Access to abstract Affinities unlocked.

Access to additional resource types unlocked.

Additional Ecology traits unlocked.

Companion Climate unlocked.

Stellar Chrysthenium discovered. Provides sky.

Metallic Chrysthenium discovered. Provides metal resources when seeded on metal.

New Traits:

Core Specialization: Ecology:

Climate Biodiversity: Expands simple plant life in Climates. (1)

Companion Bounty: Creates Companion-attuned food Climates. (1)

Ecological Directives: Allows Companions to designate areas where Climates will be created. (3)

Climate Flourishing: Populate a targeted Climate instance with adapted animal life. (5)

Core Specialization: Companion

Climate Caretaker: Allows linking of Companion to Climates. (1)

Companion Adaptation: Companions are immune to negative affects of dungeon Climates. (4)

Climate Empowering: Allows a Companion to be empowered by the nature of a linked Climate. (10)

I had expected the flood of notifications when I purchased the Trait, though maybe not every item from it. The non-Companion core shifted ever so subtly, confirmation, at least to me, that whatever changes were going on were at an atomic level. Or the mana equivalent thereof. I couldn’t see that finely, or parse things moving that quickly, but it looked too close to a phase transition for me to think of it as anything else.

The change took maybe half a second, possibly even less, and the moment it was finished a shift rolled outward from where it stood at Shayma’s beach house. It wasn’t something that gave me more mana regeneration, which would have been almost redundant, or amplified the Climates or the plants inside them, since they were already healthy and robust. Instead the wave seemed to reach out and smear the mana flows of all my Climates for a moment before they snapped back.

The change hadn’t messed up the flows and the connections I’d forged between the Climates, it had simply altered them. Rather than a static and ordered pattern, it was a more chaotic one and, more importantly, one that changed and shifted. Somehow the Core had added feedback into my dynamos, which probably wouldn’t have much effect for me, but it would for anyone living there. Or anything.

The mana was no longer essentially identical across the scope of each Climate, but whorled and eddied and drifted as plants swayed and grew. It looked a lot more like Tarnil’s natural mana flow, changing from what was essentially a grid into something more like a tapestry. There were aspirations toward larger patterns. Patterns that people and animals used, consciously or not, finding quiet spaces to build dens and houses, and concentrations of power for shrines or meeting-grounds.

That wasn’t the only change in the Climates. In all the ones I’d linked up to the [Contained Star], where constellations glowed on the ceiling at night and the sun rose in the morning, there were corona-petaled flowers anchored to the stone. Though normally it took several days for my flowers to bear Sources, the sudden specialization seemed to treat the flowers as if they’d existed since I had gotten the Star. They instantly produced tiny, firefly-speck Sources. Small, but there were enough of them.

I was actually surprised that it gave it to me so easily, but I also remembered what had happened the first time I’d turned my plants into a dynamo. How everything had bloomed all at once, like it was just waiting for an extra push. Considering that I’d been feeding my Climates stellar mana for almost two weeks, there was probably more than enough of the stuff saturating the area for the Sources to form.

“Huh. Well, I can give Iniri her stellar Affinity now.”

“I suppose this will take longer than an hour, then,” Iniri said, which seemed uncharacteristically flippant before I noticed she was nervous. Or maybe just embarrassed, considering the audience. Taelah merely nodded, but Ansae had a knowing grin that was causing rising color in Iniri’s cheeks. “Did purchasing it give you anything else useful, Blue?” Iniri asked, doing her best to ignore Ansae.

“Nothing immediately weaponizable, unfortunately,” I said, feeling out the changes. It seemed to take five units of metal to plant a Metallic Chrysthenium, so I couldn’t yet make a Firmament version I could at least see about getting new sources of gold and silver and the rest, so I started that right away. I was a little disappointed I hadn’t gotten any other types of source flower, but I probably had to do some work to unlock the other types and I had limited time to fiddle. I’d work on it, but after I checked out the other changes.

While I’d had a lot of control over the climates before, all of them, even the most hostile ones, had been fairly calm and unchanging places. With the new Core Specialization there was an extra dimension to the Climate adjustments, one that I promptly turned all the way up in my experimental area, just to see what would happen.

