-Sam Ewing

John had thought that he and Lunaya had time to ready themselves before the others arrived - neither Seras nor Sophia showed up, and at first he attributed it to them having to find their way in the dark, in spite of Seras' impressive night vision. When Seras and Sophia stepped through the nearby brush line, Seras trying and failing to look nonchalant while Sophia merely looked annoyed for some reason, John realized there was more to their story than that.

"Hello Father. What activities have you been engaging in while we were gone that were not sexual in nature?"

"You are- that- was that subtlety?" John sighed, shaking his head.

"Yes. I do not do subtlety and deceit. I still do not understand why we must pretend they were not-"

"Look, I dunno what life was like back in the nest, but around 'ere we don' just go around laughin' in people's faces about all the naughty bits they've been rubbin' together!"

"Can we just… can we just do a dungeon? Lunaya, we're going to take care of some stuff - it'll take a while, so you can head back or stay here, whatever you want to do. Sophia, we're… we're going to have a sit-down sometime, when all of us are gathered around, and discuss conversations in polite society."

"If polite means that I cannot express to my Father my desire to take his entire cock within me, all the way to my awaiting womb-"

"And we are off," John shouted, blushing far too deeply as he rapidly mashed his fingers across the menus. Remembering what he had encountered before, John chose the same Dark Iron Dwarves for his enemies, hoping that he would be able to farm up enough metallic ores to not only make himself some new equipment pieces, but also to keep for future needs, and hopefully to make Maera a new set of armor.

John still didn't plan on letting the Neko out of this little pocket world until the Cabal were dealt with and he wasn't quite as much of a walking target, but he wanted her to be prepared. Plus… John had lectured Lunaya once on not being so controlling and physically preventing the others from helping him in his dangerous quests to level himself and become stronger. He would have been an incredible hypocrite to confine Maera to this pocket dimension forever just because he was afraid of losing her.

Either way, there were multiple uses for metal, to the point that having a few bits and pieces of iron lying around could never be a bad thing, even if he couldn’t' smelt them without Order assistance. At a bare minimum, he was clearly going to have to redo the bathtub. Ideally with a metallic base followed by a porcelain coating, thanks to his very hard-learned lesson.

John set the enemies to a semi-cautious level 9 and then mashed his three-man group into the Barrier before Sophia could voice any further opinion on her womb.

Mini-Boss defeated, Dungeon complete [Level 7]!
+875 EXP [+50 from Perks]
+$3500 ($1750 + 100% from Perks)
+10 Iron Ore
+Dwarven Toolbelt
+14 Zone Customization Points

John has Leveled Up!
John has reached levels 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11!
+17 all stats

Party Members have Leveled Up!

Seras has reached level 17!
+4 all stats

Sophia has reached levels 10 and 11!
+7 all stats

"Father, may we have a brief rest? I am loathe to admit it, but… these battles have me growing weary. I fear another and I shall begin to disappoint in my performance."

John checked his watch, more to figure out how far Sophia's Endurance stat would stretch than for any other reason. He was more than happy to end a dungeon crawl at the request of one of his many creations, but he was curious how long the harpy had gone before requesting a breather. The answer? Nearly four hours - most of which had been spent either in active combat or in making their way through one of John's Barriers to find additional foes. That was the seventh dungeon they'd completed, John steadily lowering the levels as his allies grew more and more weary. He'd gotten several levels out of it, though, so thankfully, during the last two dungeons, he hadn't been complete dead weight.

"Of course. All you have to do is ask - the entire point of this little excursion was for us to have some real time to train and rest, rather than just throwing ourselves headlong at danger and risk until we had what we needed to survive. Forget brief - take an hour. Take two. I won't consider taking either of you into another dungeon until you're fully healed."

John did his best to sound authoritative and as if he were relying fully on both Seras and Sophia to recover, but in truth he was as exhausted as they were. Not only had the consecutive dungeons they had just been through fully exhausted him physically, but the strain of watching three separate health bars had taken its toll mentally as well. Seras' and Sophia's health bars had dwindled - despite John's best healing - to the point that he wasn't comfortable starting another dungeon anyway.

