Of Parentage and Achievement Whoring

“Ookay.” While he tried to sound neutral, John could hear himself how he utterly failed to hide that this didn’t really make sense to him. For one, she had just said that kobolds didn’t have families. Secondly, the plushie looked like a typical D&D kobold, which made it different enough from Qhila to be another species altogether.

“I don’t know how he knew that I was his. Or even if he knew or just decided that I was. But he was adamant about it. And about raising me like a human [father] would, even though it made him a laughing stock… I-” Her voice broke as a sob **** its way through, but after a comforting squeeze from him, she continued, “I couldn’t take any mementos with me when I ran away from the tribe, but the plushie is pretty much a life-sized rendition of him…”

That explained why she used the English word father, instead of the closest draconic equivalent: sire. It also explained why she had had such an intense, emotional reaction to it yesterday. But it did raise some new questions… “Has he told you why he did so?”

She shook her head slightly. “He would just say that I was worth it. His ancestral tribe must have been altered by its High Dragon to form families…”

“Ancestral tribe? So he wasn’t from you and your mom’s?”

“No, all Skytails are female. He was a permanent guest of the tribe, after the patchwork tribe he grew up in was destroyed by dragon hunters. Since he was mostly similar to the kobold baseline, that makes it near impossible to tell which High Dragon designed his ancestral tribe.”

At this point, something occurred to John that made it very hard not to get his hopes up before he even asked the relevant questions. “So, if your [father] was from an ancestral tribe that formed families, wouldn’t he also be able to form pair bonds?”

“I suppose he might…” Her tone made it clear that this was a novel consideration for her. Before he could propose the next hopeful step in his line of thought, however, Qhila sighed heavily. “I think I see where you’re going, and with probably any other kind of demihuman you would be right. But kobold ancestry is different. We’re more or less clones of our mother. The sire’s essence is necessary to trigger egg laying, but it isn’t incorporated in the child. It affects which traits in the mother’s ancestry are expressed and how strongly, excepting the ones that were locked in place by High Dragon influence. He’s probably why I have a talent for alchemy, or why I’m too stubborn to just live with being miserable in the tribe instead of leaving, but…”

“But he couldn’t give you the ability to pair bond, just make you more likely to if your mother had it,” John finished her sentence when she petered out, then added, “and based on what you’ve told me about Orronth, the odds of him putting that ability in the Skytail mix is zero.”

Despite himself, enough hope had snuck in for that to sting. But at least he had managed to keep it low enough that simply squeezing the girl in his arms close helped a bit. Taking a moment to do that also gave him time to think before talking, which kept him from being an unmitigated moron and noting out loud that all of this meant another High Dragon would be able to give her pair bonding capabilities.

Instead of experimenting with how much of his foot could fit in his mouth, he asked a different question, “On another note, is the difference between how you and your [father] look a sexual dimorphism thing or ancestry?”

“Ancestry. Most look similar to [father], with varying colorations, patterns and other cosmetic details. A few tribes look similar to the Skytails, except with less lewd bodies. The others probably look like that for diplomatic reasons, while the Skytails are because Orronth, that bloody pervert, has a human fetish or something…”

Much as John wanted to hate everything about Orronth at this point, he couldn’t really in this instance. As a monster girl enthusiast himself and a very big fan of Qhila’s appearance, that would have been tremendously hypocritical.

After a short pause, Qhila continued, “There are a few nautical tribes that look more like fish people, a Japanese tribe that looks dog-like, and a candle-obsessed High Dragon in California whose tribe look like a cross between a naked mole rat, a scrub brush and a late-stage **** addict.”

That last one made John splutter with amusement, recalling the Warcraft take on kobolds screaming, “You no take candle!” and associated memes. Qhila looked up at him with a small smile that he interpreted as her being happy that he found it funny, so he stopped trying to suppress his laughter. Seemingly finding it infectious, she giggled along, and thus was dispelled much of the heavy air that the pair bonding talk had left hanging over the conversation.

“You know, that sounds like a dead ringer for something from a video game,” John commented when the laughter had subsided into chuckles.

“I actually did know.” She nodded. “The Warcrafts game is actually famous in the Abyss.”

“Wait, really?” He saw no reason to correct her on the number of games, or that the title wasn’t plural.

She nodded again, then nuzzled close enough to slightly muffle her words as she elaborated, “The goblin merchant prince Gallywart made a famously overt display of getting involved with mundane entertainment in order to put green skinned orcs and goblins at the forefront of mundane ideas about those terms. He was trying to stop Grimm permeation from sometimes giving green couples black children.”

John laughed again. “That sounds kinda racist.”

Qhila giggled and shrugged. “Could be. If memory serves, his uncle was one of the first noble born black goblins.”

“One of the f- oh wait, you mentioned yesterday that those started being a thing because of a novel.” Actually, now that he thought about that, couldn’t that timing line up with… “Was the novel called the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings, by chance?”

“No clue. The river goblins in Orronth’s Kingdom refused to call it by name on principle, but if it helps, I think it was the same one that made rural gnomes start to get hairy feet?”

