After receiving directions from Tips, we once again set out through the streets of Raialie. The Younger side of town, named for the river it was adjacent to, was a much more commercial district.

And that made sense. After all, as I later found out, that was the river which connected the town to Bradfirth. As such, most of the trade went through it. So even in the late afternoon, there were hawkers and merchants all over the place selling all sorts of things from food to jewelry to things that I had never even heard of.

As the crowds increased, the lilim started to become… well, the best I can say is uneasy. I hesitate to use dogs as an analogy—that would be more than a little unfair—but there was a certain similarity to how… underfoot the two of them were acting. They were circling and darting about me with a jittery and nervous energy. Every single person—whether large or small, man or woman, adult or child—was a subject of interest at best or naked hostility at worst.

The latter was particularly true for any of the women who happened to look at us more than once. And going from my lilim’s reactions, a lot more of them were than what I was noticing.

At first, I was a more than little annoyed by their behavior. You would think that they had never walked around in public before, and besides, it was not as if we were in any danger. Going from Arx’s explanation, I was sure that people were just curious about the supposedly powerful Questers that had appeared in their midst and the funny clothes they were wearing. There was no reason to behave like we were trying to infiltrate an orc encampment or something.

By the time that we arrived at the bathhouse, even I was starting to feel uneasy. It was almost as if their skittishness was contagious. However, after a few moments, I realized that I was not actually feeling nervous at all. I was feeling a very slow, yet continuous stream of Life. Specifically from Jax.

We were around so many people—far more than I had ever seen at once on this world—and so much emotion that Jax could not contain any more, and per the skill she had purchased, she had unconsciously started feeding me the excess. I had to forgive myself for not noticing it at first. After all, it was not some torrent of Energy as often accompanied her vampiric ability or when she had to convert Lust.

Truthfully, it was a welcome relief. I had been on the road for quite a while and was absolutely famished. So, the experience was sort of like showing up to a party with an expansive hors d’oeuvres bar after having skipped lunch. Except that I had been skipping lunch for… well, I was not sure, actually. Like a month?

Weirdly enough, I could tell that now that the channel of Energy had opened up between us, Jax was starting to relax a little. She still hovered protectively, of course, but she seemed to gain a degree of confidence in her role. Her body language evened out, and she came to walk at my shoulder like a vigilant body guard rather than the overexcited dog primed to bark at every passing stranger that she had been.

As for Arx…

Well, Arx was starting to look a lot like a strung-out crackhead. She had a hunched posture and was staring fixedly at the ground. Meanwhile, her jitteriness had progressed to full on tremors, and she had begun clutching at her arms. She almost looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

Shit… we never got around to buying that skill for her.

But that was easily fixed. She had been gaining Layers steadily while we traveled, and I was pretty sure that she had not used the skill point she had earned this morning.

First, though, we needed to get out of the crowd.

Trying to be comforting, I wrapped an arm around her waist, and she practically jumped out of her own skin. However, when she realized it was me, she quickly pressed herself to my side as if to shield herself.

“Dearest!” she said, panting now from the overstimulation. “Dearest, help. I-it’s too much!”

I nodded reassuringly. “I know. Come on, let’s get inside.”

*****

It turned out that an eighth of silver was easily enough to purchase a private bathing room. According to my own estimate, that was something like fifty dollars, which… I had to suppose was high for accommodations like that. I had never once been to a bath house, so I had no idea. But the attendant we had negotiated with—a skinny, blond laoi fellow with an over-large nose—had been all smiles when we agreed on the rate, so I had to assume that he would be drawing a large tip from our payment.

I was not too upset about it, though. The price included an assortment of soaps and oils, brushes, rags, and even a few linens which, given their size, I had to assume were meant to be used as towels. Plus, we had free use of the room for the rest of the evening.

Besides, we were in too much of a hurry to bother with negotiating.

By the time we had found our room, Arx’s face was flushed with fever as the excess Life Energy in her body began to turn to heat. I was familiar with the experience. I had a similar reaction while Jax and I were attempting to escape from the Beetle’s food storage room. At the time, Jax was still quite new to the conversion process and was already quite full of Life from having been revived from death, so she had ended up sending way too much to me all at once. Of course, I had been able to quickly put the Life Energy to use, so I did not suffer long.

Of course, Arx did not have anything like that just yet.

