The next morning it took a good deal of effort not to look like I was half dead. The girls punished me for my lecherous ways by pushing me to the very limits of my game-world stamina. I only got a couple hours of sleep before we were getting up to grab some breakfast at a local diner. Honestly, the biggest surprise in all this was Raven, who actually joined in on the ‘fun’. I had honestly forgotten that the drone body she was inhabiting had been originally designed for ‘recreational’ use.
And yeah, another tick on Seduction, and some extra attributes. I was also fairly certain that the AI was mocking me at this point, since I’d gotten that perk when the girls… well, anyway, there was nothing I could do about that. At least the AI was mocking me in a helpful way.
First thing first, we flew out to Windrunner Spire with the stasis chamber containing the DNA of Jagloth’s unique flora and fauna. Since the planet was now a lifeless husk, this would allow the scientists at the nature preserve to help bring them back from extinction. This wasn’t the first time the scientists at the Quel’thalas Nature Preserve had done this kind of thing, which is why some jokingly referred to the area as the Ghostlands, since there were many creatures who were once dead and had been brought back to life there.
It was honestly refreshing to have a job that went off smoothly, without any complications or people trying to kill us instead of us getting paid. And the money would be a nice bonus for where we were going next.
The flight to Spriteshack’s headquarters on Dimiya was a short and uneventful one. Honestly, the most exciting part of that whole deal, other than watching the tech types all giddy at a new toy to play with, was going through Spriteshack’s catalogue to find which augmentations we’d pick.
Shearah got the internal computer, since it would greatly help her with her maintenance tasks and in a couple ‘projects’ she was interested in doing, now that she was adjusting to her new life.
Carissa, on the other hand, wanted the pheromone gland to help with her job of ‘persuading’ people to be nice to us when I wasn’t around to do it. I had a feeling she was also going to be ‘testing’ it on me, but I’d long since given up on getting the girls to not use me as their constant stress relief.
Cali and Jaynie, meanwhile, decided that getting reflex boosters was the best use of their cheap upgrade. And honestly, I could see the point. That bonus to attack speed alone was worth it. They’d be even nastier combatants with this. Which is why I gave it to Sana, as well.
So, yeah, even Raven found something she wanted out of Spriteshack’s catalogue. While not technically an augmentation, I managed to sweet talk the guy helping us into letting it count as her augment, since she was an AI in a drone body. This multiprocessing array basically quintupled her processing ability in the drone, which made her less reliant on being within communications range of the ship to use her full abilities.
Princess Sheila decided on a rather interesting augmentation. The Shielding System didn’t work like the Shield psy power, which only blocked a certain amount of damage before collapsing. Instead, it created an area shield that reduced incoming damage for anyone inside. Since it could be used alongside the Shield power, that would allow us to be far more effective in a pitched fight or frontal assault, if we came on one of those again.
Of course, given my… nature, I couldn’t get most of the stuff in the Spriteshack catalogue. In fact, one of the few things I COULD get was this prototype infusion which would, supposedly, boost several of my abilities. But who knows what the final result would be?
Still, I took the infusion, because a potential benefit was worth the risk. Even if it killed me, I’d return from death, and if it had some kind of negative effect, I could find a way to deal with it or reverse it. Probably.
Oh, holy fucking shitballs on a pogo stick that hurt! Why didn’t anyone warn me that I was going to be injecting liquid fire into my fucking veins? Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh FUCK!
Eventually, when the feeling of being on fire from the inside out died down, I checked the notifications. Easier shapeshifting, huh? That was going to be fun. Especially the lack of pain bit. If I could make changes quicker and without pain, then I’d be able to use it more often. I mean, the whole reason I barely used my ability at all is because it hurt like a bitch, and I needed to have about ten minutes out of view to make the change. That wasn’t something you could do on the fly.
Of course, I didn’t practice my shapeshifting in the recovery room where they had me after the procedure. That would be stupid. But it wasn’t long after the pain died down that I was allowed to leave, after paying the bill, of course. Jaynie, Sheila, and Raven paid for their own augmentations (with Raven’s coming from the ship fund), but that still left me holding the bag for myself and my slaves. And it was a good thing we got the half off option, because all told, I was holding the bag for just at 600K credits worth of augmentations.
Once everyone was finished with their upgrades, I led the way back to the shuttle, eager to find someplace I wasn’t going to be under observation to start testing my shapeshifting abilities. I didn’t want to try using them in combat until I’d gotten used to them, after all. But Kiki had a surprise waiting for me when we got back to the ship.
The felisan was bouncing with excitement as we entered the cargo bay, and said, “Oh, good, you’re back! I’ve sold all my available stock already, and now I’ve got weapons on back order because people have seen your stream and seen what actual craftsmanship can do! I need a break from the shop, so why don’t we go out to the Arena?”
I looked over to her, and said, “The Arena? Is that some kind of tournament?”
“Yeah, open gladiator bouts. They do have a tournament every week, but today it is just free matches. They have two divisions, one for level 40 or under, and one for level 41 and up. Anyone can enter, slave or free.”
“Hmm. Now that sounds interesting. How are these fights done? Are they until one side yields, to the death, or what?”
“Usually until one side yields, or ‘dies’. Death in the arena isn’t permanent, even for locals, and nomads don’t get the death penalty, so it means anyone fighting can go all out. But the real fun is in the wagers!”
Cali was at my side, looking pointedly at me. “Master, we gotta go check this out! We could make a killing if we fought and won!”
Jaynie chuckled, “Not to mention we’d get a big boost in our combat skills just from the practice.”
Raven snickered. “You’d be middle of the pack in the 40 and under division, and many of them would be seasoned fighters, used to fighting in the Arena. But we could go and spectate, maybe throw a few bets ourselves.”
I sighed, once again giving in to the fact that I was the only guy in this group, and thus was doomed to be dragged about by the ladies unless I wanted a war I could not win. Well, I mock-sighed, at least, since I was interested in the Arena myself. “All right, all right. We’ll go check it out.”
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