Outside Quartz City

  Jade groaned, feeling her skin tingle. Across from her sat Martyn, both of them seated.

  [You have gained the skill “Extrasensory.”]

  “This feels weird,” Jade said, looking around.

  “Yeah, it will at first, but you’ll get used to it,” Martyn replied.

  Right now, they were resting in Martyn’s former camp outside the city. The snow had been removed with magic, and a magic barrier was formed above them. Giving Jade the Extrasensory skill was important—it would help her with her intuition and senses.

  Following that, they began their physical training: a cycle of physical training, combat training, and skill training.

  The first week was the hardest for all of them. The second week was even more so.

  “God damn it!” Jade cursed, her body sweaty and shaking. She pushed off the ground with a stone block on her back, which would’ve been fine if not for the massive magic circle beneath her amplifying the gravity on her.

  And it wasn’t just her—Amber and Martyn also performed the same exercises under his gravity spell.

  They had been at this for at least two weeks, training under gravity. Jade recovered with healing baths, while Martyn and Amber let their healing factors work to repair their muscles.

  Their physical attributes increased thanks to it.

  “I hate this!” Jade whined.

  Martyn chuckled, his body struggling to push itself up. Amber remained focused, repeating push-ups with even more weight on her back compared to the other two.

  They routinely kept at this, training and sparring under gravity. It was a magnified version of bodyweight training, and putting themselves through limit-breaking exercises that would require more expensive equipment allowed them to make notable gains.

  Once their session ended, the rest of the day was spent improving their magic, which had them head to their respective magic towers to train, mastering new spells and improving efficiency in casting.

  And after that, they regrouped in the Inn where Amber meditated to increase her Arcana while Martyn and Jade worked on their creations.

  “So that’s how it works, huh,” Martyn said, sitting next to Jade as they broke down a mana bank to understand its inner workings.

  “So this is what they use to store mana?” Martyn said, breaking apart the metallic ball. “We could do the same with just a stone,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, but a stone can’t contain thousands of mana without exploding. Is this an alloy?” she asked.

  Martyn checked the book Donald had handed him. “It’s a cobalt and steel alloy, like a magic core. A cobalt core isn’t worth it for the long run because of how brittle it is.”

  Jade nodded, reaching a new level of understanding.

  “Let’s try to put this back together. I’ve got an idea for one we can make ourselves, although it won’t hold as much mana—maybe five thousand at max.”

  Martyn nodded, his mind spinning with his Tinkering and Appraisal skills. He came up with an idea to make their mana storage device. Aside from that, a gravity heart for the isnd was a simple creation—one Jade was thrilled about.

  “Oh, right, I also need you to scribe some things for me,” Jade said.

  “Like what?”

  “I’m pnning on making a magical mechanical bow. Jorn’s been teaching me a few things on the side. After reading how this store’s excess mana, I want to make a sort of heat-ray ser bow. I have a rough draft for it,” Jade said, pulling out an early sketch from her inventory.

  It looked like a mechanical bow with a hole in the centre where a mana storage orb was pced. The bow’s body was scribed with sigils, and seeing this, Martyn began to understand it. She stores excess mana, and with his gravity sigils, compresses the released heat.

  After conversing about their future projects, Amber and Martyn went to the plot of nd. Purchasing it was simple, and a surprise was the discount thanks to his title, saving them two extra gold coins.

  Around the snowfield were posts marking the nd they owned. It resembled a diamond.

  “How long until they begin construction here?” Martyn asked.

  “They said in a week, and it should be done in about a month,” Amber said, flipping through her notepad.

  Martyn nodded, satisfied with the assessment.

  Time flowed, and they went back to training and sparring against others in the battle arena, at times limiting their use of skills, fighting blindly to help enhance all of their abilities.

  During that time, the Knight Commander stopped by to inform Martyn of the assassin’s death. Curious, the lion-kin knight looked at Martyn with a small smile.

  “I see you’re taking the recent events seriously,” Commander Kory said.

  “Wait, you know as well?”

  “I was informed. So, how long do you pn on training for?” he asked as they walked by stalls.

  Martyn abbreviated his training routine, excluding Amber’s evolution. If news of Amber’s evolution into a Leviathan-kin is made public, he knew trouble would find them.

