“Alright, girls, it’s ready,” the Gamer declared, putting the food on the table. It wasn’t great, just scrambled eggs, bacon, French toast and a halfway decent casserole. That was the best John could do in terms of cooking. Throughout the months, he had occasionally helped Aclysia in the kitchen. That had gotten him a moderate bit of experience, but he was still a stranger to the craft.

It was good enough for the crowd though.

“Thanks…” a powerless Rave mumbled, tiredly scrapping some marmalade over her toast. John loaded some of the bacon on Eliza’s plate in the meantime. Once he was done, the blood mage picked it up with her bare hands and lethargically raised it to her mouth. Chewing with an open mouth normally would have gotten her scolded by Lydia, but the queen was too occupied with trying to sit halfway straight.

It was the morning directly after the orgy. None of the women were fit yet, as expected. Aclysia, Beatrice and Metra were still in the bedroom, not needing breakfast and only needing more rest. There was a distant feeling of guilt from the maids for not having helped in the breakfast preparations. It vanished regularly, as they fell asleep for ten to twenty minutes, only to be barely awake for five.

“This will be… the first day I miss appointments…” Lydia mumbled.

“I don’t even know what the stock market looks like…” Scarlett added her own complaint. Neither sounded as if they had the energy to care. John filled their glasses with water and they slowly reached out. They didn’t look anymore alive afterwards than they did before. Thankfully, they weren’t depressed – they were just tired.

“You can worry about it when you’re recovered,” John calmly said to both of them and the room at large. “Eat your bacon and sleep again. The world will turn without you for a day.”

He walked around the table and put some scrambled eggs in front of Sylph. Without saying a word, the air spirit put them inside herself and then blinked slowly. She did it again. The next time her eyes closed, they didn’t open again.

John carefully removed her from the chair and carried her back to the bedroom. By the time he was back, Gnome was hanging over her half-finished breakfast. The only movement was that of her chest rising and falling along her gentle breathing. Once he had moved her back to the bed, two other girls had fallen asleep. He was very careful not to stumble over Siena’s or Salamander’s tail.

The human girls ate about half of what they would regularly have for breakfast before falling asleep themselves. John carried them back to bed and placed some smoothies in thermos cups on the nightstand. Water was brought in as well and then John had sent them off to their second rest as well as he could. He was alone again.

For the most part.

“Quite the mess, I have to say,” Copernicus remarked, jumping onto the table while John got his own breakfast. “Quite the mess indeed.”

“I thought you would enjoy the quiet for a little while, so I sedated them all through expansive fucking,” John responded with a joke, loading some scrambled egg on his fork.

“How considerate. I do miss the scratching, but the quiet is kind of nice.”

“My pleasure to provide it.”

“I am sure it was,” Copernicus responded in a semi-mocking tone. “What do you plan to do with the rest of your day?”

“Well, they’ll be in and out of sleep, so I thought I’d just stay around and watch over them,” John responded. “I already took the day off. Told the administration to keep things down to what is necessary today. Why do you ask?”

“To fully enjoy the quiet, I want you out of the house,” Copernicus stated with a semi-serious purr. “You sure you don’t want to work? I am sure you could get a lot done, concentrating on your tasks without a distraction under the table.”

“I’m sure I could, but no,” John leaned back and chewed his eggs thoroughly as he thought about his day. If he wanted to, working was as easy as sending Jack over. There was nothing that forced him to remain in the building with two bodies. Yet, he decided to keep the Mandala Sphere around. “As I said, I took the day off. The only thing aside from gaming I could want to do is some grinding. The only thing I want more than relaxing is that tenth Gamer Perk.”

The sun cat tapped around the rim of the table. “How about I keep watch here and you go out to do your levelling thing then?” he suggested.

“Hmmm.” John considered it. It was, by some measure, his duty to oversee the recovery of his girls. For one, because he wanted to be a good man and, for two, because he had put them in that state to begin with. However, as entertaining as it would have been to idle away the entire day gaming and see them pull themselves back together, it wasn’t a very productive use of his time.

Since the girls were now on their second sleep, they would wake up again with a moderate energy level. Aclysia would certainly have recovered enough to throw together something twice as delicious as his breakfast in half the time and with a quarter of the effort. Him being around wasn’t technically needed. The harem would certainly miss him being around, but they would also understand that he had levelling to do. Some would support him staying and some him working. Given that he had helped them shower yesterday and the breakfast just now, he felt he had done what was decent. With Copernicus offering to keep watch, he had the choice to prioritize his desire to be around his harem or productivity.

Under almost all circumstances, John would have picked the former. Waiting around wasn’t the most enticing way to spend time with his harem, though, and he really did want that Perk. “Yeah, let’s go with that,” John finally agreed. “Just let me finish my breakfast and I’ll be out of here. You know where everything is?”

