Chapter 10 - Strange and obvious things

 

I slowly woke up, taking in the foreign scent, the strange sensation of silk against my skin, and the heat wrapped around my right arm.

I opened my eyes, and smiled at Leony’s sleeping face, my little sister using my limb like a plushie, still red around her eyes from all the tears she shed yesterday, her knuckles purple from her expression of rage.

Ah, yes. I thought, slowly remembering where I was. My little sister’s room.

I patted her head slightly then freed my arm from her grasp, being very careful not to wake her up, and looked around me.

Leony’s room was wide, with two large windows currently being covered with heavy curtains that blocked daylight, yet filtered enough of it to let me see the rest of the place.

The bed was large and square, big enough for maybe three people, with fresh silk sheets and big comfortable cushions.

All around, the ground was covered by a soft that felt good to my naked feet when I rose on them. 

I kept exploring the room and found a desk, covered in numerous half-finished drawings of naked people. I looked at them for a second, appreciating the penmanship for some time before I turned around.

The next piece of furniture I looked for was the dresser, full of all the nice clothes Matrona bought for Leony, dresses for important occasions, casual clothing for day to day life, and sexy lingerie for special occasions.

I smiled, seeing how tidy her room was, and nearly laughed when I saw how large her makeup collection was, even seeing some alchemic concoction mixed with the rest, aphrodisiacs and pheromones and other similar things.

Finally, I settled on the large sofa and, seeing Leony still deep in sleep, I summoned my Tome and its spirit.

 

Yes mistress?

 

It asked me.

I’ve slept well and I got some time before I have to start working, so maybe you could tell me about those blinking lights from yesterday? I asked, and she promptly answer.

 

Of course mistress. Here, I summoned both of them, just grab one and it’ll lead you to the relevant information they want to show you.

 

I nodded at her explanation and grabbed the first one. The Tome opened softly, its pages turning without my help, and stop on the tenth page, now a bit fuller.

 

Page 10 (second part):

List of known properties:

Insemination (Major) 47% proficiency

Lubricant (Major) 12% proficiency

You will need to find properties before being able to apply them.

Your mastery of a property will change the efficiency at which your application of it will work.

You can raise mastery either by infusing points in a property, by using it or by collecting more samples.

 

The new stuff was coloured green, for better clarity it seemed.

Oh. Uh. I read it a second time. O-kay. So I guess I found those properties because I… took samples of things that had them? Like cum and femcum?

I asked my spirit.

 

Indeed, mistress. Moreover, you progress in your mastery of those properties by collecting more samples than needed to unlock them. Masteries can be raised indefinitely, and can make some properties really potent, like turning cum into a surefire insemination tool, as long as something can be inseminated at the end of it.

Do know that higher-potency effects will eat up lower ones and turn their proficiency into their own, and that you can access all levels under your current one at whatever proficiency you want, in case you need to fine-tune them.

 

Thanks. I answered, and muffled a laugh to avoid waking Leony up when I realised I could make breast milk that worked like cum, technically, since I could apply Insemination to milk at a 200 Energy cost.

However, beyond the simple comic of associating strange things together, the true potential of this ability didn’t escape my attention.

 

Say, am I restricted to sexual fluid effects, or are any properties fair game? Like, I don’t know, the healing property of an alchemical potion?

I asked very precisely, loose ideas slowly connected together to form concrete plans.

 

Any kind of property you’re able to find is fair game, mistress, the source of it is not relevant.

 

It answered flatly, but I could hear a touch of interest in its voice.

 

Perfect. I added another goal in my to-do list and kept moved my attention toward the second alert.

This time again the book moved on its own, going back to the first two pages and its runic circle, quickly summoning my miniature self and the associated sheet of parchment.

 

Name: Lilith Matrona

Age: 19

Race: Sealed - 37%

Strength: 8 Constitution: 7

Speed: 9 Dexterity: 11

Stamina Pool: 54/70

 

Uh. What? I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

I’ve got a sealed race now? What does that mean? Disbelieved, I asked the spirit.

 

I… don’t know? 

 

The spirit seemed hesitant and slightly shaken, as if not knowing was a horrible sin.

 

This is highly unusual. Luxuria’s interface is a tool of knowledge and discovery, meant for the user to know themselves best and be able to work with those data, to compensate weakness and reinforce strengths without the imprecision of guesswork.

The numbers and the description are standardised, streamlined interpretations of reality, be it those describing your or those describing the spells and effect.

This is unalterable, it’s impossible to tamper with the Tome’s analysis capabilities, which mean that you are… maybe, not human?

 

The spirit grew more and more hesitant through its whole monologue, until its final sentence when even its voice weakened.

 

Not human… I didn’t react quite as strongly as I thought I would, just because I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea.

Not human… Then what am I? And why is it sealed? I questioned, doubting my spirit’s words.

 

I really can’t say, mistress. By all parameters, you appear human, and none of your siblings nor your mother seems anything else than that, that’s why the Tome didn’t show your race at first. Humanity is the default comparison point because of how common they are, so the Tome didn’t bother showing modifiers that are irrelevant.

As for the seal… Maybe it’s some sort of bloodline curse, but in that case the Tome would have detected it directly and tried to suppress it, so it’s most likely something else I don’t know about, hence why I’m so useless at answering your questions.

I apologise, mistress.

 

It seemed quite angry at its lack of proper answer and I didn’t push further.

I looked one last time at the new racial entry of my sheet, letting the news wash over me for some time, before I turned the page.

