NOVGO.NET C33-Sub-Human
Name: Aizel Kadashi | Age: 19 | Level: 32
Title: Gold-rank Hunter (S-)
SE: 0 | HP: 490
Race: Crimson Were-Dragon
Bonded Souls: Lisa Kadashi, Vanessa Kadashi
「 Midday of his 29th day on Geas. 」
"They follow different laws, love. They probably want to attack us." Lisa said.
"How do we confirm if it is one? Or do I just beat them up and let the guild handle them?"
"Yes, if they attack us, we just beat them and take them to the guild; they have a working dungeon behind the yard. If they have bounties, it's easy money; if they don't, they will be judged for attacking hunters."
"Well, they might be just a hunter escaping; they are moving too much for me to see any tags, could also be behind them. Still, we prepare for the worst.
Get ready to escape in case their level is too high for me to handle; just because they can't fly doesn't mean that they don't have insane brute skills. No need to endanger ourselves over some tents and camping supplies."
"Sir!" Valerie and Blaze replied.
The large werewolf reached them; on Geas, its kind fall under the Wolf-Born race, the kind stuck in their form, unlike were- and -man races.
"Males! Leave this place if you want to live. I, Wesdirof, son of Wesdiroj, lay claim. Of all! The females - in this camp. Now, Fuck Off!!" Wes-whatever said, the large overgrown black wolf was winded and panting hard, Blaze could probably take him on if Aizel was being honest, but he was still considered a recruit in his mind.
"Can you repeat your name, kind pup? And sorry, we do not go around laying claim on people like that. It's kind of illegal, you know?" Aizel said.
"I said, my name. Is! Wesdirof! Son. of. Wesdiroj! And I'm not a 'Pup,' Lizard!"
"That's not a nice thing to say; mine was playful, you know? And did you just change the last lett—" Aizel tried to speak to the overgrown pup with a weird name. But was rudely interrupted by said pup. It launched itself and started to slash at him.
Aizel ducked and weaved, slowly turning the back of the enraged beast to be in sight of Lisa and the others; the large animal probably was used to duels one-on-one, because now he was open. But his orders stood, and no one interfered.
"Kind pup, I really must warn you, anything you say or do will be used in a court of law if you continue this path—"
"Rwha!" The beast roared, proving again that conversation was not within his repertoire.
Suddenly he started to sweat more mana, and it gathered into his arm.
(Infuse) (Focus)
Aizel started to deconstruct the skill; the little pup may be lacking in the communication department, but was nice enough to show something new to him.
The mana from the world mixed with his and started to apply some kind of (Barrier) around the pup's bones.
The pup struck with his fist at Aizel. He managed to pull Gokira in time to block the strike with the handle. It punched harder than an Ogre, and it should have destroyed the Wolf-Born bones and then some. His skill (Pain Embrace) activated, and he could feel every bone from his wrists to his elbows shattering.
〔 HP: 490/490 ► 340/490 〕
In a flash of purple flames that escaped from his pores at high pressure, it even affected the air around him. He consumed 150 HP to use an overcharge (Restore). Enough to move, but leaving him with the booster from his pain skill.
〔 HP: 340/490 ► 190/490 〕
"Damn! That was a juicy one. You should be careful there, pup. That had enough strength to kill a man and a half. No matter, here, see how you like it!"
〔 System: Advanced Active Skill (Harden) acquired. 〕
'Just advanced? It feels like it has some complexion to it… This one makes the principle of Pops: Temper a walk in the park. Like Sharpen… But what about the opposite? If I can harden something with it…'
Aizel struck back, using the pain from his skill to push the skills to double their output. He used overcharged (Focus), turning the world from edgy red to ethereal purple. Making him feel as if he was moving through a non-Newtonian fluid, he overcharged (Infuse), and using his racial traits, he turned to his own body, applying (Harden) to his body.
He overcharged (Discharge) and (Restore) to his muscles to push them to the limit, using (Push) and (Pull) to maximize the leverage of his body.
A thin sheet of purple (Telekinesis) aided his movement.
Just as his strike was going to connect. He overcharged (Doppelgänger) and created a wall behind the pup. Locking him in place.
'And for the grand finale'
He used (Guide) and (Infuse) using pops principles of mana; Rhythm, Alignment, and Echo to guide the strike and apply (Barrier) as it moved along the pup's bones.
