Everyone takes a seat inside my soul space as we gather for our usual family meeting.

"Why didn't Lily ask the golems if they're happy?" Alissa immediately asks, sitting pretty and looking like a fox-shaped orange snack.

"It wouldn't matter as Master can order us to say anything," Ted prudently answers, her voice echoing across the meeting hall as she has multiplied herself so that she can be on everyone's laps at once.

"Are all Earthlings this insufferably moralistic?" glorious Queen Yunia calmly remarks from her throne of flowers high above us and also simultaneously by the table.

But Ciel piously interjects, subtly glowing as she naturally radiates kindness, "No, what they're doing is correct. Every humanoid should be like them, inquisitive and concerned with the integrity of those above them." -Then she makes a bitter smile- "I sometimes get worried that the people around us are too trusting and might allow us to do something terrible without trying to advise or stop us."

"That's fair," I magnanimously nod with my colossal and shiny draconic head.

"But you can't deny that they're being goblin dicks about it," Roxanne cheekily remarks, floating in circles around us while striking alluring poses as she doesn't feel like just staying in her seat and looking pretty.

"Yes! That!" Alissa suddenly shouts and stands up in a huff, her tail upright. "The way they frame their questions is always so negative and critical."

But I serenely explain to the agitated, cute, little orange fox, "In Earthling culture, we've explored many concepts through philosophy and novels, so we already know how bad the things that I'm doing could be in reality. It's just that, in this world, there are complex mechanisms that make things more 'palatable.'"

"Then they shouldn't be so assuming!" she stubbornly exclaims and crosses her arms as she pouts. Then she also sits on my simultaneously human and draconic lap to calm herself down.

"That's also fair," I soothingly reply and start patting her.

"I think you should tell them to suck an orc's cock more often," Hana casually suggests, naked on her throne aside from the pelts that cover nothing important.

I slowly nod. "It's because the Gods told me to work with them that I'm trying to be so conciliatory."

"You're also reverting to your old Earthling thinking, Master Wolf," Suzy chimes in, her voice echoing only from Ciel's and Lina's laps as Ted is already occupying the rest.

"Hm?" I hum, asking for clarification of her remark.

"You more strongly suppress the dragon while in their presence," Jarn complies, standing like a statue beside my immensity.

"I noticed that too," Alissa agrees with her eyes closed as she savors the caressing.

And I smile wryly, showing my huge white fangs. "To be honest, I feel like they'd call me a cringe chuuni if I let the dragon loose in front of them."

"I don't think it's right for you to suppress it so much," Hana immediately states, head resting on her fist as her round tits hang alluringly.

"It is for wereanimals," Alissa retorts and opens her slutty not-kimono more to increase the cleavage.

Yeah, we had an argument about this a long time ago. Wereanimals basically have split personalities, and though I'm a weredragon, I'm still kind of similar to them.

I scratch the floor with one of my huge, blade-like claws as I deliberate, "I feel like I'm getting tired of suppressing it, so I might as well unchain the big D since they already said they'd stop bitching."

"Fuck yeah," Hana calmly cheers with a fearsome grin and flexes her glorious, emerald wings.

 

The scouting is going well. The officer takes them to a wide glider that needs barely any mana to stay afloat after the initial push, so it's the best stealth plane they could ask for. The glider's cabin is too small to fit the extra Celestial Horns, but they can just hang onto the wide sail so that they won't leave traces of mana by flying with their wings.

And the silent glider successfully manages to get close to the fortress without alerting the monsters, though they do have to kill a small number of roaming Dragolites and spirit monsters. The former aren't very intelligent, so even if they spotted our scouting party, it'd take a while before they could signal the fortress. It's the latter that are more dangerous as they likely have some sort of spirit sight, allowing them to see in the dark.

Still, it seems that even the spirits haven't spotted them, for Jarn gets a good look at the fortress, and it seems to be all quiet in there. The fortress itself is as described, a cylinder about as wide as the Carrier's length, as tall as a skyscraper, and full of firing ports where the cannons can be pushed out to allow them to aim directly up or down.

The cannons themselves are more like missile launchers, and I mean the modern definition of "missile launcher." They shoot Fire-propelled javelins that spew fire into the target if they manage to hit, an extremely cheap enchanted projectile, and almost the same as something that we already encountered once with Dawn of Fire. The purpose of these cannons is to disable the lightweight, low-speed aircraft that the Chimeras employ, so they're a non-issue for anything else, barring a lucky hit.

The fortress looks mighty pretty, though, making me a bit sad that I'll be wrecking that shit, but if I think about it like I'm cumming all over a gorgeous woman's face, I feel better about it. It follows the same Gothic and overly-decorated design as the entrance, but it's made of black stone to make it harder to see its silhouette. There are lights coming from within some of the firing ports, revealing the position of the fortress, but it's still hard to make out its whole shape, and they can just snuff out the lights during battle.

