Responsabilities and relaxation

He stood up from his chair, it was never a pleasant sensation "wooooo, now that's something! what hour is it- just12? man...... that felt long... what a cool game" he said to himself, feeling a little dizzy from everything that happened, not having pain on his shoulder or feeling his own damaged body was... weird, he was relatively healthy in his normal body unlike the virtual one "they really outdid themselves with the realism.... hmg, my head" he didn't really have the strenght nor the desire to do anything but sleep, he fell down on the bed, and slept like if the last few hours of slaughter was nothing, it was just a game after all.

William had a few things to do before he could go and play again, Not really a fan of this whole 'vacation' thing he set some small goals for himself, go out, do some exercise, refill his headache meds before he forgets about it again, things like that, small, not really urgent but important.

While waiting for his clothes to dry, he checked the email from the company that made the game, maybe there was a little secret on it, but nothing really that stood out, he just had a lot of time honestly... hell, maybe check how to correctly skin an animal and not the crude work he did yesterday? honestly that might not be to bad an idea, watching some tutorials for some weird skills could be good, like CQC with a knife, or how to make cyphers, first aid, and while he did his morning routine he had these on, after all it would take him a while to do everything, and the more he knew the better he would be at this game...... "this game's addictive... shit" with a sigh, he realized the hold that this thing has on him, but he really likes the game so nothing that can be done about it.

William had a second shower after lunch, he ate the left-overs from yesterday's food, dressed himself in his most comfortable clothes once he dried his hair, and sat on the IVR device, since he expected the pain he was a little more tense than last time, but it wasn't hard, he would take it more light this game sesion, it was exhilarating yes, but he had things to learn and study.

Sharp pain, black vision, once again he went into this more fantasy world, now with the rest of the weekend to have fun in here.

Arsene awoke on a bed? early in the morning in a somewhat dusty house, this isn't where he left off, did the game advance even while he wasn't playing? freaky, though it feels as if he hasn't really moved since, was his character **** the whole time, he's bandaged and... honestly he feels great, like nothing really happened, his deeper wounds were more like scars, except for the effects of overcharge, small pathways of his power burned themselves along his body, looking deeper at them he realizes that some are more marked, more concentrated, maybe it's related to the mana source? or the position of his soul? something ethereal like that. "that's neat.... what even was that spell? if i had to describe it.... it felt like shotgunning 3 energy drinks and going for a run barefoot!" He went to grab his Journal to write it down, then he realized a few things.

1. He was mostly naked, only wearing his underwear and the robe
2. He was completely unarmed
3. He had 2 cocks, which was nothing new but still felt weird

Arsene saw his clothes on top of a chair, he stood up and.... felt nothing, he was ready to wince at pain or something but he felt fresh, like a morning at the beachside, while he was dressing himself he decided to check on everything, his stats and spells and all that.

"Aw man, it did it automatically? should have payed more attention to the notifications.... ah, here it is"

Level Up! You have reached Level 5. As a Serpentine blessed by a divine power, you have 5 attribute points to allocate and have gained +1 to Rationality & perception, & +2 to Guile. If not allocated by the time you fall asleep it will be done automatically.

"Should have been more careful, two level up's still nice, and the points are well allocated.... it's for the better i was just gonna place them all into some random stat.... damn" with a heavy sigh, he looked at his traits, he reached 25 in Guile after all, and he could see finally read whatever spell that powered him up the other day.

Beguiling Influence I: Increases Guile by 5% Strenghtens the effect it has on Total stamina, Mana, and Mana regeneration, speeds up the rate in which you learn skills in social settings.

"that's nice.... not a great jump, but a good jump nonetheless, uuuuuum there it is." he looks into the spell, more interested in that than the new trait honestly "Overcharge.... it's just a suicide spell, it neuters my healing, caps my health at 1, while increasing everything else.... if enough time passes i get marks in my body, burn marks to be especific.... yeah, okay, i get that" he was astounded, more over by the fact that it seemed to activate on it's own by just him.... getting to into it, he might need more composure to stop that from happening on it's own again.