〔 HP: 190/490 ► 75/490 〕
〔 System: Ultimate control detected.
► Paragon Active Skill (Shatter) acquired. 〕
For him, it lasted a minute; for the pup, his whole skeleton was shattered in a single strike.
Thump! — thump!
"Holy shit, he is quite heavy."
The pup was not moving, but it was alive. It would take him some time to die from that one, but it was probably something that would eventually end him.
"Aizel! Your HP!" Lisa yelled.
"Ow, shit. Yeah, that was something else…" Aizel popped one of his old HP potions and drank it in a single gulp. It was really not good; it tasted like toothpaste with orange juice and some pepper.
"That's disgusting. Hey, Lis. Have these gone bad?" He pulled the other potions from his ring and showed them to her.
"No?" She replied after opening one and sniffing it. "Is just mid-grade. You need more; drink them all."
"Do I have to?"
"And who's going to carry this thing back, huh?"
"Fine, fine. Geez."
He drank the rest, almost throwing up in the process.
"Please tell me that they sell tastier ones. Ugh…"
"Of course they do. We can even have some custom-made like the fertility boosters. They use the heart, liver, and kidneys, so they are more expensive, and you need a very clean kill, like decapitation. But they are ten times more potent than those things you have there. No wait, they are ten times more potent than a high grade."
"We will order some. How long until this takes effect?"
"Around two hours. I can use (Heal) on you to speed it up."
"Let's wait and see how this affects my weird blood-mana thing first."
"What's that new skill on your system? What, What!?"
—
So apparently Paragon skills are where the real shit's at. Because Lisa had no idea what tier they even are; therefore, no one in the party knew. Aizel's HP was slowly climbing back up.
They had to tie the giant wolf snout shut. Because he would not shut up. Something about pain and other lies. He was only making any intelligible words from time to time, and repeating the same falsehoods about pain. They got tired of hearing him whining and stuck a dirty rag on it and tied his snout with an old sling from Blaze.
Aizel was sitting on one of the folding chairs; Lisa had been keeping an eye on his HP. And it was recovering much slower than it would be after taking even mid-grade potions.
It was recovering much faster than it usually recovered on its own, so he did not care that much, but Lisa was having none of it, so she gave him small puffs of her (Heal) to speed things up.
That is when the welcome surprise came. It worked much better than it normally would; he wanted to just use (Restore) out of curiosity's sake, but Lisa forbade it, and what Lisa says is what must be done, unless he wants to become a monk. Again.
'Now I understand you, Pops; in peace rest your soul. We should have just hid him in the hills with the goblins for some time.'
Since Vanessa was scouting around. Doing circles around them in an increasing range to catch any other puppies. His right side was left open for certain Raven to play her little game of 'I don't know yet,' when she was clearly already part of the cult, after that little dick lick.
"Why didn't you just cut him up?" Valerie asked.
"He had a nice skill that I wanted to take. I took it and then wanted to see if there was something that had the opposite concept. There was, but it was a little more expensive than I anticipated"
"Just a little? Aizel, you lost enough HP to kill four men!" Lisa said.
~mhmhm.
"Is he really going to keep doing that?" Aizel asked.
"He has every bone in his body turned to mush. I am actually really impressed he's making so little noise." Valerie said.
"I mean. If it hurts to breathe, just stop doing it, you know? Is not that hard to come to that conclusion." Aizel said, and the little raven gave him a pretty smile.
"Miss Vanessa is returning, sir," Blaze said.
"It sounded like when you land, your punch, I mean," Valerie said, and got closer to him, slowly slithering her arm through his.
Thump! Vanessa did their landing routine.
"Not like that, yours is harder," Valerie said.
Aizel just looked her in the eyes and gave her a shit-eating grin.
"If you weren't hurt, I would punch you right now."
"Have at it; he isn't hurt. His body is just weird." Lisa said, still a little mad.
"Nothing… thirty clicks. And his tracks… just keep… leading east." Vanessa reported, a little winded from flying around.
"Yeah, smell doesn't go that far. He probably just came across it in his after-brunch jog; it helps digestion." Aizel said.
"So are we moving?" Vanessa said.
"Yes, I have enough HP to carry the pup and Blaze. Lis, can you take Valerie?
