Descend- Bursting Out: A litrpg adventure

by David Burke

  An hour later as Jay woke up, he felt like a new man. Well, that sort of thing could happen after being intimate but this was so much more. His memories of the past few months flooded back into his mind. He had regained them earlier but now that all of his attention wasn’t being poured into Meikiyo he had the chance to examine them. It seemed unfathomable to him that he had ever forgotten the loves of his life. Meikiyo and his other wives meant the world to him. They were his reason for most everything he did now.

  He hoped though to hold onto what some things that he had just learned about himself. Not the least of which was how as he relaxed some of his powers came more naturally. Perhaps he had been overthinking many things. He had felt guilty for things that weren’t wrong and had taken blame for things that weren’t his fault. The feeling of freedom he was enjoying now was exhilarating.

  Jay wanted to live like this. A man, sure of his decisions, compassionate to those around him, but bold in his actions. How much had he missed out on in life before this. Well no more. Then he laughed at himself. Who was he kidding? Of course he was going to screw up again. He would slip back into old habits at times.

  But that was okay. It wasn’t wrong to take a step back. It was unavoidable. He just needed to focus on the two steps forward. Falling down didn’t make one a loser, only not getting up. And Jay looked down at Meikiyo cuddled in his arm, her head against his chest as they floated in the air on his construct. He had so much worth fighting for, but more than that he had so much worth living for.

  Jay thought about the fusion that had occurred. It had been at a new level. The result wasn’t different. The same warning had appeared, but he didn’t care. He knew that fusing with these women that he cared about so deeply was the right thing to do. He also knew what the problem with Trina’s fusion was. They didn’t trust each other implicitly. They might want to, but such a thing couldn’t be willing. It either was or it wasn’t.

  With Meikiyo, it had been understood. Their union had occurred at every level and as fun as some parts of it were, the sheer bliss of merging with her was beyond anything he had ever experienced. He now realized why that was though. In his prior fusions he had undoubtedly experienced a part of this bliss but it had occurred when he was in a subconscious state.

  This time he had been awake and alert for that part of the fusion process. This time he had the presence of mind to pour his energy into hers. He wished he had done that with the other girls, but then he realized that it wasn’t something to lament. He could always rectify it but more importantly than that, it would have been premature with the others.

  It was only now that Meikiyo was past the fifth threshold that this worked so perfectly. She had gained the PSI catalyst trait as did all the women when passing that level. At least that was what the data from the implant said. It matched up with the experience too. He hadn’t known what PSI catalyst meant. They had speculated about it a bunch, but ultimately had dedicated their research efforts towards things likely to produce more tangible results.

  Now though he understood. All of the evolved humans produced PSI energy. They were not absorbing it from the atmosphere around them. They were the actual source of it. He seemed to be better at producing it than they were. He could hold more and produce it faster. His energy regeneration rate was twice theirs. Again the implant data confirmed that.

  When his power was run through Meikiyo, she accelerated the process. And just like any good catalyst she wasn’t used up in the process, she simply increased him. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts. It was splendid, and a lot of fun to do, if he did say so himself.

  He looked at what he had gained through the fusion. Another eight levels. That was to be expected and pushed him up to one hundred and twenty-five. Again the stat boosts were even more impressive than the actual levels. Whether there was something different about the conscious fusion or because of the way that he had pushed so much PSI into her, the stat exchange had worked differently.

  Meikiyo got huge boosts in not just his current highest stat, which had been Kinesis at the time the fusion began. She also got a massive boost in Formation, which sorta made sense given that they both took on the fire form and merged together as energy. He had in turned gained in Formation but his biggest boosts had been in Awareness, Durability, and Metabolism. Presumably those were meant to balance out the gains Meikiyo got.

  In fact all his stats were now over two hundred even without the bonus from the crown. Kinesis had gone back to being his lowest at two hundred and thirteen with Durability currently his highest at two hundred fifty-four. The irony about this was that if his stats were going to shift back and forth like that, he needed to keep in mind which of his stats was highest and how that would boost a prospective fusion mate. Some would benefit more from specific stats.

  Clearly Jessie was the next one he had to fuse with. He owed it to her as a wife. More than that, he genuinely cared about her, even loved her. She was the most fun person that he knew and his time with her was always a joy, even if they weren’t well… yeah.

  The real question would arise if they decided to do any fusions beyond Jessie. His amnesia showed that there were real dangers with temporal manipulations and he couldn’t shake the feeling that there were real dangers with fusions. The body switching before might not have been such a humorous experience if it had ended up being permanent. Let alone if he had switched with one of them. The very thought of that sent shivers down his spine.

  Enough of that though. He wanted to focus on the good stuff. The power he gained from Meikiyo was Fire Form, which once again made sense but it was called Evolved Fire Form, likely because of how they had pushed the skill forward together.