He heard some steps, from the other side of the door, going for his weapon he realized, he didn't have it in him, he raised his hand in preparation to cast something "Easy there mage" said a voice, he recognized this voice, a bit rough, yet pleasant to the ears, it belonged to the Lup'ini woman from the other day, he kept the spell on hand "This is certainly a way to say thanks for saving my life, I guess in whoever taught you those fancy spells didn't really taught you manners" She scoffed, entering the room and sitting in a chair, annoyed, intrigued, and very much tired.

"Saved my life? what do you mean?" Asked Arsene, wasn't she trying to kill him? he lowered the arm, and started searching for his stuff.

"you almost died, and unluckily for me you took something from the big oaf, meaning, i had to save you, against my will! just so you know" said the woman, quite rudely in fact.

"What? that doesn't make any sense, explain it better" he was incredulous, that sounds like vague lies, but as soon as he ordered her to 'explain it better' a glow came from one of his pockets, he took it out, seeing... a contract?

"ugh, for a mage you really are dim, you got my contract, i can't kill you, nor harm you, if you have that, in fact, if you have it, i am under your orders.... Moron" she further relaxed on the chair, looking at Arsene, and before he could make another dumb question relating to the contract she said "It's a binding contract, similar dumb magic that's used on those weird **** collars, just on paper"

Binding contract, the knowledge of what it does and how it works comes to him fast, writting itself in the book and into his mind, A Binding Contract is used as a way for a mercenary to pay her debts, usually these are not transferable, but some of them, the permanent kind, get transfered from user to user, it only matters that you have the contract, a form of slavery that maintains the normal personality of the contracted.

"OOOOOOOH, oh yeah.... why would you sign one of these? are you dumb?" said the Serpentine, sitting down while reading the terms, it seems he got very lucky, and he was pretty happy "so you are basically my servant? that's good to hear, i needed one"

Myrna wanted to throw something at him but the effort went nowhere, and with a heavy sigh she just laid in the chair "Im NOT your servant, you imbecile.... but yes you could say that" she was feeling defeated, after all her freedom was taken away by a dumb snake-like self destructive mage! unbelievable, completely unbelievable.

"that's pretty neat, okay, answer these questions... Myrna right? right, tell me, first, How long was i out? second, did you get rid of the bodies outside? third, how much food do we have? fourth, what can you do?" he laid back down on the bed for a while, even though he wanted to do stuff, if everything about that was done, he could read and discern everything from his book, and check the loot of the camp.

"7 days, not long by the amount of wounds you had, thought you'd be out longer, yes, I took their stuff and buried them away from town, 3 weeks worth of food with what we have in camp, most is perishable, and i can be a profesional checklist it seems" She rolls her eyes, she sounded a bit more robotic when answering the first three, but the last one was filled with what seemed like her usual annoyed tone, she continued "That was pretty dumb, you have a basic lightning spell AND a blow myself up lightning spell, very interesting tactics" her tone was clearly one of mockery, but she wans't wrong.

7 whole in game days, a full week? that's a long time, that's the conversion rate? 14 hours is more or like 7 days in game? oh god he had a lot of time to play then, "thanks for taking care of that stuff, okay, my personal assistant, go and get us some food, the valuable items and all that, don't take too long, please and thank you" Says Arsene, reading the Occult magic book, not even answering her mockery, he was accustomed to that in real life, so letting it slide was nothing new, just another insult.

The lack of reaction clearly bothered the Lup'ini, but she obeyed the orders, though the 'please and thank you' seemed to bother her even more for some reason that Arsene couldn't really place.

Deciphering occult book 23% done

"Okay, let's transcribe a bit, fire is the essence of life, without fire there exists no drive to do anything, no love... it compounds fire and passion into the same word, it makes sense, fire is the only 'living' element, so to better cast it you must be in touch with this passion, or the fire of your soul as this books seems to describe it as" Said Arsene talking to himself, murmurs honestly, all the while writing it in his notebook, leaving some small notes would be far easier than just carrying the Tome everywhere, he could understand the title of the book now.

