“Alex, what the heck?” Suka says to get my attention. She’s playing with her tummy tattoo, which still depicts my and Gabby’s Mandragora infant son in her uterus within my heart-shaped and haloed brand, but now sports the addition of an interactive mark menu.

I’ve finally deflated enough to pull Cottontail and Lucinia off my knots. “Oh, it did something for you, too. Nice,” I say as I extract myself from my partners. The bunny girl is noticeably inflated and Lucinia coughs to clear seed from her throat. “I got a new mark ability called, ‘Power Bond’ and selected you. Get anything cool?”

The Cinderwolf girl continues to paw through her options. “Yeah, there’s way too much to choose from! Harpy Sight? Dark Magic? Slime Core? What am I supposed to do with these? Ooo, wait, I’ve got it!”

My eyes bulge as I hear her go through what sounds like my selected marks list. “Suka, let’s hold off a minute and think this through! We don’t know if—”

“Ogre Strength selected! Yes! Dura, you and me. Arm-wrestling. Outside. Now!”

“Dura no ‘fuse challenge!”

With that, two of my girls are storming outside into the early dawn light before I can object any further. My shoulders slump. She could’ve picked anything… “Well, I guess we should go watch.”

The girls and I all head outside to observe the match. Dura and Suka set up with their elbows on a big rock. They have Cottontail do the count.

“R-ready? One, two, t-three!”

It’s a closer match than I expected. The two of them are locked in a test of strength for long seconds. Muscles bulge and veins pulse, but there’s only one possible conclusion.

“Dura win!”

“Fuck, I almost got you, though!”

Gabby blinks in surprise as she remarks, “It’s shocking you lasted as long as you did, Suka. A wolf with improved strength is quite impressive.”

With no technique or strategy to speak of, the difference in height  seems to be the deciding factor. Even with so-called, ‘Ogre Strength,’ a person’s stature has a huge impact on their quantitative power. I decide to test my theory.

“Me next, Dura.” I kneel in Suka’s place as she stands and put my elbow on the rock.

“Sure, sure, Dura we’come challenge!”

I have a few inches on Suka as well as Orc Strength further boosting me, so it’s an even closer match than last time, but Dura proves my logic correct. If I have no idea what I’m doing, height becomes the primary factor, with magical strength enhancements being supplemental.

“Dura win ‘gain!”

Every little bit counts but I can safely refund Orc Strength without compromising my abilities if I find something better on the Goblinoid tree. Being able to lift another twenty or fifty pounds is great and all, but it’s certainly no night-and-day difference like having Ogre Strength versus nothing. That’s something Suka can attest to. The others are still fawning over her.

“How’re you so strong all of a sudden, huh?” Gale asks the Cinderwolf girl.

Suka tosses her hair. “I already said it’s some weird Alex magic. She did something and I picked this off the tattoo menu.”

All eyes on me again.

“Alex, this Power Bond,” Gabby begins with some repressed eagerness, “Suka was able to choose from any of your abilities?”

I shrug. “Seemed that way.”

The Goblin girl bows her head, deep in thought. “I bet there are some incredible hidden synergies. Alex, we must test this!”

“Spindle is suddenly interested in Vermillion’s magic catalog…”

“Dura strong, but get stronger?”

“Gale is a good girl! She deserves the Power Bond!”

“I’d like to be more useful as well,” the bunny girl says.

Et tu, Cottontail?

Of course, with an ability as crazy as Power Bond, the supply is going to be vastly short of the demand.

“Look, everyone calm down. I can’t make any more Power Bonds; I’m all out of marks for the moment. We’ll talk it over next time I get one, alright?”

After some grumbling, my harem drops the topic.

Gabby taps her head as she turns away. “Eidetic memory.”

The insinuation is clear enough. I won’t be able to get away with playing it off as a mistake next time.

Alright, the sun is rising, it’s golden hour. Time to do a little mark rearranging. First up, the newest: Profane marks.

 

*Profane Marks – None!*

Impish Profane Sight

Impish Stature

Impish Dark Magic

Impish Cock

 

Yep. All good. Wait, hold on.

“Gabby, can you take a look at this?”

“Hmm?”

I explain the situation to her.

