle of Stat gives more power with time,” the dark-blue slimegirl asserted. “305 Stat Points now, 695 more over the levels, plus whatever bonus there is on the chosen Stat. Balancing the Sheet only gives 303 Stat Points.”

Metra hummed and the couch creaked when she leaned onto it with all of her weight. “30 Class Levels though,” the ancient weapon pointed out. “I think that’s a bit more valuable a resource. Also, he can put those points wherever he wants.”

“Yeah,” the Gamer agreed. “I think Balancing the Sheet is the obvious better choice here. Miracle of Stat might be better by the time I reach the late game, but 30 Class Levels means I can get a whole slew of other Perks quickly that will get me all kinds of advantages right now. At least a few of those are bound to themselves be awesome in the long run.”

“Harem approves of the Balancing the Sheet choice,” Rave declared and John pushed the button. With the finalization of the Class, two expected windows opened.

That was kind of useless to John. It was incredibly rare that he used the level granting feature in the first place. Doubtlessly to Gaia’s satisfaction. If the mechanic had been easily used, the Gamer could have mass-produced soldiers far above the average power. If he ever found himself a protégé he wanted to take the time for and carry up, the Modification might come in handy, but otherwise John felt this was going to stay on the backburner.

“Well, there is a choice I’m not sure about,” John mumbled.

“What are you fucking talking about?” Scarlett wanted to know, the only one with a proper amount of power behind her voice. Caffeine was the most likely explanation for that. Lots and lots of caffeine. “Grand Strategy is the way to go, obviously.”

“Dunno, Scarly,” Rave retorted. “Harem Gamer does sound pretty nice. We already skipped on the better sex route after Lover Boy.”

“How, after yesterday, can ya POSSIBLY ask for better sex still?!” Scarlett cried out.

“I’m a greedy gal, what can I say?”

“So am I and I like money,” the redhead rubbed her fingers together.

“We’re already super rich, we don’t really need the extra bit,” Rave responded. “We can get stuff elsewhere, but we only have the one John and I feel like we should optimize him for our pleasure.”

“And once more I get objectified,” the Gamer let out an over-exaggerated sigh. “Seriously though, I don’t know either. Obviously Grand Strategy is the way to go when it comes to accruing the advantages for Fusion, but it just feels wrong for me to not have a lewd path to advance on… that’s just not what my life is about.” Undecided, he stroked his chin. “Alright, we’ll make this a democratic decision,” he declared, “please split into Harem, Strategy and undecided faction.”

“W-what about Pro-Gamer?” Gnome wanted to know.

“Uninteresting to me,” John simply retorted and watched as his harem split into three camps. The Harem faction consisted of Rave, Aclysia, Sylph, Siena and Metra, while the Grand Strategy faction was made up of Scarlett, Undine, Gnome, Nia and, after a quick phone call, Lydia. Undecided were Beatrice, Salamander and Eliza. In order to break the tie, Rave invoked the obvious choice Nathalia would have made, if she were there. To counter, Gnome brought up Momo. With that route exhausted, the factions turned to the undecided voters.

Eliza was the first to be coerced to one side, walking over to the Grand Strategy clique. Salamander quickly went over to the Harem side to counter, leaving Beatrice to break the stalemate.

“Calculating,” the passive maid said, while she stood between the faction. “Calculating… calculating…”

“The Guild Hall is a treasure trove,” Scarlett argued. “A literal mount of endless fucking supplies. Why the fuck wouldn’t we go with the Class that makes it even better?! Why is this an argument we’re having?!”

“Calculating.”

“‘Cause we’re going to spend eternity together and it might as well feel as good as possible,” Rave retorted. “Ain’t that difficult to understand.”

“Calculating.”

“There’ll be other ways to get his dick nicer,” Scarlett crossed her arms. “Some other Class will unlock, there’s basically no doubt about it.”

“Calculating.”

“Reverse Uno Card!” Rave declared. “Just as likely he’ll get another Class for the Guild Hall eventually. Architect or something, I dunno!”

“…Conclusion reached,” Beatrice said and all eyes wandered to her as she, in turn, wandered over to Rave’s side. “Explanation: future Classes for both scenarios are indeed likely. However, as the base Class for sex, Lover Boy, has already been maximized, a new Class for buildings is more likely.”

John nodded, Scarlett sighed but relented, and the decision was made.

The Class’ bonuses looked pretty nice on the face of it. John wouldn’t invest into it in the near future, because the pleasure bonus would remain disabled until Lover’s Mark went online again. No Overclock window popped up, which was weird, but John guessed that the Gamer Class just didn't have one such Skill. It was the base one exclusive to him, after all.

“Alright, so the Harem Party mechanic…” John opened a few tabs to check what that was about. “Okay, so… apparently everyone who is in a dedicated relationship with me and knowingly part of the harem can now use Guild Hall Buildings regardless of guild membership status…”

“Oooh, that’s gonna be useful for Lydia,” Rave remarked.

“…and every action made now counts towards level bestowal in addition to the progress they naturally make,” John finished reading out the description. “It’s going to be useful in keeping you all caught up to my level. Some nice utility, but nothing else.” He switched back to his character screen. “Now to invest all of those Stat Points…”

The first dump went towards Charisma, bringing the Stat up to 250. That triggered its own little flood of windows.

That was something that could be immensely useful. If it wasn’t useful, it was at least pretty awesome. John had long wondered when his wrath would cause people to feel proper existential dread and there it was.

Slightly annoying that it was immediately disabled, but John could live with it. At least Gaia was nice enough to unlock it earlier than it would have been, had he had it before Overclocking.

‘Things just keep happening today,’ John thought with a grin. ‘That Class seems nice utility wise. I’ll have to make a priority list of what Classes I focus on next. Given that I now have 30 Class Levels to spare, I can push several along at once.’ Before he dedicated his mind to that task, however, there was the question of where to put the remaining 264 points. After only a short deliberation, he decided to dump it all into Wisdom. That did not give him another scaling increase, but his mana regeneration still rose from 33 to 47.