The volcano promptly exploded. It didn’t just erupt, it detonated, hurling lava bombs high into the air and splattering lava not only over the ash and rock of the volcano itself, but into nearby forests, grasses, and lakes. Geysers of molten rock shot out of the ground as hot, poisonous gasses billowed outward, crashing into and flattening everything nearby.

It wasn’t the only Climate that was suddenly going wild. The Glacial climate was smothered in a white-out blizzard, with wind gusting hard enough to peel slivers of ice from the ground and hurl them through the air like daggers. The Desert Climate was absolutely drowned in a thundering sandstorm, while an immense tornado ripped apart the Grasslands. A typhoon lashed the Rainforest, while the sole Coastal climate I had in my experimental area was drowned under a sudden colossal wave.

“What was that?” Shayma asked, and I realized that the meeting room was close enough to the experimental area that they’d probably felt the volcano explode. Actually, considering how impressive that explosion had been, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the shaking had been noticeable outside the mountain.

“Uh. Turns out I was wrong. It is weaponizable.” Shayma blinked and then threw back her head and laughed. Ansae joined her, their eyes meeting and making her laugh even harder.

“Gods, I love you Blue,” she grinned.

“I love you too. What brought that on?”

“Just, you being you.” Shayma looked around at the others. Only Ansae had heard the exchange word for word, and she was wearing a wide, smokey grin. She wasn’t quite looking at the others, head tilted upward toward where everything was going wild, her eyes sparkling as she watched the devastation. “That rumble was Blue figuring out that yes, he did get something he can use against the mage-kings.”

“I never had any doubts,” Taelah said serenely. “Husband has a certain imagination.”

“I think I’m being teased, here.”

“Blue thinks we might tease him. I have no idea where he got that idea,” Shayma said, eyes wide in innocence.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way you all think of him,” Iniri shook her head. “He just shook a mountain and you’re laughing about it.”

“Actually, he made one explode,” Ansae said. “Believe me, it was amusing.” She leaned back and eyed Iniri thoughtfully. “I think you’re worrying overmuch about being in control. Not that I can blame you, considering all that’s gone on, but you might consider the merits of letting go a little bit. It’s the eve of a battle where you have to rely on someone else to carry the day. If you stay wound up that tight, you’re going to drive yourself crazy.” Iniri’s lips tightened, but she nodded at Ansae.

“Besides,” the dragon continued. “If you’re going to be going a couple rounds with Blue, you’re going to hurt yourself being so stiff.” Iniri glared, and Ansae just laughed. Finally, Iniri blew out a breath.

“You know, you’re probably right. These past few months have just been so stressful.”

“I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been, Your Highness,” Taelah said. “But even I know you have to have some time to relax after hard work.”

“I wish I had the time,” Iniri muttered, then smiled wryly. “I guess I’m making the time today, anyway. Was there anything else we needed to worry about, Blue?”

“Oh, just an update on the mage-kings.” I caught glimpses of them now and then, but they never really discussed any in-depth tactics or strategy that I could see. Mostly I saw discussions about my Scaleminds and how to deal with them, and given that I wasn’t going to put any Scaleminds near the invasion, that was completely moot. “They’re approaching at a steady pace, I think they’re planning to just roll in and demand I surrender and simply stomp me if I don’t. So same old, same old.”

“After facing Vok Nal, I really hope that they’re so overconfident you simply swat them out of the sky. I have no desire to go through that again.” Iniri shuddered.

“Yeah, me either.” I’d been insensate throughout that whole fight, but I’d heard about it afterward.

“Since we’re out of muffins, I have a lair to finish reinforcing,” Ansae said, peering into the empty basket before rising and stretching languorously. “It now seems like I should make sure it’s tough enough to withstand Blue accidentally blowing it up.”

“I wouldn’t do that. Probably. I hope, anyway.” Ansae just chuckled and padded toward her portal. Taelah got up as well, giving Iniri and Shayma a nod each.

“I still have alchemy to do, The Village to move…” She smiled at Iniri. “I’ll leave you to your privacy.” Unlike Ansae, she had access to the teleport pads, so she just walked to one side of the room and vanished.

“Iniri is welcome to use the hot springs again, of course,” I said. Shayma nodded and looked at Iniri.

