When he confirmed no one would go flying he snapped the reins. The horses nickered as they pulled us forward at a leisurely pace. The spring showed signs of grass trying to reach sunlight through the molten mess of leaves that had decayed over winter. The smell was not bad as a light wind blew into our enclosed prison. I stared at Nicole’s leg and realized by tonight she would have most of the thigh if not a knee done. She was making amazing progress.
“Thanks, Barq. That gives me an idea. Hey Mysti, all the bows and swords from the werewolf fight that we salvaged, where did they go?” I asked not seeing them since we left Bonwe. She pressed herself flat against the roof and looked down from the opening. Her blonde hair with white streaks spilled down into the cabin. “Do you have them?”
“Umm…” She said biting her lip in a guilty way that was still arousing. “They are still in that wagon.”
“Barry got my bow…” Nicole exclaimed in frustration. “Fuck.”
“That’s my line!” Zoey said from up front.
“We will get you a better one. If I know the manipulator as I think I do, weapons will have stats and require magic to repair them and be a whole separate system. Just like potions, and well... everything. Your bow was probably lovely but inferior for where we are going?”
“Where are we going hunka stud?” Zoey asked while shoving her face in the bars and giving a mischievous grin.
“To the top. The one millionth floor ride or die!” I said being silly with her.
“So what was the plan with the rope and carrying me…?” Nicole started to ask and I stuck an index finger over her lips.
I ejected the tree growing and the rock tool orbs. I walked to the front of the prison wagon hunched over until I got near open bar window slot. Zoey saw me handing off orbs and she grabbed them.
“Barq what are these?” I asked and Zoey passed the orbs to the gnome.
“Trash, unless you are a miner. Good money in mining. Most of my family operates a mine a few days southwest of here. It has only a few silver veins as it is mostly copper. This spell comes from a different planet where it is super common. Hence the grey color. The issue is no one ships them out here. Yariw is and will probably always be an unimportant planet around a star with other tedious planets. When these mining orbs do arrive, those who sell them want more than a mining family can afford. If a portal trip to Dasra were more affordable we would go and buy a bunch cheap. Portal openings are a hundred ducra unless you get in with a travel group. For instance say you paid to go to Dasra you could post the extra allotted transfer space up for sale. Something the family has always dreamed of is someone buying the trip to Dasra but that will never happen. Traveling is nothing major to a well-oiled adventuring team. A lot to miners with kids to feed. I will buy this off you and return you…”
“Sold. Next orb.”
“This is a snare. And a better one than she has. You said tree growing. These are veins growing around an animal leg.” Barq said and I went back in my memory. That was why Virtue brought me two of the same spell. They were different orbs. Oh, and I gave up clean water. Shit. A snap broke me of my thoughts. “You okay back there?”
“How common is it to find clean water orbs?”
“You sure go all over the place with your conversations Gryff,” Barq said with a snicker and then a full-throated laugh. “I like you Gryff. You keep things fun. Do you like to fish? That should answer your water question. Hand him back this snare orb Zoey. Thanks again for the tool orb. My family will host a dinner for you for this one if you ever visit.”
“Phew. Okay, you have a water orb don’t you?” I asked while Zoey handed me the green snare. She looked at me pleadingly and I gave in. “Give me the white version.”
The two orbs swapped positions and I saw a level five on her old orb. She had no qualms about ditching the levels from the boars. I shrugged and walked across the hay to Nicole who propped herself up against the wall. When I knelt in front of her to deliver her new orb my cheek got a kiss. Nicole wiped a tear from under her eye and then accepted the snare orb.
“Okay, I am following your rationale,” Nicole said with a genuine smile. I could tell because her blue eyes shined happily. “How do you want to carry me?”
“Wait Gryff,” Mysti said from up top. “What is your rationale? The rest of us have no idea.”
