The Next Day

Leanna had an absolutely terrible day at work, like always.

Though to be honest it wasn’t quite as bad as usual, but only because someone started a fire in the office near the end of the day. That isn’t normally a good thing, but it was for her: the whole building is shut down while they try to figure out what exactly caused the fire, so Leanna has no work tomorrow!

It is in times like these that she is thankful for how paranoid her boss is, as he doesn’t let any of them work from home. She will have way more work to do when the office is open again, but that is a problem for later.

Right now, she is just happy to have some time off.

She is even more thankful for having the foresight to prepare dinner the night before, as now she won’t have to stop to cook some food. That means she should have enough time to play through four or five days before she’ll need to exit back out to sleep. And with not having to go into the office tomorrow, well, she’ll have time for another couple weeks at least.

After eating her reheated dinner, Leanna eagerly gets into her IVR device. She really has to thank whoever, or whatever, caused that fire for giving her what is essentially a vacation from work.

Krvavy is still in awe with how this body doesn’t feel even slightly sore after sleeping atop some very sparse bedding on a cold stone cave floor. But it does feel pretty nice, so she can’t complain. Even if she is a bit jealous that she can’t feel this way every time she wakes up. The uncomfortable stiffness of her morning wood does take away some of that nice feeling, but it isn’t too hard to deal with, especially now that she has two girls to use.

And using her girls is exactly what she did this morning. Or, more accurately, she used her Orc. Thea was still asleep at the time, and Krvavy didn’t feel like waking her for an amateur blowjob or an inexperienced handy. It was also fun causing the bratty noble to wake up like that, loudly fucking another girl right beside her, as Thea was adorably upset.

Krvavy didn’t leave right after that like she normally does though, as she first tested out her new Sculpt Stone spell. It is honestly better than she expected. She had assumed that it would just sculpt stone, changing what was already there. But that isn’t the case, as it seems to create stone out of nothing to make whatever shape she can imagine. Well, as long as there is something for it to almost grow off of. Even if it is as small as a pebble.

It is really quite interesting, watching stone grow into whatever shape that she imagines. It is way too expensive for her to use regularly though, as she only had enough Mana to turn a little rock into a jug this morning. That jug is nice though, and it saves her from having to drink from the leathery tasting waterskins while at home, so she isn’t unhappy or anything. Sadly though, Krvavy doesn’t seem to be able to change the type of stone that she is working with, but she can smooth and polish it out so that it looks real nice.

After that bit of experimentation Krvavy finally left to go wandering and hunting outside. Thea was almost happy to see her leave, as the girl doesn’t exactly have clothes anymore and doesn’t want to give Krvavy even the slightest glimpse of her body. Bit of a shame, but understandable.

Not much has really happened for the rest of the day. Krvavy caught her first pheasant, drained it with Transmute Blood, but failed to catch anything else all day. She kind of just spent her time wandering around and climbing rocks. Pretty relaxing, really.

But now, at the end of the day, Krvavy is using up all of her Mana to put a railing of sorts up between the pillars at the edge of the platform. She keeps worrying about rolling off the cliff while sleeping, even though the bedding is quite a bit away from the edge and her tail kind of keeps her from rolling around.

Even though she is being pretty sparse with her railing, to get the most out of the 100 Mana per m^3 cost, it will still probably take a few days to cover up all the gaps. Maybe even a whole week at this rate. And then she’ll have to go around and thicken them up, as she doesn’t exactly trust this spindly railing to hold her weight right now.

Sculpt Stone really is a great skill, if an expensive one. It kind of makes Krvavy want to focus on her mental attributes so that she can actually afford to use it more. The spell really scratches that creative itch that she has been missing in this game. She can just imagine the grand architecture that she can build into this cave of hers...

“What are you?” Thea’s voice calls out, snapping Krvavy from her thoughts.

“Hmm?” The barbarian turns to her bratty noble, who is sitting in the bedding wrapped up in a blanket.

