“Dress-up in what?”
“Hehehe. A surprise.”
It better be good. “Then surprise m—”
A dense of wave of darkness washed over the frozen pond, from pavilion’s direction. Rowan’s heart palpitated against Gabrielle’s back, the sheer, concentrated magic resonating with his own. From courtyard, a black, crackling beam tore into the heavens and blotted out every last star and heavenly body including the sister moons and Greenwood Spine beneath. The city was now in a perfectly opaque black dome—and the dark mana in the air was only intensifying. One by one, every gold mana lamp winked out.
Gabrielle tapped her chin. “Huh. That’s not the castle. Ambiguous is still corrupting its core.”
Rowan squinted through the pitch night. “It’s from the ancient yew. Let’s go.” He yanked off the ice skates, replaced them with his regular boots, and handed the magical sports equipment to Gabrielle. He rushed toward the yew through the pavilion, missing a peeping Skylar and Viola by inches as he came out of a Rime Blink. He lost balance in the surprise and tumbled onto the finely-sanded wood. Naughty teens! “You little fuckers,” Rowan coughed. “We asked for some privacy.”
Gabrielle was a second behind. She pulled both up by their scruffs.
“Lady LeMort! Lord Black!” Viola gasped. “Skylar got too curious for his own good. I tried to stop him.”
“What? You were the one who went to spy on them.”
“As if.”
Gabrielle ruffled Skylar’s hair. “It’s kay, I won’t slap ya this time, but what did ya think of my skating routine?”
“That was incredible!” Viola exclaimed.
“Is that something out of the Divine Realm?” Skylar asked. “I’ve never seen those boots with metal before.”
Gabrielle winked. “Don’t tell anyone they exist. I’ll let ya try them sometime. They give ya some special knowledge from my world.”
Rowan ignored them and blinked into the courtyard, landing next to Ayla, the twins, and the shrunken stuffed toys. An amusing sight, Fluffy slumbered on a teddy’s lap next to a bed of purple flowers, but most striking of all was the yew. The mutated ancient tree had been twisted and enlarged as though an artisan had magicked it into pure clay and re-sculpted it in his vision. Those leafless branches now had bulbous growths radiating dark mana hanging from the ends, and the primary spawnstone embedded into its trunk was carved not from diamond but from onyx. This was no tree of light anymore.
“What happened?” Rowan asked.
Ayla said, “Turns out this tree is actually invulnerable. We tried salvaging the spawnstone, then it went crazy.”
Edward nodded, his face grim. “Deactivated it a while ago but it refused to budge.”
The skyward beam cut off with a resounding crack, and a box decorated with flowing dark-light mana expanded.
World Event: Opus Dei
The humans have fallen, their prime spawnstone corrupted by the hand of Ione. New adventurers may no longer choose human as a starting race. Those with darkness may choose Dark Human.
Triggering Adventurer: Edward Farmer
Location: Yew of Life, Greenwood Capital
Rowan had to re-read the description thrice to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Opus dei. The work of God. The hand of Ione. It clicked. “The Divine Intervention,” he said. “This has to be the special surprise. I thought it was Zaine coming back as a Dark Human.” He glanced around, looking for the guy. “Where is he?”
Gabrielle bumped his arm. “Duh. There’s not a skill in the game that can do this.”
Ayla said, “Zaine went off to check up on his lair.” Reasonable enough.
Viola mumbled, “He seems pretty attached to it. I wonder what it’s like.”
Edward whistled a high tone. “So there’s going to be more darkies. Yikes.”
SoSo said, “Hopefully not too many. We have to secure these lands and rebuild first.”
Gabrielle gave a thumbs-up. “Yup! This is the birth of the dark continent. Knew I could count on Ione.”
Rowan didn’t know quite what to think about this, for there were too many variable to consider. What if some real insane psychos come? What if they refused to cooperate? Darkies were as volatile and disagreeable as people could be. It’d be unfettered chaos and anarchy.
Something pinched his cheek.
Gabrielle giggled. “I know that look. You’re worried! Don’t, cus we’ll just send any meanies off into the wilderness. This will be a dictatorship after all. It’s like the only way a dark society can function.”
The only way? How did she know? His left eyebrow arched under the hood. He typed her a private message.
Rowan Black (To Gabby LeMort): Is that how your secret society is?
While the others quietly discussed the development, Gabrielle regarded him with a calculating expression. The chatbox beeped after too many of Rowan’s fidgets.
Gabby LeMort: Basically.
A one-word answer. A vague one-word answer at that. Yeah, she wasn’t going to budge on that one. Her tiny, stonewall smile said it all. Maybe one day she’d open up about that. Maybe she wasn’t allowed to open up.
Rowan Black: Gotcha. I’ll take your word for it then.
Gabby LeMort: That’s a good boy! ^_^
She reached under his hood and ruffled his hair.
“That’s a naughty girl,” Rowan snarled, stepped around, and spanked her cute bubble butt. Hard. Twice. And a third time for good measure. She whimpered and squeaked after each strike.