“Any ideas why Malik would only be worth one mark for me?”

“Oh, I thought it was rather obvious and haven’t said anything. Sorry, Alex,” Gabby apologizes, but it doesn’t make me feel any better. “Then again, I’ve compiled and correlated all the data you’ve given me on what each monster you’ve interacted with yielded in terms of marks, so don’t feel dumb.” Harumph.

She continues, “Take the Wolf Lord, worth three marks because he’s a third-tier evolution. Then when you defeated the Cinderwolf, Suka, she was only worth one mark. What gives?”

“Hey, I’m worth tons of marks!”

“I know you are, hot stuff,” I wink to placate my spicy wolf bae. “It’s this stupid system that doesn’t understand.” She blushes, my tactic seeming to work.

Gabby clears her throat before going on, “We know from Alex defeating multiple enemies of the same type that redundancy isn’t counted in your favor. Only unique evolutions contribute to your mark count. So, why didn’t you get a Dire Wolf mark?”

That question has me scratching my head. “When did I defeat a Dire Wolf? Suka and I didn’t fight until she evolved.”

My Goblin wife wags a finger at me. “You got your Wolf Lord mark from a sexual encounter, not a battle. From what you said, you also had a sexual encounter with Suka before being formally introduced.” Shit, that’s right, I totally gave Suka cunnilingus that melted her legs in front of her whole clan. That has to count for something! “Don’t you have a hidden list of mark-less accomplishments? If I’m right, it’ll be there.”

I go dumpster diving through my buried backlog of tattoo non-notifications.

 

*Embarrassed the Dire Wolf – No Marks!*

 

Fuck, Gabby was right.

“It’s there.”

“What say?” Dura asks.

Suka punches the Ogress’ arm to get her to shut up. Dura doesn’t flinch and punches the Cinderwolf right back, causing Suka to stumble off balance.

“Just explain what this means already.” I evade the question for Suka’s benefit. Teasing in private is one thing, but I have a soft spot for that girl’s soft ass and don’t want to risk losing it by getting put in the proverbial doghouse.

Gabby has a very self-satisfied expression upon having her theory confirmed. “Obviously, the Dire Wolf evolution is redundant with Wolf Lord.”

Huh?

““Huh?”” Suka and Megan say in unison.

Gale is holding her head like she’s getting a headache from all this exposition. Flou is busy putting ruby rhinestones on Cottontail’s sexy Playmate outfit while the bunny girl follows the conversation quietly. Dura lost interest when her brief curiosity about Suka’s backstory went unanswered and started squishing one of Flou’s Fuzzy Slime bodies between her hands like an ancient human fidget toy. Spindle is listening without speaking with a spider’s patience and stillness. It’s a bit creepy once one realizes the Webling isn’t blinking.

“Think of it this way,” Gabby says, “The Wolf Lord gave you three marks: one from itself, one from the Dire Wolf he evolved from, and one from his Doggin first-tier evolution. Suka gave you one mark for her Cinderwolf evolution, no marks for her previous form as a Dire Wolf because it was redundant for you, and no marks for being born a Doggin because it was reductant for you. That logic applies to all the other monster marks you’ve gotten so far.”

“My original question was, ‘Why did Malik the Imp only give me one mark despite being a second-tier monster.’”

Gabby nods. “The logical conclusion is that the Profane tree doesn’t have a first-tier evolution. Which makes sense; they’re corrupted beings. That Imp was probably born a Goblin before being transformed by dark magic.”

I did think Malik looked a lot like a twisted Goblin when I first saw him. “Well, I feel like this was a long walk to answer a simple question, but at least some things make more sense.”

Megan pokes Gale awake, the Harpy girl having fallen asleep during Gabby’s speech.

Next is the Darkling mark tree. I go ahead and refund Darkling Sight under the light of the rising sun. Having spent some time considering my situation, I also decide to refund Spider Climb. It's a great ability but too situational to keep it equipped at all times.

