Placing the Lover’s Will marks on everyone was an orgy that lasted until noon. Predictably, Eliza got almost as horny as Aclysia when she was finally obliged. Metra and Scarlett, after she crawled out of her working area in the skyscraper, were no less horny though. Not that having all of his harem branded with his magic didn’t have a tremendous effect on John’s own state of desire.

Of course, everyone agreed to have the mark put on them. That they would be able to exceed their potential tremendously thanks to it was an added bonus to the general enjoyment of having such a mark (easily hideable, if desired). “At this point, it’s guaranteed that this harem will become the strongest force, relative to size, in the world,” John announced in the shower, once they were done.

“Like that wasn’t true before,” Rave answered, standing under her own stream of water to his right. They would have been cuddling, but they were in a genuine effort to get all the sexual fluids off them. For all the blessings her wild hair had, his girlfriend had to let the water run through it thoroughly to get all of the soaked and dried stuff out. Sex could be a nasty business.

Eliza was less concerned, currently having John balls-deep in her throat.

“Well, it wasn’t guaranteed before,” the Gamer retorted. “Thing is, now that Lover’s Will increases your maximum level by up to 500, most of you can go from 600 up to level 1000. By virtue of our actual abilities, I think Romulus and I will still be a cut above you even if we were all at that level. Regardless of that, the statistics bear out that a single organization in the world having several entities of that power will have a gargantuan advantage over anyone else.”

“Are you saying you’re going to rule the world one day, my king?” Metra had walked up behind him and was now wrapping her arms around his neck. Her sexy, muscular frame pressed against his back. Lubricated with water, smooth skin glided effortlessly. John could still see her brand before his mental eyes. Hers was a shade darker than everyone else, more black than blue, probably because her skin was darker as well. The Lover’s Will marks weren’t all the exact same variant of dark blue. On their bodies, anyway, on his they were all the same.

“I am saying that, as long as we survive long enough to train to that level, we are going to be the strongest group this world has ever seen,” John answered. There was a broad grin on his face. Not only did that guarantee that his girls were safe, the idea of having a harem of unfathomably powerful women played right into all the power fantasies he could have ever had.

Metra shared that in some capacity, letting out a long purring noise. “Being your sex slave is never going to get boring,” she whispered and softly bit his ear. At the same time, John came down Eliza’s throat. Life really was good.

The added bonus was that this shower sex wasn’t even wasted time in terms of getting stronger. Since they were now all marked, having intercourse with any of them counted towards Experience of Love. Sure, it was less efficient than traditional grinding, but EXP gained was EXP gained. Because it was percentage based, it might just one day become more efficient, however.

“Be a good sex slave then and get in front of me,” John instructed. Obeying with that wonderful sexual docility he had instilled in her on his birthday, Metra walked around him and positioned herself in front of the shower handle. Pulling out of Eliza, the Gamer slightly changed his angle and pushed into the berserker babe.

‘What timing,’ John thought with a grin, but focused on the brown ass in front of him for the moment.

After getting his dick wet, then properly cleaned by a soapy handjob from Undine, the harem came out of the shower properly clean. The lust of the harem had, at least for the moment, been satisfied. Lydia used that opportunity to get back home. John, in the meantime, raised his hands to open his character screen. Hands that were covered in marks, but not symmetrically and not even equally on one hand by itself. John knew exactly which mark corresponded with which girl, by memory and by instinct.

Going finger by finger, the breakdown was:

Index Finger (Left): Siena and Beatrice

Index Finger (Right): Salamander

Little Finger (Left): Undine and Sylph

Little Finger (Right): Empty

Middle Finger (Left): Empty

Middle Finger (Right): Eliza

Ring Finger (Left): Rave

Ring Finger (Right): Aclysia

Thumb (Left): Lydia and Metra

Thumb (Right): Gnome

Wrist (Left): Scarlett

Wrist (Right): Empty

The mark at the wrist was the only new one that was notable. When there was a second mark on a finger, it was simply represented by another heart shifted slightly upwards. Scarlett’s Lover’s Will mark was a ring around the wrist, touching all of the lines that originated from the fingers, by virtue of the sinews meeting where the heavily stylized heart was placed. Were the lines that made up the design less stylized and of a different colour, they would have looked very girly. As it was, the disconnected lines that made up the whole looked pretty cool. Although John was biased on that end.

