Galataea Crystallim Core 2

by Scottie Futch

  She lunged forward to lash out at him with her own type of powerful strike, a movement performed in the manner of a dedicated sword lunge, but her opponent dropped down suddenly and kicked out with both feet. He knocked her back leg out of its stable frame, even as he whirled his body sideways. His movement forced her forward leg up and outward in a way that forced her into split.

  His unexpected whirling motion had struck both of her legs in a nigh-simultaneous display of strength and martial grace. Pirouette cried out in pain and panic as she was rudely dropped to the floor in a full-split. Shocked by the sudden turn of events, she could not prevent her master from mounting her in a dominant display of aggression.

  It was Scott’s turn to rain blows down upon his beautiful opponent. His powered gauntlets slammed down with furious strikes that were assisted by failed Crystallim drivers. Each hit struck with nearly twice the attack force that he could naturally generate.

  However, all good things must come to an end. Pirouette regained her senses then quickly re-asserted her dominance. She caught her master’s arm during his next punch then used it to force him to roll over. A brief struggle ensued, but it was over the moment Pirouette achieved a dominantly mounted position. What was he gonna do with Pirouette's mighty thighs wrapped around his helpless body?

  The dark elf sat astride her master and repeatedly slapped him on the forehead until he surrendered. “Say my name!” cried the dark elf.

  "Pirouette," he said in annoyance.

  She laughed wickedly then slapped him across the face. Certain that she had his attention, she squeezed her thighs and asked, "What was that?"

  Scott struggled briefly but she pressed her thighs inward and used her knees to pressure his ribcage. "What's my name? Cry out in a strong voice so everybody knows!"

  “Pirouette, dammit!” exclaimed Scott after she slapped him hard across the face one more time.

  A beautiful feminine giggle erupted from her lips, as her face reddened. She leaned down and casually licked the side of his face, to taste the blood coming from a shallow cut. “Mmm, it sounds so nice to hear you say it, master.”

  Scott gasped for air while he felt his body go limp. His vital force finally ran out. He was unable to do anything but lie there helpless before her perverted might.

  “Hunter Scott is unable to battle!” cried out Kidda. The harpy then tilted her head and winked at Pirouette. “To the victor go the spoils.”

  "Oh, my.... the spoils are my favorite part," said Pirouette aggressively, her voice a partial growl. She bit down on his shoulder a little and began to claim her helpless prize.

  The dark elf flashed a beautiful smile at Scott. His instincts screaming at him to escape the coming darkness, he struggled to speak his disapproval. Unfortunately, at this point he could do little more than pant uselessly and pray that he managed to breathe in enough air to remain conscious. Typically, it was difficult to remain coherent, or even conscious, when vital force dropped to such a low point.

  It was her complete victory. Scott could do nothing but accept her desires. He was surprised when she curled up next to him and cuddled in close instead of molesting him as she typically did after their last few fights.

  She kissed him gently on the ear and then sweetly whispered, “You’re so cute when you’re helpless.”

  Much like a house cat who'd become quite full of themselves, Pirouette casually crawled on top of him. She took up a dominant position once more before taking a nap. She'd taken a lot of vital force damage in that fight due to his exploit, and she needed to guard her property while she rested. Scott remained motionless for quite some time, while the victor snored shamelessly atop her spoils.

  ***

  Scott glanced out of the office window. The sight of his team hard at work training their bodies and skills filled him with a sense of pride. "They're really putting in the effort, huh?"

  There was only so much experience that they could gain from defeating each other repeatedly, or even by physical training. However, he planned to explore those options fully before going out into the wilds.

  Shaia's attempt to hit targets with her water spears reminded him that she was the weakest link on his team at the moment. The sweet little mermaid needed to receive a lot of training before he refined her core. Thankfully, however, she worked hard to improve and it showed. She became a little stronger each day.

  Pirouette allowed for a small loan for Shaia's refinement when they first met, but it came with a catch. The interest rate was terrible. Also, she demanded certain acts of contrition while the loan was left unpaid. Certainly, those acts were enjoyable to the extent that his masculine pride and supply of scented lubricant would allow, but he only had so much time in the day. Still, he would be able to get Shaia to a decent rank after she completed her initial training. That was the important thing.

  No matter what, she needed to train her abilities to skill level ten. Letter grade increases for skill developments rarely occurred naturally unless the Crystallim's skill was at least that well trained. Refinement was also something to consider. The harder she trained now, the more likely she would be to gain improved control and power with her innate abilities when she underwent refinement.

  Skill level ten was the bare minimum he would accept before taking the girls out hunting again. Scott held himself to the same standard, but he currently needed to look into other issues. The girls lacked proper equipment. He also needed to acquire at least one Shadow and one Earth element ability before the month was out.

  He could not use the shadow abilities that Pirouette granted while she was actively manifested, which would be most of the time. Something like shadow teleport would have been good to train despite that limitation, but the simple shadow attack abilities at his disposal would be next to useless unless he fought a psychic or vitality type. His command of those forces was simply not as potent as Pirouette.