“I live here,” the sun cat drily responded.

__________________________________________________________________________

John went outside about thirty minutes later. The Suit of the Chosen was in its shirt form, covering his body in black but leaving most of his arms bare. Buttons, of which the uppermost two were open, and threads were of a dark copper colour. The Pants of the Chosen shared the same colour scheme and combined to give the Gamer an elegant look. Elegant and a bit villainous.

Wearing some lighter colours would have likely made him appear more friendly in terms of first impressions. John didn’t want that. His clothes were a supporting factor for his public image and he was happy to dress in a way that signalled a light threat level. If he wanted someone to get a positive vibe from him, the Gamer was quite certain that body language was all he needed. In the meantime, creating an aura around him that demanded respect was serving him well.

Dressing like a good person wouldn’t have fit with him, but going all the way and ending up completely evil looking (or, worse, edgy) wasn’t where he wanted to be either. He was happy in the middle ground. A plain, black suit of extremely high quality over a muscular body and supporting a charismatic man.

‘I’m probably overthinking this,’ the Gamer laughed to himself, as his steps carried over the lawn. He had a pretty fantastic view from where he was. On top of his white-walled star fort, he could look over most of the western Guild Hall. The Elemental Islands, the Park, Newman Shire and part of the Residential district, he could see it all as he moved southwards. It was still quite early in the day, around 7 AM, so there was not a lot of movement going on. Even elementals slept. Only the Shadow Island saw some movement, but its inhabitants weren’t known for showing themselves willingly.

‘You on your way?’ John reached out to the sole presence in his mind that wasn’t hidden under the layer of sleep.

‘Swimming up the river,’ Stirwin responded. ‘A nice installation. All of these waterways let me get to anywhere in the Guild Hall without having to walk.’

‘You have long legs, that shouldn’t bother you too much,’ John returned.

‘You can swim, yet I doubt you would ever choose to do it rather than take a boat to cross the Hudson,’ the crocodile said, his deep voice brimming with friendly mockery. ‘Your soft body is designed for one environment, mine for another. It would make sense that I prefer to move through this one, would it not?’

‘Touché.’ John conceded the point, as he approached the southern bit of his Palace’s foundation. ‘How are you going to get up here though? You’re a bit too large to use the stairs.’

‘I was thinking about climbing up the wall,’ Stirwin presented the answer with a sigh. ‘However, that would cause property damage. I will just travel incorporeally.’

‘You could just do that instead of swimming,’ John pointed out, as he walked from grass to stone. A grey formation of melded rock, looking natural in the way it was placed, rose slightly out of the star fort’s floor. At its centre was a massive fountain. Water was steadily pulled from the edges of the Guild Hall through magical means and sent back into the central moat through a waterfall between the two southern tips of the fortress. Should water be removed from the Guild Hall, the Clearwater Fountain would have created new water instead, ensuring that the freshwater rivers all over Collide’s heart continued to run.

‘Swimming is too entertaining not to do it,’ Stirwin reprimanded. ‘I’ll be there in a minute.’

‘Take your time.’ The mental connection was put back into its passive state, as John put a hand into the water and took a few sips. As per usual, the Guild Hall was hot and, even though his short-sleeved shirt was pretty breathable, he was feeling a bit sweaty. The Weather Tower made it so that even the sunrays felt like it was mid-summer. It would only get hotter through the day.

John was happy to have Stirwin tag along, especially since he didn’t have to. Their ability to communicate would be cut once the Gamer went into the I.D. Gate. Even that much was exceptional and only possible thanks to a long-distance connection Perk he had gotten from the Elementalist Class last Christmas. Without it, John would have needed to shake up all the elemental girls awake and at least get them to continue their sleep inside his soul.

Under normal circumstances, Stirwin wouldn’t have been especially useful. He arguably would have hurt John’s chances to clear a dungeon more than he would have helped. The scaling difficulty would react to his presence, even though John still didn’t have the mana to get him to a truly helpful power level reliably.

However, John wasn’t going into a normal dungeon. He was going on an Adventure.

Having read the expanded description, John knew that these didn’t have a difficulty scaling at all. Because he was visiting either simulated or real Kingdoms, Gaia had to present him with people and entities that weren’t artificially empowered. Dropping a level 300 demon lord into a world just so a hero from another world could come in and take care of it was a bit of a dick move. Instead, the difficulty would come from the Quests he was given. That made it perfect for him to approach things in smaller or less combat focused groups.

Granted, that last bit was a theory. One that he was happy to test today. Because he could leave Adventures whenever he wanted (conflict situations aside), he wanted to take someone aside from Stirwin along for the ride.