“I said, what are you?” The girl inquires, sounding uncharacteristically neutral.

“I’m a Drakling...?” Krvavy replies with some confusion. “Why are you asking?”

“I do not understand you.” Thea honestly responds. “You are a savage beast. But you are not an idiot, you seem... well-read, and are capable of magic. You are careless and act like nothing is serious. But you are clearly planning and looking towards the future. You threaten me with horrible things. But you don’t seem to want to do those horrible things and most of your threats are not acted on. So what are you?”

Krvavy raises an eyebrow at that. “I am a person. People are contradictory.”

“Do not dodge the question, beast!” The noble girl accuses, back to sounding a bit more like she normally does. “You are hiding something! You stated a desire for my necklace, yet here I am wearing it as you have made no effort to take it! You violate me, yet in the heat of the moment apologize for it! What are you?!”

The mention of the necklace draws Krvavy’s eyes down to Thea’s neck. The noble girl is wearing it. The blocky chains and chunks of gold embedded with gems looks rather odd against her soft skin.

“I said that everything that enters my cave would be mine, which included you. I only mentioned the necklace as a bit of misdirection, to see if you would notice that you were the prize. You did not.”

Thea narrows her eyes at that. “See? That is what I am talking about! You are conniving! You occasionally talk like a student of law, going into specifics and technicalities! You are possessive to some degree, yet are fine with me wearing my necklace even after you claimed it! Even if you only did so to deceive me!”

“My necklace.” Krvavy corrects. “It is mine. Just like you are. But it isn’t my style, so I don’t mind you wearing it. Besides, it helps to emphasize your beauty, making you seem more valuable.”

“You just further prove my point! You are not normal! Not natural!” Thea huffs out. “What even am I to you?! Just loot?! A trophy?! But then why give me those three horrible choices for how you will treat me?! Am I something more to you?!”

“You are my precious little bratty noble girl~!” Krvavy teasingly reassures as she playfully squishes Thea’s cheeks, having approached her to do just that.

Pulling her head back and glaring furiously at Krvavy, Thea huffs out angrily. “You never take me seriously! Just like everyone else!”

Wrapping her arm and tail around the upset girl, Krvavy hugs her reassuringly, though Thea isn’t particularly happy about that. “Sorry, it’s just so hard to take you seriously. You are just too cute! And weak,” she adds, “which doesn’t help.”

Thea struggles a bit but fails to break free from the hug. “Just... just what am I to you...?” She sighs out, sounding defeated.

“I told you already. There really isn’t anything deeper to it. You are mine.” The barbarian honestly answers.

That just gets an angry glare from Thea. “Do you even see me as a noble?! Does that mean nothing to you?!”

“Yes and yes.” Krvavy nonchalantly replies. “I do think of you as a noble. All the time. Even though you don’t act like one in the slightest. There is nothing ‘noble’ about you. At least not in a good way. But that doesn’t mean anything. You being born into wealth and power doesn’t matter at all. Yeah, you are entitled and arrogant, but I have met people born with nothing who are just as terrible as you are.”

“If you hate me so much, why are you being nice to me right now?!” The bratty noble demands to know. “Is this just another trick?!”

Krvavy carefully moves her head in and rubs her forehead against Thea’s, annoying the noble girl even more. “I don’t hate you. I don’t even hate what you are. I don’t like how you act, obviously. But I don’t hate you for it. I just find you very fun to tease and bully.”

“You are testing me, are you not?!” Thea accuses, her face flushed red. “You are showing me what it will be like if I chose to be your loveslave! That is all this is! Get off me, fiend! I will never fall for your tricks!”

Sighing out, Krvavy releases the bratty noble from her grip, giving Thea the chance to scramble back as far as the bedding allows. “I’m not tricking you or testing you or anything. I already own you, so I don’t need to do that.”

“Then why let me chose how you will treat me?!”

