chapter 1099 – tier 5 guild hall 5 – patron goddess and fae nobility
‘interesting that there are drawbacks, but the benefits far outweigh them,’ the gamer thought, looking at the next couple of windows.
‘free levels are nice. even if i don’t really need them right now.’ john’s thoughts were pulled away from the window by nathalia, growling into his ear. the dragoness had been looking over his shoulder, a happenstance because the taller woman was hugging him from behind, reading the window in front of him. “are you getting jealous?” he asked.
“you’re mine,” she asserted, increasing the pressure of her embrace.
“you’re sharing me with so many others already though,” john pushed back. “what’s the difference between them and other goddesses?” nathalia didn’t answer, only dug her nails into his abs and glared at him. sighing, john moved the windows to the side for a moment to address her. “come now...” he reached up and gently touched her face, “...you should know that, no matter who else joins our harem, i will never forsake you. there’s no reason to be jealous.”
“i will consider allowing it,” the flame of destruction said, minorly appeased.
that was as much as john could ask for and he turned back to read through the last window.
just a chunk of gp, nothing close to reimbursing him for the 2000 he had paid to get the last two guild perks, but nice to have regardless.
‘let’s get those levels so we can keep the tour going,’ john thought and opened his class menu. ‘also let’s hope starforger keeps track of future requirements. would be unfortunate if i make a future level up harder by raising disciple now.’ the possibility made john hesitate for several seconds, the paranoia wrestling with the benefit of an immediate perk. the latter won eventually. it would be unreasonable to create a system where he couldn’t properly max out one class because he maxed out the ones connected to it first.
those were fairly mediocre choices, which was not surprising given that the previous perks were absurdly powerful for how early in the class they were. extra blessings and charisma blessing essentially did the same, just with one offering a scaling solution rather than an immediate benefit. since john was already at 250 charisma, if he took either of the two, charisma blessing would have made a lot more sense.
however, john was more interested in sexual blessings. the reason for this was primarily emotional, maybe even entirely. when it came to logical excuses to take the perk, he thought he may be able to get thana’s blessing this way. it was also the most number-efficient of the three for the foreseeable future. on an emotional level, john just didn’t like taking someone else’s power as a gift and this at least let him give ‘something’ in return.
he picked it and was tempted to immediately strut over to eliana and make her orgasm. there were many avenues to get that done in a matter of minutes, or even less, thanks to his various sexual skills and her high libido. no matter how fast he got it done with, it would compromise the resolution to keep things clean for the moment. ‘not like i need to hurry up and fuck her,’ he thought and instead directed his mind to another question. ‘should i level up harem gamer? might be a waste of a max class level...’
john still had 6 open, so he had wiggle room, but it wasn’t enough wiggle room that he was comfortable just throwing it away. for the next starforger level, he needed silver arcanist and harem gamer at 3. the latter condition was already fulfilled, so there was no need to go any further. silver arcanist still needed two levels and starforger would take another one. that left him with another 3 afterwards, and starforger would only be level 5 then.
‘i’ll have to grind more class levels either way,’ he finally decided and tapped the button.
‘oh great, two mediocre repeat choices and another pretty mediocre one to add.’ john scratched his head. mark of passion and mark of understanding were still too minor and unnecessary, respectively, to take. mark of domination was another pleasure increase. at this point, another one on the pile didn’t do that much. even if john liked having them, it wasn’t quite enough motivation to take a perk. the additional utility was a time saver though. rather than having to hypnotize his entire harem, a process that could take quite a while, he just had to grab one and any future haremettes (lorelei, at least, if john had anything to say about it), would just understand them. the usual limitations of hypnotism would still apply, of course.
so, john picked that, just because he liked the time saver.
“alright, let’s keep going,” the gamer said and walked back towards the staircase they had used to get up there.no?v(el)b\\jnn
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they used the gondolas to sail all the way to the strange sea. the piers were just the automatically suggested destinations and where the gondolas could be found. with the necessary permissions, one could direct the gondolas to move anywhere in the guild hall, provided there was a path available.
once they placed their feet on the darkshore, john tapped two buttons and the gondolas turned around, returning to their pier of origin. later, when they would be in steady use, they would try to be equally distributed between piers at all times. down the line, john would have to do some manual changes to make sure the most frequently travelled routes had some additional gondolas to deal with demand.