  “Aren’t you pnning to evolve as well?” Commander Kory raised a brow.

  Martyn stopped, his ears perking up and his tail flicking. “What?”

  “Wait… you don’t know?” The man looked at Martyn, bewildered. “Let’s go somewhere private. Can you teleport us outside the city?”

  Martyn nodded, snapping his fingers. A spell circle formed and brought them outside the city to one of the checkpoints in the forest. Upon arriving, Commander Kory snapped his fingers, forming a privacy barrier.

  The commander took a moment, looking around before scrutinizing Martyn. The panther-kin’s eyes were filled with anticipation. ‘Makes sense—he’s orphaned, so he would never have known.’

  “Unlike monsters with their multiple evolutions, for us who are descendants of the celestial beasts who fought alongside the dragons, we have one: the high variant. The purpose of this evolution is to allow us to shift into a more animalistic side, granting us more physical prowess to fight alongside the celestial beasts.”

  “Years of peace have made this ability redundant, which resulted in the next generation of beast-kin being unable to wield it—unless they evolved into the beast-kin of the wars. Thus, we deem it a high variant, the highest our species has ever been.”

  “I… why wasn’t I taught this?”

  “It’s the parent’s job. Also, it’s not something that can be achieved easily, which is why those born with it are regarded as the leaders of our tribes. Because they’re the closest to the celestial beasts,” he sighed.

  All of this was new to him but he quickly grasped it bringing a change to his pns. He realized they’d become stronger than necessary.

  “How do I become one?” Martyn asked.

  “There are three ways, and each is difficult. The first is to run into your celestial beast and prove yourself worthy of their blood. I was lucky—on one expedition, I ran into the Lion of Light, my kind’s god, and proved myself by making him bleed. Celestial beasts never stay in one pce too long, so it’s all about luck and chance. I don’t know why it’s their blood, but we theorize it has something to do with the dragons.”

  Martyn nodded, sure this option was out of his league.

  “And the other option?”

  “You need to eat a dragon heart, but that requires you to kill a dragon or a strong wyvern, which is currently beyond you. Doing so would give you a mana heart or a dragon heart depending on compatibility, in which the mana mixing with your blood would stir the bloodline within you and cause you to evolve. The other way is to form a mana heart yourself, which would be the same thing, but forming one is easier said than done. A mana heart is at the rank of high or archmages.”

  And that, too, was too far ahead.

  ‘Right now, I’m improving my mana veins, but a mana heart is four stages ahead,’ Martyn frowned. Still, he was thankful for the information. Maybe ter down the line, he’d be able to.

  “Thank you for letting me know about this,” Martyn said with a smile.

  “No problem. You may not know it yet, but some parts of the kingdom are watching you.”

  “I’m assuming that much and that it’s gonna get annoyingly busy for me,” Martyn sighed.

  After their meetup, Martyn returned to his training with Jade and Amber.

  Things felt slow at first, and while it was tiring, it was also fun seeing their attributes rise—and sexually frustrating for each of them as their glistening bodies and odour stirred a drive within them to fuck.

  It was especially an issue for Martyn when their workout clothes left little to the imagination.

  After the third week, they gave into their lust for each other mating like newlyweds. Amber was the first, in a sparring session with Martyn in which he was dominating her with his magic and skills. She lost and as her instincts told her she yielded herself tossing her weapons aside.

  Amber dove onto Martyn kissing him hungrily. And that snapped something inside of Martyn which led to him dominating the Kobold girl till he blissfully released his pent-up seed inside her.

  But he wasn't satisfied and like an animal in heat, he went after Jade next and was more than happy for any excuse to not train under gravity magic and blissfully guzzled his overflowing nectar.

  In the blink of an eye, the first month had passed. Together, they went to their plot of nd. Seeing the area cleared of snow and men beginning construction, they smiled and walked around.

  In the centre, a deep five-meter hole was dug. “This is where we’ll put the gravity heart, and next to it, two mana banks,” Jade said.

  Amber nodded. It was at the centre of their isnd, which meant it would spread its mana out uniformly, lifting the isnd.

  “How far along are you with the gravity heart and mana banks?” Amber asked.

