by David Burke
Next, what was he supposed to do with Mia? He could feel her. More than that, he knew she was happy about the situation. He didn’t even need to have a conversation, verbal or otherwise. He already had a perfectly clear sense of how she felt. Worse, she undoubtedly knew how terrifying he found the entire situation.
Suddenly Mia’s voice popped up in his head, “I think it could be good. Look at the amazing stat changes that we got. I know it may seem bigger to me than to you, but I am so much more powerful than I was before. I even gained Enhanced Speed as a skill of my own.”
It freaked Jay that not only could they speak to each other mind to mind, but she had instantly known how he felt about it. Yet, she was right. The stat increases were amazing. He had gained eight levels and crossed a threshold. It had also been the first threshold that he crossed without experiencing body wrenching pain.
That in and of itself should have been an amazing boon. Beyond that he had gained another forty-six stat points by his math. He had gained Empathetic Bond, although he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. His stats and skills were reaching a level that dwarfed any point before this. He had to believe that the second floor would be a cinch now, especially with whatever gear the girls had cooked up.
Still the biggest bonus was that his Temporal Manipulation skill was no longer locked. It was a level 40 skill with what he hoped was more than a cool name. The trick was that as he had learned many times before first while playing various games and then here, simply having a skill or a set of powers didn’t mean that you knew how to use them.
The combos that they had started to develop showed the untapped potential waiting for them to discover. If they could figure out the best uses for individual powers and then how to combine them. Well, he just grinned and shook his head.
Next on his list though was to try to assess himself to see if he had experienced any further changes with crossing the third threshold. Normally, he would at least in part feel the changes being made. People usually screamed when they crossed a threshold but something about the partial fusion had changed how things worked.
Jay Miller Designation: M1789
Species: Evolved Human Age: 22
Height: 6’10”Weight: 314 lbs
Level: 37Rank: Supreme Alpha
Level for next threshold: 50
Threshold Gains: Telepathy, Assessment, Level Progression: +20%
Sure enough, he had grown another two inches. He also had managed to pack on a fair amount of weight. Yet as he felt himself and then used Life Sense to check himself out, it wasn’t that his proportions had changed. He still had a figure that would make a Greek god jealous.
Somehow his body was just denser. As he had used it before he channeled his senses inward and was able to determine a great deal about his body’s makeup. The cellular structure of his bones was denser and his muscle fibers while being more pliable were also more like iron cords.
Eventually, Jay couldn’t put it off any longer. He opened his eyes and found Mia gazing down at him with a smile on her face as she dressed herself and hummed a little song. All he could tell for sure through the bond was that she was very satisfied about something.
He looked at her in more detail. Not using his extra senses but just as a man does with a beautiful woman. It wasn’t that he was above assessing her or scanning her with Life Sense it was that he just sorta liked to appreciate the view for what it was. He had decided last night to stop fighting the idea that he needed to bond these women to himself. So he couldn’t be bashful about admiring one of them who was half dressed in front of him.
If anything his staring made her feel even more satisfied to him. He finally just asked, while he dressed himself, “What’s got you in such a good mood?”
She smiled coyly, and he got the sense that she wanted to toy with him a bit like his sister's cat had with a ball of yarn when he was little.
Mia must have sensed the twinge of sadness that went through him with that memory because she instantly said, “Did I do something wrong.”
He shared the memory, and she stepped up to him and kissed his cheek. “You never have to be alone again. I can’t return your losses but I can bear them with you.”
Jay shrugged and smiled back at her. The shrug was habitual but felt a bit out of place as it was a mechanism for denying emotion, and he couldn’t really do that with her. “You didn’t tell me what has you humming.”
“Oh a little of this and a little of that.”
“Don’t leave me hanging. I can tell how satisfied you are but can’t read your mind.”
“Well it’s a little thing but I am glad that I gained four inches. I want my man to be taller than me but not to tower over me.”
“Is that all?” Jay asked doubtfully.
“Of course not, a girl always needs to keep her secrets, but it’s hard not to hum when I know how you feel about me. You really care. You really want the best for me and not just because I can put my ankles behind my ears. You are a really good person,” Mia beamed as she spoke.
“Well, you are pretty amazing yourself too. The ankle thing doesn’t hurt, but it has always been your mind and your gentle spirit that I have been attracted to. I mean you are gorgeous…” Jay faltered a bit as he spoke, not wanting her to think that she wasn’t physically attractive to him.
“Relax, Jay. We are bonded. I know how you feel. Really know, not just guess based on what you say and do. I am the one person in the world who truly knows how you feel.”
“The other girls might beg to differ with you. They all say that my Sensual Projection lets them know how I feel.”