Refreshed, John rose from the fountain and walked over to the southern tip of his Palace. It was an outgrowth with several entrances, on the sides as well as on the roof, of which John took the one best suited for humans. Walking inside, the Gamer was happily surprised when he immediately found Velka. The Magryph was currently pulling a lever by holding onto it with her beak. Once it was all the way down, dry food poured out of an opening in the wall and into a bowl underneath.

Velka didn’t acknowledge his existence, not even when he kneeled down next to her. The best he got was an ear turning in his direction, as she lowered her beak to her breakfast. She poked at it a few times, evidently bored with what she was offered. John couldn’t exactly blame her. If he had found a non-messy way to store something aside from dry food for her to readily consume, he would have. Sadly, meat had a tendency of rotting, especially in these temperatures. Usually, Eliza or Nia would make up for this by visiting Velka and bringing her something more interesting.

Since neither were available today, it was on John to give her something more interesting to chew on. Reaching into his inventory, he pulled out a raw steak of the tender variety. “Hey, Velka,” he hummed, offering the chunk of meat.

The moment she smelled it, the bird-headed chimera turned towards him. After a few seconds of watching the steak dangle from John’s fingers, she carefully extended her neck. A little bit, a little bit more, she inched closer to the meal. Her beak parted slightly, showing her pink tongue. Then she suddenly snapped forwards and gripped the steak.

Just because he could, John held onto it. Velka’s hindlegs pressed against the smooth floor as she pulled as strongly as she could. Protesting warbles accompanied her futile attempts to overpower his grip. “Come on, you’re a predator,” John challenged her, pulling her back a little bit. “Work for your food.”

The Magryph did. Pulling and pulling on the meat, she tried to pry it away from him for almost a full minute, before John decided she had won and slowly relented. When he let go, Velka stumbled backwards, but kept hold of her breakfast. She dropped it to the floor, put one of her birdlike front claws on it and proceeded to tear strips out of the raw meat.

John watched her. There was something darkly intriguing about seeing his pet rip apart her meal. Every piece was pinned with the tip of her beak, as she raised her head to make gravity do the work of delivering it down to her throat.

He was less enticed in watching her poop after she was done with the meal. At least the self-cleaning litter box meant that he didn’t have to deal with it. A bird of hygiene, Velka then jumped into the shallow end of the pool inside her home and thoroughly groomed herself. John decided to help her out by grabbing a brush and combing through her dark fur, while Velka went through the feathers of her black and white wings with her black and white beak. Only her eyes were of a dark red.

“Aren’t we two an aesthetically matching pair?” John hummed as he put away the brush and stepped away from the pool before a drying Velka could cover him in flying droplets. Like dogs and cats, the Magryph shook her body at a high speed and made excess water scatter all over the place. A few more beats of her wings, and she was mostly dry. “Good on me for teaching you to like water.”

Velka stepped over to her food wall and pulled another lever. A soft stream of water began to pour, arcing upwards and then falling into a drain. That she separated her bathing and drinking water spoke to her advanced intelligence. She still couldn’t speak, but she was definitely smarter than a parrot and even some people. That intelligence didn’t really reflect in advanced knowledge about math or language. Perhaps she would learn a few words in time, if she could figure out how to use her beak like that. The Tamer Class might offer a Perk to make it easier.

John was content with the amount of talking animals in his life, so he wasn’t certain he would pick it if he had the chance. Having a pet that was just a pet was nice and simple. Sure, Velka was more than the average cat or bird, but she wasn’t Stirwin. She had very good problem solving skills, but she was an animal.

John felt she was strong enough to take on a small Adventure though. In a good mood, the two months old Magryph rubbed her head against his knee. John scratched her between the ears. Her head was big enough now that his entire hand fit in the space between.

“You’re pretty big for your age, you know that?” the Gamer asked. “Did you front load all your growth spurts?” Velka was about 70 centimetres long (head to the base of her tail) and 50 centimetres high (shoulder) already. Commonly, Magryph’s grew to be about 140 cm by the end of their first year and another 10 over the second, reaching their average size of 150 cm. Because of the single Perk John had gotten from the Tamer Class, Velka was guaranteed to reach at least that size and would likely become one of the larger ones of her kind. That still meant she wouldn’t get much larger than 160 cm.

After a sixth of the time, she was already about halfway to the average of the first year. It was a sign that she was doing pretty well when it came to nutrition, if nothing else. Today, she would get a bit more than the usual excitement of running around. That was, if everything went according to expectation.

“Alright, come with me,” John told Velka and headed for the door. The bird-cat waited for a second, then decided to obey the simple command of her owner.