“He is going to carry me to farm the boars and he wants me to be able to get in on the experience. Hence him giving up two of his orbs he brought with him. So we double snare. Is there a way to see how close your core level is to rank up?” Nicole asked while making a belt harness with the rope; the coils wrapped around her waist and thighs. She was now working a cross into her ample chest. “Like what you are seeing champion?”
“Yes, and no more champion or demigod talk. Goes for all of you. Barq, leveling up your core, is there a meter like on the orbs?”
The wagon went over a bridge and the loud thunk of the wheels hitting every plank forced the gnome to wait. I spied out the slots and did not see anything besides more aspen trees and small wildlife. Nicole finished her rope harness and I picked her up by it. She winced a bit and nodded while she swayed off the wagon deck. I lowered her into the hay and tried to figure out how best to strap her to me.
“Wish a meter, gauge, or whatever you want to call it around your number,” Barq said from upfront and I felt dumb. I was almost a level five. “Figure it out?”
“Got it Barq. Thank you,” I said and shifted my attention to Nicole. She wanted to stand and was struggling. I gave her a hand up and stabilized her. She hopped to the front of the wagon and closed the view slit. “You sure are feeling better.”
“I think once I had a femur my body stopped freaking out. I feel fantastic. Very happy to be alive. I can’t reach that one up there. Close it please,” Nicole said and I closed the top hatch that Mysti liked to peak down through. “Okay sit down and let us figure out this rope.”
“Sure I was thinking either back or front. You can wrap your arms and legs in both ways. Your hip will still keep pressure. If you are on my back you can probably cast better.” I muttered thinking it over. Nicole handed me the rope she untangled from herself and I started to tie it around my body. She gave a smack of her lips to get me to look up and tisked me a no-no with her finger. Nicole was not wearing pants, we bought her a new pair, but for now, we had her in boy shorts. Boy shorts that were suddenly removed. “Umm… oh!”
“Oh, indeed Gryff,” Nicole said as she hobbled over to where I had sat.
I figured out why the views into the cabin were shut now. She was standing on one leg holding a bar in the window above me while she waited. I sat there like an idiot until she motioned for me to strip my bottoms off. I had problems getting naked because my boner was so stiff. This was a first, an erotic for an oversexed man. A hottie with half a leg. I could see her swollen lips glistening with desire and transfixed my vision on her lovely vagina.
“Hey, why did you close the windows in there?” Zoey asked while trying to slide the front viewport open.
“Keep it closed Zoey. My turn,” Nicole said in a scary authoritarian tone.
That was enough to get the point across and add to my arousal. The viewport closed fully again and Zoey fed some stupid line of bullshit to Barq. He was going to find out why here in a second unless she could be quiet.
Nope. I helped her into my lap where she straddled my large cock until it lined up with her moist slit. She kissed me and bit my lip and she plunged me into her. We started to rock the wagon and Barq asked what was going on. Yeah. So... Nicole is a screamer. She drowned out anything that gnome said as she squealed and moaned in delight. She shook her hips in tandem with my thrusts and then cried out in orgasm. I felt her moisture soaking my balls as it slid down my body. I tossed her on her back and she giggled in excitement. I fucked us all the way down the wagon until her head hit the wood.
“Harder!” Nicole kissed on my neck and I slammed my c
ock into her and her head banged the wagon. “Fuck me harder!”
A few minutes later I was a sweaty mess panting beside Nicole. My only regret was not stripping her top off to let her large breasts spill free. She shot me a gaze with her blue eyes and gave me a wink. “Naptime,” she said and passed out after conducting a healing. I was insanely jealous. I did grin as I constructed a new nest in the middle of the wagon. I carried her into the piled straw and put her boy shorts on. When she was sleeping peacefully in comfort, I dressed myself. I opened the roof hatch and used my strength to hoist myself through the small opening.
“Sounded fun,” Mysti said from her perch with a sigh of longing. Nothing better than adding a man with three elvath when all four have been sex deprived. “Like really fun.”