“So,” Ayla said loudly. “What now?”
Naturally, Rowan had the orders to give out like a prepared dictator. “We start making a civilization. Get this place ready for newcomers. All they need is a market building and access to dungeons. If they want to go off solo, let them. But right now… Edward, SoSo, help Ambiguous corrupt the castle’s core if you have the profession for it. It’s going take longer than the spire did. Gabby, sort the loot gems and hand them out. Ayla, is your Group Portal from your Water Mage days still working? And someone get Fluffy to put her toys on patrol.”
The twins obeyed without comment, buzzing off.
“On it, Lord Spanky!” Gabrielle saluted him and skipped toward the pavilion, the teens following.
“It still works.”
“Good. Ferry the thousand zombies and Dark Humans over. I’ll convert them when they’re here. This tree generates plenty of dark mana for the children, and those farmlands are perfect for them. They’ll be safer here with a tier ten shield anyway. Extend it outward a bunch.”
“Makes sense, more or less.” Ayla shrugged. “But what are you going to do?”
Rowan stretched his arms and back, suddenly tired. “I think that new fatigue system is starting to kick in. Once they’re converted, I’ll log out for the night.”
Her brows gradually lifted. “In that case, I can do it for you. Pass me your amulet.”
“It’s soulbound.”
“Lend it to me for the night. It works. You can take it back any moment.”
Oh, that was correct. It could be done in the trade window. This game had too many mechanics and features, but that was a boon in itself. Rowan accepted her trade offer and willed the Jewel of Blasphemies to appear in the lend slot. He set a timer for sixteen hours and— Rowan’s nose wrinkled. “How can I trust you with this?”
Ayla laid a dry squirrel-face on him. “Rowan… When a girl tells you she has fantasies where you violently rape her, you know you can trust her.” Again with the rape fantasies. She sure loved to troll, but trolls were welcomed with open arms here as long as they weren’t too misbehaved.
“I heard that, ya hussy!” Gabrielle shouted from the pavilion but expressed no protests over the amulet.
“You’ll have to replace me with Skylar in those fantasies,” Rowan played long, weakly laughed, and hit the finalize button. The trade completed, and immediately, the amulet disappeared from his chest.
Ayla held it by the chain in front of
her wide eyes. “Drips darkness?”
“Not sure what it does, but you can turn it on with an intention.”
“Right.”
Rowan cast a final affectionate glance at Gabrielle and hit the logout button. The corrupted yew faded out, and the inside of the FIVR pod faded in. The warm gel bed tenderly pushed against him as he shifted, and he was not bleeding or in any pain.
Mission successful… for now.
Chapter 48
The Dark Couple
Rowan exited the fallout bunker’s luxurious bathroom and wrapped himself in a white shower robe adorned with a peculiarly extravagant shield logo at the lapel. He stepped into the pair of velvet slippers Gabrielle had given him, then strode down the freezing main hallway, hunting for her. She wasn’t in her room… or any of the other empty bedrooms for that matter. Where could a naughty sexy girl hide in here? Rowan sucked on his tongue and kept walking.
In the common room above an ignited electric fireplace glinted the logo; a full-sized version made of polished precious metals and gems. The shield, divided into four quadrants, had two standing beasts at its left and right, a scroll beneath with three words in Latin written in neat script, and a myriad of medieval knickknacks above. The whole thing had to be worth millions of credits… or more if the gold bits weren’t simply plated on.
Gabrielle’s cute voice wafted from behind, “The Roth family coat and arms.”
There she was. “Coat and arms?”
“Yup. It’s a middle-age tradition. Like our fancy symbol I guess. Been with us for like hundreds and hundreds of years. Does yours have one?”
His finger traced the edge. The fine details were millimeters across. “I don’t think so.”
“Aww, that’s sad. Ya can apply for one though.”
Good to know. “I’ll have to tell my parents sometime.” Assuming they weren’t still freaked out over Gabrielle. He gestured at the scroll. “What do these words mean?”
“Ah… I forgot. Like actually forgot. It’s been a very long while. I’m surprised there’s one here.”
Typical Gabrielle. “Then one of them must mean forgetful.”
“Hmph. Take that back… or I’ll tell my family ya said that.”
“Go ahead.” Rowan chuckled and turned around. His pulse hammered behind his eyes, skipping beats.
On the sofa couch playing with a Holo Phone, she wore Westwind Highschool’s senior uniform. Not the exact same uniform she had worn two years ago during the day of pandemonium; but one which was a size too small for her petite body and adjusted for sexiness. That black skirt missed her crossed knees by several inches, those white high-socks pulled up her calves. Her bulging white blouse left a provocative strip of her midriff. And best of all, her long blonde hair was in pigtails just like she had back then.
Oh, what a good girl!
Rowan swallowed drool, his heart racing. This, right here, was a real-life manifestation of a lusty fantasy that refused to go away. Absolute sexy perfection. He didn’t know how many times he had indulged this image during all those long nights in that blasted psyche ward. But how did she know? Maybe that one-off skill she’d used to locate keystones had told her.
