More than you bargained for

Before you turn in for the night, you shut off the TV and put away the half-finished wine glass that your mom left in her haste.

Once in your bedroom, the only thing left to do is shut down your computer. You consider making a backup of the mysterious apk first, but think better of granting more access to an app that ignores your firewall.

Cozily in your bed, you finally check the notifications on your phone. You’re excited because by your estimate, you probably leveled up your mom twice in one sitting.

Multiple changes detected. Click here to view details in the KDK app.

‘Multiple’ is an understatement. Details of your progress fill the whole screen!

Nova Starshine level up! 2 points received. 5XP

Status updated. Effects available after the subject has rested.

More information has now been unlocked on the information page.

Congratulations! You have reached level 3!

You have unlocked the Achievements page.

More information has now been unlocked on the information page.

Achievement Unlocked! - Subject(Mother) - 6 points received.

View Achievements tab for more details.

Achievement Unlocked! - First level up! - 2 points received.

View Achievements tab for more details.

Achievement Unlocked! - Excessive seconds - 6 points received.

View Achievements tab for more details.

Achievements? Well that’s new. You hope that this will clarify the hidden variables you were working with. This is also the first time the app has bothered to tell you that you gained experience, how much you got and what it was for.

You decide to check the information page about achievements, so that you’ll know what you’re looking at on the actual achievements page. You get the feeling there’s more to these points than just a personal high score.

User level 3 - Achievements page

Congratulations! You have successfully reached level 3 and gained access to the achievements page. Here you can view your accomplishments as well as the rewards you may have received from them. Most achievements will reward you with a small boost in XP and points (don't worry you'll find out what they are used for soon!).

In rare cases, you may receive additional rewards such as one-time use of special active effects or even user modifications (whether this be physical, mental, or effects to your KDK system). These special effects will not be applied instantly and will ask for confirmation before they are enabled. With rare rewards you will likely see a drop in XP and points compared to normal but trust me, they are more than worth the effort.

The app’s promise of explaining itself gives you some assurance that it will make sense eventually. Before you hop over to the new trophy icon, there’s also more info about what exactly it means that you ‘leveled up’ your mom.

Subject Level ups

You have now successfully leveled up one or more of the subjects under your control.

From levels one to four they will receive both passive and active effects.

The passive will affect the Subject at all times while bringing them to be more comfortable around the user and their respective kink. These are unique for every subject (even if they share the same kink). Passive effects in some instances may build upon the previous level to produce larger or more complete effects.

The active effect is more potent than the passive but has limiting factors surrounding it to… well, limit its use. This effect has to be activated by the User on the Subject’s status page by tapping on the effect you desire. Some of these effects may last for an extended period of time and in these cases, there will be a cancellation function to avoid unforeseen circumstances as well as the option to automatically cancel specific effects when the user goes to sleep, which will now be available in the options menu.

These limits for the active effects come in the form of cooldowns and conditions. Cooldowns are the time in which the active effect cannot be used again and conditions limit the situations in which the Subject will complete their actions. For example, you wouldn't want a subject to strip completely in the middle of a mall when ordered.... well that does sound hot, but like I said before it didn't go very well for me during testing.

Public stripping on command would definitely dispel all remaining doubt about this app’s more grandiose claims. You’re not sure you would describe your mom or sister as “under your control”, but if that’s a preview of what’s to come after a level-up, you’re not going to act like you’re totally opposed to it.

Whatever it is, you're pretty sure it will cause your imagination to run wild right now. You decide to check the achievements page first to avoid getting distracted.

The trophy button spares the preamble and just brings up a list of achievements, a really long list– the scroll bar hardly inches down at all. Most of them are grayed out, and about once per the height of your phone screen, there’s a blank box with nothing but question marks. A lot of them require having a subject with a specific job, hobby, or relationship to you, or a mix of two like “level up your therapist”. This being the genre of app it is, there are also achievements for kinky sex acts. You can’t help but raise an eyebrow at some of the oddballs on the list, including “urinate on a sexual partner” and “have sex while one or more participants are asleep.”