“Yeah the sex was great and she didn’t even apply her elvath charms.” I said with a grin as I stood tall on the roof of the wagon. A branch passed not far over my tall head. “I will sit beside you for now.”
Barq cleared his throat. Then coughed.
“Yes Barq.”
“Zoey said to ask you this when I asked her. Do elvath have candy scented vibrating vaginas like the stories say?”
“Yup and these three are mine. If you find another I can always put in a good word.”
“That is most kind of you Gryff. Most kind indeed. There are a lot of unattached female elvath. They have requirements. Mostly want ascended powerful males only,” Barq said while nodding his head. “Might give up trading for a while and stair my way up to the top. Never saw or... heard much reason before today.”
“If you devote your life to ascending to get a special type of sex I will even put in a good word,” Mysti said and Zoey nodded.
“Elvath had relationships with dwarves and humans on my home planet. And those enslaved to wretched slavers had few choices. I say that to suggest that elvath are not speciest and you may very well have a chance. Anyway, I want to know about this ascended thing. You have mentioned it a few times and consider me interested.”
“Starts at level a thousand. So leveling becomes more and more difficult and tedious. Some think that is wise and just. Others think the drawn out process is cruel and ridiculous. Again it depends on the method to the madness.” The gnome said while pulling out a flask and gulping a swig. He gave an audible ah that beings do after drinking something tasty. “I will use me as an example. I am old. Few hundred years old. As is my whole family. We visit healers with our profits and stay young…”
“Everyone can be immortal here?”
“Yeah, not even expensive…” Barq replied and I interrupted again.
“But overpopulation would be an issue right?”
“Gryff, you are in the warring verse. You fuck, you fight, and you die in your quest to get to the top. You get to the top and hello, people want to be there so they try to take what is yours. All species are good and evil. You literally bought the hand cart from an orc a few days ago. He is the good side of the equation where he can live forever if he keeps his head down and earns a decent living without gaining enemies. Then you have the three dwarven bandits. They had good lives, got bored, and decided to steal to move off the planet via a portal. Your elf babes turned them into worm food. But yes you would assume an excessive amount of food coupled with cheap easy immortality would lead to insane populations. Well, there are seven planets orbiting this sun alone and trillions of suns in this universe. If these all fill up there are millions if not billions of other universes to struggle in. I think the creator is not worried about too many beings living here.
“Ascended is a status thing nothing more. A spear thrown through the air at speeds that you can produce will still go through a skull and kill a god. Probably the quickest way to get floors is to kill other high floored citizens on warring planets. Rumor has it that at floor ten thousand you get to unlock a sixth orb. Being an ascended level fourteen thousand means six orbs and a huge mana pool to draw from. Still, I hope you are getting why I never leveled as you called it. The higher you go, the more dangerous things become, and the more assholes want to kill you. That sixth orb is nice. And you can buy a holy shield to protect you from spells and arrows. It consumes mana all the time and won’t halt a javelin going loud enough to make a boom. It’s a mixed bag and I only am regurgitating information so don't take my word as hard fact on upper level stuff.”
“I was told to attain level one hundred. So I will reach level one hundred. I appreciate the information. I have no desire to reveal to people if I hit over level one thousand,” I said while watching the woods we sped by.
“You can pay to have a blocker spell to restrict others from seeing your floor. If you do, it wears off eventually, just pay to have it reapplied. There is no central authority that becomes notified if you do achieve level one thousand. Sure, there are some upper society perks. Like events, balls, and competitions. Staying in the shadows is more than okay. I have a level twelve hundred uncle who served in the Justicars for a few months then quit. He hides in a mine all day working. Great gnome and he taught me many things I can always be grateful for,” Barq said proudly.
“Sounds like a good drinking buddy,” Zoey said while patting the gnomes back.
“Indeed. The best.”
A yawn escaped my lips. “How long until we get to this spot and when do you think the sun will set?”
“Half an hour and an hour. Rough estimate.”