"Yes, come. Little raven."
— — —
The Hunter guards at the north gate had gotten used to their team's craziness, because they did not say a thing as they dragged the crying mess behind them.
The people inside the village, however, were staring a little.
"Sub-human." "Hope they don't (Bind) him and just put it down." "Ugh, Disgusting."
"People really dislike this one's kin, eh?" Aizel said.
"Is not his kin. The only kind of people that hunters capture like that are sub-humans; all it takes is one look at our tags for them to know what he is." Lisa explained.
"It's still unconfirmed, though," Aizel said.
"I could have asked him, and be done with it, but someone decide to make a soup with their bones, while they are still inside."
"I could have (Restore) him…"
"Don't waste your aura, my love. This way, even if he isn't a sub-human, he will have to pay for the treatment." Lisa said, calming down now that they were getting rid of the large pup.
"Kira! Zup, I found a large dog over on The Death Valley. I think he might be far from his home, because he was citing some archaic tribal laws and laying some weird claims. I tried to ask nicely, but he was not in the mood."
"True~"
"I heard that." Aizel gave her a little kiss on the lips, and she smiled.
"Hunter Aizel! Welcome back! Urhg… Is one of those, here - put it in the back. Can it survive the night, or do we call the Temple to heal it a little?" Kira said, showing a face of revulsion at the large pup that he had never seen on her pretty face.
"His entire skeleton is practically soup, Kira. Don't you see how weird he's folded?" Vanessa said.
"Serves it good. To try and claim females like some kind of goblin. My question still stands."
'Yeah, she's mad at the pup.'
"He needs (Restore), Kira. Aizel can use it, but we will be adding the charges to his bounty, which he most likely has. If not, he will compensate us by working in the mines." Lisa said.
"Good. Aizel, please, in the back - it's leaking slime from its snout."
"ew."
— — —
After he and the party got the overgrown pup to his new lodgings, Lisa and Valerie went to buy more supplies to balance their diet as they discussed ordering the new health potions and Valerie's new weapon.
Vanessa and Blaze were left to haggle with the butchers after moving the bodies from the hunt to the butcher's rings. Blaze was the one who was going to take care of that for them as long as he was with their party. And Vanessa had developed a love for haggling, and a revulsion for were-dogs plus wolf-borns after the pup's tantrum.
Aizel ended up casting (Restore) on the prisoner once he was behind bars. Their new tags would be delivered at any moment, so he was waiting in the reception area. Just reading the teachings of Arch Healer Zarnandier, the pimping lord of pleasure, imperial health advisor, and the master of all Dragons.
Kira looked like she wanted to jump on him, but unlike the last time she left her post, it was not nightfall, and the guild was getting busier with the closing of summer. There would be none of that. However, Seth, the Cucketeer, was having a blast at the sight.
"He-he. She looks as impatient as when we first married."
"Hmm? I'm still amazed at how your brain is wired, Seth," Aizel replied as he heard Seth the Cucketeer speak.
"And I'm still amazed that you speak perfectly, and we know what you mean, but the idioms you use are sometimes alien to us, even if we understand the words."
"Not all of them; I've encountered a lot of them here."
"It would be weird if you hadn't. Look who's coming, maybe she had enough, he-he."
Kira had received a verbal message from Limi, the cute were-dog intern, and was coming towards them after hearing it.
"Hunter Aizel. The guild master would like a word with you; please come with me."
Aizel got up and followed after her. "You okay, woman? At this rate, even humans will start to smell you."
"Shut up. The Hunter Master Seth is waiting for you."
Aizel gave her a slap on the ass, followed by a good squeeze and a deep kiss on the lips, before entering the dwarf office.
"Patience, woman. I won't be leaving to hunt right away, and Seth should be well-equipped to satisfy your thirstiness now."
He left an invisible hand with (Doppelgänger) clasping her ass and nether regions from behind, just to have something fun to do while he talked with the Guild Master.
"Hunter Aizel, please take a seat. That will be all, Kira. Thanks."
Kira left the office without a word and closed the door behind her. The spectral hand was still firmly attached to her behind, but to her credit, she did not react once they entered the office.
"You really did a number on that one; she did not even turn back to respond."
"You wanted to see me, Dwarf?"