  As per usual he had granted her Enhanced Speed but his subconscious must have realized that Meikiyo’s fighting style didn’t have very much to do with strength so instead of enhancing that he had granted her PSI Constructs. Jay didn’t remember consciously willing that to her, because truthfully he likely would have granted her increased durability if he could have, but he assumed she would be able to make something of it. Interestingly, the skill had merged for her as Burning PSI Formations.

  Because of the merged status sheet, Jay could see not only what Meikiyo had gained from the other girls but also what they had gained from her. Once again, Trina was left out of it. That was going to have to be rectified, but now that he was confident of what the problem was, he also knew that it wasn’t as simple as just deciding to fix it.

  Meikiyo had gained Huong’s healing ability which seemed to be the de facto option she passed on. It made sense though. If gaming had taught him one thing, it was never a bad thing to have a backup healer. From Mia, she got Borrowed Adaptation, which was good in the versatility that it would give her.

  The skill she got from Ava was a bit more confusing. Energize was a skill that the hyper girl had not developed at all and was part of her weakest stat, Kinesis. The thing was, though, Jay had learned to trust that Ava sometimes had an ability to see the pieces of the puzzle before any of the rest of them. So he accepted that whether consciously or not that there must be a good reason for it.

  Jay had expected Amelia to pass on Shadow Bolt to Meikiyo. Not only because it was the one she most often shared, but also because of how effective the combo of that power with Meikiyo’s pyrokinesis was. Instead though she had granted her Ectoplasmic Embodiment. Jay had to assume it was because Amelia was worried about Meikiyo’s survivability as much as he was. It was clearly her greatest weakness. Now though the skill had taken on a new evolution with Meikiyo in that it was called Flaming Ghost Body. That was going to be interesting to see in action for sure.

  As for what Meikiyo passed on, she granted Pyrokinesis to Amelia. Jay couldn’t help but laugh, just what that little hothead needed. He foresaw some burns in his future once she mastered that skill. Of course, it made perfect sense for the reasons he had already considered. Being able to combine that with her Shadow Bolts made Amelia one deadly snip
er.

  For the others, she passed on Infravision to Ava. It would be useful in the way that she assessed technology, or at least that was what Jay assumed the intent had been. The gift of Burning Defiance to Mia and Huong also sorta made sense. Fire wouldn’t have mixed very well with Huong’s plant powers but this way they would both be more resistant to any type of mind control and better able to protect their group.

  Chapter 19- New Expectations

  When Jay finally dropped the sphere, Meikiyo had taken on her fiery form so as not to be naked to anyone that might be watching. Sure enough there was a guard of Uremi and Kayla standing watch. Jay had no doubt that they notified the advisors and Trina in particular that the dome was done. There were likely to be many questions given his memory issues when they had last seen him.

  One after another each of his wives and the advisors and then most of the rest of Team Jay all appeared. The wives simply appeared the quickest because of their enhanced speed. Even before they got there, Kayla had made a joke about the shirt that Uremi handed to him. “Now, why did you have to go and do that? I was enjoying looking at him.”

  “Treat him with some respect. He is our leader and imagine if he was standing there gawking at you while you were topless,” Uremi replied.

  “Do you think I could get him to gawk at me if I did?” Kayla asked while making like she was going to remove her leather armor.

  “Now, now, ladies, you know the rules,” Jay said.

  Trina suddenly zoomed up. “Talking about the rules, well at least that must mean that you have your memories back. No one is a stickler for doing things the right way as much as Jay is.”

  “Yes, I’ve got my memories back and yes that means I remember outside the entrance to the fifth floor dungeon. Anyway, our rules are what keep this place organized. You are one of our leaders, so you should be trying to enforce those rules,” Jay said while frowning.

  “I do, but even I can slip up from time to time. Can’t blame a girl for trying,” Trina said.

  “He may not blame you for trying, but I can,” Amelia said as she decelerated.

  “Go easy on her, Amelia. She is trying. Besides she is part of us now,” Huong said as she appeared a second after Amelia.

  “You are just saying that cause you're a slut and she agreed to be your play thing,” Amelia retorted.

  Trina’s beautiful face got even darker than normal as she blushed. “Bah, I did no such thing. I am just trying to earn my place. Maybe you could cut me a break.”

  Her plea was undermined by Huong who answered just a second behind Trina, “Guilty as charged, but what does it matter, as long as I’m looking out for Jay’s best interests. That is what a good wife or Madame does.”

  Already not wanting this to continue any further, Jay made a chopping motion in the air with his hand. “Okay, enough of that. Now, who is gonna show me around. I want to see how we have settled into the sixth floor…”

  He stopped talking midsentence though as he became distracted by a conversation he was hearing between Kayla and Trina.