  The basic armor was easy enough to procure. He would buy the girls each a body suit, color matched to their alignment of course, and a torc. That would set him back a little over one gold credit, but it would improve their defense by a decent bit against physical and elemental abilities. They would be useless against higher level opponents, but the sort of Nightmares they would be likely to meet within the next few months would not be as much of a concern.

  Water sprayed against the window and he blinked. “Shaia can already reach this far with her water attack?” He would have to praise her later despite her lack of accuracy. She performed well whenever he did that, and the increased range alone was already a major improvement.

  Scott looked through the GTN trading catalog and considered his options. He had access to water, plant, shadow, and earth due to his bonds with his team mates. His natural inclination for psychic and vitality energies, was also worthy of note. Few humans had type affinities for anything but vitality. Psychic affinity was not common, and his particular level of affinity was abnormally high. He could learn techniques through training manuals if he desired to do so. Though, actual technique downloads would be best.

  Complete techniques were expensive, too expensive. Scott rubbed his chin and thought of what he absolutely needed at this exact moment.

  “Ability usage takes a lot of vital force. Solar absorption helps with that, but I have to stand still while I use it. What I really need is more vital force and vitality.” The hunter nodded after speaking his mind aloud. What he needed right now was not new abilities. He needed augmentations that would give him a solid base which would allow for the future development of his abilities.

  Scott changed his current view with a wave of the hand. He waved through the various screens and stopped on the augmentation section. GTN was an exceptionally well-known company, but they tended to have only expensive, or common, augmentations. He might need to check another company. However, for now he would try to find a cheaper common one.

  After scanning the list for a few minutes he noted the trends. Most augmentations were for thi
ngs like stamina boosts, or strength. Thankfully, vitality and resonance were popular augmentations also. Most people did not want to spend their precious points on stats other than their primary focus. Intellect, resonance, and vitality were the three key components to developing elemental abilities.

  The hunter looked at the various augmentations and his old hunting instructor came to mind. The man likened ability usage to driving a vehicle. Intellect was the skill of the driver. Resonance was the capacity of the vehicle. Vital force was the power supply. Vitality was partially power supply and partially how fast it could be recharged.

  Someone with a lot of vital force, but low resonance or intellect, could repeatedly unleash weak abilities. However, their actual effectiveness would be lower than someone else with a similar skill level, but higher intellect and resonance.

  “If I want to really go the ability-user route, become a mage, I need to develop four stats.” Of course, that was why few humans could make it as a mage. They would have to spread their points out evenly, but the skill-level of an ability determined how much vital force it would cost. It would be easy for it to become too energy intensive, quickly.

  Scott wished that he could have learned more than the psycho-diver ability from his time with Seventy-Two, but the ADF forbade such things. He could learn new abilities now that he was not involved with them directly, but without a psychic bond it would take longer to develop new talents.

  “What I really need is a stat-development augment,” he said decisively.

  Stat development augments would allow a human to actively train a specific stat, but at the expense of EXP energy. They were expensive and had limited usage, but they would drastically increase his capacity over a period of time since he did not need a massively high level at the moment. Sadly, he currently could only have one active at any given time.

  He considered his options. He would not be able to use the money he borrowed for any reason other than refining Shaia. After checking the listed augments available, he realized that he could not afford to augment even one of his basic stats.

  “Hold on...” said Scott after discovering something good. He could not augment a stat like vitality or resonance, but he could afford to augment vital force.

  “Two gold credits for a basic vital force stat-development augment...” It was expensive, hideously so, for most people. It was almost two year’s salary for an entry level commoner with no prior work experience. Yet, due to his efforts, Scott had that much money to spend. After he purchased the equipment for his girls, the augment, and refined Shaia, he would only have a handful of silver credits and a few hundred copper credits to his name.

  After careful consideration, he came to a conclusion. They could survive on that amount of money long enough to go on a few hunts. "Yes, this could work..." he said while nodding his head thoughtfully.

  Scott checked the information for the augment. He had thought as much. One point of vital force per twenty-four hours, per one hundred EXP energy assigned. “Yeah, definitely a basic augment. A weak one at that, since there is a maximum of four vital force upgrades per day...”

  A higher grade augment could allow for faster growth, but even the next highest quality of augment for vital force would set him back twenty gold credits. For that price he could purchase a low-grade vitality augment that would allow him to physically train his vitality through hard exercise, provided that he would be willing to let it absorb his EXP energy like a sponge while he trained.

  Despite the weak nature of it, the one that he could purchase now would greatly increase his capacity over time once he began earning enough experience points. His current EXP acquisition rate was low, as it usually would be when a hunter first began their work.

  There was an order to things, and reasons for why even wealthy hunters only acquired high-end augments later in their careers. Low-end augments were great in the beginning and did not have a high EXP cost. A level increase would occur at a slower rate than it would have previously, but it was still possible to increase in level. A new hunter with a high-end augment might take months just to become as capable as another hunter who leveled-up normally.