 

Let’s… You know what? It’s still sealed, anyway, and we don’t know how to make the unsealing progress, so let’s not think about it for now. Track the evolution of the seal so we can know what impact it but, besides that, you don’t have to obsess over it, okay?

 

…Understood, mistress.

 

It seemed to be grateful, even if it was hard to know with its flat voice.

Pushing the disturbing fact at the back of my mind, I looked at my stored Energy, and started to wonder what to do with it.

 

I think I should boost my constitution and stamina. I was totally broken at the end of my shift, yesterday, and if I remember correctly, constitution is a representation of my toughness, right? How much my body can endure before breaking down? Isn’t that pretty vital?

I really felt like I was flogging a dead horse when I asked that question to my spirit, after all, the answer seemed pretty obvious but, being new at this, I needed to be sure of what I was doing.

I wasn’t afraid of wasting energy, I could always grind more of it by whoring myself out or something along those lines, but I really didn’t want to make an irreversible mistake.

I mean, I mildly fucked myself up already by trying to channel Energy while being dicked, greedy little thing that I was, so a bit of caution could do me some good.

 

You’re perfectly right, mistress, and I personally think increasing your Constitution as much as you can should be pretty high on your list. You don’t seem to be in direct danger as of now, but adversity can appear anytime, and you won’t have any use of something like nipples+X if you’re dead.

 

It answered pretty clearly, convincing me I did need more resilience.

I looked around for the entrance of Leony’s private bathroom and found it quickly and, rising on my feet, I got ready to cast my first spell when I was interrupted by the gentle ringing of a doorbell.

I froze for a second, the sound opening a well of nostalgia in my mind I didn’t know I had.

I remembered getting ready for my morning training, the breakfast brought to my suit, the servant answering my whims.

I shook my head, exiting my reminiscence and quickly walked to the door leading to Leony’s boudoir, crossing to open the door leading to the corridor.

“Yes?” I said to the maids standing in front of me with trays of food.

“Breakfast, milady, for you and Mil-” She stumbled on her word and quickly recovered. “...for you and your pet, milady. We also bear a message from your estimated mother.” The first one quickly replied and retreated inside the boudoir, letting them do their job.

They quickly set things on the table, the plate enchanted with temporary fire or ice coating, to keep everything at the heat they should be until eaten.

The first maid finished before the second one, turning toward me.

“Your mother wishes to reassert her pride in your performance, and that she will soon give you more chances to prove yourself. Because she knows the previous night had to be pretty taxing, she also gives you the whole day off. Someone else will take care of your duties. This extends to your newly acquired pet, as you should use this day to start training her.” She repeated faithfully, and I dismissed her with a polite nod that she gave me back.

The two of them exited the room as fast as they came in, leaving me alone with the food.

I turned out to be slightly hungry, but I still had to work on my constitution spell, and I didn’t want to break the spells on the plate before Leony woke up.

As such, I went once again toward the bathroom, locking myself in.

I eyed the bath, swearing I would take one as soon as possible but, for now, I started the shower, using it as a cover for spellcasting as well as to wash away my nightly sweat.

 

***

 

I was sitting cross-legged under the hot water current, tuning it out as I was following the Tome and spirit’s instruction.

Just as the spirit explained, it had summoned the page containing the magic I wanted to cast, discovering it was waterproof in the process, thankfully, and the descriptive text had disappeared to let place for esoteric writings and runes that started being channelled through me, flooding my mind with curious knowledge I didn’t really understand.

Luckily, the spirit was doing most of the heavy lifting here, instructing me on how to move the energy, how to draw in the air, how to create a construct of Primal force that would reinforce me.

Just like upgrading a body part, I had to move Primal Energy, but this time specific patterns and motions were required, a hardship compensated by the gentle touch of the spirit that guided me through the process and, soon enough, a soft green circle was floating in the air above me, a metre wide with its outring rotating one way, and its inner right the other way, completing a revolution in maybe thirty seconds.

Once I had stabilized the spell, tendrils started appearing from the centre of the runic circle, wrapping around me as they touched my skin and caressed my body, ethereal things that flowed into my eyes, inside my mouth, around my waist, penetrating my pussy, with nearly no mass behind their motion, which was unsettling.

However, that strange feeling was soon swept away by another, more powerful one, a throbbing in my chest, electricity in my muscles, clarity in my mind.

Slowly, over the course of ten minutes, I filtered Primal Energy through the circle, turning it into more and more tendrils that flooded my body with their power and then, suddenly, it was done, and the spell fizzled out of existence like a fire that had no more wood to burn.

I closed my fist, took a deep breath, and rose on my feet, water rolling on my skin.

I stretched and smiled.

This is fucking awesome. I thought.

Waking up this morning, I was still sore from all of yesterday’s work, still tired deep down, one night of sleep not enough to bring me back to my normal condition.

Now? I was full of energy, proudly radiating it, and I felt compelled to do something, to move, to run or to scream, to let out my newfound power.

I didn’t think this would be so amazing.

 

Well, what did you expect? Your constitution jumped from 7 to 12, nearly doubling your base value, and bringing back the linked stamina in full. From below average, you went to above average, at least in that stat.

 

“Hahaha!” I laughed out loud, still exuberant from the stat jump, and stepped out of the shower, quickly grabbing a towel.

Well, let’s put that newfound energy to work! I’ve things to do and a day off, let’s not slack off!

 

Of course, mistress.