Aizel used (Discharge) through (Doppelgänger) to have an Idea of her surroundings as she moved away.
〔 System: Basic Active/Passive Skill (Monitor) acquired. 〕
'Pfff. How many skills have I gained through lewdness now?'
"Yes, now that you are gold rank, I can share some of the Guild business with you. First things first. The king class was not alone; another two were reported coming from the west. They moved fast and crossed our northern region in less time than it took the sun to move during sunrise; there are at least three Serptiloid kings waiting for the dungeon to hatch.
This is good news for business. But it also means that the entire region will become much more dangerous; monsters and large predators will come back from all over the Duchy to enter it from now on—until it hatches—from all cardinal directions.
I asked for help from the Temple of the Moon. They have sent a skill book that explains the skill that the tier seven Serptiloids use, and another one with the knowledge needed to gain a skill reported to work against it."
"How did they get here so fast? The books, I mean."
"The same way you do. They flew."
"The books?"
"Sometimes I wonder how someone as clueless as you is already gold rank; I'm almost regretting giving it to you. We sent a hawk to Dranelida; they sent it back with a ring attached to it with the books. How did you even come up with the harvest plan?"
"So am I getting the books?"
"On one condition. If you learn the skill, I want eyes on that dungeon. No fighting like a maniac, no engaging the horde. Just get close and report back what you see. Can you do that, or is a Dragon's Bloodlust as high as their lust for women?"
"~Ye. I can do that. I was going to take some days off from hunting anyways; the large dog I brought in was a little tougher than I expected."
"A little tougher!? That thing. Has been reported to be as strong as a Mithril, has bounties in eight cities, and has raped more females than an entire Orc camp! I'm not burning where it is, just because the stupid priest who will sentence it will be here in half a fortnight at the least. A little tougher, he says. Valerie has no Idea how lucky she is; if she was with her old party… Your Vassals can escape it. She can't."
"Now I want to go down there and turn its skeleton to mush again."
"If I were not the Guild Master. I would tell you to have at it, and let me join you. But we have a standard to maintain, and lead by example, so control yourself."
"Yeah, yeah. I was just fantasizing."
"Anyway, here. Give priority to studying the skill it has and its known counter. Report back to me when you are ready. That's all."
Aizel took the two new books and went back to the reception. The first 'book' was about the skill (Petrificate). It was a superior skill, but the knowledge in the little book—that was barely a booklet—only cited what it did, not how. It was the same information that was in Lisa's bestiary, just with more dramatic narrations of incidents involving it.
The second book was a proper one; it was a skill book, but unlike the mind rapey scroll from the nerd, it was not a simple 'open it and get the skill.' It was a compilation of descriptions given by some of its users on how the skill worked. And Aizel was happy.
It was the skill 'Magikas Finalis' aka (Finalize) that the Orc Shaman used on him. It evolved from (Disrupt), and only the latter was needed to survive (Petrificate); he would need someone to practice and acquire it, because it used the user's aura to tear apart the constructs from others.
Which was more like a fight of the minds, combined with Pops principles: Rhythm and Echo. Where the one using (Disrupt)—or its evolution—broke apart the 'Rhythm,' or more accurately, the frequency of the incoming attack.
'Like sound-canceling headphones? I wonder if this is how the shaman spoke to me, not on my mind, but by sending his voice through his aura, resonating with my bones… Could still be directly to the brain through electrical impulses. (Discharge) is proof that you do not need to understand how it works too much, just enough to trigger a skill acquisition.'
"Hey, he can read!" Valerie teased as she and Lisa entered the guild.
"I haven't found a single person who can't so far, Val," Aizel said as he finished the page he was reading from Arch Healer Zarnandier, since (Disrupt) was not that complicated to learn. Compared to the teachings of the greatest Were-Dragon to ever live, it was a syllabary against the compilation of theses from a madman.
"You would be surprised; most bronzes and a few silvers can't; only professions that require acquiring knowledge that way usually do."
"Aren't skills acquired usually this way?"
"Some of them, but Redvelia or the other northern towns do not usually have Temples of the Moon, so it's rarer up here. Where did you get that one?"
"Lis bought it from the sun temple."
"Temple of The Sun." Lisa corrected, and was ignored.
"What's it about?" Valerie asked.