As soon as I shut the door, Jax reached up to her shoulders. “Alright, sister. The skill yer wanting be called, Life for Master. When yer full of the stuff, it’ll send what ye don’t need to him.”

Arx nodded and quickly began murmuring under her breath.

I frowned to myself as I waited. I was a little unhappy with the fact that so much of Arx’s skill set was a carbon copy of Jax’s, but this was the final skill she would need in order to complete the Status Ailment to Life Energy skillchain we had going. From this point forward, we would pretty much be… well, not immune to Status Ailments, exactly. But we could deal with them pretty quickly.

Hmm… if I ever get another lilim, I need to figure out another way of dealing with all of this.

I was not certain whether that would be strictly necessary, of course. After all, it was a fairly powerful set of skills once you put them together. There was just something that was telling me that it was not a good idea to keep doing the same thing over and over again. Maybe I had been a gamer for too long, but I had a gut feeling that if I kept this up, the nerf hammer would not be long in coming.

Nerfs—technically ‘adjustments’ to a skill’s effectiveness—were the bane of all online gamers, though some argued that they were a necessary evil. After all, developers could not foresee every eventuality, and gamers were notorious for finding and exploiting the hell out of game-breaking skill combinations. However, it was often the case that such skills would be nerfed so hard that they would become all but useless, leaving once beloved characters to be abandoned with broken builds.

Still, just because I had done a thing twice, that did not make it some meta trend that the Goddess needed to urgently patch, and it could be argued that the number of skill points we had to sacrifice to get it to work balanced out how powerful it was. Plus, I had no idea whether Bline would even do something like that.

It would be nice to be able to have a real conversation with Her about this kind of thing, at some point. I wonder if Ahnbe could set that up? They were supposed to be sisters, after all. Though, the prospect of intentionally having another conversation with the Shepherdess was more than a little daunting, and I was not about to try and draw Her attention over something She might find trivial.

Right about then, I felt the telltale stirrings of another channel to my Core opening up through my crotch, and I turned as a decidedly Arx-flavored stream of Life began to flow into me.

My gray-skinned lilim sagged with relief as the skill activated, and she took a deep and calming breath. Somewhat hesitantly, she glanced at me, and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

“Wow… this is nice. It’s like every skill I take is specifically designed to make me… Mmm…” she paused to run her hands over the wave of gooseflesh that had pimpled her arms. “Can you feel it, too?” she asked finally.

“What? The Life Energy?” I asked, and at her nod, I smiled. “Sure, I can. I can even tell the difference between you and Jax. You have a different sort of… I dunno. Flavor, I guess. But yours isn’t quite as uh… well, I don’t want to say strong. It’s still quite nice. But it doesn’t come in as fast.”

At that admission, Arx’s unhappy pout was mirrored almost exactly by Jax’s self-satisfied grin.

“I’m sure that’ll change with practice,” Arx said, though whether to reassure me or herself, I could not say. “I only just purchased the skill.”

“Could be,” I allowed, but I had a doubt as to that.

Now that I could compare the flavors and consistencies of Life Energy flowing into me, I could tell more than ever that there was something different about the bonds I had between Jax and Arx. And I had a suspicion as to what that difference was.

Ever since Jax had made her vow of love back in the Dungeon and officially crossed over from Loyalty to Devotion, I had been able to sense her through our connection much more clearly. If I were to close my eyes and spin, I was certain that I could point out exactly where she was standing. Maybe even at quite a distance, too.

Might be useful to experiment with that…

Most of the time, I was not really even aware of it. Until now, I had only ever noticed it when we were having sex. I could feel her then. Feel her down to her Core. Her emotions. Her desires. And there was something else there in those moments. Something drawing us ever closer together.

And it made the sex really nice.

Of course, sex with Arx was great, too. She was nothing if not enthusiastic, after all, and far more experienced than Jax could ever be. But somehow, we did not quite have that same spark. Or not yet, anyway. I could sense that the potential was there, and it was growing steadily. It was like a pressure building up behind a clogged drain, ready to burst.

Something was missing though. And I was not sure if I needed to find it… or she did.

But for now, I did not want to put any pressure of my own on Arx. I was hardly dissatisfied with her, after all, and I was content to allow whatever this was to build at its own pace.

“Meh… you’re probably right,” I said finally.