“Blue wants to know if you’d like to go to the hot springs again.”

“I suppose so,” Iniri said. “I’m going to need a lot of relaxing this time.” Then she blushed, as if she only just then realized the double entendre in her words. Shayma chuckled, standing and gesturing toward the teleport.

“Blue has the hot springs ready for you,” Shayma said, escorting Iniri to the teleport. She didn’t exactly need it, but Shayma had better social sense than me. Iniri nodded, thanked her, and transported them both into my core room. I’d redecorated slightly since the last time she was there, mostly by fitting it into the new defensive structures, so while the cottage was the same, it was larger, better lit, and the hot springs were more ornate. Shayma stopped at the entrance to the springs, giving Iniri a grin.

“I’ll leave you alone now,” she said. “As always, Blue can send me if there’s something you really need to discuss, but this kind of thing doesn’t need words, usually.” She grinned and Iniri rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know why you enjoy teasing me about it so much,” she said, but she wasn’t actually complaining, doing her best to hide a smile. “In all seriousness though, I want to thank you and Blue for everything.”

“Oh, you’re quite welcome,” Shayma said breezily, then leaned in so she could murmur in Iniri’s ear. “Consider giving him a little more control this time. He can do all kinds of amazing things if you let him.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Iniri said, and Shayma stepped back, waving as she headed to the teleport pad and shifted herself back to the beach house. While Iniri began disrobing piece by piece, carefully laying her expensive clothing on the rail, Shayma stripped herself by simply stepping out of her clothing with [Phantasmal Path]. She flung herself into one of the chairs out on the veranda facing the coast, lounging naked with her legs spread wide.

“So Blue, can I get stellar Affinity too?”

“Um. I don’t have enough for both of you at the same time.” Iniri was level seventy-one, and Shayma was thirty-three, which meant that I’d need to regenerate some stellar Sources before I could fulfill that request. “Also, at the same time?”

“I’ll take kinetic then. And sure! It’ll be fun.” She grinned and wiggled her hips in the chair. “Don’t tell me you’ve never done that before.”

“Actually, I haven’t.” Generally, I tried to give my lover my full attention, but I was definitely willing to try it Shayma’s way. “Sounds fun to me, too!” Iniri was still undressing, but I created a breeding station under the hot springs as well as converting Shayma’s chair just to make sure it was possible, and not limited somehow. I had a suddenly greater appreciation for Iniri’s unintentional striptease, but there wasn’t any real strain, no more than there was for paying attention to two things more or less at once.

I wrapped some small tendrils around Shayma’s hands, interlacing with her fingers. While Shayma did rather enjoy being pinned down to a certain extent, I’d learned things from Taelah that Shayma liked as well. She appreciated the tender approach, at least to start, and she shifted her head to rub her cheek against the tendril I sent sliding up her neck, kissing the warm black flesh. I wrapped another one around her waist, pulling her against the cushion of the chair and stroking the skin of her belly, but I didn’t take advantage of her spread legs yet, even if I appreciated the view.

Iniri eased herself into the hot spring, and I could see muscles shifting under her skin as she groaned and popped her joints from stretching. It wasn’t obvious, given the way she dressed and how small she was, but of course at the third tier Iniri was fit and toned. With Iniri, instead of taking her hand I wrapped around her back, supporting her in the water and running two small tendrils up to curl about her antlers. I’d noticed they were sensitive before, despite just being horn, and the noise Iniri made as I started stroking and tugging showed I’d made the right decision.

“Oooh, I can feel Iniri too.” Shayma grinned, lifting her hands up to run them over her head, right next to her ears. “Wow, I can see why she likes having her antlers played with. Me too!” Illusionary antlers shimmered into existence on Shayma’s head in a blatant use, or misuse, of [Liminality].

“So does that mean…?” I asked, hesitantly grappling the fake appendages and finding they felt real enough.

“Iniri would never admit it but my gods she needs this.” Shayma laughed and ran her fingers over her own breasts as I tugged at her temporary antlers. “Give it to her good, Blue.”