“Oh, that was incredible. I can see why they like that. I can’t imagine ever going back to making love with a guy and not being able to feel the physical sensations that he feels too. It helped me move and flex just right to please you the best. But that isn’t what I’m talking about. That is passion and things of the body. What we share is a bond of the soul. That’s why I will ultimately be your number one.” Mia appeared enraptured as she spoke.
Jay wasn’t sure that he even believed in the concept of a soul but realized fairly quickly that it didn’t matter. He liked Mia and if she wanted to believe that, he wasn’t going to stomp on it.
“So we better get the others. If they crossed the threshold, it may have been bad for them. And we need to get everyone organized to deal with the changes,” Jay said and then he grinned as he started running and yelled over his shoulder, “Think you can keep up with me now that you’ve got your own speed.”
He ran along at 50% of max knowing that even though she had the skill, it wouldn’t be nearly as fast as his. She just laughed in return and said, “Just watch me.”
Chapter 23- Mechas?
Half a dozen minutes later they met up with the rest of the girls of Team Jay in an area that Huong and Mia called the workshop and the rest of them called the training grounds. Jay sent ahead a telepathic message to Amelia and the other three. He couldn’t seem to figure out how to include Mia who was running next to him in a message that he was projecting a couple of miles ahead of him.
“I’m on my way there now. I hope the awakening wasn’t too bad for you.”
“It was awful, but that is what you told us to expect, so forewarned is forearmed, sorta,” Jessie replied.
“Did you all get the same message about intruders and suggesting that we go into the dungeon permanently?” Jay asked.
“Yeah, but don’t think that gets you out of marrying me today.” Her telepathic voice conveyed both a stern tone as well as an underlying insecurity that she likely didn’t intend.
“Wild horses couldn’t… or wait, let’s keep this more topical. A swarm of barbed beetles and tri-apes couldn’t keep me from making you my wife today,” Jay responded.
Strangely, he felt a blossoming warmth and joy coming from Mia. “Is she feeling his emotions as he spoke to Amelia? Crap. Does she think that what I am feeling now is because I’m thinking about her? This
could be bad. I definitely need to figure out how to build psychic walls,” Jay thought.
Huong interrupted his concerned thoughts, “Did you manage to find Mia? I really need both of you in order to finish this armor.”
Leave it to Huong. The girl could be crazy passionate, but when she was in science mode, it was all about whatever she was working on. “Yes, I found her. She is coming with me now.”
As soon as he answered his mind was hit by a barrage of questions from each of the girls.
Meikiyo asked, “Did you show her respect and apologize for disregarding her feelings?”
Amelia’s comment was a bit more in the gutter. “I bet she was cumming earlier too wasn’t she?”
Jessie’s was in much the same vein. “Did you make her yours? A woman wants to know that her man is powerful enough to protect her. Strong enough to take her and gentle enough to make her enjoy it.”
Huong seemed to be giggling telepathically at the other girls’ comments as she said, “I’m sure that she will give us all the juicy details but what I need to know now is if she will still work with me to finish these.”
Jay answered the final question out loud as he and Mia came to a sudden stop from their 60 mph run right in the middle of the others, “You can ask her yourself.”
On the outside he was doing his best to appear calm but a part of him was panicked. “Do they always talk about my time with the other girls? Does that mean they are comparing notes? Wow, I’m gonna have to up my game aren’t I?” he wondered silently.
Jay made circles saying a more intimate good morning to each of the girls. First, he kissed Amelia and whispered in her ear, “Can’t wait for later, but we may have to move it up if we are all going to be moving into the dungeon.” He realized that he didn’t have to even speak out loud but to him there was just something more about a well-placed whisper with his breath against her ear rather than a telepathic message.
As he turned towards Huong, Amelia pinched his backside, and said, “You didn’t even comment about how I got taller.”
Jay inwardly groaned, “Note to self, always comment on a woman’s appearance and don’t miss the changes.”
He hugged Huong so that she could get back to her work with Mia. She paused long enough to brush their lips in a light kiss and then said, “More to come later,” before turning back to the little work bench that she had constructed out of vines and which appeared to be fire hardened. When Huong was on a task, she was single minded.
Jay then grabbed Meikiyo and pulled her close. She had seemed a bit distant since Mia had been inducted to the team. He projected his words into her mind, “Did I do something wrong?”
Her already somewhat stiff hug got even tenser but all she said back was, “Nothing to talk about now. You have to figure out how to save us all from whatever this new danger is. Duty knows no lover.” The last part had actually come through as ‘Gimu wa koibito o shiranai’ which he assumed was Japanese yet somehow the meaning still was perfectly understandable. Yet another fascinating aspect of telepathy.
“You are still my fire goddess. I will make this right, whatever it is.”
His words only brought a sad smile to her face before she leaned in and kissed him again, lightly upon his cheek. “Go be our hero.”