Passion.

Short name, but it was useful, he was only on the first few pages, and since he was trying to make sense of it instead of just reading it, he was taking longer than expected, but it was an interesting read nonetheless, but the sound of an angry Lup'ini woman kicking the door and throwing a sack of stuff in the middle of the room interrupted his thinking, he set the book down om the bed with a sigh, and looked at Myrna.

"There! You happy now? Eat" She set down a pack of rations on the bed way to hard, almost breaking it, that attitude was a problem, but Arsene had no way of changing it, he grabbed the rations and started eating, signaling to her to eat too.

Silence for a few minutes, the air was a bit tense, mostly because Myrna was giving him the side-eye, then she said "what made you come here? We covered our tracks pretty well" she sounded actually curious, maybe this is the chance the Serpentine needs to make an impression

"I just found this place, i had been walking for a few days and wanted a bed to sleep, stumbled into the town" he lied, a half-truth would be more correct, since he really wanted a bed, but it was not a few days, hell it wasn't even one, he just appeared in the middle of the desert.

"What? You aren't a bounty hunter? Why didn't you leave then? Why go inside a town filled with bandits?" She asked incredulous, not prepared for the answer the mage was gonna give.

"Ah, so you were bandits! I was right then... and yeah, just a mage, not a bounty hunter, just wanted some practice" he said with a slight sincere smile, and was met with pure silence, the room felt cold, the eyes of the Lup'ini widened in shock, but the man continued talking "didn't even want to practice at first, but i had a hunch these people were up to no good, so i killed them, doubted they would have left me sleep in peace" He said as he stood up, going towards the sack in the middle of the room while the tan woman was processing everything just said.

"Practice? Just.... practice?" She asked, as if a million things were going through her mind in seconds, mouth agape, He said it so casually too.

"Yeah.... what with the look?" He said looking back while realizing it, he sounded like a maniac, of coursd she's gonna be weirded out, wow, the AI is really good "Ah, sorry if i disturbed yo-" he couldn't even finish before Myrna interrupted him.

"Shut it, just do what you were gonna do" Shit, he fucked up, wrong choice of dialogue, nothing that can be done now, she didn't sound scared at least.

With a sigh he started checking, most of it was armor or weapons, nothing of quality, he used inspect on everything that was infront of him "Trash, Trash, Trash, The mace that almost killed me, most of these don't have anything special... wait" a ring, that looked different than the others, he used inspect on it.

Ring of erection

It gives the user a permanent erection for as long as they wear it

"Cock ring!" He dropped it in surprise, again having forgotten completely that the game makers were pretty perverted, "magical cock ring.... took me by surprise" He faked a cough and kept going, even if Myrna was laughing very loudly about the reaction.

"What? It took me by surprise! Totally natural reaction!" She just looked more amuzed and laughed even more, with a sigh he kept checking the stuff, until finding something actually worth while.

Bear Leather Bracers Of Shielding

These Bracers can project a magical barrier infront of the bracers, costs no mana to cast, nor maintain, but the every hit it takes will take half the amount in your mana, as it syphons it off you to repel the attack.

The look of surprise it's clear on your face, so Myrna says"Oh yeah, those were Johne, poor guy, a minotaur gutted him like a pig some months back" oh, so that's what that guy was saying, makes sense.

"Good to know, im keeping them" you say, putting them around your arms, at first they were a little loose, but they adjusted to your size, quite comfortable, you kept looking over the loot, but most had no enchantments and those that did, weren't really useful to him, maybe if he'd been a fighter it would be different.

"Yeah, no luck on these, did you find anything on... how did you call him? The big oaf?" You say, and she actually looks pleased, even, she must have really hated his guts for that to have given you points in her eyes.

