The Witch Tamer, Book 1
Page 15
I decided to try to find out if it will work.
I hid behind one of the rock pillar columns in a rather dark fountain room.
After only a few minutes a kobold hops forward out of the darkness, his feet clicking on the stone floor.
I carefully snuck on him.
Slam! I hit him from behind hard. Then again, and a stun after that!
One more hit! Slam!
He hits the ground slain.
Yes! The kobold is taken care of quite quickly, with no damage to myself! Practicing ambushes really can work!
My status screen registers 'kobold 12838 has been slain' in blinking white text.
Eh?
A gem?
Or maybe something else? It looks and feels like a gem but looks funny for some reason.
This one has some kind of gem in his loot bag.
My loot bag is still not too full yet. I wish it were easier to find loot also.
!
I hear something coming. So I retreated in the opposite direction moving away from this room. (I want to get closer to the entrance before I lose all my mana.)
With a few more kills I'm getting a better feel for my damage.
My baseball bat, which is un-enchanted, does only about 8 damage.
But the crowbar +2 does about 12 damage. And it feels more solid and sturdy despite having a shorter length reach. My throwing knives aren't very reliable but do about 4 damage; that is if I can get them to even hit something. (I miss too much to use them much.)
I put away the baseball bat after figuring out its damage isn't really great. Plus, when using it that means I have to use more stuns.
[Defense skill +1] achieved!
[Block skill +1] achieved!
Incoming flag alerts in my status screen show my skills have improved but not by much.
OK...
There's the tunnel going back the way I came in.
And...another adventurer's fallen body is near it. I took their ID because the body was dissolving but most of what's valuable has already been stolen from the body, including some meat. I'll give the ID to the guards outside, so they can notify next of kin.
The monsters seem to sometimes take the IDs, but not always. For trophies maybe? They do like to take human shoes for some reason. Both this body and the other one I saw had that in common. But sometimes the monsters are in a hurry and can't loot all the human meat quickly.
I wonder what they did with the shoes? Wear them? Or for trading with other monsters?
It makes sense that they'd like shoes crafted in a machine manufacturing capable world.
(I covered my nose with a handkerchief...gross.)
Wait, I just realized it takes human bodies faster to dissolve than it does for monsters?
Wow.
I kept going through kills, mostly bouncing around slimes, because kobolds are more rare.
An hour passes.
I get about 3 more loot drops. By now I'd gotten 20 kills on my first time being here!
My mana bar now says 34/339.
Its time to head back.
I'd been in there so long that the light hurts my eyes when I re-emerged from the tunnel.
Then I hit call to Melanie's cell.
"Hey honey, its me. I can use a pick up now. Can you come get me, please?" I asked.
"Sure! on my way lover!" she said happily.
"Also, I've got a treat for you, when you see me," she said sounding happy.
...
I didn't level up in the dungeon? Even with that many kills?!
This is much harder than I thought it would be.
While waiting for Melanie and her truck I inspected the shops. I also listened in as other adventurers are trying to sell at the booths here.
"I can give you 10 bucks per slime core. Nothing more," one guy said.
"This thing was bigger than other slimes! It deserves 15 per core!" one guy argued, his jacket covered in slime. (Wonder why he's got so much gore on himself when I don't. Does he have a special skill that does that?)
Other adventurers near us also come out mostly clean, that is except for their own blood.
Why is this guy still covered in monster gore, when the monsters dissolve? And then I noticed other things also.
Like some of the more successful adventurers here have gear pieces that don't look like they are made on Earth. (Another mystery.)
One guy is making and brewing red health potions right out in the open, using a simple Bunsen burner kit with glass chemistry beakers and vials hanging over it on a rack using the heat to warm up.
Some people are watching him, which he tolerates under the basis that if they see his product works they will buy from him.
(I should find out if anyone can do alchemy or just people with the right skill?)
I listened at a few other shops before approaching them. I also listened to how they worded things. (Sometimes I was caught and told to buzz off. But not everyone cared.)
Turns out around 10 or 11 USD per slime core is standard.
I decided to sell my seven slime cores, netting me $70 dollars. (Not bad for a first day. Plus, I lived!)
Then I see I've got texts from mom and dad worried and wanting me to text them saying that I'm OK and survived my first day.
