Corporate Dominion – Chapter 42 – Up and Coming 9 – A Week Ticking By

Eldred spent the remaining five days in a cycle of waking up, considering what to do, and then taking one or several of his women out on a date.

With Nyx, he went to see a play. The ghost lady struck him as the sort of woman to enjoy the opera. His intuition served him well there, and the play he picked out just so happened to map onto their little love story quite well, being about a pauper that explored a haunted castle. He ultimately became the lord of the castle after seducing the local ghost bride, ruling justly over a prosperous kingdom.

With Avari, he visited an expensive restaurant and then had a nice walk in a public park. It was being repaired after two high-level Cultivators had a fight there recently, stripping a lot of the lawn off and slicing through all of the local trees. Several Cultivators of the Earth and Water persuasion had come together to fix the park up, working with locals who did this sort of thing for their regular jobs. It was a good way to get Elemental Mastery.

With Avari and Nyx, he went to a movie showing, then to a fast food place. It was a simple, somewhat trashy date, but it was a nice break from attempting anything big.

On the penultimate day of the break they had a date night at home, to not tax Ellie’s nerves too much. They watched e-sports on the big screen in the meeting room and just hung out.

Throughout all those days, they only caught glimpses of Neora. The Black-Eye Doll usually left the building early and came back late. The one time Eldred caught her coming back, he asked her what she was doing all day, to which she had said: “I put mine blade out for hire, for mine coffers are filled only with Echo.”

It amused Eldred to no small amount that, apparently, she had been so focused on Cultivating that she forgot to pay rent. If he hadn’t possessed a ruin to squat in, he would have suffered the same fate.

That encounter aside, interactions with Neora truly were at a minimum. Eldred didn’t waste either of their time by flirting. He was too weak for her, that was just the truth of the matter right now. At a minimum, he would have to rise above the common Cultivator. At 5-Cores, he would try again.

On the final day of the break, Nyx breached a certain topic.

“Anal?”

Eldred snorted in amusement. He understood exactly what she was asking. All the same, having that singular word whispered to him in her forlorn voice was funny.

“I am picking up what she’s putting down.” Avari leaned forwards in her boosted seat along the breakfast table. “You keep thinking about it, but you never actually do it.”

“It’s a heat of the moment curiosity,” Eldred shared his thoughts readily. “I start wanting to try it, then I don’t because I don’t think surprise anal is good and then I get post-nut clarity and forget about it.” He threw a whole, hardboiled egg into his mouth and started chewing.

“Are you interested?” Nyx asked.

Eldred was forced to think about that question for a bit, since the mouthful of protein kept him from immediately responding with ‘Yes’. After swallowing, he had a little more elaborate answer. “As an honest pervert, I want to at least try it once.”

“I hope you find a nice, well-equipped lad then to stretch out your–“ Avari started, only to get the back of her head smacked by Nyx.

“What makes it interesting to you?” Nyx investigated his thoughts further.

Eldred just shrugged. “I like being inside you, so finding other ways of being inside you is tempting. Plus, the little taboo around it makes it feel like I am dominating you more.”

“Taboo,” Avari snorted. “We’re not on some medieval world where a sphincter tear spells death. I can order a crate of colon cleansing potions, if you want to. Just need to drink those five seconds before the event and hygienic concerns are a bygone.”

“Was not aware those existed.”

“Obviously they do. You’re far from the first freak that wants to conquer all three holes on a woman.” Avari’s breasts laid heavily on the tabletop, shifting beneath her white top as she placed her chin on her wrist. “So, you want to try it or not?”

“I already answered that.”

“You said you were interested in trying it, but if you actually want to try it, I’ll have to do the prep work. Bit of anal training with butt plugs, getting the proper lube, buying said potions…”

“Get that underway then,” Eldred responded with casual authority. Whether anal would be something he wanted regularly was something he would only be able to say once he had experienced it. Some accounts had described anal as ‘heavenly’ and others called it nothing special at all. For his part, Eldred was pretty sure his enthusiasm would depend on how much his women were into it. He could jerk off without help, it was the reactions, the moans, the writhes, the curled toes that made sex that much better than staining a paper towel.

Eldred fished another egg out of the bowl, lovingly peeled by Nyx, and took a bite out of it. He had to eat for both of them, proverbially and somewhat literally. He didn’t have to outright consume as much sustenance as two people needed, but it was certainly an elevated amount.

Breakfast ran its course, Ellie eventually joining them. On that morning, Neora did as well. “A fortuitous morning,” she wished all of them, strutting around in a simple pink nightgown. The overlapping front, tied waist sash and wide sleeves were all in a specific style that was both familiar and exotic to Eldred.

“Uhm… c-can I ask something?” Ellie shyly raised her voice. “W-why does Neora look so… different?” The goblin tugged at the corners of her eyes to indicate what she was talking about. “B-both in the face and… clothes.”

Eldred wasn’t even offended that the dark-haired shortie was asking Avari, not him. All he could have responded was that there once was a world in contact with Iridescia that had exported those aesthetics to the City of the Interstice.

Avari had more details. “The eyes are a sign that someone has a lineage that can be traced back to the Porcelain Realm. Obviously, anyone can wear any clothes, but traditionally they are from there as well.” The gremlin paused for a moment. “I doubt you’re part of a Jade Block?”

“Nay,” Neora denied in her graceful voice. “I simply prefer these garments. I find them to accentuate mine looks.”

“Not wrong,” Eldred stated. He wasn’t going to flirt with her but if she was going to walk around with a sash tied this tight around her waist, then she was going to get comments on her hotness. “I’ll just confess to my ignorance: what’s the significance of this Porcelain Realm?”