"Many, many things. Right now I'm trying to modify the body with (Restore). I have the general Idea, but the one who wrote it mixed lewd stories with his teachings. So it's hard to concentrate. And the things he explained are not only complicated, but he also buried the knowledge with poetry and figurative innuendos. Even the drawings are more artistic than descriptive."
"Wow. Can I see?" Valerie asked.
"Sure, here. Just a warning: it is both an erotic book and the greatest book of the healing arts, and that is not even me talking; remember where it was bought."
"True," Lisa said.
"Holy gremlin!" Valerie said as soon as she opened it, right in the drawing of a cross-section of a were-dragon fucking a woman, with text written all around the drawing like a magazine.
"Do those even exist?" Aizel Asked.
"Yes, they do. But they are not holy; they are just born from Angel-kin and other Kin like ours, inheriting some of the racial traits. They are white, and there have even been reports of some that abandoned the monster's way. Emasculating themselves; the correct term for those is mellow-. There is a story of a mellow goblin who became a fisherman… and that's the story."
"Huh."
A sweaty, salty smell assaulted the Seraphim and the Dragon; it was coming from the little raven at their side.
'Took you long enough.'
Vanessa and Blaze entered the guild. Blaze was his passive self, just following behind Vanessa, but she was all jumpy and happy.
"What got into you?"
"She extorted the butchers… or something; I do not even know what to call what happened. She just smiled and acted all happy. The idiots gave us one and a half Royal Coins for the lot; it was already pushing it asking for a Royal…" Blaze said.
"Yeah, she already did that when she was a human and a bronze. Now she's an angel with the looks to match, that with her silver tags and new love for haggling…" Aizel said.
"Hunter Aizel, Lis, Nessa. Please come forward." Kira called.
They walked towards the woman; she had come to the open section of the reception and had their new tags in her hands.
She went to the girls first, removing their silver tags and placing the new gold ones. She probably just did that with them because of what she wanted to do with him.
After she replaced his, Kira gave him a deep kiss; he had to bend down quite a bit, but it was still nice.
"We're in public, woman. People will talk."
"Have you already forgotten the night that you mounted me, and the whole building heard?"
"Fair."
"It will be five hundred silver," Kira said.
'That's a third of our last hunt… fucking…'
"I'm rich!" Valerie said from the back as she was given five platinum coins.
'No, little raven. That's not even a bullet.'
— — —
It was dusk, of his 29th day on Geas.
The party decided to go and celebrate the haul at a nearby tavern. The place was nice, and earning one and a half royals was a little more than what a silver party would make during winter; for the recruits it was quite the haul, even after the split.
They were having honey wine, or mead, something like that. It tasted sweet, and a bit diluted, but they were not drinking it for how it tasted. Alcohol was a weird one for Aizel. His taste for it had changed over the years; he was always a larger-than-average man—even as Alex—not as big as he was now, but it always took a little more to get him drunk.
The problem was that he did not have a gradual build-up for it; one moment he was lightheaded, and the next he was crying on the shoulder of a friend or dancing around.
A were-dragon was even worse; he had already drunk ten silvers' worth of it, at one silver per drink, and went to take a leak several times since the cups were enough to fill his belly. But he was only feeling the first signs of it, a little numbness on his lips and tingly skin, with not even a hint of it affecting his brain yet.
'I need to find stronger stuff, just to share in the fun.'
Valerie was barely making intelligible words, and Vanessa was hugging her. Blaze and Lisa were quite moderate when it came to it, stopping after they felt a nice buzz and making small talk.
"Say, Lis. Where can I find one of those? Not that one, but similar." Aizel said, pointing at a ukulele-looking thing a bard was 'playing.'
'More like torturing the poor instrument.'
"Hmm? Oh, you said you could play, right! I don't know… Honestly, if it is stuff not related to hunters or the Temple, I rarely paid attention."
"The caravans that come in a few days will probably have, they are figuratively breathing air into the village, offering stuff for every profession. Because I have not seen anyone selling those here, the lad must have bought it somewhere else. This village is still young." Blaze explained.
They were stuffing themselves and making small talk when a pretty were-dog-looking woman with black hair and light skin, with some cute freckles around her nose and under her eyes, approached their table. She had silver tags, so they already knew what she wanted.