  “Yeah, boss, you should have seen it. The dome went from being all black with Amelia’s shadows to being as bright as the sun. Uremi and I almost panicked that it was gonna explode.”

  “They were just fusing their powers then. At least that is what I think was happening. This fusion both gives more and less information than I would like.”

  “I’m sure they were fusing something, cause we may not have been able to see into the dome because of the light, but we sure as shit could hear Meikiyo.”

  “Don’t remind me, I know far too much about what was going on in there. This fusion is going to make it impossible to stay sane if something doesn’t change soon.”

  “Just do what they ask, trust me, time with Jay is worth it. Besides you are fused now, so shouldn’t you be on the same level as them.”

  “It is complicated, shit. I think he can hear our thoughts.”

  Jay’s face got red as he heard the last part. He didn’t look over at Trina again and instead followed his wives other than Meikiyo who was still gone. Amelia took the lead and showed him around the housing. He immediately perked up when he saw that there his memory from earlier was accurate.

  The presence of three dozen houses, each larger than the cabins of level three, was a relief. It would provide far more flexibility for sleeping arrangements and people wouldn’t feel like they were on top of one another. He was even more thrilled when he learned that the housing was accessible twenty-four hours a day and no rental fees. That was a dramatic shift, although he supposed that it made sense in a way. More access to comfortable bedding with privacy might be what the A’snkarnt thought was needed to encourage more breeding.

  Even if Jay took D’varn at face value, that he wasn’t complicit in the demands made by S’vanth, he still admitted that he had wanted to breed humans to become an army. It was a safe bet that no alien race had the best interests of the humans at heart. The A’snkarnt, Forlorn, and Bel’gi certainly didn’t.

  They also showed him the terminal and the new shop. There really wasn’t that much change. The housing was free as he already knew. There was no new birth control. The food options had improved a bit. By now he could get most any kind of food that he might want. The clothing selection was broader. The armor and weapons didn’t change, but that was okay, because he was convinced that the tech division could make better weapons than any that the A’snkarnt were likely to give him access to.

  The best part was that the discount from the third floor still applied to Team Jay and that meant they would have access to the best the shop had to offer. Jay chose now as a good time to buy the one item that he saw a clear improvement in.

  Supreme Healing Potion: 180 days of healing instantly and regeneration +100 for 2 hours 3200 credits

  It cost almost two hundred thousand credits, but he deemed it worthwhile. He kept two of the sixty-one potions and gave the rest to his wives with instructions for them to give one to each pod member.

  The labs had been transferred intact just as promised and people were already hard at work there. Jay didn’t want to get sucked into hearing about the progress on various inventions. So he scooted past that. Huong did mention something about needing to decide on upgrades but said it could wait till later.

  After that they all went and sat down in a quiet glade. The floor was some kind of giant garden and Huong was definitely in her element. Meikiyo joined them about the time they got there and Jay said, “We need to discuss Trina and what happens next. I’m pretty sure I know what the issue is, just not sure what to do about it.”

  It almost felt odd to Jay that he was pushing into a problem so quickly. Normally he put such things off. Odd but refreshing.

  “Jay, you can’t trust her. Remember she wanted to lock you up for your own good,” Amelia said.

  “What happened to the woman who said she would help? You told her that you would make this work. She clearly wants what is best for our cluster and the human race as a whole. The Forlorn threat changes everything, but in my mind we need her. And trust me, she is in my mind. I know the fusion didn’t fully take, so you all may not be able to feel her as well, but we will all be stronger if she is with us fully,” Jay said.

  He could feel anger at being called out coming from Amelia, but equally he felt embarrassment because she knew he was right. Jay smiled at her and sent a warm sensation in her direction.

  “You said you think you know what the problem is, didn’t you? If we know what the problem is then we will be able to figure out how to fix it,” Ava said.

  “I did say that but wait a minute. You didn’t call me Master.”

  She gave him the most cat who ate the canary grin that he had ever seen as she smoothly replied, “Well you haven’t spanked me lately, so I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to be my Master.”

  He knew she was playing a game with him, and equally that she enjoyed the game. He cared about her so it was easy for him to
play along, but he was a reborn man. If he was gonna do it, it wouldn’t be halfway. “Do you still want me to be your master?”

  Everyone got deadly quiet at that moment, either because they were all wondering what was going to happen or just because like Huong they had an interest in kinks. Ava dropped to her knees as she said, “Yes very much. But you never seem very interested in it. Mostly you just humor me. I don’t want to be a burden to you. If you like I can just go back to working in the lab.”

  Now he was getting glares from all the other wives. Everyone liked Ava. It was impossible not to. She was cute, fun, and always helpful. There was an innocence about her that belied the things that she liked in bed. But Jay took the looks in stride. He focused his attention while he stood up and walked back and forth like he was pacing and deciding.

  “He better say something.”