  Martyn grumbled, “We’ve finished one bank. I’m pouring excess mana inside of it. I’m working on the other one while Jade’s working on making the heart.”

  “What’s wrong?” Amber tilted her head, noticing Martyn’s face.

  Jade giggled. “He’s upset because I told him to focus on making the banks instead of helping me.”

  “It’s not that,” he huffed.

  “It is. I told him he was slowing me down. I’m sorry, babe, you’re not on my level yet,” Jade said, kissing his cheek. Martyn still looked sour, but his tail happily swayed back and forth.

  “Alright, things seem to be going pretty well here. Let’s get back to training.”

  Their strength had grown quite well across the board, which only pushed them to work even harder for the second month, pushing themselves even further under a greater intensity of gravity.

  They hated it—each of them had their reasons—but what they hated most was their inability and weakness in a fight. Amber wanted to be a shield, Jade a reliable support, and Martyn the pilr they could lean on if things went south.

  And yet, he was the first to fall. Jade couldn’t do much besides struggle, and Amber was a poor shield.

  So they increased the intensity every week, training their skills and forming battle strategies and tactics. During that time, while Martyn sharpened his Spatial Awareness and Appraisal skills, a system prompt appeared.

  [Skill synergy has been detected. Requirements for skill fusion are possible.]

  [The skills “Spatial Awareness” and “Appraisal” are reacting to one another.]

  [Would you like to combine them into “Spatial Appraisal”?]

  “Of course,” Martyn agreed.

  The world around him felt different. Before, he had to activate both skills separately to do the same thing, but now it was easier—they melded into one. He could tell the range of his awareness increased and learning all there was to know about everything within didn’t cause as much mental strain.

  For Jade, she felt relief—no more training, or so she hoped. But her most proud achievement was the meter-wide metallic ball with rotating yers underneath and a glowing ball of mana at the centre.

  Putting her Artisan title to use, her Tinkering skill levelled up, just two away from reaching the peak. Her work was finally completed: the gravity heart and the mana banks next to it. She was ready to bring this to their nd and raise it.

  She couldn’t help herself, giggling in pce as she looked at her creation. It was something that took a lot of her focus, which rewarded her with a skill.

  [You have gained the skill “Focused Mind!”]

  It was a surprise for her but a welcome one. And it reaffirmed the effort she was putting into her creation.

  There was another reason for her excitement. For her to evolve, they had gone into the dungeon and secured enough cores for her to become a Goblin Elite. They fought for the past two months and gathered three C-ranked cores.

  All she had to do was wait for Amber.

  Amber had been a relentless training machine. For her, the entire pn depended on her ability, and she wanted to be useful. She knew she already was, but with what happened two months ago, the pain lit a spark within her.

  Every time she pushed herself, she compared it to back then, realizing how easy she had it, which pushed her psyche to keep going. Her skills had gone up, but what she focused more on were her attributes.

  She was going to evolve again—into a Leviathan-kin. To become anything close to her people’s gods was a dream come true for her and she loved Martyn more for it, but it all felt unreal.

  She wasn’t sure what would happen, what skills she’d gain from becoming a Leviathan-kin, but something told her this evolution would be perfect.

  Muddy Boots Inn

  The trio was sitting down, enjoying their dinner after another day of enduring work.

  “Alright, the new year is just two days away,” Martyn said.

  “Thank god our training is almost over!” Jade cheered, eating a scoop of ice cream.

  “It’s a shame we haven’t gained any increase in our attribute points for the st week,” Amber said, enjoying her cake. “At least my Arcana’s increased higher than the overall average.”

  Martyn nodded. With time, they compared the increase in stat points. Everyone gained an average increase of four points over the past two months of training, with Jade gaining more in Psyche and Amber in Arcana.

  Even though it was unlikely they wouldn’t get any growth in their st days, they would still train themselves—it was only natural.

  “Aside from that, we’re close to levelling up,” Martyn said, pulling up their status. When clearing the dungeon for monster cores for Jade. They made sure to get their experience bars as close to completion.