“Eh, why not?” The barbarian shrugs out, causing Thea’s eye to twitch furiously. “I don’t really care which one you choose. They all give their own little flavour to owning you.”

Thea just glares at Krvavy in silence, but after a few moments she opens her mouth. “Are you a godless beast? Is there not some being you worship that is disappointed in how you act? In how you treat me?!”

That is actually a good question, and it makes Krvavy think. The whole premise of this game is being the champion of a God, yet she doesn’t really know anything about that. She hasn’t received any sort of communication or direction. No quests, no things she should and shouldn’t do. Nothing. Why?

The only thing that comes to mind is the fact that the game is in beta. The developers must not have finished whatever story they have for her God. If they even started it. The fact that she is playing a pretty niche race probably doesn’t help...

But, thinking about it, Krvavy doesn’t really mind that. She is enjoying the sandbox that she found herself in. No need to complicate that with a story that she might not even like. The devs could be terrible writers, for all she knows. So she doesn’t mind letting the NPC AI’s give her some entertainment.

“What, is that really something that you have to think so hard about?!” Thea indignantly calls out, obviously not liking that Krvavy was ignoring her a bit there.

“Kind of, yeah.” Krvavy answers honestly. What God is she supposed to be the champion of again?

Vel’ka Dravost, the World Dragon, is the Drakling God of the World, the Natural Order, and Storms. Vel’ka Dravost favours those who take what they desire and who show great strength of body and character.

That isn’t particularly helpful, but it is enough to answer the annoyed noble brats question. “I’m pretty sure that my God doesn’t care about how I am treating you.”

“Do not lie to me! Who do you worship, beast?!” Thea demands. “They surely must be displeased with you!”

“Vel’ka Dravost, the World Dragon. God of my people, God of the World, the Natural Order, Storms, et cetera.” Krvavy idly lists off. “A God that likes it when people take what they want and are strong.”

“You are just making that up!” Thea confidently declares.

“Oh, are you an expert on foreign Gods then?” Krvavy mockingly questions.

“Y-you bitch! Stop mocking me!” The noble brat sputters out in rage. “You savages with your savage Gods! AHHHG!”

“You okay there?” Krvavy asks with concern as Thea screams out in frustration.

“NO! I AM THE **** OF SOME SAVAGE ****! YOU ARE RUINING MY LIFE!” Thea screams out as she throws her head down into her hands. “I AM WORTHLESS! I CANNOT DO ANYTHING RIGHT!”

Krvavy just looks on as her bratty noble breaks down into tears, screaming out between sobs. This... seems rather real. It doesn’t feel like Thea is putting on an act this time, as she isn’t swearing out at Krvavy but herself.

“USELESS! LITTLE GIRL! WASTE OF EFFORT! THEY WERE ALL RIGHT!”

Moving forwards, Krvavy wraps her arms around Thea and brings her into a tight hug. “Shh... There there...”

The hug doesn’t really help, but it doesn’t make things any worse either. All it does is make Thea’s screaming sobs targeted towards Krvavy instead of herself. Which is, in a way, and improvement.

“YOU! IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT! FILTHBORNE BEAST! VILE CUR! DEGENERATE! GO DIE! ****! WANTON HARLOT!” Thea screams out, her voice quickly starting to sound hoarse. “GET OFF! ANIMAL! SAVAGE! BEAST! LEAVE ME!”

Krvavy just ignores all of that as she continues to hold the shaking girl tightly. Thea isn’t struggling against her, she isn’t trying to get out of Krvavy’s grip, so Krvavy won’t let go.

Did she push Thea too much? Has she been too mean? She doesn’t want the girl to break like her Orc. She is a brat, yes. Clearly racist. Clearly looks down on those less fortunate than her. But she is also hurt. The only purpose she seems to have ever had was in being married off to someone she doesn’t like. And Krvavy took that from her.

This girl...

Hugging her until she calms down is the least Krvavy can do, even though it isn’t much.