Then, shifting my shoulders a bit as I readjusted to the double stream flowing through me… down there, I had a brief moment of hesitation. I was actually starting to get ever so slightly turned on from it, though it was not quite to the point yet where either of them would pick up on it. It would not be long, though.

I may as well just come out with it. It’ll probably happen anyway once we all start getting naked.

Then again, I was still a little irritated with Jax over the whole spanking incident. I did not exactly appreciate having our laundry aired like that, and she had pretty much announced her kink in front of the entirety of the Righteous Table Leg.

Hmm… maybe I can have a little fun with this…

“Actually,” I admitted nonchalantly, “with the both of you feeding me like that, it’s kind of… stimulating.”

Instantly, the both of them sucked in a breath, and the tightly fitted ponchos they had draped over themselves stretched precipitously.

“Master…?” Jax breathed hopefully.

I quickly turned away from them to hide my grin, and busied myself with examining the bath we had just rented for the night.

The room itself was fairly interesting if simple. It was hexagonal in shape, and besides the one with the door, each of the walls had a stone bench set before it that was just wide enough for a single person to occupy comfortably. Meanwhile, a tiled basin was situated in the center. It was also hexagonal in design and was settled so that the lip of it was even with the floor.

Curiously, I could see that the water in the basin seemed to have a bit of a current to it that traveled from left to right, and somewhat more of issue was the fact that I did not detect even a trace of warmth from the clear water there.

Frowning, I knelt down to test it, and sure enough, it was just as frigid as the river. In fact, I was pretty sure that it was the river.

The fuck? That sure as hell put a damper on things.

“Is there seriously no heat?” I asked in equal parts surprise and irritation. “I can’t believe we paid fif— uh… an eighth of silver for an unheated bath! That’s not expensive. That’s a ripoff!”

“We could keep ye warm while ye bathe, Master,” Jax suggested in a heavy and dreamy sort of tone, and I had little doubt as to which part of me she intended to impart that warmth. She was still breathing heavily from the mild suggestion I had teased them with.

Of course, I had deliberately provoked her, so I only had myself to blame. But this new problem had kind of killed my mood.

I shook my head before climbing back to my feet. “Tempting as that is, Jax, you may remember that I got hypothermia the last time we tried that.”

“Mmm…” Arx hummed briefly before, biting at her lip, “now that I’ve got this last skill, maybe we could all use a bit of practice? The faster we can convert Status Ailments, the safer we’ll be.”

I quirked an eyebrow. I had thought that, given our last experience, Arx would be a little hesitant to again tempt fate, but from the way that she was looking at me, it appeared not. Still, there was some merit to the suggestion.

Jax seemed to agree. Without another word, she stepped to one side of the room and excitedly began to shimmy out of her skirt. I could hardly help but to watch. It was such an unconsciously feminine act, and the way that her backside shifted back and forth to reveal the firm and rounded flesh beneath practically called to my base male instincts.

Just as the garment dropped to the floor, she realized that I was watching, and with a smile, she began to slowly and teasingly work at the twine that was keeping her poncho tied.

Clearing my throat gruffly, I tried to put on a disinterested tone, “You do realize that I have seen you naked quite a bit more than I’ve ever seen you clothed. And what are you planning anyway? You just going to jump in?”

“Why not?” she breathed seductively, not at all fooled. “We don’t feel the cold.”

“Yes, well, I do,” I replied. “In fact, everybody but you two would. How do they expect normal people to bathe in here?”

She shrugged with one shoulder, unconcerned. Then, turning away from me, she loosened the final bit of twine and the front of her poncho came loose. Very slightly yet deliberately, she bent at the waist, and I could just see the underside of her breasts. Shivering from my attention, she glanced back at me as she slowly rolled her hips, exposing the folds nestled between them.

Chebs… she isn’t letting up, is she?

She inhaled deeply, expanding her ribs—and the lovely mounds that topped them—as far as they could go. With a languid and silky sort of movement, she oh-so-slowly began to pull the poncho over her head, making certain to jostle her breasts in the process.

My eyes widened and I forced myself to look away. I could already feel my manhood beginning to stiffen.

Wow… she is getting way better at seduction. Of course, that made sense. Not a day went by that she did not try to tempt me in one way or another. It was probably her most practiced skill by this point.