Avari let out a long and weary sigh at her CEO’s lack of knowledge. “You seriously don’t even know that?”

“I heard the term before, but it’s not something that’s ever been relevant to my life.” Eldred finished another egg, then folded his hands behind his head.

“Do you at least know what a Jade Block is then?”

“It’s those insular communities of people that insist on dressing in ways Neora is, but even more traditional,” Eldred responded. “Walked by one every now and again during my youth. I know they have their own set of customs separate from wider Iridescia.”

“And those customs originate from the Porcelain Realm,” Avari explained. “Which is pretty impressively stubborn. That world came into contact with Iridescia in the… early to middle Aggrarian Age? I don’t remember the exact year but around there. It’s a huge world with a big population, so a bunch of them migrated to Iridescia, enough so to make up a notable amount of the genetic footprint 7000 years later.” The gremlin gestured at Neora. “Most of that migration was probably humans, but porcelain dolls like her also came in during that time.”

“Alas, mine lineage is lost to me,” Neora stated. “I know not whether mine ancestors came to Iridescia at that time or during the second contact of the Porcelain Realm during the Divine Migration period.”

“I know my ancestors came to Iridescia during the Age of Blood,” Avari shared. “At least that’s what my mother told me. Apparently they were part of a whole wave of gremlins that had been saved from some demonic demigod that kept them as breeding slaves.” She rolled her eyes. “Makes my mom’s choice of lifestyle either ironic or predictable, depending on how much you think slut genes are passed down.”

“Do you know where your ancestors come from?” Nyx asked Eldred.

The driven man shook his head, shrugging simultaneously. “If ever there was anyone impressive in my family, that’s been lost between generations.”

“Before you, you mean,” Avari remarked.

“I-is that a… c-compliment?” Ellie mumbled.

“You supply those with exceeding rarity,” Neora chimed in as well.

“I can at least acknowledge that Eldred is one of those humans who doesn’t let the fragility of his species stop him,” the gremlin responded with a bratty squeak. “Anyway, you strike me as some mongrel creation of all the different races of human running around in Iridescia. Just your run-of-the-mill base human… though probably mostly of Cluster descent.”

“C-cluster?” Ellie asked.

This one, Eldred did have an answer for. It was one of the historical facts about Iridescia that was foundational enough that even a mediocre student had retained it. “There was a planet called Aznoth that turned out to be the egg of a… what are they called again? The deities of living chaos?”

“Primordial Minds?” Nyx suggested.

“…Correct,” Eldred made note that his banshee remembered that term, then moved on with the conversation. “It was the egg of a Primordial Mind that hatched, leaving the planetary crust behind as a cluster of worlds. They were liveable enough, but also incredibly unstable. Portals opened up all the time.” As a visual aid, Eldred put the pieces of peeled eggshell around a bit of bread he still had left on his plate. “Every time they made contact with Iridescia, they made the jump to greener pastures. Basically the entire surviving population of that planet, all of them human, made a leap to Iridescia over the course of… 300-ish years?”

“It’s the biggest singular influx of people Iridescia ever had, so most humans end up looking like Eldred.”

“S-s-s-s-some planets are… eggs?!” Ellie was hung up on that little detail. “O-of… Primordial Minds?! W-what’s a Primordial Mind, even?”

“Dunno.” The joke fell flat, the goblin’s panicked nature stirred by the concepts shared. “We don’t really know, is what I was trying to say.”

“Not helping our resident genius’ existential dread,” Avari drawled.

“If mine wisdom may be of limited aid here?” Neora joined them at the table with a carton of milk, a bag of oats and a bowl, all of them bought with her own money. “One ought not to try to understand a Primordial Mind too deeply, for that way lies madness. Consider them deities over the flow of magic. Where the gods have deep interest in the affairs of mortals, Primordial Minds dwell in the Universal Sea. What they do there is beyond our comprehension. T’is most rare that they take an interest in us, however.”

“It’s basically just one of the many categories of big, scary things that are out there,” Avari stated, “but they’re so out there that it makes no sense to worry about them. Way healthier to worry about big cats or horny guys with half their willpower in libido.”

“It’ll only get worse as I keep Cultivating,” Eldred stated.

“Is that true?” Nyx wondered.

“That he’ll get even hornier as he gets more Cores? I don’t think so,” Avari responded.

“May I speak mine mind once more?” Attention shifted to Neora, who was currently struggling with the lid cap of her milk carton. Her fingers just kept slipping on it, a fact that she ignored as she spoke as she always did. The dissonance between the Hurricane’s clumsy failure to grasp a bit of plastic and eloquent tone was almost dizzying. “Cultivation is an exercise of the soul. Thus, the effects achieved are in part dependent on the ideals of the Cultivator. Take mine golden joints,” she paused for a moment to tap the wrist of her doll-like hand. “They are a manifestation of mine vanity, I admit.” When she grasped the milk again, she twisted almost too hard. It suddenly popped open. Barely, she managed to prevent any white liquid from staining her expensive nightgown.

“So, it is fully possible that I’ll be able to increase my libido and virility?” Eldred asked.

“Mine estimation is that it is inevitable.” Neora poured milk on her oats. “One who craves a harem craves the capacity to enjoy it. Thus, accumulating changes to your body will aid you in your goals. Slow it may be, but the process is part of what defines our might.”

“Well… at least we are already resolved to keep adding women to the harem to keep him satisfied,” Avari drawled.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing.