Collide Gamer

Chapter 176 – First rule of Lyly’s training.

“I will have to stress that whatever happens today will stay classified,” Lydia repeated for the third time in half an hour. “This includes all matters of sexual nature, but first and foremost, we are talking about whatever Skills or abilities anyone in this group, including me, reveals during this training. Nothing shall reach the public before I deem it to be necessary. Understood?”

“Ja, for heaven’s sake,” Rave groaned, “we agree. Now, can John please open a dungeon, so I can punch something really hard in the face?” The techno-lover had been informed about Lydia’s decision to become a temporary member of John’s harem. Of course, she was happy about that, more people in the bed meant more people she could, literally, fuck with. “Really, Lylytina, I thought you, Lylytina, were the type to just give direct orders that you, Lylytina, then waited to get followed. Like, if someone asked if you, Lylytina, could repeat that, you would make them run fifty laps around the Reichstag.”

“Is it necessary to repeat that nickname you have given me so often?” Lydia asked, ignoring the quip at the end. Her nerves seemed strained enough as it was.

“Is it necessary to repeat the same instructions this many times?” Rave shot back, “All we wanted to talk about is what level of enemies John should pick.”

Lydia’s fingers drummed on the dining table, then she sighed. “I suppose you have a point. I apologize,” she admitted, and attention turned to John who was looking at the monster table.

He could easily solo all of these, as he had in the past. In fact, it was probably time to move on to higher dungeons. Rave was level 61 now, but knowing her, she would be able to punch far above her weight. Last he had Observed Lydia, she had been level 68, better check if that still held true.

It did, nothing changed on that front. ‘This was all a little easier when I could just look at numbers above people’s heads… Gaia always nerfing me is super annoying….’

‘Yeah, great, now I have to make another choice, thanks,’ his thoughts were filled with sarcasm. Just to not challenge his right to existence too much, he added, ‘but actually thanks that you’ve jumpstarted and keep fuelling my powers.’

As of this moment, there was no reason to take a Class Level over a new information gathering parameter. One was something he could get anyway with some time invested and the other was something that was likely not going to show up again. It was unlikely to be vital intel, but a single Class Level really was not worth that much.

“Mhm, well, this will be nice grounds for experimentation, I guess?” John mumbled before announcing his idea. “See, although I know that you can gain Experience using the group system, I have no idea how that Experience is calculated. Only thing I know for somewhat certain is that I get more than you do. Because I am the Gamer, I reckon. If you get more Experience from beating monsters of your level, or if I can pull people through higher-levelled dungeons to power-grind them, I do not know, however.”

“Just stop overthinking it, John, and just put up the strongest enemy ya can conjure!” Rave demanded.

“Don’t be that hasty in your decision, Rave,” Lydia chimed in. “Information like this could prove vital in the future.”

“Urgh,” Rave sank halfway under the table, “Okay, you two killjoys keep thinking about that then. Yo, Aclysia, do you have a coke for me?”

“I am afraid not, mistress Rave,” the artificial guardian apologized, bowing with her salver in hand, she had grown accustomed to the object and it did harmonize with her servant role, so John approved.

“I have several dungeons I need to clear from start to finish, though,” John said to Lydia. From what it looked like, Rave would be happy with whatever decision they came to, as long as they came to a decision. She was going through a list of beverages, none of which Aclysia had available.

Lydia slightly tilted her head. “In that case, why are we not doing that?”

“Because the early floors will be a massive time sink… then again…” John looked at his Classes, he still wanted to get a level in Arcanist. Getting an idea on what each of the Classes could provide, Perk wise, was a priority when it came to intel gathering.

The good news was that the mana cost reduction for the elementals was the Sticking Bonus from Elementalist. Also, that Challenge was pretty easy. Not that that meant the whole level would be easy, though. “Okay, how about we grind up through some dungeons and see how much experience you get for mobs at each stage…like Angels, let’s kill Angels,” he suggested at random.

“Wait!” Rave intervened, “I can see my level progression now? No more wild guessing?”

“At least Gaia told me so,” John shrugged, “you’ll have to look that up for yourself.”

“Well, how?” Rave asked.

He raised an eyebrow, “Jane, did you seriously forget that you have your own Character Sheet as long as we are in a group?”

“Uhm…” the techno-lover looked to the side, “Noooo?”

“Jaaane?” John teased. “Are you, perhaps, a bit stupid?”

“Oh, shaddup!” she burst out and playfully boxed him on the shoulder. “Okay, yeah, I did forget, so how do I… okay, that’s easy.” The window appeared in front of her. Also, another change, although one John had noticed this one sooner. He could now see the windows of other people in his group.

Rave quickly found the purple bar, “Oh hey, I am already close to the next level, neat,” Rave said.

Lydia, who had followed the conversation, looked at her own window, “I am at about 5 percent,” she informed the group. “How peculiar an ability,” she followed it up, looking over the information displayed. “…So, this is what you see? Interesting… That aside, I agree to your plan, John.”

“Great, let’s go then!” John raised his arm and created the Instant Dungeon. All of them were immediately pulled inside. Lydia’s hands moved hastily, causing pieces of metal around her to stir, obviously in preparation for sudden assailants.

“Relax, we need to enter some catacombs or stuff first,” Rave told her.

“Yup. Unless you get someone like Magoi, to put up another one of those Intermediary Barriers, we need to find the entrance to the actual dungeon first. Which is not really hard. For the Skaven it was a giant hole in the ground.”

John stood up and took the lead. They would probably find the answer outside. He opened the front door and was presented with a literal stairway to heaven. The steps were made out of platforms of radiant gold. Warm as the sight was, the air that washed over his skin was anything but. Hastily, he closed the door again.

“So, I have no idea if -quote unquote- heaven is temperate,” he admitted. “I think yes, several dungeons I have been in had some sort of sky or temperature changing effect, but I don’t know for sure. Want to take the risk or get our winter clothes first?”

“I say, I am not leaving the house if it is that cold, unless Salamander warms everything up,” Rave gave her opinion.

The elemental girls took this as their signal to all materialize. “I mean, okay, if I get the mana for it… but don’t expect me to heat you all the way through all of the fights, I want to burn stuff,” Salamander commented.

Meanwhile both Gnome and Undine put in their best efforts to keep Sylph from interrupting the group planning. They succeeded by giving Sylph some basic math to do. While the air spirit was busy counting on her fingers and mumbling, her thought process regularly interrupted by her own whimsiness, the party was able to chat uninterrupted.

“I think it is better if we are cautious about this,” Lydia said.

“You meat-people should really get your clothes,” Mono drily commented, “Wouldn’t want your oh-so-important balls to freeze, would you, Master?”

“I am deeply sorry that I forgot to remind you of this possibility, master,” Aclysia added, bowing as if she was still holding the salver she had left behind in real-space.

“I think we all agree to get our jackets first then. If we don’t need them, I throw them into my inventory,” John stated.

Two minutes later they were at the same spot but in considerably more fitting clothing. “Let’s do this!” Rave, enthused that things were finally taking a violent turn, shouted and kicked open the door. The piece of wood flew forwards and skidded over the metal walkway.

Lydia winced like a piece of her soul had been attached to that door. “My property!”

“Chillax, Lylytina,” Rave laughed, slowly lowering her foot. “It’s just a barrier.”

“I am very aware and yet I find such wanton destruction repulsive. Property is the backbone of civilization,” Lydia responded in her typical seriousness.

“You don’t want to face the Anti-Depressant then,” John said, “that boss fight levels the whole city. Anyhow,” he pointed at the stairs made from golden light, leading up to a giant gate placed up high. The actual dungeon was doubtlessly located behind that.

They made their way up there, all nine of them. Sylph and Salamander (the former still trying to solve the mystery of 11 times 33 divided by 3) were flying and what Undine did was not actually walking as much as flowing, but the rest of them, Lydia, Aclysia, Mono, Gnome, Rave and finally he, himself, were actually walking. ‘Jesus, my party is getting big,’ John thought and glanced over his shoulder, ‘and I have fucked almost all of them. Everyone, except Mono… wonder if I’ll change that today…’

John had a few ulterior motives for wanting to grind out levels. Two, to be exact, that went beyond his stated goals of supporting Lydia in gaining an understanding and just general power increases. One was to get his Charisma to 25. That would not get done today, in all due likelihood, as he would need 3 Levels worth of Stat Points to achieve it.

Maybe it was wiser to get more Wisdom or Intellect, for combat and safety purposes. However, both Gaia’s warning regarding Relationship Slots and the fact that Charisma was the only Stat he had yet to get to 25 motivated him to divest. Well, that, and because he got a lot more out of Charisma these days. At his current value, he was about as charismatic as the average person. His powers made him more interesting than that, but if he wanted Lydia to actually fall for him he would need to get a bit better at this whole social thing.

Why stop at average, when he could become superhuman even in this regard by just grinding more?

The second thing he wanted to do was to get Mono’s Libido to 10. The reasons for that were equally simple and sexually motivated. John enjoyed her company, from the sass to the intellectual banter. Having a cute woman like her totally uninterested in the erotic was just a waste. ‘Although I won’t just force it on her either,’ he reprimanded himself. Horny as he was, he wouldn’t just press the button when she wasn’t looking. Even if she was really, really cute…

Perhaps feeling her creator’s leering eyes on her, Mono shuddered and interrupted her happy talk with Gnome to give John a death glare with her white eyes.

John quickly turned back to look at what was in front of him. His thoughts reached out to his obedient and older artificial spirit. ‘Hey, Aclysia?’ he asked over their mental connection.

‘What is it, Master?’ came the swift and calm response.

‘Would you object to me raising your Libido to 25? I kind of want to learn what happens then.’

‘I would not. I do, however, feel obliged to remind you that I am currently experiencing a 145 percent increase in the Libido Base Stat due to having eaten a scale from Nathalia and a shard from her gemstone. Raising my Libido to 25 would put its effective value at over 50. I may experience major combat problems if I don’t get fucked regularly, opposed to the minor ones I will likely experience today.’

‘…You really want to have sex, don’t you?’ John asked.

‘No, that is not the case, master. I really want to have sex with you, specifically,’ Aclysia clarified, ‘I have not yet been fucked by you. Worse, you gave the princess priority, which is putting me in an increasingly bad mood...’ After a slight pause Aclysia continued, ‘Excuse my behaviour, Master. You could fix this by giving me about five orgasms.’

Aclysia being annoyed with him, that was new. Honestly, at times, he had no choice but to admire the fortitude that the artificial guardian showed. She cooked his food, she killed his enemies, she ate his junk-loot, put up with his (and everyone else’s) wishes, kept him psychologically stable in times of trouble, and all she wanted in return was a good dicking. That and a few words of appreciation.

‘You are the best, you know that? Seriously, you’re way too good for me!’ John let all of his appreciation for her flow into these words. ‘I’m sorry for not giving you the time you deserve. I’ll make up for it, I swear.’

There was a quick series of steps behind him, then Aclysia had caught up and kissed him on the cheek. “I hope you fulfil my request tonight, then,” she purred, leaving everyone else confused.

“What does she mean?” Rave asked, “I do not like it when you have psychic conversations!”

“I only wish to claim master in bed tonight, mistress,” Aclysia stated. “Surely, you can grant me this much?”

“Mhm, threesome sounds nice,” the techno-lover smirked.

“…Sure,” Aclysia agreed, but not immediately and John felt a slight sting of annoyance from the artificial guardian.

That mental fortitude wouldn’t survive forever it seemed, and John was not sure if that annoyance was something related to Aclysia being underfucked, or something else entirely. Was there jealousy in his harem? If yes, how could he deal with that? How could he have his cake (or the entire bakery, considering the pleasing shapes of the behinds of his haremettes) and eat it too? ‘I really need to heed Gaia’s warning and level my Charisma.’

With that on his mind, they stepped through the gates.