“Mmm, that’s different. New…” Iniri muttered as under the water her small, pert nipples stiffened. I framed her breasts with a few more tendrils, squeezing gently as she let out a slow breath, her eyes half-closed. I didn’t want to rush her, but at the same time I wasn’t going to wait for her to guide everything. I could feel through the link that she was emotionally muddled, not nearly as sure of herself as last time, so given Shayma’s comment I decided she’d appreciate me taking the lead.

At the same time I twined tendrils about Shayma’s wrists and ankles, slowly lifting the latter up until they touched the former. Shayma giggled and squirmed as I put her in such a compromising position, licking teasingly at the tendril near her mouth as she flicked her tail. Focusing in on that, I grabbed the tail with another tendril and gave it a yank, getting a squeal for my efforts. Shayma liked a little bit of roughness, and she really liked having her tail pulled. Iniri made a squeak at the exact moment, wriggling as the jolt from Shayma rolled over onto her.

“You’re so naughty,” Shayma laughed.

“You love it,” I told her, and then stuffed a tendril into her mouth. She snorted and sucked it gently, flicking her tongue against the flesh. It wasn’t as sensitive as an actual cock, the breeding tendrils being subtly different in that regard, but I still enjoyed it, and more importantly Shayma did too, her enjoyment filtering over the link. Unlike Iniri, her emotions were bright and clean and looking forward to what I could do to her.

While Shayma enjoyed the anticipation, Iniri needed a more direct touch, and I lifted her out of the water, giving her a sturdy backrest and looping thick coils over her palms for her to grip. I focused some more specialized appendages on her neck and her chest above her breasts, licking away the clinging water with a soft, silky tongue. Iniri moaned softly, and I chased the most intense sensations as I slid around the side her neck, finding a place that sent a jolt through her and giving it a gentle nibble.

“Oh gods, it’s been too long,” Iniri said, squirming from the attentions. Her hands clamped around the tendrils I’d provided, looking down at herself as I guided the other tongue between her breasts. Small as they were, they were quite sensitive once she was in the mood, and I split the tongue tendril into two, licking spirals up both breasts at once. They seemed fuller than before, and I suspected more of Shayma’s involvement, somehow, despite their separation. They were linked, after all.

“Yes, please can you – oh!” I started out smoothly at first, then shifted to a rougher texture as I felt and heard her request, drawing pink lines along her breasts. With the water still clinging to her skin it was difficult to be certain, but I was pretty sure she was starting to get wet between her legs, the lips of her sex starting to color as she squirmed.

Shayma was definitely wet, pussy gleaming just from the position I’d put her in and being able to suck on me. I wrapped sheets of flesh over both her breasts, squeezing hard and then pinching her nipples to make her squirm, which she did most excellently.

“Mmph!” She added as I ran one small tendril against her folds, collecting the moisture there, lifting it to her mouth and letting her taste herself before using that same tendril to give her rear a good swat. That drew a muffled moan as the sharp sensation flashed through her, making her even more sensitive to the teasing of her soft breasts and peaked nipples.

“You’re in a mood,” she grinned, wiggling as I stroked along the smooth skin of her rear.

“Well you’re the one that gave me the idea,” I told her, giving her another swat, just hard enough to make her twitch, and then again, feeling how each smack fanned the fires of her arousal. She was almost dripping as I played with her, watching her pant and slowly rubbing one tendril against her pussy to make her shudder. Iniri was ready for more, too, spreading her legs as I sent one tendril to caress her thighs, wrapping about her leg and adding spice to the teasing of her breasts and the rubbing of her antlers.

“Stop teasing me!” Iniri growled as I gave her neck another nibble. I didn’t want to disappoint her, but I wasn’t quite ready yet so I rubbed against her folds, getting a moan as I parted the lips of her sex. I shifted the smooth tendril to something more interesting, converting to something with soft bumps as I rubbed against her, getting small gasps as I moved.

“Just put it in!” She snarled, her fangs flashing as I altered my angle to rub along the nub of her clitoris and give her a little more direct stimulation. While Shayma liked to suck on me, Iniri showed more of an inclination to bite, so I fashioned a firm but yielding ball at the end of one tendril and offered it to her. I couldn’t tell if her understanding came from the obvious form or from what she could feel through the link, but she immediately bit down on the ball, fangs digging into yielding flesh as she arched against my touch.