Around the mahogany coffee table, Rowan approached with a predatory leer. He inhaled a tantalizing vanilla scent—something new. She kept playing with her Holo Phone as he sat. Her thumb scrolled and paused now and then. He said, “How did you guess?”
“Huh?”
He snuggled up to her, an arm around her shoulder. He laid a palm on her knee and stroked her thigh, caressed her silky, warm flesh. Hot desire inflated at his waist. “The uniform.”
She giggled and cheerily said, “Ya seemed like the type.” Her eyes didn’t leave the hologram.
“That obvious?”
“Yup. It’s a really common fantasy. I read all about what makes ya boys tick.”
He kept breathing her new fragrance. Delicious. Better than pineapple. “And what makes us boys tick?”
“Surprisingly a lot of things… but sex is a huge part, especially when you’re young.” Pretty accurate. She didn’t stop scrolling, her eyes glued to that damned thing. She was scrolling the hologram at a phenomenal speed, the text blurry. How could she even read it?
He gruffly said at her ear, “Just what are you flipping through?”
Her mouth twisted. “Social media.” Of course. The opium of girls around the world. “I’m looking for mentions of Gabby LeMort, but all I’m finding is you.” She shifted on the sofa and undid the top button of her blouse, granting him a splendid view. An open-weave bra pushed up her breasts.
He let his hand slowly journey up her lithe body. There was plenty time to savor his precious treasure, his prize. “Isn’t there an NDA?”
She glanced at him quizzically. “It got lifted during the maintenance. We’re in open beta now. The FIVR stores are officially opening. Didn’t ya read the patch notes? Are ya being a dummy again?”
“I… might’ve skipped a bunch. There were a lot of slides.”
“Dummy. But I’ll let ya off the hook this time.” Her tongue clicked. “Anywho, you’re trending everywhere, public enemy number one. Rowan-the-genocidal-rapist-gamer. This has to be billions of credits worth of publicity, all grass-roots too. There’s even gonna be a protest at Synaptic HQ’s parking lot demanding to ban and arrest ya!”
Public enemy number one. Nice. And rapist? “They still think I raped Ayla?”
“Yup. Dumb monkeys. There are recordings of her screaming in the leash and you saying lewd things. Hehehe.”
Oh wow. However, that might be a problem. “Wouldn’t that scare girls away from our dark continent? The guys won’t like that.”
A smile gradually diffused across her lips. She snickered connivingly. “Dun’ worry. It’ll all work out. Trust me, kay?” Her body rubbed against his sensually.
“Alright.” There were more important things to focus on right now—ravishing her. “Let’s put that phone away and have some fun. Let’s uncross these legs.”
“One sec.” Legs still annoyingly crossed, she kept scrolling. On and on and on, pausing every several flicks of her thumb. She abruptly stopped. “Ah, there I am! The slut was nice enough to post me on her feed.” She enlarged the hologram with a reverse-pinch and angled it toward Rowan’s eyes.
It was a screenshot of her madly laughing next to one of her Invulnerability Totems in a field of tall grass. Blueish-green liquid explosions were going off left and right. Beautiful. Simply beautiful. He had forgotten about the screenshot system.
He hadn’t taken any. Damn.
She touched his jaw. “What’s with the sad face? I don’t like sad-Row.”
“Didn’t take any screenshots.”
“Aw, that is sad. But ya can relax because Ambiguous and I snapped plenty. Edward was recording most of the time too. We’ll send em to ya.”
“What a relief.” He exhaled. For some reason preserving those memories was a big deal, bigger than he would admit.
She deactivated the hologram and chucked the phone onto the other sofa. Her hands softly clapped together. “Ya did a good job. Ready for your reward?” She smiled gleefully.
His chest thumped, a wave of heat coursing through his arteries. This was it. Finally. All the wait was definitely worth it. He wouldn’t have it any other way—taking her in her past school uniform. “Yeah. Ready,” he breathed.
“Kay.” Sluggishly, she pushed away, uncrossing her knees. She sat cross-legged on the couch, facing him. Her palms pushed down her skirt. “Tell me, did ya ever peep up my skirt during school? Be honest.”
A blush heated his face. “I remember almost nothing of you before the accident… I doubt I had the chance, and I probably wouldn’t have. I was different before the implants.” Her uncle’s brainwashing implants.
“Hehehehehe. Well… here’s your chance. Just pretend we’re in class right now or something. I wore these panties back then.”
His eyes widened as she slowly lift
ed her right knee and pressed it against her chest, his heart pounding. Her skirt slipped up her thigh. Her cute cotton panties came into view, slightly moist. Her legs spread wider, and she played with the fabric, teasing him. She pulled it tight against her pussy and moaned softly. Her hips gyrated.
Gods, she knew exactly what he wanted, needed. Drool brimmed from the corner of his mouth. His erection hardened with a throb. His whole body was throbbing with hot lust, in his stomach, in his teeth.
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