Chapter 26
Could these paladins defeat me? Anything was possible, and giving them the time and freedom to plan another surprise attack was unwise. As soon as I could, I would slit the femoral arteries on every paladin and enjoy watching them bleed to death.
On runs, Podni still used her bombs for the majority of her damage, but she had been practicing with her new artificer weapon, which was something like a blowgun with a handle that didn’t require air to shoot.
Though the projectiles it shot weren’t as powerful as full-blown Podni bombs, the range, speed, and accuracy were far better than manually tossing explosives.
My saboteur was underwhelmed at first, but I assured her that the weapon would feel far better in the context of a normal dungeon crawl when we had multiple mobs to manage rather than just one big boss.
Harem Master
Passive Ability
Gain a 5% bonus to all stats for every wife you acquire. Additionally, you and your wives feel a strong collective connection to one another that creates an intuitive understanding of each other’s feelings and a permanent awareness of each other’s physical locations.
Prerequisite: More than one wife.
Dutiful Heir
Passive Ability
Your firstborn child will be a male whose sovereign class will never compete with yours.
Prerequisite: At least one wife.
Harem Manager
Passive Ability
Gain view access to the character sheets of your wives.
Prerequisite: More than one wife.
Harem Master had too many benefits to pass up, and Harem Manager was convenient but not enough to spend an unlock when the most I had to do now was ask my wives what their current stats were.
I had never micromanaged their individual stat allocations anyway, and that seemed like the primary goal of an ability like that.
Dutiful Heir, however, outright angered me.
It read like the system itself issued a threat about my hypothetical unborn children.
How much of the lunacy associated with royal families was a result of the system’s meddling?
I already knew the answer was a ‘great deal,’ but Dutiful Heir just attempted to influence my relationship with a son who didn't even exist yet.
I chose Harem Master, and I watched my unspent stat points tick up to 263. My followers were Loyalty Pledge machines, just as I planned, but I had been less confident about how to use them as of late.
One angeli in Minsic was enough to get me to turn tail. I fared better in the Sanctuary South ambush, but my victory was not as easily secured as I would have liked.
Because of those experiences, I couldn’t decide if I should continue to invest in upgrading abilities or dump everything into my stats. Raw stat upgrades were always helpful, but they didn’t give me tactical advantages the way that Wraith+5 and Ghostly Feint+4 did.
I consistently defeated powerful enemies by outwitting them, but then again, celestials were a different class of powerful. What was best for my survival?
I couldn’t fucking decide, so the points went unused. That was wasteful, I know, but I was stuck.
On day 7 of boss rush training, Purity and Solara visited me in my bedroom well into the night.
Solara paused briefly to look at the three women making out with one another in the middle of my floor in a pile of pillows and blankets.
I liked having the background entertainment while I read and worked, and I was learning that Solara had similar tastes.
“This new life is a bigger adjustment than I expected,” Purity admitted, sitting on my desk in a shirt and panties–and nothing else. “I didn’t realize how much sleep dictated everything about my day.”
“And now you have all that time to fill.”
She nodded.
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad I get to share those extra hours with the two of you,” I said. To Solara, I added, “If you see something you like, help yourself.”
My sorceress bit her lip but ultimately shook her head and flopped onto my bed. I loved the way her chest bounced and swung when she wasn’t constrained by a bra.
“Maybe in a bit,” she replied. “We leveled. Help us decide what to choose, Father?”
She rolled onto her stomach, propped her chin up in her hands, and batted her eyelashes.
I pushed my chair away from my desk and pulled Purity into my lap.
“Go ahead,” I said.
“Penny should go first. She has seniority.”
I saw no reason to argue with Solara, so I turned my attention to Penny. I could feel the curve and shape of her strong ass as she shifted on my thighs.
“I got a bonus ability for reaching tier 10 in silk archpriestess,” she began before reading the unlock from her system:
Touched Silk
Active Ability
Any silk in your presence is imbued with the blessing of your aura. Anyone touching that silk gets a 5% bonus to constitution, a 5% bonus to damage resistance, and a deep sense of clarity and belonging. The duration for how long silk retains your blessing is dependent on your level.
Sugar Daddy Bonus added the 5% bonus to damage resistance.
“That’s befitting of the Silk Goddess,” I said.