John laughed again. “Yeah, that’s one of those then.”

They laughed together a bit more. Then they just cuddled a bit. Then Qhila sighed, prompting John to ask, “Anything wrong?”

“Not really, I just realized we should probably get to what you came here for.” Her tone at the start made it obvious that she was **** to get up and end the cuddles. Half-jokingly, she added, “I would prefer it if your skin stays where it belongs.”

“Yeah, I’d bleed on all the plushies otherwise.” He chuckled. “Fortunately, we can do a bit of being productive without getting up. I’ve got a pile of notifications that I’m pretty sure is at least partially the [Developer] deciding that our… [benefits] deserved rewards…”

“The [Developer]?”

“Since the goddess involved in my powers might not actually be Gaia, we need another term for her, and a [developer] is someone who designs the rules and systems of a video game and decides what should be rewarded and how…”

“Makes sense.” She nodded. “Can I see the rewards?”

“Uh, sure, but you’ll probably have to turn around. Also, heads up, on Wednesday I got like a dozen Quests to have sex with various women, including one for you…”

“So the [Developer] is a pervert voyeur, bloody marvelous,” Qhila grumbled as she turned in his arms to lie as the little spoon.

Once properly positioned, he added her to the party. Now that he was paying attention to his HUD, he noticed something else. “Huh, I’ve got a buff from somewhere?”

Skytail Mating Pheromone (maximum intensity)
+3 LIB (+6 towards the source).
Effect increases with proximity to source.
Source: Qhila

“... I take it this is a heat thing?”

“What?” Qhila bent backwards to look at him with a mildly confused expression.

“2 seconds.” With a moment of focus, he got the system to present the tooltip in a proper window, rather than the kind of box you’d normally get when hovering the mouse over a buff icon. This in turn made it visible to his party members, which at the moment were Qhila. It also added to the notification pile for some reason.

“Oh, err, yes…” While Qhila had turned to look at the window, John could tell from her tone that her cheeks were getting rosy with embarrassment. “Skytails emit an aphrodisiac pheromone during heat that is remarkably potent for creatures of our feeble aura strength. The suppressant usually reduces it enough not to affect people, but, uh, I guess a triple dose just collapses the suppressant’s effects completely…”

“Triple dose??” That sounded vaguely alarming.

“Well… usually, the day when the heat peaks is pretty much a write off. I can’t really concentrate well enough to do anything in the lab, and I can’t go out because being around a male is too risky. But you needed to try to level me up, and it was kinda urgent…” The kobold alchemist sounded sheepish throughout the explanation.

“Oh. Sorry about that…”

“It’s okay. Things worked out in the end, right?” She sounded slightly hesitant.

“True.” John nodded, deliberately putting conviction behind his words to dispel her hesitancy. “Now let’s take a look at the goodies.” It would probably mostly be not combat related, but with a whole 13 notifications, there was a chance that he got enough EXP to hit Level 11 even if nothing else was relevant to the grinding session.

Achievement Unlocked: Behind Door Number 1
Walk in on someone while they are masturbating.
With your own habits, you really should’ve learned to knock…
Reward: 50 EXP

That commentary made for an embarrassing start, and the reward wasn’t exactly thrilling, so he pressed on quickly.

Achievement Unlocked: Spit Shined
Receive a blowjob.
And an eager one at that. Must be a celestial alignment for you to have that kind of luck.
Rewards: 50 EXP, +1 Climax Control level, +1 cm base dick size

While still not combat relevant, those were some nice rewards. Qhila squirmed a bit against him, but didn’t comment.

Achievement Unlocked: Interspecies Review I
Have sexual contact with a non-human species.
I really hope you at least get this with a person…
Rewards: 100 EXP, +1 Cha, Monster Girl Encyclopedia, Gallery (still images) unlocked

“What does ‘Gallery’ mean here?” Qhila wondered aloud.

“Uh, probably that my powers can now show me a selection of images of us having sex…” He replied sheepishly, which she reacted to by hiding her face with his hand.

Achievement Unlocked: Protein Supplement
Have someone swallow your cum.
Such enthusiasm too…
Rewards: 50 EXP, +1 LIB, +10% base cum volume, 2x nutritional value of your cum

John had never really considered the nutritional value of that, but combined with a boost to his cum volume as well, he realized that if he accumulated enough rewards like this, and enough Climax Control Levels, then one day a girl might be able to replace entire meals with his semen. That thought did undeniably have some appeal. Meanwhile, he was fairly certain he knew exactly when Qhila got to the commentary bit, as he could feel her cheeks grow warmer against his palm.

Achievement Unlocked: Throatgasm
Trigger an oral orgasm in someone.
Technically, you were mostly used as a tool with which to trigger one.
Rewards: 100 EXP, +1 [REDACTED] level (pending)

A [REDACTED] Level was a new one. According to the tooltip, it meant that it would be applied to a relevant skill when he acquired one.

Achievement Unlocked: Home Run
Lose your virginity.
And you screwed up the order of these achievements. Jerk.
Rewards: 100 EXP, +1 LIB, Abyssal Kama Sutra: Gamer Edition

The commentary made him chuckle. ’Sorry, not sorry.’