Trying to read and seriously process this entire list could keep you up for hours. You want to read it all eventually, but not tonight. You correctly guess that the funnel icon in the corner has options for sorting and filtering the list, along with a keyword search. You uncheck the box next to “locked” leaving only what you’ve already collected.

Achievements

Achievement: Let’s get started

5XP, 4 points - Register your first subject

Achievement: Precog

2XP, 2 points - Register a subject after having already taken advantage of their kink

Special: Kinksense (user upgrade)

Achievement: Upped your game

2XP, 2 points - Complete your first subject level up

Special: Keep it up! (user upgrade)

Achievement: Hot Mom

5XP, 6 points - Level up your own Mother

Achievement: So Close, Yet So Far

5XP, 6 points - Continuously touch a subject for 10x as long as it takes to level them up

Apparently the KDK was already tracking achievements before it let you see the page for them. That must be what those hidden notifications were about! Seems consistent with not even giving you an options menu until after you register someone. You theorize that the first 5 or so levels must be an extended tutorial.

Tapping on “Special” in search of an explanation bounces you to the status page, which was your next destination anyway. A glance at the user info tells you that you have 44/80xp toward the next level and 38 points. You do the math in your head and find 20 xp unaccounted for, which means registering a subject must be worth 10. If the trend in doubling the xp required for each level continues, that would mean at some point you really have to focus on leveling up existing subjects rather than registering new ones, because 16 registrations to reach level 5 seems more complicated than you can handle.

You scroll down to see why this is on the status page.

Achievement: Precog

Special: Kinksense (user upgrade)

Kinksense (user upgrade):

Enhances the User’s intuitive sense of what other people’s kinks are, including non-subjects.

Tap to confirm use (Warning! may cause mild discomfort during the application process).

Achievement: Upped your game

Special: Keep it up! (user upgrade)

Keep it up! (user upgrade):

Permanent 50% decrease in length of the User’s refractory period and 50% increase in Natural Lubrication

Tap to confirm use (Warning! may cause mild discomfort during the application process).

These both sound useful, without any significant downside you can think of. “Keep it up!” makes sense for a magical sex app. “Kinksense” would make it pretty easy to avoid anyone whose kink you’d rather not engage with. Your p​ain tolerance isn’t the best, but you figure a mild discomfort probably won’t be too bad, so you might as well get it over with right away. You tap both confirmations in quick succession.

Confirming user upgrade. Applying upgrade.

Confirming user upgrade. Applying upgrade.

You feel a slight shock travel up the arm you’re holding your phone with. It splits at the shoulder, sending one pulse up to your head and the other down to your groin. If it stays at this level, you’re pretty sure you made the right decision–

Your vision goes black. Your body is so deep in shock, it takes you what feels like several moments just to register that you are in p​ain. Once it hits, the p​ain is all you can think about. Your only distraction from the migraine stabbing through your eyes is redirecting your focus to the equally unbearable thumping ache in your crotch. At some point you realize that you are sobbing into your pillow. You’re not sure when you started. You lose control of your already feeble grasp on your awareness, and some time later, the p​ain subsides.

You are so relieved when it’s finally over. “Mild discomfort” is the fucking understatement of the year. What do you have to say for yourself, KDK!?

It says:

Upgrade applied. Refractory period successfully decreased by 50%. Natural Lubrication increased by 50%.

Due to this being the first user upgrade, p​ain caused may have had an increased intensity. Upgrades in the future will have a lower intensity.

Upgrade applied. Intuition of others’ kinks enhanced.

Due to this being the first user upgrade, p​ain caused may have had an increased intensity. Upgrades in the future will have a lower intensity.

No shit. It seems like your impatience got the better of you. Still, this warning really should have come BEFORE inflicting excruciating p​ain on the user. Whatever new developments await on your mom’s tab better be worth it.