But we do need to plan this carefully. This is an enchanted and reinforced fortress staffed by experienced monsters. While it's possible for the wives and me to just ram my Cock into it and slaughter our way toward the portal to the next level, the chance that there could actually be an entire empire inside this dungeon makes things a bit more complicated.

We also don't know what could be beyond the portal, and if the monsters really have altered this level, what's to say they haven't filled the area after the portal with traps? We have to be careful about exploring it. And to do that, we first need to wreck this fortress up.

So let's think about this strategically. What will happen when we attack? How will the monsters respond? They'll man the cannons, turn off the lights, and start releasing the flying monsters in no particular order. None of those things are particularly dangerous to the wives and me, but The Four are in danger of being overwhelmed by flying monsters, as they've retreated from the fortress a few times for that exact reason.

It would also take an ungodly amount of time to clear the swarm by ourselves, so it's better if we bring the Carrier in along with some Chimera support. This turns the cannons into a small headache and also means we'll need to deploy the airplanes to deal with the swarm, but I'm not willing to sacrifice even a single airplane, so we need perfect control of the battlefield.

We could use the Carrier's huger [Wind Shield] to protect the Chimera airships, and since the fortress' cannons don't all face the same direction, this would limit their effective firepower. The question is whether we can kill the swarm before either the Carrier's defenses run out of juice or we get overwhelmed by their numbers.

"What are the flying monsters that come out of the fortress?" Jarn quietly questions the officer.

But he can't see shit in this darkness, so the beaver-headed man just looks in her general direction as he answers, "Dragolites and Stone Lancers, mostly. We've identified a few leader-types with their own flying units of Hippogryph and Kite Dragon riders, but there are too few of those to actually swarm us, and their units are too smart to engage recklessly."

Suddenly, the lights of the fortress go out, and Jarn starts to hear muffled grunts coming from within. Then the cannons and monsters finally come out.

And the officer promptly states, "They've finally noticed our presence. It won't be long before they locate us, so I advise we stay outside effective cannon range."

He said effective cannon range because they could still hit even if they're very far away, though it'd be extremely unlikely.

"Prepare to take off," Oritiki warns the Horns hanging onto the sail.

This is quite the late response from the monsters, and I believe we could easily exploit this weakness by infiltrating the fortress with The Four and then raising hell within. The monsters aren't concerned with such things as they have a swarm that can eventually overwhelm anything, but this will be a tough fight, so we need to stack all the advantages we can.

Then a minute passes in silence as Jarn's [Sense Presence] slowly fills with signals… too slowly.

"The monsters have become complacent," Yunia spells it out through [Bind].

And with this, a plan starts to form in my head.

"Jarn, we'll need you to count how many firing ports there are," I order as my mind races with thoughts.

"Understood, Master Wolf," she obediently replies. Then she quickly convenes with the other golems to discuss how to fulfill my order. Now that the fortress is fully darkened, everyone can see even less shit, but she still turns her head towards the other as she impassively announces, "I need to illuminate the fortress. I can do it on my own, but it will draw attention."

"I'll keep a [Gate] open in case we delve too deep," Alcander calmly states.

"Very well. I'll join my men in battle, then," Oritiki soberly follows up.

"I can fight while I observe, so no monsters will threaten this glider," Jarn declares.

And Jarn senses Oritiki nodding. "I'll wait for you to begin."

Then Inspector Gadget Jarn unleashes a fiery hell of [Abyssal Fire] upon the fortress.

"This… this might actually damage the cannons, too," Alcander remarks in awe as he watches the black, all-consuming fire with the wariness it deserves. He's been near Aisco long enough to know to fear magical flames.

"The cannons are replaceable. They'll have new ones ready the moment we retreat," the officer retorts.

And Jarn senses Alcander frown. "Hmm… what a troublesome fortress."

It wouldn't be a fortress if it wasn't a bitch to break.

Anyway, there's no need to cover it entirely with fire, just a vertical and a horizontal line. Then, after some quick maths, we have an estimate of the number of firing ports. But then I realize that the [Abyssal Fire] might actually scare the monsters into becoming more alert since it's something new, and they could get suspicious about why we'd do such harassment, while a cautious leader would assume this is a sign of an upcoming offensive from us.

"We apologize for our reckless plan," Jarn immediately states through [Bind].

It's fine. Any other alternative to illuminating the fortress would be just as likely to also make the monsters suspicious.

The fortress' lights also weren't enough to allow her to count the firing ports, so there was no other choice but to use our own lights. But now we have more important things to think about.