Arx moaned slightly from my side, and I shot a glance at her. She was staring at Jax raptly, if anything, even more turned on than I was.

I swallowed only to find that my tongue had stuck to the roof of my mouth. “I’m uh… I’m still not sure that I want to do this. It’s not particularly… pleasant to have sex in freezing water.”

Jax giggled in a deep and sensuous sort of way. “Maybe I’ll drag ye in with me, then?” she teased as she turned back to face me, now fully naked.

Her body really was quite glorious. Her breasts were full and the pink nipples at their center showed quite clearly just how aroused she was. Her wild mane of red hair and the black horns that curled through it framed her face in a dazzling display. Her eyes, heavily lidded in her want, glimmered faintly in the low light of the room, and I could see the slight hint of a fang protruding from her lip as she smiled.

Placing one foot in front of the other to accentuate each step, she approached until she was close enough to gently cup my balls hanging loose from beneath the ever rising tent I was making of my skirt. And when she leaned against me, I could feel her hot breath as she whispered into my ear, “Maybe then ye’d… spank me? Like ye promised?”

At the reminder, I took a deep and calming breath, determined to keep my cool despite my rising libido. Her body and seductive skill were making that—and me—hard enough, but now that Jax had her hands on me, I was sure that I would not be able to hold out for long. She had purchased a skill back when we were in the Dungeon that allowed her to magnify what emotions she wanted a person to feel, and despite the fact that I had made her promise not to use it on me without permission, she was pretty bad about ‘forgetting’ about that. I was usually quick to forgive her, though.

Still, I had not yet had my fun.

Reaching up, I grabbed her by the hair at the back of her head and pulled her close. Slowly, I ran my hand down the small of her back and around the firm globes of her backside, sealing her body to my own and crushing my hard length against her center. Then, my eyes full of promise, I inched closer… And closer.

But I paused just before our lips met…

Then I grinned.

Jax let out a frustrated little cry of protest as I drew back.

“Arx…” I said, before turning to look at her.

Quickly taking her in, the rapt stare from earlier had progressed significantly. She was bent forward at the waist and had begun shifting her hips in twitchy little jerks. Meanwhile, her plush, gray lips had dropped open, and her breath had become shallow and caught at irregular intervals. It looked for all the world like she was struggling not to touch herself.

Startled, she snapped her mouth closed with a click. “Y-yes?”

I had been about to ask whether she might like to have a light spanking first just to keep screwing with Jax, though I knew that Arx was not the masochist of the pair. But now that I looked at her, I realized that she might have actually said yes.

If that happened… well, Jax might just riot.

Hmm… I may have just crossed the line.

Still, I was being quite serious about my hesitation to jump into that pool. Technically, I had the skills necessary to handle it, and I could use the practice. But the skill only helped deal with the onset of hypothermia, and there was a lot of leeway between that extreme and ‘far too cold for comfort.’

There has to be something we’re missing. No one would want to bathe in freezing river water.

Finally, I said, “I’m not going to spank anyone until I get some heat in here. Go ask the attend—” I paused as I had another thought, “or better yet, why not do that humming thing? You haven’t practiced your divining skill today.”

It took her several moments to master herself, but eventually she nodded and began to quietly hum a tuneless little melody. Though, it took her a few more moments to finally drag her eyes off of us. I was still holding Jax rather firmly, after all.

“M-mast…” Jax stammered, and I glanced back down at her. And then my eyes widened.

If Arx had looked like she was having a little trouble, Jax looked like she was close to losing it entirely. Her eyes were unfocused and beginning to dilate, and her breath was starting to come in great heaving gasps. In fact, from the way that she was leaning on me, I had a feeling that if I let her go, her legs might just collapse under her.

“S-so… so goo— Hah~!” she began before trying again, “T-touching m-me… Please… w-want!”

Yeah… I’ve definitely crossed the line.

It had been a while, but occasionally, I had noticed that Jax would have trouble speaking once she got particularly riled up. I was still unclear on what the root cause of it was, but at least I could rule out hunger. I could still feel a steady flow of Life coming from her.

In fact, it was starting to get even stronger.

Jeez… just because I teased her a little bit, there’s no reason for her to fly off the—

<ding!>

…you have got to be kidding me. I barely even did anything. And since when did You start handing out generic skill-up notices, Bline?

She did not reply.