  [Martyn, Level 2 (2,670/2,700), Css: Monster Tamer, Points: 0, Titles: 5, Skills: 17]? [Mana: 960/960] [Strength: 38] [Agility: 36] [Vitality: 38] [Arcana: 40] [Psyche: 40]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (5), Agility (6), Muscurity (5), Swordsmanship (5), Basic Magic (5), Strong Mind (7), Soulbond (3), Monstrous Talent (3), Biology (5), Cooking (4), Fast Healing (4), Spatial Appraisal (5), Inventory (5), Extrasensory (4), Space Magic (4), Iron Gut (1), Tinkering (3)]

  Titles: (C) Rank Adventurer, Bookworm, Space Mage, Sage, Breacher.

  [Amber, Level 2 (2,672/2,700), Css: Knight, Points: 0, Titles: 5, Skills: 9]? [Mana: 1,225/1,225] [Strength: 43] [Agility: 41] [Vitality: 40] [Arcana: 49] [Psyche: 42]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (5), Tough Scales (5), Fast Healing (5), Spear and Shield Mastery (4), Focused Mind (5), Water Magic (5), Linguistic (4), Physicality (5), Extrasensory (4)]

  Titles: Leviathan Descent (97%), Bonded, (C) Rank Adventurer, Water Mage, Monster Girl.

  [Jade, Level 2 (2,670/2,700), Css: Bcksmith, Points: 0, Titles: 4, Skills: 9]? [Mana: 1,000/1,000] [Strength: 37] [Agility: 37] [Vitality: 36] [Arcana: 40] [Psyche: 38]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (5), Tough Body (5), Iron Gut (5), Tinkering (8), Archery (4), Enchantment (4), Fire Magic (5), Extrasensory (3), Focused Mind (3)]

  Titles: Artisan, Bonded, (C) Rank Adventurer, Fire Mage.

  After their dinner, they slept soundly together in bed. The following day, they returned to their training, working on their skills. Jade and Martyn improved their creations, ensuring nothing was amiss with their design.

  Their home was fully constructed and complete. All that was left was to enchant the buildings, purchase the furniture and insert the heart and mana banks, creating their own floating isnd home.

  The st day was spent doing nothing besides much of the same, with Martyn going shopping in the red-light district.

  “Hi, can I get some ropes, please? Preferably bck ones, a blindfold, and a gag,” Martyn asked the clerk.

  The woman nodded and brought him what he asked for, and he happily paid for them.

  As he strolled back, his mind smiled, recalling Amber’s words.

  ‘Never thought she’d be interested in this,’ he thought. This was her punishment—well, part of it. But that would be after their growth.

  With New Year’s Day finally ending their training, they did nothing besides spending time with one another. Martyn took them out on dates. It was a nice and memorable time for them.

  It also made Martyn realize how quick he was to get jealous when some people tried to hit on Amber and Jade. But in the end, he had to do nothing as the girls rejected them without a single gnce.

  After that, they got back to their room where Martyn put up sigils and wards around their room as Amber stood in the centre.

  “Okay, that should be everything,” Martyn nodded.

  Amber dressed in nothing but a bck bikini braced herself. With Martyn’s meals, her bloodline reached 100%. The system prompted her for evolution, and she was waiting for the sign.

  “It says it’ll be just six hours?” Amber said, tilting her head in confusion.

  Jade and Martyn were also surprised, as they all believed this evolution would be quite big, taking a few days. But seeing nothing wrong with it, they shrugged.

  Amber accepted the evolution, and mana surged from her body, encasing her in a cocoon. The first day of the new year was going to be explosive.

  “Man, I can’t wait to evolve. I am so getting taller!” Jade sighed, rexing into her chair.

  Martyn chuckled. “You don’t need to get taller. And why would you even want that?”

  “Because you always h-hold me down and dominate me. I can’t do anything but squirm and shake in pce when you have your way with me,” Jade blushed, answering.

  Smirking Martyn, walked over to the blushing goblin, leaning forward. “What makes you think becoming taller’s going to change that~” he whispered into her ear, making her shudder.

  “Ah, no~” She shuddered as Martyn leaned into her leaving a soft trail of kisses down her neck, his hands snuck beneath her shirt grasping at her firm tits.

  In the six hours that led to Amber’s evolution, they enjoyed the slow simple pleasure of their bodies.

  LesserCodex