John took his eyes off his hand, he would get used to all the markings eventually, and looked at his character screen instead. Points were quickly allocated in Intellect, another 7 steps taken towards the 500 mark.

‘Only one more level and I reach that goal,’ John thought and stroked his chin. ‘What then…?’

It was time for another session of thinking about his priorities. Since Lover Boy was only two more levels away from completion, combining his planning of new Stat priorities with future Class priorities was only logical.

‘Let’s check the list,’ John thought.

‘Did anything notable change since my last decision?’ he asked himself. ‘Not really. Metracana Master is not a thing I currently want to chase and Tamer isn’t a priority.’ Everything aside from Arcanist and Gamer was not a priority for John. Arcanist because it was the most likely boost to his combat power and Gamer because it was completely unique to him and should open some interesting paths going forwards.

Arcanist had the advantage of being part of working towards something John already knew he wanted, which was the Arcweaving melee class. He had bought the Skillbook several months ago and it was still collecting metaphorical dust in his trophy room (actual dust was taken care of by the maids) because he hadn’t cleared the conditions yet. Along with 5 levels in Arcanist, he would need 2 levels in Martial Artist.

In all due likelihood, if John decided to pursue Arcanist, he would get the full ten levels in it before changing to unlock this new Class. Arcweaving was always meant to counteract one of his weaknesses, it wasn’t supposed to define his fighting style going forwards. John was very happy with his position as a backline support and strategist. The goal was to prevent himself from being a sitting duck since any enemy with half a brain would focus the summoner whenever possible.

He already was pretty secure on that front, but more never hurt.

However, exactly because he was already secure on that front, he really wanted to see what Gamer did for him. The Class Bonus by itself was this nebulous Event Chance. While Events weren’t well defined, they generally worked out to give John a good amount of experience or other rewards. Having more of those wasn’t going to hurt.

In the spirit of adventurism, John decided to go with Gamer, once he was done with Lover Boy.

‘Now, for the Stats,’ he moved onto the more immediate topic. He was in the somewhat luxurious position that he didn’t really need anything to be higher at the moment. That meant he was well-situated, but it also meant that he had no idea what to prioritize next.

He knew he didn’t want to chase the Mental Stats further at the moment. When it came to mana, he was rarely found wanting. During some heated combat situations, the elementals or repeated Arc Lance use could momentarily deplete his mana pool, but the high regeneration generally fixed things. That aside, John was fully committed to get Wisdom higher whenever his expenditures against opponents started to deplete his resources on the regular.

That wasn’t the case yet, so he had some love to spread to the Social and Physical Stats. Libido didn’t need another increase. As much as John liked raising that Stat, making the sex more intense and showering him in wonderful Perks, it wasn’t useful in any fashion. There was a case to be made for Charisma, absolutely. The effects were passive and hard to notice in specific instances, but John definitely had noticed a general trend in his social interactions.

This wasn’t limited to just getting treated in a friendly fashion when talking or getting what he wanted when demanding it. Charisma also helped with minor things such as ending a conversation when he wanted to, avoiding general awkwardness, having an easy time chatting, making the delivery of his political speeches smooth, and so on. Particularly the public appearance thing was important. He was a leader figure and many people were judging him less by what he said and more by how he said it.

However, at 100, his Charisma seemed pretty sufficient at the moment.

Better to look into some of the Physical Stats. ‘Since Strength and Agility get buffed quite a bit by Rising Annihilation, I should concentrate on Endurance for now,’ John quickly decided. Having more numbers between himself and death was a very good argument for that Stat at any time. That aside, John could view his health as an indirect extension of his mana pool, by virtue of disabling Particle Skin to just face-tank certain hits.

The future priorities were figured out. Starting next level, John would start investing into Endurance until it hit 250, or until he felt he needed to pivot to Wisdom to get his mana regeneration higher. For Classes, he would max out Lover Boy and then move onto Gamer.