"Nothing really, just a note" she said almost sincere, but he noticed something.... no coins.

"Nice try, don't go hiding those coins from me now, i might not know what they are worth, but if you hid them they must be valuable" she blinks once, then twice, did he say something wrong? Then she laughs in complete disbelief.

"Wha- wait, you really don't know? You really are dumb for a mage, ugh how did i lose to you in the first place?" she sighs, and says, very slowly "i'll explain it, before you make a fool of yourself"

"That's so dumb, too many kind of coins, wouldn't it be easier to just say cooper, silver, and gold? why name every coin" 30 minutes hearing the explanation, mostly because he got lost a lot of times along the way, but as he understood it, there's a bunch of kinda worthless cooper coins, some useful silver and rich persons golds, so yeah, just a headache builder.

"i didn't make the coins, but since you want them so much, keep them" Said Myrna, while he was busy separating them into easy denominations she said "for a mage you sure lack knowledge, are you sure you are a mage?"

"a practical one, academics are not my strong suit, at least not the money kind of academics" it took a while but Arnese finalized it, a lot of animal faces, and since he now know which ones are more valuable and all that, he hands the better half of the money to Myrna, since he won't really use it, and will mostly try and trade whatever valuables he finds, "there, your pay, found it fitting since you saved my life and all, now be a dear and go prepare me some water i need a bath"

She didn't really know how to react, though it was clear that Myrna found the Serpentine mage to be quite the weird person, she pocketed the coins and went to prepare that bath, a bit annoyed because she was being ordered arround like a maid, and there was nothing that she could do about it.

Deciphering occult book 41% done

Some 30 odd minutes, honestly this book was good for the fundamentals, how mana flowed through the body and how one could channel it to make it come out of you, it was kind of fun honestly, he would have to try it later when he had a good place to meditate, he grabbed the letter that Myrna had given him before, "Klaus.... caravan... hmhmhm, oh! this could be good" he could probably rob a caravan, and since this Klaus guy was dead, and well, he could do with the practice, 2 weeks time, and he was out for one, yeah, one week, and he could do with the extra practise, he went out, seeing as Myrna was taking so long in setting up a bath, maybe there wasn't enough water? no, that wasn't it, he realized that the reason was that Myrna decided to take a bath before him.

"well, that explains it, i guess i need to be clearer with my orders" he said with a sigh, but honestly he didn't really mind the sight, Arsene was quite content, Myrna was submerged up to her neck in what seemed like a large barrel, probably set up by the bandits before.

"what did you expect? making me do everything, of course im taking all the good water, i deserve it" she says, confidently, stretching just a bit as if to relax even more in the lukewarm water "im all sore due to having to carry all that stuff, so either you can shut up and let me take my bath, or you can join" the last part was clearly sarcasm, her tone indicated everything except an invitation, but hearing that the serpentine man thought about it.

"Okay, make some space then" he said, it was just a game after all, so he didn't really have a lot of shame, she looked at him with wide eyes, but he was already undressing for the most part "are you gonna keep looking or are you gonna make some space?" asks the serpentine man, while Myrna looks away for a few seconds and moves, there was a lot of space though so it wouldn't really be hard to share.

"can't even take a bath on my own anymore" she grumbled under her breath, but made no effort to leave, sneaking a few glances at the serpentine man on the other side of the barrel, interrupting the silence with a question "So, are you one of those... Serpentine? snakefolk and all that?" she asked in a dismissive kind of way, but she actually seemed curious.

"Yeah, im actually surprised you noticed, what gave it away?" he asked, honestly curious, was it that he didn't blink, or the scales? maybe the way his body moved- "you have two of those" she pointed at the lower half of his body, which honestly made a lot of sense, but it did get an amused laugh out of him.

"well if you say it like that it's kind of obvious" he looked her over she seemed very comfortable in her own skin, even though she was in a barrel naked with her new boss, maybe this was more common for her than he thought, but for now he was comfortable enough sharing this place with the woman.