After brunch, I visit the Adventurers guild with Katherine. When I enter the guild building with Katherine it is already crowded with adventurers. I see another Katherine at the reception desk. She is still dressed the same as when I first met her in revealing outfit of chest wrap bra and sashed skirt. I look beside me, and I see the same Katherine in black gown. 

"Is this that you meant by the other you?" I ask Katherine.

"Teehee, I was hoping for a more interesting expression from you. I will explain later." Katherine in black gown grins and fades into the shadows.

 Everyone else in the guild hall seems to be oblivious to her disappearance, as if they are used to this. Maybe I am just overthinking? Katherine at reception claps to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone be quiet while I explain the new group quest. King William of Vence, the largest city state in the North has declared himself High King of free city states to unite against the growing aggression of southern city states. Yellowseed and several other city states have pledge their loyalty. Coronation ceremony will begin one month from now, and this quest is to escort gifts and diplomats from Yellowseed to Vence. The pay is 5 gold per day for a max of 1 month. Half of the gold will be provided upon enlisting and remainder half will be paid on return. Recruitment is restricted to combat classes level 20 and up and non-combat classes level 10 and up. Registration ends tonight, and expedition will start a week from today. Additional information is posted on the bulletin board."

Some of the adventurers leaves the guild after hearing the level requirements. Bjorn spots me in the thinning crowd and bellows, "hey John, how was last night? I heard you tried to blackmail Katherine, but she tied you up and pounded you all night." Bjorn grabs my arm and looks at it closely. I have feeling something worse is going to come out of his drunkard breath and damn am I right. "Your skin is much smoother than when I last seen you! By Gaia, I heard of women getting smoother skin after sex, but this is something extraordinary!"

"No. It wasn't like that." I stamper "we are...we just had a long kiss." I stop. I am not sure how to describe my relationship with Katherine. We formed a bonding contract. Is that marriage? Common law? A simple romantic relationship? or maybe not even a romantic relationship?

"Don't worry, it is nothing to be ashamed off. I thought you would have more stories to tell. When I had sex with my wife the first time, I announced it to the whole town." Bjorn rambles as he swings his arms wide open and staggering a little. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. Not a soul will know."

I look around the hall, I see a couple of female adventurers blushing, and a few men sneer. I do not see Arne in the crowd. I turn my gaze back to Bjorn and I just stare at him in silence. Bjorn looks back blankly.

"I think you are inconsiderate and drunk Bjorn. I do not appreciate these comments." I reply to Bjorn. 

Ready to take my leave. I decide to try out a passive I gained from my contract with Katherine.

<Spirit Bond> - Detect Lust

I sense the lust in the air. There are few weak tendrils of sweet and salt flavors directed at me from the women, and the strongest is coming from Katherine. When I look towards her, Katherine is like magnet for lust. Lust of all flavors flows to her from the men and even some women, but one stands out above all others. A gentleman with blond hair wearing a golden gambeson with a sword that looks too ornate for an adventurer. He has a revoltingly bitter stream of lust towards Katherine - overshadowing all others. 

Remembering the odd one. I walk out of the guild. There is no point wasting time here.

I walk to town square in silence. I will probably spend the rest of the day visiting a few of the shops and check on the status of my inventions. I have little interest in an expedition that pays less than what I am making daily.

I bump into Katherine. The summer dress Katherine. "Want to take a walk with me? I just came back from visiting the orphanage that we went yesterday. I am sorry about what happened in the guild hall" she says. 

"Even when I know that you can split yourself to multiple copies, it still surprises me." 

The town center is becoming increasingly busy as Adventurers are procuring supply for the expeditions, and the merchants and artisans too have become busy with processing their orders. We walk away from the crowds and take our stroll to the west side of the town and on path to church.

"You promised to tell me about your other selves." I remind Katherine.

"It may be easier if I show you my status and go from there. Since we are bonded now, we can share our detailed status freely." Katherine replies.

<Katherine>

Status:

• Strength: 99
• Agility: 99
• Intelligence: 99
• Endurance: 99
• Vitality: 9998/9999
• Mana: 9999/9999
• Soul: 1 / 3 (bonded)

Skill:

• Domain of Lust (Shared)
• Domain of Attraction (Shared)
• Domain of Attachment (Max)
• Acoustics (Expert)
• Sexology (Expert)

Effect:

• Debuff: In thrall to Lilith
• Debuff: Assimilation to Lilith
• Buff: Cherished by many
• Buff: Children of Lilith

Class:

• Succubus of Attachment <level 80>
• Dream weaver <level 80>
• Combat master <level 80>
• Caregiver <Max>
• Philosopher of Lust <Max>
• Spirit Bond <level 1>

I look at these stats. I don't think I have ever met anyone in town this powerful. Town guards are mostly retired adventurers, and the highest I have seen is only level 30 with their main combat class. Not only did Katherine reach level 80 on all of her classes, she also maxed out her base stats too.

"What is this Lilith person? She is giving you both buffs and debuffs?" I point to her status screen.

"Lilith is the ancient spirit of desire. All succubi are created by her. The moment a succubus is born, Lilith will feed on the vitality of the succubus, and the drain will become stronger over time." Katherine pauses slightly, "the only thing a succubus can do is to feed on others and level up her succubus powers to counter the drain, but of course our mother will not let us off so easily."

Katherine explains, "the more we use the succubus powers, the closer we are to Lilith. Eventually, we will become identical to her and be absorbed by her. I do not want to live a life with the only purpose of becoming a meaningless shell, so I explore the meaning of desire and I split myself into 3 new forms of succubus:

• Succubus of Lust - the carnal lust for sex. She is the one that you see behind the reception desk all day, and almost jumped on you when you first arrived.
• Succubus of Attraction - specialize in the mental desire and longing for romance. She likes to wear night gowns and stalk people.
• Succubus of Attachment - that is me. I simply like companionship. You could say that I the selfish part of love.

Each part of me has maxed out their respective classes and we share our powers across the three of us. We cannot fully remove Lilith's influence, but it is enough to halt the effect of the drain and assimilation."

"Wow, I don't really know how to respond. Is there a reason all three of you dress differently from each other?"

"Dresses that appeal to each role helps to reduce my reliance on succubus powers," says Katherine.

"I can help with that. why don't we spent the afternoon brainstorming some ideas"

"Don't you need to register for the expedition?"

"The pay for the expedition is too low for me to be bothered."

We spent rest of afternoon discussing fashion. I shower Katherine with my perverted ideas and drawings from different variety of bikini, lingerie, and even glorified bath robes.

* Acquires <Fashion Designer> class. Your understanding of fashion deepens.