He wanted to linger. Meikiyo was amazing. They had confided so much in one another and he didn’t want to lose that connection but his own dream voice echoed in his head, “Focus.”
So from there he turned towards Jessie. She looked to be bracing herself almost as if for a fight. Jay had to remember that each of his girls had different traits and each needed to be handled differently. Jessie’s was a bit more out there but it made sense given her powers and how they might be affecting her psychologically.
Instead of the gentle embrace with Huong and Meikiyo or the more passionate one with Amelia, this one required something more extreme. Jay immediately activated his speed and strength to maximum, which given his recent stat boost was fairly significant even compared to yesterday. He charged the two steps that were between them and as gently as he could swept her off her feet with one hand under her knees and one across her upper back.
Then he pushed off with both feet and flew up fully 100 feet into the air. Jessie squealed in delight and started kissing him all over his face and neck as they surged upward. All too quickly their momentum came to an end, and he immediately applied his strongest kinetic dampening field in as narrow a cone as possible, right below them. Instead of plummeting to the ground, they started to drift down slowly like a leaf upon the breeze.
By the time they landed, if it weren’t for his naturally hardened skin, Jay’s neck would have been a mass of hickies like some middle schooler who just made out for the first time. She was purring and whispered, “You can take me now, my mate.”
Whatever she did that put off those pheromones clouded his mind, and it was only by quick thinking that he activated Iron Will quickly enough to fight off the urge to throw her down. Through gritted teeth and a deep sense of remorse he said, “I passed the next threshold and that wouldn’t be safe until we get access to a new level of birth control.”
She gave him a wicked grin back. “Oh, I know. Trust me, I know.”
God, she was beautiful, but he knew that a relationship with her was always going to be a struggle, not because she was gonna truly fight him for dominance but because she would always be pushing at the edges. He smiled and said, “We can talk about that once we are all safe.”
Even though he knew her lip being stuck out in a pouty expression was halfway just for show, it was still tantalizing. He shrugged and shook his head as he said, “So I take it that everyone broke through a threshold.”
The girls all talked about what they got by leveling. They discussed stat increases. He was surprised by how much each of them were happy about having grown taller. Their proportions remained the same and even Mia still seemed petite compared to his ever-growing frame.
It was fascinating to learn that all the girls had gained Assessment as a skill. That must be a standard skill for crossing the second threshold. Amelia also gained a new skill, Phase Burst. She didn’t know how it worked yet, but he grinned when he saw her excitement to learn about it.
Huong’s new skill was something called Scavenger Crafting. Unlike Amelia though, her new skill was already at level 9 - 98%. She said she thought it was what was allowing her to create gear out of the parts that they recovered from the creatures they slew.
Meikiyo’s new skill was something called Burning Defiance. She felt like it was what was allowing her to resist the influence that Jasmine exerted. Again hers was not just a level one skill it was set at 5 - 22%.
Jessie only got Assessment and didn’t end up with a new skill. The truth was that she still needed to master her Stat Enhanced Constructs but had no idea how to go about the process since she had no idea what it was. Even Jay admitted that the name was vague at best.
After talking about new skills the girls all wanted to tell him about the message that they got about crossing into the second threshold. When Jay already knew about it, they asked him and he simply said that Mia had crossed and so he knew because of her.
He immediately felt guilty. It wasn’t technically a lie, but it was he knew that he was withholding information about the fusion from them. He was scared about how they would take it since they hadn’t really taken the Empathetic Bond very well, especially Meikiyo. Jay told himself that as soon as they figured out the new danger that they would discuss the fusion.
“So, you are pretty quiet, Jay. I am shocked that you crossed the third threshold. Was it as painful as the second or even worse?” Amelia asked.
Jay’s brain spun around as he tried to figure out how to answer that. “So I got access to Temporal Manipulation. I am psyched to try it out. Now, the question though is what we need to do about the new threat. Do you all think that we should move into the dungeon?”
Jessie and Meikiyo both start
ed to argue at that point. It appeared that they had been discussing this already. Jay’s habitual response would have been to just ignore it, maybe walk away. That simply wasn’t going to work.
Whoever had put them here could have killed them at any time. They had shown that more than once. The simple fact that they hadn’t showed that they wanted something more from Jay and the others than to simply off them.
It was that thought alone that crystallized things for him. “Stop it,” Jay called out louder than he had meant to. All eyes turned towards him. Not just the three he had been talking with. Even Huong and Mia stopped whatever had been going on.
“We are a team and we need to take a vote on this but I can tell you right now that I am voting for us to move into the dungeon at least for the time being. I take the message at face value and think there may be a threat that is beyond us.”
“I will do whatever you want,” Jessie said. He nodded at her even though she had already been arguing for that. Both Huong and Mia mumbled their agreement.