  Some did go that route as a rule, however. The wealthy elite often underwent augmentation training early and did so for a few years before they went out into the world. Starting at level one with high stats did have its merits, after all.

  He finalized his purchases and felt like a part of him died when his money drained from his account. He decided against paying extra for delivery. Money would be tight for a while.

  Shaia sighed loudly then stretched out as fully as she could. She worked hard that day and she was tired. After her delightful stretch she looked down at her bountiful bosom and grinned. Her happiness did not come from the knowledge that she possessed amazing feminine architecture. No, her joy came from the knowledge that her master cared enough to grant her a suit of armor.

  Armor was a relative term, however. Shaia’s bodysuit was more like a sports bra. She could not help but bounce up and down whenever she was alone. Her breasts seemed to defy gravity even more than usual whenever she wore her new outfit, and it pleased her greatly.

  “So bouncy...” She giggled softly and bounced some more. She never knew that someone or something could be so supportive! Normally her breasts moved wildly on their own based on her natural movements. Her master thought highly of her as far as she could tell. Plus, he gave her this tight blue armor that accentuated one of her many positives.

  She bounced once more then swayed her chest from side to side. Her armor was exceptionally supportive and her back never hurt at all now. The water helped to bear the weight. On land everything felt like it weighed more, considerably more. She'd begun to wonder at how Flora even moved around.

  “So much support...” She bit her bottom lip and thought of the man who provided such a thing. Perhaps he was not so scary after all...

  While Shaia giggled and bounced in only the way that a shy but intrigued mermaid could, Flora gazed thoughtfully at herself in a view screen.

  The pert green plant girl rotated her finger and took a look at her backside on screen. She wore a body suit as well. Hers was light green with dark highlights. It was form-fitting and felt amazing. Similar in nature to a material once called spandex, it hugged her lush curves and offered both protection and comfort.

  The back of the outfit was open in part so that her vines and bulb could be free of restraint, but even the opening perfectly accentuated her curvature. She smiled then hugged her hands to her chest. Neither of her old masters had given her even a simple shirt. Yet, Scott granted her something like this!

  Sure, at the moment she would have to receive it from him each day when he called her out to train, but that was only a concern until he could purchase a specialized MISS unit for her core to sit in. Even Pirouette would need that sort of upgrade outside of the institute.

  Flora giggled then twisted from side-to-side. Her armor was pretty, but what she really loved was the torc he'd gotten for her! Flora turned her head from side-to-side and admired how it shined in the light. She'd never received a present before, let alone one this pretty.

  She jumped up and down a little then shook her head from side-to-side. It was almost like he'd gotten her a piece of jewelry. Could anyone imagine such a thing? A human master giving a low-level Crystallim something like jewelry was unthinkable. Yet, look at how shiny the torc was. Flora immediately wondered if perhaps she should give him a special sort of present as well.

  She giggled softly then asked her mirror image, "I wonder what he'd like me to give him?" A moment later she winked one eye, smiled in a cheesy manner, and nodded her head.

  The innocence of youth was something that Pirouette had long since abandoned. However, she could not help but feel happy for the girls as they enjoyed their new gifts. Such a simple thing like a set of clothes was enough to make them happy.

  She already possessed weapons and armor from her old adventuring days,
so her new master did not purchase her anything. It was slightly depressing, but she understood. Money was an issue. The institute could not give out loans constantly, or there would be questions. She owned the place in spirit, but Turner Industries owned it in name.

  The dark elf gazed at the mermaid sitting on the bench. She laughed when the girl raised her arms up, clenched her fists, and looked down at her chest to watch it bounce.

  Pirouette watched Flora giggle and twirl along with her view screen. “So innocent...”

  Had she ever been that innocent? The dark elf did not take long to consider it. Even she'd once been a young girl smitten with a man. Her innocence died with him, however.

  She thought of his face, his form, his scent, for a brief moment and then let him go. Throwing herself into work for the last few decades had not removed his presence from her heart, but it was time to let the past be the past. Dead for over sixty years at this point, it was best to let his memory rest. As much as she wished for his presence, there was no going back.

  Pirouette gazed upon her new sisters and granted them a brief, but heartfelt, smile. A single tear slid along her cheek. “Let’s hope your innocence lasts for a while longer.”

  ***

  There were many reasons for a hunter to spend the first week of his career training his team mates. Those reasons ran the gamut from a simple desire not to die in the wilds, to preparation for an upcoming event. Originally, Scott intended the former for his team. However, after training alongside them for a week, a unique opportunity fell into his lap.

  “Are you sure that you want to do that Alexis?” asked Scott. He smiled at his contractually designated girlfriend while they shared a quiet moment. Earlier, she messaged him to come visit her, and he went to her gladly. He loved to train, but Eina became rather aggressive once she was allowed to move to the research center. The girls, and even Scott, improved greatly under her hardcore tutelage but that came at a grave cost. Eina believed in insane workout theory.