 

*Darkling Marks – Two*

Darkling Sight

Wicked Weaver Profane Sight

Webling (B, BW, J, WW) Body

Black Widow Ovipositor

Servitor Egg Production

Webling (B, BW, J) Silk

Jumper Jump

Wicked Weaver Weaving

Wicked Weaver Perversion Rod

Webling (B, BW, J, WW) Fangs

Black Widow Venom

Burrower Acidic Venom

Jumper Aphrodisiac Venom

Wicked Weaver Vampiric Drain

Webling (BW, J, WW) Spider Climb

Webling Black Widow Scythes

Webling Black Widow Incubation Milk

Webling Burrower Tremor Sense

Wicked Weaver Webling Dark Magic

 

Yeah, I’ll leave these marks unspent. No idea what I’ll need it for until I decide what to do today. Actually, while everyone is here, I did want to ask…

“Fuck, I don’t want this to be a whole other thing after we just had this long spiel about marks, but it’s kind of important. Spindle, what am I doing wrong?” I summon a ball of darkness in my hand (twice as large as last time, thank you very much) and throw it away from the hut. Instead of impacting the ground and exploding like Malik’s orb of dark energy that nearly killed me, it dissolves in the air as it flies like a droplet of ink in the ocean.

The spider girl blinks, possibly for the first time all morning. “Um, Vermillion forgot to shape the energy?”

I facepalm. “Duh.”

Thinking back to my battle with Malik, he was constantly weaving runes and pentagrams and shit out of this ‘Profane energy.’ Thankfully, I watched him do it with Fast Learner equipped. I start conjuring more Dark Magic and wave my arms around. How did it go again…?

Misshaped runes and squiggles appear in the air around me that pop and fizzle. Sooty purple power glows radioactively around my hands. Except, I’m not even forming a ball at this point. It looks more like the fireworks behind your eyelids when you close your eyes super tight.

I stop, and the special effects gradually fade to the disappointment of my audience. I totally didn’t have an Eidetic memory equipped when I fought Malik. Sure, I can learn from watching, but imitating everything exactly right with no mistakes? Without Quick Study? Good luck with that.

“Oh, I see what went wrong,” Gabby says as she adjusts her spectacles. “You forgot to account for the leylines.”

“Leylines?”

The Goblin girl nods. “Yes, the lines of magical interactions undergirding reality. They surround us and penetrate us.”

“Heh, lewd,” Spindle giggles.

I school my expression because I was thinking the same thing… Ahem. “But, seriously, Gabby, leylines?”

“Let me show you.” Gabby grabs one of her Twisted rods (she never leaves the hut without at least one) and waves it around in the air. “There, see?”

“Um, no.” I don’t have any idea what she’s doing.

“Vermillion, I sensed you gain the Profane Sight through our mystical connection earlier. You should be able to see them.”

I squint my eyes. The nauseous sensation returns along with a sea of strange waves illustrated by invisible lines. They have no color, but my mind seems to want to color them. A wave of my hand both passes through most of them without interaction but causes smoke-trail whirlpools in the wispy grey lines. Gabby’s rod stirs the springy green lines wherever the tip goes.

“Trippy.” Now I think back to reading the Book of Monsters with Gabby’s glasses, I do remember seeing a bunch of funny lines everywhere. I just thought they were defects in the lenses. “So, Gabby, you’ve been able to see these ‘leylines’ all along?”

“That’s correct,” the green-skinned shortstack says. “It’s been quite frustrating being able to see, but not interact with the fundamental building blocks of magic until recently. I needed an external tool to initiate that interaction.” That’s why she had me rip off that Treefolk’s dick…

I repeat my earlier effort imitating Malik. This time, the results are at least spectacular. In my attempt to make something happen, I grasp and clutch at any hint of destructive energy. The power I accumulate seems as if it will align into a coherent shape with just a few more tweaks before disastrously spiraling out of control.

A tug on my back yanks me away from my spellwork as a stone barricade erupts from the ground in front of me. My harem dives for cover as the failed spell explodes in a flash of purple light.

There’s a small crater surrounded by singed plant life, but no lasting damage beyond the wrecked blast wall. Spindle severs the spider silk tether used to pull me away from the epicenter as Gabby dismisses her earthen creation.

My Webling lover tsks. “Try to be more careful with Dark Magic, Vermillion. Taming elemental chaos isn’t so simple as the mud flinging you’re used to.”

“Why is it still not working?” I ask, frustrated. “Shouldn’t I be able to learn a spell done in front of me multiple times now that I have Dark Magic and can see what I’m doing?”