Still, it was not that surprising that I would eventually get something like this. It was a rare conversation these days that did not eventually turn to sex. My only companionship for a while now had been a couple of feminine creatures whose near every thought was how to get into my pants. And I did not even have pants.

Abruptly, the faint humming from across the room crescendoed into a wheezing sort of grunt, and when I looked, I saw that Arx had hunched over with her legs crossed. Quietly, a low moan escaped her trembling lips, “Ahhhn~ yes…”

“Yes?” I prodded, after a moment. I could see that she had just had a slight climax, though I had no idea what might have caused it.

Moreover, since I was holding Jax so close, I could practically feel the effect it was having on her through our connection. With how far gone she already was, her mouth had gaped open at my chest, and she was breathing hotly enough through the fabric to create a damp spot. Slowly, she ran her hand up my stomach to lift it out of her way and began to gently growl and bite at me. Meanwhile, her other hand was practically trembling over my erection.

“Uhm…” Arx said after taking a moment to recover—though I could tell that she was struggling not to look at us. “Sorry, I uh… My skill, Thirst for Master’s Touch… it’s not very high yet. With all the… tension in here… and uh… and then trying to use C-cock Helps Me Think… I lost control for a second.”

Jax gasped at the mention of that word, and her hand tightened against my own.

I nodded slowly, trying very hard to ignore her. I could already feel my lust starting to surge uncontrollably from Jax’s skill, though whether she was losing patience or was doing it unconsciously, I could not say.

Lightly, I swatted her backside.

At almost the same instant, Arx cried out in ecstasy and sat heavily on one of the tiled seats as another minor climax rolled over her. Meanwhile, Jax’s legs had buckled completely, and I had to struggle to hold the sudden weight for several long seconds before she could stand again.

“More~!” Jax pleaded wantonly.

“You’ll get what you want soon enough,” I grunted. “Now stop that.”

She clutched me tightly and stood trembling for a several long moments as she struggled to control herself. However eventually, she nodded against my chest, and her skill’s grip on me lessened.

“Did the divining work, though?” I asked hopefully, addressing Arx again. By that point, I was almost ready to say ‘fuck it’ and jump in. “Did you figure something out?”

With her eyes closed, Arx nodded jerkily before gesturing to the far wall. “Y-yes, I… I think there’s a hidden panel there.”

So saying, she unsteadily rose to her feet and began tapping and pressing at various points at the spot. Eventually, she hit something, and the tile came away on a pair of hinges to reveal a knob. It was far less decorative than the rest of the room and a little dirty. It had the look of a thing meant for someone in the maintenance department to use.

Without wasting any time, she turned the knob several times, and a hissing sound filled the room. Within moments, steam filled the air from multiple vents set along the floor, and the temperature in the room quickly rose rapidly to an almost unbearable degree.

Sagging with relief, Arx quickly began fumbling at the knots keeping her poncho tied.

Oh, I get it… it’s like some kind of sauna. And then the bathwater is for us to cool down.

That thought had barely crossed my mind when I felt a tug on the drawstring at my waist, and when I looked down, I found Jax unceremoniously tossing the garment to the side. Now that the obstruction was gone, my engorged manhood thumped right into the waiting gap between her thighs.

Slowly, her trembling stilled, and she looked up at me. When our eyes met, I found nothing there save great pools of darkness.

And then very distinctly, I felt her lower lips kiss me.

My breath caught, and for several long seconds, I stared at her in amazement.

Holy… fuck…

Suddenly, like a stack of dishes shattering to the floor in the middle of a crowded restaurant, there was a knock on the door behind me, and without waiting for an answer, the attendant barged in carrying a large stack of fresh towels.

“Sorry!” he said loudly. “The cleaning staff just finished in here, and I think they forget to turn on… the…”

He froze as he took in the scene in front of him.

Arx was somewhere in the middle off ripping off her top, having given up on working at the knots, and her breasts were swinging loose as she struggled to pull the thing over her horns. Meanwhile, there was an audible, squelching pop as Jax’s vagina reflexively sucked my cock into itself in her surprise.

“Um…” he mumbled awkwardly. “M-maybe… maybe I should—”

“Maybe?!” Jax snarled, her face quickly contorting in rage, and fire practically shot from her eyes as she yelled, “Maybe ye should quit yer gawking and haul yer skinny ass outta here!!!”