Attending to two women at once wasn’t exactly twice as intense, but it was definitely more than focusing on one at a time, even if sometimes that focus could fairly well consume me. Of course I hadn’t really gotten into it yet, but both of them were ready, so I fashioned a breeding tendril for each station. I could make multiple cocks, as many as I wished, but this was the first time I’d done so across different stations and for different women. The one I made for Shayma was smooth but thick and blunt-tipped, while Iniri’s was thinner, with a pointed tip and subtle ridges, according to their tastes. I really liked that I could customize for them, it made things so much more fun.

Since both Shayma and Iniri were dripping wet and eager, I brought up my cocks and drove into both pussies at once. Delicious heat and tightness surrounded me, subtly different as I stretched Shayma wide and flexed inside Iniri, similar in feel to using multiple shafts on one woman but different in so many indefinable ways. All of them amazing. Half my attention was on the way Iniri’s sex squeezed around me, a high-pitched keen muffled by the gag, and the other half was on the more familiar feel of Shayma’s pussy as I stretched and filled her.

“Oh wow is Iniri sensitive.” Shayma shuddered, panting and arching as she squeezed me. “Hnn…” She looked down at where I filled her, shivering as I drove inside her. “I love watching you fill me.”

“Then let’s do something about that,” I told her, and used the breeding station to snap open a pair of portals, giving her a better angle on where I plunged deep into her eager body. With Iniri I moved slowly, letting the texture on the cock do most of the work, black tendrils stroking horns and breasts as I began work myself within her, the pointed tip finding and rubbing the most tender spots inside her. Shayma preferred it harder, and each thrust of the hard shaft inside her pressed her back against the chair.

For the moment I kept things straightforward, filling the two women with considered thrusts that pricked their sensitivities and stoked the heat of their pleasure. Shayma got it hard, Iniri got it slow and twisty, and both of them moaned and squirmed as I took them. Though I was fucking Shayma harder, it was Iniri whose pleasure spiked upward the fastest, squeezing the tendrils hard with both hands and sex as she arched upward, milking my cock as if she could somehow fit more of it inside her.

“Blue, I—” She bit down hard on her tendril and came suddenly, body shuddering as her hot pleasure washed over her and into me through the link. I savored the feeling, not quite ready myself, except that suddenly Shayma arched and orgasmed too, so abruptly that I knew Iniri had triggered it.

I thought I’d been pacing myself, but the sudden feel of two orgasms, both the heady wash of their pleasure and the feel of both of them squeezing around my cocks in convulsive bliss, made me cum too. I flooded them with hot seed, thick and sticky, and slowed down for a moment to readjust. Iniri was panting and working her hips slowly, while Shayma was arched up against my cock.

“Oh, wow, that was…” Shayma shook her head, then laughed. “I mean, starting off easy today, Blue?” She challenged me. “Come on, I know you can do more.”

“Oh, I will. I just need to make sure I get everything right!” For Iniri I lengthened the ridges into long, fleshy nubs, flexible but firm enough to rake against her clit and outer folds each time I filled her. I could feel the thrill that went through her as she looked down at the newly-transformed cock, and she moaned and started to babble as I began to sink into her again.

“Gods, yes, fill me, breed me, I want everything inside me!” I had to adjust the nubs slightly, to make sure they hit just the right spots without stretching her painfully, but by the third thrust I had things just about perfect and every time I impaled her she writhed with pleasure.

Sometimes I went exotic for Shayma, but that didn’t seem to be her mood today. Instead I slid a second breeding tendril against her rear, this one already slick, and slowly drove it into her. Shayma moaned, and Iniri made a small, confused groan of arousal.

“Gods, why does that feel good? I could never do that but oh gods.” Inri shivered and writhed, vicariously enjoying Shayma’s double penetration. I took the hint and didn’t give her the same treatment, but did give Shayma a bit more force, thrusting in counterpoint to the cock filling her sex.

The flesh filling her mouth muffled her squeal at the sensation, making her body shudder from being so stretched and full. Her bonds held her wrists and ankles in place as I fucked her thoroughly, using both holes and giving her tail the occasional tug just to add to the experience. She wriggled and manifested [Liminality] hands, Iniri’s hands, to grab the breeders, trying to drive them into her harder. Her eyes were fixed on the portal I’d made, avidly watching me stretch and fill her.