“Okay find a quiet spot close to the farming and set up the cabin. Nicole will have a knee by tomorrow morning. May even be able to make her a hollow stone leg with that tool orb I gave you,” I said thinking out loud. Hey, that wasn’t a bad idea and would help her if it could work.
“Worth a try,” Mysti said from beside me with a bright smile that the setting sun highlighted.
The next half hour passed by quickly. Nicole was awake and all smiles when we stopped. I think her need to sleep all the time was fully gone. The cabin was set up off the road in a quiet glen. I carried Nicole in like I had every night before but she was awake this time. She thought it was the sweetest thing. When I made her heal, she passed out. I helped unload our gear for the night and laid down in the middle common area on the ground. The couch was far too short but the pillows made for a great bed. Zoey had her turn to snuggle with me, Mysti went to bed with Nicole. I drifted off the sound of a crackling fireplace.
CHAPTER 5
Barq clapped to wake me from the middle room floor. He muttered that a rabbit stew was ready and the sun was about to rise. A quick stretch and I put my armor chest plate on while sliding my kilt over my shorts. My sword was belted to my hip and my javelins rested on my back. The bedroom door opened and Mysti helped a hopping Nicole out to the cramped living room.
“Is there a fast way to level orbs like this cabin?” I asked as we nested in a semi-circle around the fireplace to eat. There was a large pot of steaming morning stew and Barq handed out bowls with spoons. “Thanks.”
“Did I mention a familiar yet?”
“I think so, back outside of Bonwe,” I said between shovels of yummy rabbit soup. “Great soup Barq.”
“I got up early, figured why not. So a familiar lives not around your core like an orb but inside it. And you can only have one. As expected, a familiar is not cheap, easy to come by, or quick to level. This cabin is my familiar. I paid three zadium for this girl, yes thirty thousand silver. I like to think of her as a girl. Anyway, this was my goal while I ran trade runs for over a hundred years and stashed the profits at the supreme bank of the creator.” The gnome gave a cheerful smile that transitioned into a grin as he faded into the thought of those times. He picked a loose carrot stem off his robes as he continued. “Familiars follow the same tiers as the orbs in their rarity. This cabin costs so much because it is a purple tier. Unlike orbs, if I remove this familiar from my core it dies. Poof, as in gone to never be seen again.”
“Wow. Did you know you wanted a cabin for a long time and what else
can be a familiar?” Nicole asked while slurping her soup. She handed me the bowl and I filled her a second serving from the main pot. “Thanks, Gryff.”
“Oh, I definitely knew this was on my list. I lugged a small tent until I could buy a hand cart. I traded up to a wagon and then saved until I could buy this cabin. I am no familiar expert but I do know there are all sorts. The big thing about a familiar is they are not combat-related. So you get a companion or a useful tool.” Barq set his bowl down and twirled his hand out in a circle to point at the whole building. “This can max out into a manor of grandeur with time. When I travel alone, I create a single room cabin. Easy enough to downsize the spawn. Increasing the size of the cabin requires me to spawn the familiar often. Eventually flooring or as say leveling will happen and I get a larger kitchen or reading nook. Not sure if you can level it quicker because the vendor shrugged when I asked and the only way I have improved the cabin is from summoning it.”
“Wagons? Boats?” I asked while finishing my bowl off and opening the front door to rinse it out. “Utility stuff. That is awesome. Can a familiar be a flying beast?”
“Yup, but careful with that line of thought Gryff. Be very, very careful. Cousin Loui decided to buy a dragon. Worked fifty years of hard mining. He was flying over some trees and saw something shiny. Thank the creator he was low when the turn of events transpired. Loui got too close to a fairy nest and one stung the dragon,” Barq jabbed a finger forward to mimic a stab and then splayed his hands open. “Poof the dragon vanished into its home inside Loui. He broke an arm and his collarbone. The lesson was learned and he never flew the dragon again. I think he eventually killed it for a singing harpy to help him get to sleep.”
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