Gabby approaches to whack me on the shin with her wooden dildo.

“Ow!”

“Alex, if you blow yourself up, I’ll never forgive you!” Gabby says with a huff. She’s not screaming angry as much as relieved we’re all okay. “Your habitual recklessness aside, I suspect it’s a combination of your lack of experience with leylines as well as the necessary specificity of Dark Magic spells.”

“The Goblin is exactly correct in this case,” Spindle agrees, playing cat’s cradle with lines of purple energy strung between her four hands. “Dark Magic requires knowledge and finesse.”

Ah! What am I doing trying to muddle through this when I have a teacher to learn from?!?

I turn to the Webling and ask, “Can you do Malik’s dark energy orb?”

The spider girl titters at my question. “It’s cute you think Spindle can memorize complex magical spellwork first try, no mistakes. Yes, she is awesome, but that would be an insane feat of magical prowess.”

By waving her Twisted rod around, Gabby manages to reproduce my first spell misfire (the harmless light show) exactly down to the same squiggles, pops, and fizzles. The rest of my harem is mildly interested, but the effect on a certain Webling is profound.

*Cough* “Ah, hmm. Uh, what, pray tell, did you say you were again, precisely, Miss?” Spindle suddenly has a lot more respect in her voice when addressing Gabby.

Gabby puffs out her chest, emphasizing her impressively voluptuous rack. “Goblin Apprentice, and ‘Miss Goblin’ is fine because I’m never telling you my full name, demon. Anyway, I’ve been stuck at this evolutionary stage for a while with plenty of time to work out the kinks.” She adjusts her spectacles again before continuing, “Copying your weaving is difficult more due to your many hands than a lack of ability to recall your spellwork.”

To prove her words, Gabby takes a Twisted rod in each hand and weaves strings of purple energy between them. The problem is simply that she’s very slow in going about it as if working with two fingers compared to Spindle’s twenty digits on four hands. However slow, her progress is steady.

Combining Fast Learner and Quick Study along with spellcasting capabilities is truly bonkers.

The spider girl grins, showing her fangs in contrast with her expression of joy. “Spindle is happy she left the underground. Alex has so very many fun toys to play with, and she is delighted to meet you, Miss Goblin. She looks forward to working together in the future…?”

“As long as you support Alex, I’m fine with collaboration,” Gabby assents with a flash of her pointy Goblin teeth.

I’m disappointed at not being able to use Dark Magic in a realistically useful way, but gratified two of my girls are learning to get along.

A thought occurs to me, “If the issue is a lack of knowledge, can’t we learn more Dark Magic by studying anything Malik left behind under Harpy Mountain?”

“Most certainly. While the barrier deactivated with his death, the inscribed runes should remain…” Spindle speculates before frowning. “Unfortunately, that would require us to descend into the hostile underground to contend with Mother’s forces and perhaps face her directly. There is much to gain and much at risk.”

Shit, she’s right. I forgot about the 'Would-Be-Queen Under the Mountain' she told me about and the army of Servitors I narrowly escaped. “Yeah, it’s not like we can pop down there for a quick look. Fighting our way to the abandoned Lizardman camp would be a whole thing.”

Put it on the list, I guess.

Regardless, that leaves our usage of Dark Magic rather limited. Hmm… “Spindle, not to downplay your abilities since you were key in defeating the Harpy Matron and made our bed last night, but can you do anything else with your magic?”

“She takes no offense, Vermillion. Spindle has long since realized she is more of a maker than a full-caster, hence the ‘Weaver’ designation. Textile creation and manipulation seems to come naturally due to her evolutionary origins. However, she has the potential to learn more advanced magics with the acquisition of new information sources.”

Gabby perks up at this spouting of data, then narrows her eyes at me. “You never told me the whole story of her evolution, not to mention all the details you left out about your time on the Mountain. I expect a thorough report for my research after being left behind yesterday.”

I rub the back of my head apologetically as I wince internally at all the talking required of me.

Unexpectedly, Dura lights up as she remembers something important. “Ah! Dura fo’got! Gabby want story Bruke evolved. Him Ogre General!”

Oh, fuck.