Back to Business

Despite what felt like hours of sex, John found himself waking up incredibly refreshed. There was no soreness from the day's events, nor gnawing hunger from the missed dinner and vigorous afternoon activities. Really, the only downside John could find was that it was likely not long after midnight and everyone else was still asleep.

In the dark room, he couldn’t make out where anyone was by sight, but his other senses were keen enough to piece together their locations. Chiefly, his sense of touch left him with enough intel to guess he had ended their passion filled romp between Brenda and Senka, as their breasts, the largest by far of his lovers, were pressed against his sides like warm pillows.

Things were harder to determine by mundane senses after that. Verida was likely behind Brenda as her tail had coiled around his leg and seemed to have reached over her to do so. Using his ears to figure things out was pointless, as the soft breathing around him all mingled into a pleasant song that left no discernible points of origin. Instead, with a quick reference to his arcane senses, he got the remaining layout.

His heart warmed as he mentally drew out where everyone was sleeping, coiled into each other in calm embraces.

‘Guess I can just lie back and wait for everyone to wake up,’ he thought as he closed his eyes. ‘My powers give me an unfair advantage and paired up with whatever was going on with Verida’s means I recharged much faster.’

Thinking back, it was more than just his physical abilities that had been enhanced. He had been able to keep the slime infused with his water spirit for far longer than he should have been able to.

Well, since you're up and pondering deep thoughts, figure it’s time to throw these at you.

The notification was visible through John’s closed eyes and he sighed softly.

‘Suppose it’s better to get these out of the way,’ John thought. ‘But man, it’s weird to see these through closed eyes.’

New Achievement: Bedding a dragon
You’ve done what many bards dream of doing. Good thing your sword was up to the task.

Reward: +2 Libido, +1 Inch to penis length.

John felt the reward hit him, his cock not only getting just a bit longer but hardening slightly from the increased Libido. He didn’t have much time to think about that as the next display appeared.

New Achievement: Divine Consort
Become the lover of a goddess. Good thing you snagged one that’s not prone to jealousy and likes the fairer sex too.

Reward: What, a goddess for a lover isn’t enough for you? Fine, have something that the non-observant can see to show your status. Hell, have enough for everyone.

Reward (for real this time): Providence Rings

John’s hand twitched to extract one of the rings to inspect it, but he held back, not wanting to disturb his bedmates. Plus, it would be better to go over any physical rewards with the group as a whole.

New Achievement: Verida’s Lover
You’ve deepened your connection to Verida, Goddess of the Bloom of Spring. Your existing boon has been enhanced accordingly.

Reward: Verida’s Endowment has become Verida’s Embrace

Verida’s Embace
Passive
The Blessing of the Goddess Verida, given only to her closest confidants. +30% to all physical stats. When within 100 meters of Verida, this blessing is doubled. This leaves you marked as one of Verida’s followers to beings capable of perceiving the divine.

John would have blinked if his eyes were open. That certainly explained the surge of vitality, but not the magical empowerment.

New Achievement: One with Nature
Your bond with Verida has deepened your command of the elements she has dominion over. Your proficiency with Earth and Water magic in Elemental Resonance are increased by (5) ranks.

‘That would explain how the slime kept going for as long as it did,’ John thought. ‘Would have cut a quarter off the cost for the water spirit. But, did I have these upgrades when we were fucking? Or are they just replications of what Verida’s power was giving us?’

Given prior events, John was thinking that he was just getting rewards that mimicked whatever had happened to them. Which was in line with other rewards he’d gotten in the past. There was still the notion that his magic hadn’t been draining as much, a query that wasn’t answered by the rewards so far.

‘Maybe the rings?’ he mused when no further notifications came up. ‘Well, we’ll know that when I look at them later. Guess I’ll just try to go back to sleep. It is rather comfy here.’

John let the comforting warmth and soft breathing lull him back to sleep, for once his curious mind at ease.

It was still early when everyone woke up, likely closer to four in the morning. But sunrise in Pruzonia seemed to come early, as the darkness John had known before was lessened and the increasing in light seemed to be the key to draw the women out of their deep, post coital rest. They still took their time to get up, spending several minutes on gentle kisses, hugs and sweet nothings.

“If that’s the kind of sleep we get, we need to do this more often.” Beth chuckled as she stretched like a cat once she sat up.

“That may be more about the magic I weaved than anything else,” Verida said as she gracefully took her feet. “I can feel it all about you.”