John dismissed his windows and stretched. “Alright!” he nearly shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “I’ll have to get back to my bureaucracy.”

“Already?” Rave complained. “I thought we could have an hour to cuddle or something.”

“We had some deep penetration cuddles for the last few hours,” John pointed out.

“Sure, but normal cuddles though.” His girlfriend wasn’t serious about her insistence and quickly changed tunes. “But you’re right, lots of stuff to do for me too.”

“What project did you pick up this time?” He was genuinely curious. As unsteady as her actions were, whatever Rave concentrated on generally turned out to be better for everyone involved afterwards. Since inner-barrier transportation was pretty much solved now (well, the Hudson Brawl had thrown a wrench in there, but that had gotten fixed) he didn’t know what she was getting up to now.

“I’m working on your redlight businesses to create some sort of common decency union,” she informed him. “Just some exchange of business practices, encouraging friendly competition and blabla. Ya know, so it’s easier to spot when some business is really shady.” Rave shrugged. “Suggested their customers wouldn’t be too happy if there were some businesses that were into the slave trade in the neighbourhood. Once that whole thing rolls properly, they should be able to control each other without too much government intervention.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” John nodded along. Of course, that plan only worked as long as the businesses in question were morally on the same wavelength as Fusion’s values. At the moment, that was most of them. He would keep an eye on that, which would still be easier than governmental supervision of everything. “You keep doing that then. Eliza,” the pretty little psycho perked up, “you’re on blowjob duty.”

“That’s a fucking thing now?” she asked.

“It means I get experience during work hours, so yes, it’s a thing now.”

“Wait a second,” Eliza blinked twice. “Your cum-dispensing ass is seriously fucking telling me that it is now my JOB to sit under your desk for up to eight hours a day, suck your fat, delicious cock, and be generally treated as an office tool that helps you farm experience?!”

“It’s the job of whoever is available and enjoys it,” John clarified. “Generally, though, yes.”

“I’m going to get fucking used!” the white-blue haired girl exclaimed. For a moment John wanted to correct her to ‘I’m going to be useful!’ but the way she said it worked better. “Are we starting right the fuck now or…?”

“I’m not doing home office, so no,” John told her. “We’re getting to the Guild Bank.” Mentally, he let Aclysia know that this was where he was headed. Whether she would join him there to help Eliza, do her own First Servant of State things or something else entirely was up to her.

They moved out shortly thereafter and John proceeded to have a pretty normal workday. Unsurprisingly, nothing had suddenly burned down during the one day he had been gone. All he had to contend with were changes to budgets and plans here and there. Nothing really intense or urgent. He also made a couple of phone calls congratulating people that had won local elections. Nothing he had to do, but he had the time and it served to make him more popular with that crowd while also giving him the chance to check what grass roots movements may have been popular at the time or in certain areas. If several people got in on the same election promises, particularly across parties, then the Gamer should keep an eye on those topics.

The only kind of important thing he got underway was the formation of the Bureau for Drug Categorization, with the goal of giving John a list of things to ban and showing him whether that cocaine-esque thing he wanted to push Assaults existed.

He also came. A lot. Eliza was as enthusiastic as anyone could be about her job. She made an absolute mess of her face and hair over the hours. It would have been a problem if she still had to walk back to the Palace to freshen up. Thanks to the latest Transport Station Tier, however, he could place Internal Teleporters.

They always came in pairs of two, connecting only to their dedicated partner, and several couldn’t be placed in close proximity to each other. They also could only be placed in the confines of the Guild Hall. More niche applications than the other teleporters John had, but they were still quite useful. Especially because they were only pads on the floor, taking up relatively little space.

John had put a pair connecting his office and a room of his Palace. A room that also had extra safety measures. As it so happened, these Internal Teleporters could be used by everyone that was part of Fusion. Having someone use this shortcut to break into his home wasn’t exactly something the Gamer wanted to entertain.

So, when Eliza had to take a break, be it to freshen up or because she wanted to check on Velka (the blood mage had an immediate interest in the tiny Magryph), she could do so without problems. It also made it easier for replacements to come in and take her place. While John did eventually reach the cap for the day, he did not tell the girls to stop. Except for the phone calls.