When I get back I'll see if I can enchant the gem for something also.
...
About an hour later Melanie arrives in her truck.
"Hey get in," she said after I pulled up. I see also her truck's tinted black windows made her extremely daring also.
"So are you OK?" she asked.
I got in the truck. The new air freshener feels nice.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for picking me up. A bit sore, but OK," I said.
"Good. Gosh, I was so worried. I kept thinking, wow you could get hurt in there and it made me stressed out," Melanie is then for a bit of time telling me about her day excitedly.
Then I hear her unzipping her trench coat, revealing she's got no clothes on underneath.
"Come on. Let's go find some places up the river where there's no people. I want you to fuck me hard. I've been wet all day waiting for you," she added.
"I'm so glad you are safe Jay. I need to reward you for trying so hard for both of us," she added.
...
I was in the dungeon longer than I thought. Right now the clock reads 7:23 PM as we pull in the driveway. The drive and some time afterwards had taken a bit over an hour, which means I'd finished around 6 PM.
It was so nice to not have to drive myself, after my body hurt from both the exercise and minor damage I'd taken.
Showered from 7:25 PM to 7:51 PM.
Dinner; I'm famished.
Melanie was worried that I was hurt, but says its pretty normal, and why people don't dungeon dive everyday; while giving me a massage.
8:11 PM
Marital intimacy with Melanie on the bed again, cowgirl position.
The other girl captive in my room tried to not watch too much, but I caught her a few times looking over more curious than she'd admit.
So tired...think I'll take a rest.
Before going to sleep we put a blanket over the other girl and made sure she was warm and comfortable after feeding her.
Chapter 11
Sunday
"Hey, what are you doing outside your brother's room?" I heard mom's voice boom.
I sat up in bed, as it had woken me up.
Time to get my guard up. Something's not right.
"Mom, I wasn't..." I heard Diego's voice right outside my door.
Wait what?
Diego is outside my room sneaking around?
What an ass.
"Bull shit. Do you think I don't know you've been there for five minutes!" mom chewed him out.
That doesn't sound good.
Mom keeps chewing him out while leading him away from my door. I even heard him saying ouch a few times, but I don't feel sorry for him because he's a shmuck. Plus, he's le
veled up, so mom smacking him around wouldn't even hurt him.
Its also really early.
My clock says 5:23 AM.
Next to me, Melanie is naked on my bed with the covers off. As usual, her poses are quite sexy, just laying on her side with her arm propping her head up. Her back is facing the door luckily.
Does my brother have an X-ray vision skill? Or was he trying to come in at night? There definitely could be an X ray vision skill, or an item that lets you do it. I hear glasses embedded with the skill as an enchant are pretty common.
This is really creepy.
And I have to be careful because Diego is way more leveled up than I am. Standing up to him now, I'd have zero chance.
I began to worry also more, because Diego has always been a jerk and a dick.
Shit.
There really might be an X ray vision skill also.
Crap.
I need to get this nipped in the bud.
But Diego is a way higher level than I am with extensive veteran combat skills. So I can't mess with him directly.
If mom hadn't intervened then I'd be in real trouble.
Then I began crafting again with my enchant skill. There's really no way to know how it works except to dive in.
My health bar today is still down more than I like, so dungeon diving today is a bad idea.
My mana bar is up again, full.
I checked my gear.
Gear list;
Baseball cap
Jacket
Jeans (+2 defense)
2 throwing knives at +2
1 long crowbar +2
Hoodie +1 defense
Flashlight (energy efficient enchant)
Baseball Bat
Buckler
At some point I took a break.
The mind control skills I have in play, made Melanie anxious for love and attention. She's craving it while undressed and leaning all over me.
At some point all that warmth and the feel of her skin and body just made my mind not able to think.
Spousal intimacy with Melanie right away to start the day. The seduce skill active on her makes her want to take the initiative the most and work hard in bed. Plus, also she feels bad that she can't dungeon dive with me.
The other girl I put on a treadmill while I went into the library. (Still not much change with her, but she's being more cooperative in some ways.)
I did check in the knowledge books about skills in the library. It took a few minutes to find it, but then there it is! There is an X-ray vision skill, though I can't confirm if Diego has it. But yes, if he did have it he would be checking out Melanie and my other girl for sure. It would be hard not to because both of them are super good looking.