Though [Abyssal Fire] produces black flames, they still glow with heat, and that draws the attention of the mounting swarm. The Dragolites start screeching as they beeline towards the source of the flames, attracting the rest of the swarm towards their position, so Oritiki and her Horns activate their glowing armor to serve as a distraction while the glider turns on the [Fly] gem and escapes.

 

Back in the training yard, Urmeie stands up and sighs as she stretches, which strains her shirt as it tries to contain her massive furry melons. "This mana circulation training is boring as shit, but I can't deny that it works," she grumbles with a frown.

And I don't miss the chance to start some banter, "I'm impressed that you didn't complain once about it, but the Travelers, on the other hand…" Then I give the whiny little bitches in question a pointed look.

"I take exception to that," the bear Princess immediately replies, her frown deepening in anger and making me tense. "You should already know that I'm very dedicated to training, so it offends me that you'd suggest that I dislike it."

"Apologies, I made a careless remark," I immediately back down with grace.

"Hmph…!" she grunts haughtily and leaves.

But the smug look on Lily's dumb face makes me seethe in silence and vow a comeback.

 

For lunch, we have more weird Chimera dishes, and it's starting to make us a bit homesick. My influence has made the wives more open to trying out new food, but even that has a limit, and I'm starting to crave elven veggies. So, I give the cooks a crate of assorted elven food and ask them to prepare something for dinner.

"I'll supervise them to ensure they make the dishes correctly," Alissa helpfully volunteers.

"Thank you," Yunia speaks for all of us.

I mean, pineapple-flavored bark, ginger palm leaves, and chicken noodle moss clumps aren't bad, per se, but Chimera cuisine has as much mix-and-matching as their bodies, so I miss the more carefully crafted and balanced elven meals. Also, we could have some curry rice, which might impress The Four, or at least, it'll impress Lily, who grew up eating the yellow goodness.

"Hmm…! Spicy food!" Roxanne casually hums inside my soul space.

 

For the afternoon, it's time to get serious.

Lina, Aoi, and I convene with the golems in a private room while the rest of the girls train with The Four.

But wait, as we enter, I'm reminded of Alissa's Blessing from the Goddess of Love, which increases my "Sanity" by 4 whenever she's near me. And then that makes me remember the "curse" that gives me nightmares whenever I sleep alone.

No, it wasn't Alt-Lily who cursed me… but it would also be quite the counter-productive curse if my Lily did it since it pushed me towards Alissa.

The implications of this line of thinking scare me a bit, so I set them aside for another time.

Right now, my mind needs to be fully focused on the very important matter of guns. But not just any gun, no. Today's invention will be something revolutionary for the holy art of killing things, though it's more effective at killing flying things. I'm talking about the proximity fuse, but Lyle still hasn't invented radio waves or sensors yet, so we'll have to make do with a magical alternative: golems.

Our current airburst shells use a timed fuse, so we need to replace it with a golem that triggers the fragmentation round whenever it gets close to a monster. This will change the use of the shell from a "tactical deployment" to "fuck everything in the shell's path," which is a whole new level of lethality.

The problem is, I'm the only person who can create golems, and also, the new ones don't come with [Sense Presence] as that was something Arreira taught the golems back in Legado. If I only [Infuse] the trigger mechanism of the shell with a golem, they don't really cost much MP, so the first problem isn't that serious. As for the second, I've never had the time to finish my [Sense Soul] research, so I can't just mold their souls and give them the skill.

"Hey, we can help," Alissa interjects through [Bind], and I sense Yunia's nod of agreement.

"We could also try to flood you with the memories of our training," Ted comes up with an excellent idea!

Would it really be a Ryder Family Research Episode if we didn't try something stupid and potentially dangerous?

I grin as I eagerly give out the orders, "Aoi and Lina, control my body. Meanwhile, you girls hit me with the good stuff."

Alissa immediately tries to interject, "Wait, I'm having second thoughts about th-…"

"BRAIN DIVE, INITIATE!" I boldly shout.

"Gih!" Gify chirpily chirps and opens the gate for me to jump into the sea of memories.

 

"I'm right before you; how can you not sense me?" Arreira's baffled voice echoes across the room, yet I feel nothing. There's only darkness, cold, and, after he finishes speaking, absolute silence, yet what confuses me is that this environment makes me uncomfortable in my own body. I don't feel "cold," yet I do.

I've gotten distracted. How puzzling.

"Every living being creates disturbances in reality just by existing. They create change," Mother explains as she runs a finger across the table, leaving a mark as the mist has made it wet.

Almaria approaches the flower by the wall, then raises her hand to touch it but stops a couple of centimetri away. Then she begins her lecture, "Any form of life leaves a trace wherever they go, no matter where they are, or how lifeless their environment is. Everything is recorded in our environment, even the briefest of interactions." And I notice the flower slowly turning towards her hand.

