Purification and Beyond

The cats turned as one to face John, looking up at him expectantly. John took a guess at what they wanted, and tried sitting down. As soon as he had settled, both cats approached him. Grimalkin climbed into his lap, still purring, as the darkness seemed to grow around him. The darkness didn’t seem harsh or threatening, instead it felt like he was a baby again being held by his mother as he slept.

His hands stroked the black cat in his lap instinctively, and with each stroke, his mind felt clearer than it had since he left Moonstone’s place just a couple hours ago.

As he was focused on the cat in his lap, the other spirit wound its way behind him. John was startled when Alma jumped onto his shoulders, but instead of trying to move, he just sat there as peace seemed to wash over his mind and body.

For hours the three of them sat there, only the breath coming from them, and the movement of John’s hands disturbed the air.

John opened his eyes and yawned, not realizing that he had fallen asleep sometime during his interaction with the spirit cats. He stretched out his arms and looked around at the place that he was now in. It looked like the bedroom of a castle, which would make sense since that was the last place the he knew where he was.

John looked down his body, thankfully noticing that he was still clothed. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and slowly stood up, marveling at how light his body felt. He looked around the room using Observe to see if there was anything of note in the room, but sadly, just as with the rest of the castle, nothing displayed any stats to his eyes.

John sat down in a nearby chair as he figured it would be impolite to leave and go wandering the castle, when someone put him in this bed specifically. With some time to kill John finally decided to take a look at the items that he had stolen and obtained so far today. He opened his inventory and used Observe on the items instead of pulling them out.

Plain Bra
This plain piece of undergarments has no special properties. It is part of a matching set. Still slightly warm.
Durability: 10/10

‘Still warm? Does time not pass for items inside my inventory?’ John wondered to himself as he moved to the next item.

Plain Panties
This plain undergarment has no special properties. It is part of a matching set. Still slightly warm, and has a fragrant scent of female arousal.
Durability: 10/10
Set ability: When both piece of the set are worn together the wearer gets +1 to Charisma, and gains more confidence.

‘So there are articles of clothing, and probably other things, that give set bonuses. I will have to try and find some,’ John pondered as he thought to check his own clothes to see if he had anything like that already, but sadly he didn't

Skill Book: Summon Hound
Description: This book teaches one how to summon the hunting hounds of yore. Mastery of the skill will allow one to to summon a hunting pack, useful for bringing one’s prey to bare.
One time use only

Health Potions
These rare potions can be used to restore the drinker’s health to full. Cures most physical ailments like basic poisoning, bleeding, and not magical blinding.
You have a stack of 6

‘Okay, I will have to look those up somewhere, maybe the Barbarian can help me with that,’ John thought calmly to himself as he looked at the next item which appeared to be a small key.

Vow Keeper
This small golden key unlocks the Brighton family’s most precious treasure.
Unique item
Durability: N/A

‘Wait, this little key doesn’t have a durability? Gaia must really like this family.’ John sighed mentally, hoping that Gaia wouldn’t take it personally that he had stolen the item from Moira. ‘Well let’s see what the item that I got from Frank is.’

Gilded Cage of Submission
The person who allows this item to be placed on them becomes more submissive to the one that put it on them.
Rare item
Durability: 999/999
Ability: Submissiveness towards the owner of this cage increases by 50%. Furthermore, this cage can only be removed by the owner or by magical means. (This means your theft skill, in case you didn’t understand that.)

‘First of all, eewwwww,’ John thought to himself, but then he remembered that since Frank had started dating Vanessa he never changed with the rest of the boys when it came time for physical education. ‘She literally has him by the balls. But enough about those two, I am glad that Gaia is talking to me again.’ John was honestly glad that the spirit was back to being her sassy self, especially since he had been afraid that she had been hurt by his action.

“I am glad to see that you are up, Mr. Newman,” a voice called from behind him, “I was beginning to worry that the strain might have been too much for your young mind. I am glad to see that I was wrong.” Mrs. Wentworth walked into his view and sat down in a chair across from John.

“How long was I out for?” John asked as he watched the older woman as she seemed to lounge in the chair across from him.

“Only for a couple of hours, at least in this realm,” she replied, “But almost no time has passed in the real world. One of the benefits of stacking time dilation barriers on top of each other.” She laughed softly at the confused look upon John’s face. “The initial barrier in your home was set so that time would pass more quickly inside of it. Then I brought us into my personal kingdom, where I always keep the time moving faster by a factor of four. I wanted to take my time with you, but alas, something seems to have come up so we will continue this some other time.”

She stood suddenly before she held out her hand for John to take, which he reluctantly did. She quickly led him through the castle that was her home. It took the pair of them longer to reach the point where they had entered the realm, but John noticed that it still seemed to be night despite the fact that he had been out for several hours, and whoever knew how long he had been with the two cats. Mrs. Wentworth held up her hand with the same blue stone, then a flash and the stone was gone.

They were back inside of the barrier of John’s house, which Mrs. Wentworth quickly disposed of. “I fully expect to see you in class tomorrow, Mr. Newman.” The way she she said his name sent a shiver up John’s spine, and he could only nod and watch as she left his house. Tired from the long day, John headed up to his room and flopped down on his bed.