This is bad.
It means I need to work hard against him.
I keep working in the study.
There's not a lot of enchanting item and gear clues in the library. And what few I find have to really be fought for. Because of this I tried to do a few gear enchants right away after getting up, since it will be wasted mana if I don't.
My mana bar dips to around 2/3 after I failed twice.
(I flinched. But this is expected. My success rate has to be less than 1/3 with Melanie's amplifier skill.)
I managed to get a +1 defense on my jacket right away. Then went back to studying.
By 11 AM I'm still working hard.
I have to ignore a lot of messages from Sue's family still, telling them that I can't talk right now.
Also around lunch, I get a call from dad.
"Hello?" I said picking up.
"Son. Listen, you remember I told you I had that offer for a bigger dowry and family gift by marrying you with a different clan family?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"Well that family wants to meet with us next week. That will be 7 days from today. Make sure you clean up and look nice for that day. Don't dungeon dive that day or the day previous, so you don't look weak or tore up," dad said.
"OK...but who are they? And what if the girl you are matching me up with is a troll, and looks horrible?" I asked.
"She won't be. Don't worry. It'll be fine. This is good for everyone also. Good for you, and good for us, and good for this family. Everyone will be positive," dad then hung up.
I'm getting a bit worried.
If my family is evil, then won't this other family also be evil too?
And today I need to heal up a bit more still before I can dungeon dive. And possibly need a couple days after that since its not easy. This also means that I'm not making 70 dollars a day, I might be making 70 every 3 days, which means if I had to pay rent and food and be out on my own I wouldn't make it!
My worries are going up.
Is this also part of mom and dad's plans?
If I have too many girls to take care of and it costs a lot to live then they would like and want that in order to keep me under their control!
Shit...I think I've figured out their plan!
That must be it. Its also what corporations do. They hire people who spend a lot and are broke that can't disagree with their plans, and that can be indoctrinated. And they are thinking that I'd fall right in also when I saw it wasn't so easy to make money as I'd hoped it would be like.
And its obvious with how they refuse to hire free thinking people.
"Hey girl. Its time for your lunch. Do you have any preference on what you want to eat? What would you like?" I asked the hot sexy captive blonde tanned girl that my family had gotten for me.
I sometimes wish I could say sorry and let her go.
But if I do that my family will freak and devastation and destruction events would be activated to stop her.
"S-sandwich sounds nice. Something with lots of vegetables," she added.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine..." she frowned while saying it.
Yeah, she's not really talkative yet. She does like the chair in my room though and seems to be getting more comfortable.
But if I say sorry, she might end up expecting me to be an apologist for the rest of our lives while she's here and I don't want that either.
...
1:23 PM
I made 3 more enchant attempts.
Finally one of them took successfully! Yes!
The tiny cheap gem took the charge. But I was then surprised that its letting me choose the effect on the gem. The choices are;
Option 1; health regen +1
Option 2; +1 damage absorption
Option 3; damage +1
Option 4; +2 max health
Those are nice options. All of them are good.
But technically either option 1 or 2 would give me the most gain. Some might think option 3 would have the most gain, but actually option 1 and 2 reduce down time the most. And humans have frail bodies that need time to heal up. Even a high damage person needs time to heal, and humans heal slowly.
This is why only options 1 and 2 are workable.
I picked the 'health regen +1' effect, because it would help reduce down time days. This was what I needed most. But the problem with it, is that I don't know how often the +1 procs. Is this per hour, or per day?
Melanie was kind enough to help me with making a necklace and tiny cloth pouch to put it in. By then, I can see its not a health regen +1 per hour, which was disappointing.
This was I think her idea of being a bit closer, just by doing things for each other. (My mind control grip on her is stronger than before. She seems to be more loyal. She wasn't making things for me before now.)
Within an hour I'd gotten a second +1 defense enchant added to my big leather long coat. This should pad me a bit more also, because the jacket was thicker leather from the beginning. (Did mom and dad plan it like that when they gave it to me for Christmas last year?)
I took a nap.
By 4:31 PM Melanie wants to make love again, becoming more aggressive. (The other girl is blushing hard while watching). And she kept wanting to go at it for quite aw
hile.