“Yes, more, I need it!” Shayma pulled away from the tendril in her mouth long enough to make demands, arching against the bonds as I fucked her and pulling against my tendrils with her illusions, alternating thrusts as I felt her go hazy with pleasure over the link, focusing on the sensation of two thick cocks inside her. She didn’t even need the extra stimulation as I played with her breasts and toyed with her tail, not to mention the illusory horns, but I wasn’t about to stop. I even slid a small tendril to wrap around the swollen nub of her clit, stroking slowly while I used her and making her eyes roll backward from the sheer sensation.

Iniri kept trying to lean forward as I filled her with the barbed cock, continuing her lust-fueled muttering every time she stopped biting down on me, so I slowly tilted everything upward until she could ride me instead. Her fingers clutched the bracing tendrils I put out for her to lean against, feet kicking until I supported them so she could bounce on the shaft and roll her hips, feeling the texture shift inside her. Though all this I kept a pair of tendrils wrapped around her antlers, and I pulled on them harder while she rode me, making her release the gag long enough to moan, arching backward as she felt me drive deep.

While normally it would be laughable to consider three people matching their orgasms, the sensation sharing the breeding stations provided made it inevitable. As soon as Shayma went over the edge, gasping and shivering as she clenched hungrily around two of my cocks, that triggered Iniri to hilt herself on the barbed shaft and moan, her tail twitching. That pulled me to another climax, all three cocks shuddering as I pumped more seed into the two women. Iniri toppled forward, and I had to shift her support, leaving her slumped on the station with her hips in the air, juices drooling from her pussy.

“More, Blue,” she demanded. “Give me your babies, fill me all the way up!” The walls of her sex kept squeezing my shaft, so I wrapped some extra tendrils around her hips and legs to support her and lifted up her tail. Then I hammered into her pussy, the nubs of the cock making slick wet sounds as I filled her from behind and reduced her to incomprehensible noises.

“Oooh, my gods Blue, more of that,” Shayma said, already hazy from what I was doing to Iniri. But I didn’t need to fuck her any harder, instead I drove both cocks as deep as they could go and slowly expanded them until she was stretched so wide it almost hurt. Then I simply let them vibrate, buzzing and buried deep inside her as I felt her clench over me and suck at the tendril muffling her moans. For a moment I simply let her savor the sensations, then I shifted the tiny tendril around her clit and clamped a mouth over her sensitive nub.

From there I licked and sucked and nibbled at her clit, plying her with the low vibrations as I pinned her against the chair, her chest heaving as she panted. Shayma’s body tensed, bowing against my tendrils as the pleasure ramped upward and squeezing frantically as she shuddered. At the same time Iniri fairly melted against the support, eyes shut as she focused on the feel of my cock plunging into her. I could feel the moment she finally surrendered control, for the first time just letting me have my way with her.

I drew desperate, gasping moans from both women as I pleasured them, both of them shuddering under my touch and racing each other toward their peak. The third time I wasn’t entirely certain who started it, but all three of us were washed in a spiraling feedback of bliss as they squeezed and shuddered and I filled them with my seed, cocks throbbing as I flooded them. Shayma’s illusions disappeared, and only then did the breeding options appear, and I let the pair relax while the breeding stations enhanced their Affinities.

“Oooh, this is an amazing feeling,” Shayma said, tugging slightly at her bonds so I would release them, reaching down to slide her hands over her glowing belly. “Now I’m jealous of Taelah. No wonder she was smiling so much.”

“I like to think my skills had something to do with that, too!”

“Maybe,” Shayma giggled. “But I’m pretty sure you’re cheating.”

“Oooh.” Iniri moaned softly, reclining in her own post-coital bliss. “I think I’m jealous of Shayma. Wow.” She drifted in a haze for a little longer before her eyes suddenly snapped open and her tail lashed. “Please forget what I was saying,” she pleaded. “I was just – everything overwhelmed me and I completely lost control of my mouth. Don’t even tell Shayma!” I laughed, feeling actually a little sorry for her. What her body and youth wanted were not at all in tune with the weight of the crown she wore.

“Don’t worry,” I told her. “I’ll keep it a secret.”