“Yeah, to put it in my terms, we’ve all got a 60% body boost,” John revealed. “It’ll drop to 30% once we’re more than 100 meters from Verida.”

“You’ve already read the achievements?” Vivian asked, sounding a bit put out. “I like hearing you read them out.”

“Sorry,” John apologized, offering the redhead a kiss in penance, which was accepted with no other caveats. “Woke up a few hours back and Gaia threw them at me.”

“I thought I felt stronger,” Brenda muttered as she took a few tentative steps before bouncing on the balls of her feet, her breasts jiggling up and down in time. “My back hasn’t felt this good in years.”

“Maybe we should start a workout routine,” Estelle mused as she watched Brenda. “Boosting your endurance might make you more receptive to the spirit binding.”

“You sure you don’t just want to watch her tits go up and down?” Senka teased, stepping up behind the witch and cupping her breasts. “Because I wouldn’t mind joining in if that’s the case.”

Brenda smirked back at the pair and made a point to bend down, presenting her ass to them as she reached for her toes.

“I suppose I am a bit out of practice,” she said, wiggling slightly from side to side. “I used to be able to do the splits without a problem.”

“As tempting as a group exercise session may be, I think we should go and get breakfast,” Vivian interjected. “Substantial boost or no, we haven’t had much to eat in the last, oh, sixteen hours or so.”

The mention of food caused a cascade of rumbling stomachs to fill the room with their embarrassing sounds.

“I could go get some apples,” Anita offered. When her stomach grumbled, she sheepishly placed her hand over it and added, “A lot of apples.”

“I think we’ll need a l-little more than that,” Kiera said.

“Think Mason and Cammie are open this early?” John asked Aeolia.

“Not this early,” the winged woman said. “They stay open till about four to catch the night owls and don’t open again til closer to lunch.”

A clap drew everyone’s attention to Brenda, a determined look on her face.

“Sounds like it’s my time to shine,” she proclaimed proudly. “How about I whip all of us up one big breakfast?”

“Mom, you don’t…” John tried to protest before Brenda shut him up with the withering look only a mother could give.

“Sweetie, there isn’t a lot I can do to help you,” Brenda said. “Cooking, however, is something I can do easily. And I’ve been keeping the kitchen stocked up for just this occasion. So just sit tight, I’ll have a hearty breakfast whipped up in a jiff.”

“Oh, can I help?” Anita quickly asked, the gnoshroom bouncing up and down in excitement.

“Of course you can, dear.” Brenda smiled.

“Can I come too, if that’s okay?” Kiera asked bashfully.

“Wouldn’t dream of saying no,” Brenda said. “But I think three cooks is plenty. You know what they say about too many cooks.”

Beth snorted as she failed to keep from laughing. “Sorry, meme thing. Ignore me.”

“Noted,” Vivian remarked dryly. “I suppose we can use the meeting room for the breakfast table. Wouldn’t be the first time we’ve eaten there.”

“Or we could eat outside,” Verida offered. “The sun will be up by the time anything’s cooked and I can easily grow a place for us to place everything.”

“Never had a picnic breakfast before,” Estelle murmured before a contemplative look crossed her face. “Don’t think I’ve had a picnic at all, come to think about it.”

“Really?” Brenda looked aghast at the notion. “Well, that changes today! Let’s get moving, girls. We’ve got cooking to do!”

By the time everyone was dressed, the sun began to peek through the trees to the east, bathing the clearing in a warm yellow glow. Brenda, Kiera and Anita had been the quickest and had rushed back home to make their meal. The rest slowly made their way outside in their own time.

“Certainly feel like I could take on some of those miners from yesterday bare handed,” Senka remarked as she and John stepped out of the hall. “Not that I’m suggesting we do that. A nice calm day feels more in line with what we need.”

“I think today can’t be all relaxation,” Vivian said, shaking her head. “We’ve got to figure out how to sell the mining operation to those dwarves we met. Having an established opening and some of the material found inside is probably a good opening pitch, but I’d be a bit suspicious if someone approached me with the offer for work one day with no real proof then the next day come calling with orb, gems and video of a mine’s first chamber.”

“Yeah, that’ll be a bit hard to sell, won’t it?” Aeolia commented. “Guess we could invite them here and have Verida explain things to them. We’ll have to introduce them to her at some point. Don’t see a reason to not do it up front.”