“alright, let’s activate the fairy lantern.” the instant john had done so, the sky above them began to dim. as the midnight forest sank into the timeless dark that provided its name, the gold of the sun was replaced with the silvery light of the stars.
the moon was a slit.
a celestial object on which two shadows were cast that just so happened to leave the remaining, reflective surface shaped like a cat’s pupil; the cosmic forces at work to create that particular shape should have been practically impossible to align. to john, who was quite used to beings powerful enough to use the sky as a tool of observation, wasn’t that bothered.
until he read that, anyway.
“methenia better be able to get rid of that,” stirwin hummed, only for the moon to turn its gaze on them. it was cold, pleasant, alien and beckoning. john almost felt like he could walk up on the moonlight, despite him having resisted the debuff.
“hey!” momo shouted. “stare somewhere else!”
“god, i wish i kne-“ john realized that lee was holding a hand that should have been otherwise occupied. “where is lydia?” the question was answered by a window popping up in front of him. the harem comms were already paying off.
lydia: it appears i have been brought to the centre. i must emphasize that i loathe fae.
nia: i am sad.
john now realized that nia wasn’t around either. that did worry him considerably less though.
“pass between us,” methenia said above. “as we dance. the gale that hops, the infernal midnight, and the viscountess.”
“well, that’s a title,” john hummed.
“what did that bitch just call the flat-chested assortment of holes?!” eliana cussed.
“earl is such an odd title that there is no real female equivalent. their wives usually are called countess or viscountess.”
“imma kill her,” rave said. “momo ain’t marrying ya before me, that’s against the rules. so imma kill the fairy.”
“how serious are you about that?” john asked with a raised eyebrow.
rave gave him a wink and a dangerous smile. “mostly not serious.”
they finally emerged at the centre of the bramble labyrinth. there, they found something approximating a massive tea party. the leaves of gigantic trees served as the blankets for groups of fae to sit together underneath a skeleton roof of brambles. at the centre of it stood the fairy lantern, surrounded by cut-off tree trunks. the brambles grew from the bark of those trees, while the tops served as the portals out of which some fairies climbed. other fae just materialized wherever they wanted. lively chatter filled the area.
lydia stood near the lantern, strimata drawn and pointed at whatever fairy came closer than three metres. carefully, she manoeuvred her way towards the group. “i hate these creatures,” the queen stated, pronouncing every syllable carefully.
“as we do you,” methenia said, dancing her way down a thin bramble path that connected the labyrinth to the portals. “your existence is iron and twisted magic.”
“statement: this is ironic, coming from a fairy,” beatrice said and the entire court looked at the passive maid. blatantly, she stared back. john could practically feel her wish to get an excuse. the only symmetrical thing in this place was the shifting pattern on methenia’s skin. to the perfectionist maid, this was practically torture.
“guess we’re married now, john,” momo interrupted the drama with playful frustration. everyone went back to their tea. the fairy support was dancing right after methenia, with a little less grace. sylph and siena had taken other paths.
“no, you’re not,” rave stated clearly, a little less joking than last time.
“a viscountess is a viscountess, regardless of rings and mortal oaths,” methenia chastised them.
“whatever,” john just waved off. “methenia, you are still the head of the court, correct?”
methenia laughed, the bramble path under her ever-dancing feet turning flexible like a jumping rope. “no... no, no, no, no,” she chided him, like a mother would her child after saying something ridiculous. “head of this court? how could i be, earl? the mad moon brought the midnight court.”
“so, i am the head,” momo said.
“yesssssss,” the mad moon confirmed.
“fantastic, more responsibility,” the workaholic remarked and stopped her dance. “methenia, i promote you to... hey, lydia, got any good noble titles in your head?”
“baroness would be the next lowest under viscountess, in the english hierarchy.”
“fantastic, methenia, i promote you to baroness of the midnight court. you will keep the fae in accordance with the earl’s rules when i’m not around.”
“i cannot accept this, i am head of the bramble court,” methenia denied.
“fine, then you’re baroness of the midnight brambles.”
“such a title does not exist,” methenia pointed out, shaking her head.
momo made a tossing gesture. “now it does.”
those three words swung the mood in the court entirely. cheers broke out all around and methenia jumped with joy. the mad moon shed white flower petals, breaking down as they sailed towards the ground. “what fantastic an honour, wise and powerful viscountess!”
‘i just... alright,’ john thought, letting the scene wash over him.