Purity smiled. “I thought so too. Here are my new choices…”
Create Sin
Passive Ability
Choose one action or idea and make it a sin. If someone who prays to you engages with that action or idea, they will feel your disappointment. The intensity of that disappointment increases based on their current prayer streak. This ability can be selected more than once.
Sugar Daddy Bonus added the ability to select Create Sin repeatedly.
(Optional Upgrade with Loyalty: Sins committed repeatedly increase the intensity of the disappointment.)
(Bonus Pledge: Anyone who has acquired a sin penalty can have that disappointment partially relieved and the long-term penalty of that sin erased by performing an act of penance of your choice. Additionally, pleasure from anal penetration is increased by an additional 25%.)
Abyssal Vessel
One-Time Ability
Selecting Abyssal Vessel immediately impregnates you with your sovereign’s child as if his seed had done so manually. That child will be born with 3 of your abilities, 3 of the sovereign’s abilities, and 3 abyssal traits–all selected at random.
Sugar Daddy Bonus added your 3 abilities to your child’s inheritance.
(Optional Upgrade with Loyalty: Your child receives 12 bonus stat points when they turn 13.)
(Bonus Pledge: Your child receives an additional ability of your choice from the sovereign. Ability must be selected at the time of conception. Additionally, pleasure from anal penetration is increased by an additional 25%.)
Harem Honor
Gain a 2% bonus to all stats for every person in your harem.
Sugar Daddy Bonus increased bonus from 1%.
Prerequisite: Undead, Harem Wife
(Optional Upgrade with Loyalty: Gain a 1% bonus to damage resistance for every person in your harem.)
(Bonus Pledge: Physical pleasure given to you by a member of your harem incorporates spiritual pleasure akin to enlightenment. Additionally, pleasure from anal penetration is increased by an additional 25%.)
I again questioned the motivation or purpose behind the system.
The system seemed intent on pushing me to have children.
Invia was offered Barbarian Queen in her last level-up, which provided our firstborn offspring with a number of bonus benefits.
Even if I wanted children, that ability was useless since my undeath did not extend to my sperm. I couldn’t have children.
But Abyssal Vessel “immediately impregnates you with your sovereign’s child as if his seed had done so manually.
” That made it sound like my infertility was irrelevant in this case, and that bothered me immensely.
If Purity wanted to insist on bearing my child, she could select Abyssal Vessel now or at any level-up in the future to force the issue.
If that ever happened, I’d likely have to kill both mother and child. I didn’t need an usurping ankle-biter complicating my life, and I couldn’t keep a wife around who was that willing to defy me.
That conflict simply wouldn’t exist if the system weren't an asshole, but more sovereign-on-sovereign conflict didn’t shock me.
I shouldn’t have been surprised by the Create Sin ability either, as we had already seen several system-driven mechanics for spreading a religion, but seeing the system going as far as to manipulate a person’s morality called into question every inner conflict I ever experienced.
Of those conflicts, how many of the thoughts weren’t really mine but were instead planted into my mind by an ability like Create Sin?
“If I chose Create Sin,” Purity began, “I could make it a sin to doubt the Silk or to think about any dick other than yours. More practically, we could make it a sin to skip worshipping the Silk once a day.”
She hadn’t mentioned the 25% bonus to anal pleasure, but I guessed she didn’t need to. Purity already loved having my dick buried up to the hilt, so she was probably looking forward to this Bonus Pledge.
“Do you have any old unlocks that might be interesting?”
“Answered Prayers gives me a new spell for every oath-taker, so that would be 21 new spells. Advanced Prayers would give me new prayers as well, with a focus on stronger versions of what I already have. And Hungry Mistress would be good to take sooner rather than later, so I can benefit more from Will points.”
“Harem Honor isn’t exciting, but the return is big,” I said.
She frowned. “I know, but…”
“But what?”
“In the past, if we picked an old unlock, we were offered the Bonus Pledge again but with a more intense version.”
I laughed to myself. Purity wanted to turn a 25% bonus to anal pleasure into something larger.
“Take Hungry Mistress,” I commanded.
+1 Loyalty Pledge.
+1 Unallocated stat point.
Purity grinned.
“How big is the bonus?” I asked.
“50%.”
Good for her. “Go on the bed, and put your ass in the air.” As Purity obeyed, I shouted to the tangle of women on the floor, “One of you lick Mistress Penny’s ass. After the first orgasm, use your finger. When you finish the second, keep it nice and wet for my turn.”