“Do we want to start advertising my existence to the wider world?” Verida asked as she strode out into the light, stretching as she did. “I know remaining in the shadows isn’t what we’re going for in the long term, but…”

“We have to start somewhere,” Vivian answered, crossing her arms over her chest. “Sometimes, you have to reveal some important detail or plan to secure a deal.”

“Is the Order one of those details we’d have to disclose?” Teri asked. “I’m not sure how’d they feel if we start having people coming and going.”

“It’s not their Kingdom,” Beth remarked.

“Yeah, but they’ve got the manpower to be a pain,” John said. “And it would look pretty shitty for us if we were to break our agreement with them. And if that gets out, then who’s going to want to work with us if we so quickly break a contract?”

“I hate that you’re right,” Beth groaned.

“If we want to make this Kingdom prosperous, we need to keep good relations with the established factions,” John remarked. “The question is, when do we let the Order know? I know we said yesterday that we’d hold off until we were ready to start inviting people to negotiate, but getting the mine handed to us with only a little bullshit pushes up that timetable a bit, doesn’t it?”

“It does, but maybe we can hold off on discussing this until after we’ve eaten,” Vivian answered.

“On that note, I suppose I should craft up our table,” Verida interjected, clapping her hands together. An orange glow briefly flared around her, earthen and water mana surging into the soil in front of her. A second later, the dirt and grass parted as woody vines sprang up in four positions and began to weave together, knitting into a long table. The vines were so tightly interlaced that the surface ended up flat.

“Okay, that’s all good, right?” Verida asked as she ran her hand over the table, checking for any uneven parts.

“Looks fine to me,” Senka said, sashaying up to the goddess and wrapping her arms around her waist. “Just like you.”

Verida’s face turned pink but she leaned into Senka’s embrace.

“You really are distilled from John’s lust,” Vivian muttered, sounding a little envious.

“Good thing I didn’t lose it with her manifestation,” John said as he mimicked his summon and playfully nibbled at Vivian’s neck. The redhead shuddered and let out a moan.

“Yeah, like we need two hornballs,” Beth sarcastically quipped.

“So you don’t want one of us to kiss you senseless?” Teri teased as she sauntered up to Beth, a challenging grin on her face.

Beth, not one to stand down from a challenge, leaned towards the goblin. “Maybe you’re the one who wants that?”

No more words were said as the punk and the goblin locked lips. Before their makeout could intensify, Vivian reluctantly spoke up, even as John kept kissing her neck, “As fun as this is, we need to finish setting up. We need chairs.”

“Man, and I was just about to ask Estelle if she wanted to go down on me on the table,” Aeolia joked. “Give it a real good stress test.”

The witch giggled. “Certainly not the sort of eating out we intended for it, but I would be game.”

“Have we gotten so bold to be actually discussing that sort of thing?” Senka tittered. “My, how we’ve grown.”

Still, the spirit pulled away from Verida, who pouted slightly. “As much fun as trading innuendoes, sweet nothings and cuddling are, Vivian is right. We don’t want Brenda, Kiera and Anita to come back and have nowhere to relax.”

“Wow, being serious and responsible.” Beth grinned at Senka once her lips separated from Teri’s.

“I can be at times,” the spirit proudly said. “I just prefer to be sultry.”

That elicited laughter from everyone. With the lusty air dispelled, Verida sent her magic back into the ground, this time more spread out, and grew enough chairs for everyone to use. Given their rooted nature, they were very close to the edge of the table.

“I do hope Brenda doesn’t go too overboard with the food,” Verida muttered. “I can’t really make the chairs movable.”

“Mom’s a great cook, but I don’t think we’ve got enough supplies at home to make us put on several pounds at once,” John said. “I think we can squeeze in and out no problem.”

“Saying otherwise would be calling us fat,” Beth teased.

“That’s the last thing I want to do,” John shot back. “But I do love the kind of woman who can kick my ass.”

“Oh, catching up on some vintage anime, are you?” Beth asked. “Or are you normieing it and just getting the memes?”

“Not exactly had a lot of time to watch anything, you know,” John answered. “But maybe we can make tonight a watching night.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Beth said excitedly before her eyes darted between Teri and Verida. “Think we’ve got enough in the bank to get a TV, DVD player and a generator? Figure it’d be easier to do it here.”

John grinned. “I think we’ve got enough for that. Hell, probably could splurge for something a little more fancy.”

“What’s this about?” Verida innocently asked.

“We’re going to have Pruzonia's first movie night,” Beth proclaimed.