Objective Completed: More Than Just An Itch
Lose your virginity to Qhila.
Reward: Pheromone Aura Skill, +1 Perk Point, 500 EXP

“That would be the Quest I mentioned. I half expected the notification to show the whole thing though…”

“Whole thing? What’s… what’s the next objective?” She mainly sounded curious, but John wasn’t sure if he heard or just imagined a hint of excitement as well.

“It’s, uh… fertilizing you…” he admitted awkwardly.

“Oh.” She mostly sounded awkward, but John wasn’t sure there wasn’t a bit of disappointment there as well. “Yeah, that’s not…”

“I know. Don’t worry about it.” Eager to put this topic behind them for now, he opened the next notification. Like the items, he could look at the Skill and the Perk Point when the notifications were through.

Achievement Unlocked: Bard Playthrough I
Cum inside a non-human vagina or vagina-equivalent.
Captain Kirk would be proud.
Reward: 100 EXP, +1 LIB, fertility toggle unlocked

John immediately went and set that toggle to ‘off’. “If your birth control comes with any unpleasant side effects, I guess this means you can ditch it.”

“They aren’t bothersome enough to go without when there might be feral rat ogres in the area…” she responded in a flat tone.

“Point taken.” He quickly left that unpleasant topic again by way of the next notification.

Achievement Unlocked: G Spotted
Trigger a vaginal orgasm with your dick.
There are actually a lot of women who can’t climax from penetration alone.
Reward: 50 EXP, +1 AGI, +1 [REDACTED] level (pending)

Level Up

“Wait, really?” Qhila sounded genuinely surprised.

“Really what?”

“The, uh, thing about climaxing,” she elaborated sheepishly.

“I don’t really have any first hand experience to back it up, but I’ve read the same, yeah. At least about humans, anyway.”

“That’s… the only Skytail I have ever heard of that couldn’t was because of a curse. Even normal kobold women usually do on fertilization, even though they can’t at all outside of heat.”

John didn’t really know what to say to that, and after a few moments of silence, he just moved on.

Achievement Unlocked: Artificial Ecstasy
Use a consumable to improve your sexual performance.
Yes, getting rid of the lactic acid counts.
Reward: 50 EXP, 1 Low Alchemy level, 1 Gamer Treat

’What?’ He had no recollection of using consumables while they had sex. But there was that blurry stretch… And between the commentary and getting a Gamer Treat, he had an idea about what might’ve happened. An idea that was immediately proven correct when he checked his inventory and found that the only Gamer Treat in there was the one he just got: During the hazy part of their romp, he had worn himself out and used a Gamer Treat to remove the fatigue. Twice.

It was a shame that he couldn’t remember that part clearly, but at least the Gallery might have some pictures he could take a look at later. They might jog his memory.

Achievement Unlocked: Exhaustive Pounding
Fuck a partner into exhaustion.
This was made a lot easier by her having masturbated for hours beforehand.
Reward: 50 EXP, +1 END, 1 bottle of combined energy and sports drink (for her)

And they were back to Qhila using his hand to hide her face. So, while John was curious about the “masturbated for hours” part, he chose to focus on a hopefully safer aspect to this. “Are you actually good to go fight some Echoes, or do you need more time to rest first?”

Unexpectedly, this still put enough burning in her cheeks for John to feel it. “Yes, I- Skytails are designed to bounce back quickly from… sexual exertion… But I still wouldn’t say no to the drink...”

With a chuckle, he pulled it out of his inventory. It turned out to be a bottle of ‘TASTE-rade’ with a label that was a very obviously spliced together rendition of the two brands’ labels.

Achievement Unlocked: Achievement Whore!
Fuck your way through 10+ achievements in one coupling.
You horny fucker.
Rewards: You already got 10+ achievements worth of rewards and you got to fuck, what more could you want?

’...’

Achievement Unlocked: Horny Hat Trick
Cum in the same vagina three times without pulling out.
Looks like someone is eager to get breeding.
Rewards: 150 EXP, +1 LIB, +10% base cum volume, 2x conception chance when fertility is toggled on

In the fraction of a second it took him to read the achievement, his free hand had made it halfway from Qhila’s midsection to her pubic mound without him noticing. It further took half the remaining distance for John to get it back under control. ’It seems I reached some sort of tipping point of LIB versus INT and WIS just now. Not so far that I can’t control it, but it requires enough effort to be a pain in the ass. I’m definitely putting some points in the mentals before the end of the day…’

Based on a shift in her breathing towards the heavier and throatier, Qhila had noticed as well, but since she didn’t comment on it or otherwise react further, he decided to leave it at that and take care of the last notification.

Achievement Unlocked: Cuddle Therapy
Have Qhila tell you about painful bits of her past and cuddle it better.
Not gonna sass any of you for this one, actually. Well done, both of you.
Reward: Party Synergy Skill, Synergy (Qhila) unlocked, Cuddle Therapy (The Runaway) Quest