"Father, I cannot-"

"You can, and you will. Consider this a command - I want you at your best, and I want to know that you are safe. Do not ask me to resume this training until you feel as though you are at your greatest, without reservation."

"…Yes, Father."

It was somewhat of a harsh command, given Sophia's prior devotion to John and the way that she seemed to personally stake herself on his success. All the same, John was already hard-pressed to bring anyone else along on his foolhardy ventures alongside Moira and the rest of the Order. If anything had happened to Seras or Sophia during what was meant as a routine training session, he would feel not only foolish, but also like a complete failure of a Father.

"Shit, now I'm calling myself that."

"What about me? I could prolly go a couple more rounds, especially if you, ah… let me have a little taste?"

Seras licked her lips seductively, dragging her tapered tongue across her teeth as they gingerly sharpened themselves, just enough to make it clear what kind of a taste she really wanted. If John hadn't had such a deep trust for the vampiress, he certainly would have been terrified; as it was, he was merely alarmed.

"That's not a great idea. The whole point of bringing both of you along was speeding things up and keeping me safe. With only one of you, if either of us gets hurt, we're screwed. I'm still only capable of helping out on the lower leveled dungeons."

"Maera could go, Myaster!"

The ivory-haired Neko had snuck up on the both of them, or at least John, only to pounce when she saw her opportunity. John reached to the Neko's head out of instinct and began to pat her between the softness of her ears, smirking as he enjoyed the feel of her ever-soft hair. Considering the Nekos' aversion to water John was really curious how they constantly managed to appear so clean, with the rare exceptions of immediately after they returned from a romp through the fields. Given their humanoid bodies there was surely no way they could lick themselves clean. Did they… did they lick each other clean? No, surely not… not always.

"You could, Maera, but…" John paused as he tried to figure out the best way to explain to the Neko that he wasn't comfortable risking her life. It was actually kind of a silly concern - while the Nekos themselves had relatively low stats compared to the others, maybe because of the low level they started at, Maera wasn't much lower than he was in terms of health, and certainly not in damage output. But John had a more protective aura over the Nekos than he did the others - not that he cared for them more; he liked to think that he loved all of his creations equally, minus the romantic attraction he had to Seras. Rather they were so innocent and child-like that John had always felt a little uncomfortable having them assist him, at least ever since he had a real choice and had warriors like Seras and Sophia to take their place.

"Master, what if you used that thin' you used on me?" Seras asked, pointing to the cuddly catgirl as she weaved her way between John's legs as if she were only half the size she actually was. "Between you an' 'er, you'd prolly be even stronger than Sophia, maybe even as strong as me!"

"True, I could use that… it'd only be for eleven minutes, though," John said, hesitating. "And I can't use it on her for a year afterward."

"Yeah, but you don't wanna bring 'er out where you're most likely to get attacked anyway, righ'? Only me an' Sophia, and you already used it on me."

"That's… not entirely wrong…"

"Myaster! Please!"

Maera's face was too concerned, too loving, too full of joy and hope. John couldn't say no… and the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like the smart choice. Gaining a few levels and getting closer to his maximum meant that John could improve himself all the further without risking anyone's true safety. Despite not seeing Maera's stat sheet, Seras' evaluation was pretty close to the mark - with Maera's stats added to his own, John would be a formidable foe indeed.

"Maera… we could do one dungeon together. Just one. But if we do, I have to use a weird technique on you. You won't remember the dungeon, and you might not even be awake for it. I don't want to do that to you, and you might still be in danger."

"Maera doesn't care! Myaster needs Maera, that's all that myatters!"

John pondered his predicament for a few moments, but realized that there was only one logical course of action. He had even considered the same factors himself before - hypocrisy at its finest, the Nekos starving to **** without his assistance, and the need for himself to become steadily stronger to deal with the threats unveiling themselves around every corner John seemed to turn. His last doubt was shattered as he checked Maera's character sheet one last time - her stats were impressive, no doubt they would make quite a formidable pair. With her wanting to help fulfill John’s promise to expand his world, he had no reason to turn her down.

"Alright, Maera… we can try this. I'll make the dungeon. Then we'll find out just how powerful our teamwork really is."