"THIS IS MY PRESENCE!" Arreira roars as an overwhelming pressure constricts my whole body, yet I can still move it as if nothing was happening. A very confusing sensation.

But then his "presence" instantly disappears, and I'm left "cold" again.

Gurrier stares down at me as he slowly steps backward. "The absence of a presence is also evidence of it. You can hide your own presence, but you can't erase the change you've already caused just by being there." And he swings his arms, creating swirls of mist as he slowly becomes enshrouded by the white veil.

I sense a hit on the back of my head, and then I'm suddenly facing the floor as I fall forward.

"You failed, again… It's clear that you have no talent for this, but we do have time, so why not try again?" Arreira asks rhetorically. His voice starts with a disappointed inflection, but then his tone increases in pitch as he becomes amused at the prospect of playing hide and seek with me and the other golems.

But he eventually becomes bored of it, as humanoids are wont to do.

And he talks to himself as my colleagues and I rise from the floor, "You failed, again. Why are you all so single-minded? Is there too much stimulation? You seemingly can't multi-task, so perhaps the Deprivation Room will give you better focus?"

I dislike the dark room.

Dad gives us a speech, but the twins aren't listening, so Younger Mom has to flick their ears so that they'll take this seriously, "Everything living has a soul; that is what allows one to have control over their own Fate. Rocks have no souls, so they fall in predictable ways, unable to create 'change.' A rockslide is merely a foreseeable event, a tragedy at worst, an interesting event at best. But a feat achieved by a hero is a moment that must be recorded and celebrated."

For the Masters. For the Masters. For the Masters. I must find Arreira. For the Masters…

"Nooo~…! Not the Deprivation Room!" I whine as Mom slowly drags me by my tail, and I just slide across the waxed floor.

"Why do you hate it so much?" she asks with a confused frown.

"It's boooring!" I whine loudly and dramatically.

"It's boring," I complain as I frown at the Bed of Communion.

Dad kindly advises me as Younger Mom reassuringly puts a hand on my shoulder, "Pray for the Goddess of Growth to help you learn faster. You were born with [Weaverism], so you must learn [Precognition] for the prestige it'll bring to our family."

"If you do, I'll give you an enchanted hair brush," Elder Mom tries to encourage me… and it's rather effective.

Darkness is undesirable. Deprivation is undesirable. Stagnation is undesirable. I must get out of here.

"Follow your instincts," Arreira's voice comes from nowhere.

Yet I turn my head towards the source and walk forward.

And he promptly shouts excitedly, "See!? You do have an instinct! There's still a Thread in you! Just like your master!"

"Master?" I question out loud. It's been months since he last mentioned Master.

"Your master's raw soul is currently drifting towards his Fate! So do the same! You're supposedly a stunted copy of his own soul, after all," he encourages me, and I obey.

Almaria touches the flower, which then wraps its petals around her finger, as if craving the contact. "All beings who don't worship Order seek to entwine their Threads. Even monsters, as Destruction has made it their nature to seek out humanoids to kill."

A breeze touches my neck, giving me a chill and making my hair and fur stand on end. "Feel the mist shift, Alissa. Not just that which touches your skin; follow the wave back to its source. Follow the 'change.'"

"This my Life, my existence, a meta-concept that can be manipulated and quantified." And I sense something… private from Almaria touch me. No, "private" is too obscene. It isn't "intimacy," it's… "contact."

Just so that nothing blurs my senses, I'm made to wait in the darkness and silence for the longest time, but then we're suddenly overwhelmed by Arreira's enormous pressure.

"NOW YOU SEE ME!" his voice reaches us a second later.

Almaria turns to me, her face stern, and I tense up in anticipation of what's about to happen. She never gets tense unless it's something unpleasant. "You can overwhelm someone by flooding them with your Life, clogging their soul with so many 'interactions' that they lose control of their own body. Pay attention to when our Threads connect."

"NOW YOU DON'T!" Arreira shouts again.

And the Thread abruptly disconnects as the presence disappears. Now I'm left in darkness…

… making me yearn for contact again.

… almost instantly making me feel bored.

… and I cross my arms as I start to sulk.

But I sense it; I sense Mom's form wrapped in the mist. I sense his overwhelming presence, though now it seems so far away, as if the feeling of his pressure is just a distant memory. I sense her Thread suddenly connect to mine, and also her Life, which feels like a massive tank of water about to burst and drown me again.

Then the presence suddenly hits me like a fist to the face, and it's such a strong, shocking feeling that I never forget it again.

 

"Uuuugh…" I groan as I wake up from the brain dive.

I feel like I've been hit by a truck, and everything is spinning around me, so I immediately close my eyes, too dizzy and weak to do anything else. But then I realize that I can still open my "Stats," and when I do, I see that I've gained one point in [Sense Presence].