"Excuse me, are you Hunter Aizel?"
"That depends, does he owe you silver?" Aizel said after the 20th drink and 10th leak. Just feeling a little lightheaded.
"Yes, He is. What can we do for you, Miss Were-Wolf?" Lisa said.
'She still looks like a were-dog; how does she know?'
"I was told that you recently formed a party, and I am looking to join one before the coming goblinoid raid." The were-wolf? The woman said.
"You came at a bad time; we just came back from a hunt, and will spend the next two or three sun cycles resting," Aizel said. She did not look like she was lusting after him, nor he was after her, so he really did not care.
"That's fine, I can wait for a few days. I'm on scout duty for the gatherers working in the south valleys."
"Sorry, Miss…"
"Huntress Silvia."
"Miss Huntress Silvia. We are not in need of scouts. This dogie joined us mainly as an accountant, and the fair shorty over there as a cook; they can still kill goblins and will probably become stable members on our next hunt, but still."
"I can suck your—"
"Sorry, miss. I am not interested. I want reliable party members who can do more than their role suggests; unfortunately, that is not a role that I need to have filled."
"I'm also an alchemist, can read, and can produce potions and boosters if you provide me the alchemy equipment on the field. Also gathering the necessary herbs."
'Then say that first, you whore.'
"Hmm. Now that is a skill we lack. Up to what grade, Miss Selve?"
"It's Silvia, and up to high grade, but I'm reading to produce superior ones."
"Kill count?"
"One hobgoblin, but I do not remember how many goblins, probably a few camps' worth. I can also use (Mana Bullet)."
"Hmm. Sure. If you can meet us in three days, in front of the guild, at midday. We can take you with us and see if you have what it takes."
"Thanks, Hunter Aizel. I'll be there." She nodded and went away.
"Can you please not lay your claim on that one?" Blaze said.
"I have already forgotten her name; her skill set is quite nice. Have at it, but she is kind of hot, so make sure she's available."
"Um~" Lisa pouted.
"Woman, you do realize how unreal your dream is, right? I need to get it up to be able to fulfill that role in the first place, and after being with you, it's kind of hard to compete."
Lisa got all happy and grabbed his arm.
"She offered herself before even telling us her skills; I don't think a woman that is spoken for would do that."
"You would be surprised. Just don't push her or get yourself hurt. She's a little slutty"
"Understood."
"Hey, no offense to anyone, what's the difference between a Were-Wolf and a Were-Dog? She looked just like all the doggys I've met, at least to me."
"Is on the shape of their hair, ears, and tail; the were-wolves are rougher and more aggressive-looking. Their hair is also a little thicker; they can manifest more traits and have better racial traits." Lisa answered as she leaned further into him.
They had been speaking with each other and almost failed to notice the little thing happening with Vanessa and Valerie.
Vanessa had the little raven on top of her legs and was scratching her head as they both stared into each other's eyes. Unfortunately, their staring broke the moment, and Valerie got back to sit on the bench; Valerie was all flustered and avoiding the group's gaze. No one said anything, and Aizel was thankful Blaze was not the teasing kind.
— — —
It was the night of his 29th day on Geas.
"Yes. There, just like that!"
Apparently, what he did that noon was something really hot for the gals. After filling up Kira when she returned from her shift, the two angels had been taking turns on him, just resting while the other got her insides turned into pulp. It was Lisa's turn, against the wall connected to Valerie, of course.
Lisa was even a little mad that the Alchemist had not finished their new batch of Orc candy. She had already reserved the right to be filled with the one that would have the Blood-Orc mixed in. After him having shown self-control, it was more her style, unlike the two freaks that liked to be fucked until they bled.
"I'm ready, love. Give it to me!"
His Health Power might give him an unnatural edge, but after probably no one knows how many times they repeated their little game, he needed to pump some more to push himself over the edge.
Ah!~
He increased his rhythm. Even turned himself into a little fuck machine with his new skills. Pulling and pushing like a maniac in short bursts. That did it for both of them; he was not even knotting them, so the other one could just jump right in, but after that last refill, the girls had enough for the night.
"~Holy, I really need a couple of days to milk more SE."
The girls had not been able to try that little trick; they were still trying to acquire (Telekinesis), via (Infuse), and would not be deleting any skills until they had the hang of how to use his method.