Descend- Bursting Out: A litrpg adventure

by David Burke

  Jay felt that the things that he missed were a good gauge about what was truly important to him and who he actually wanted to be with. Trina was on his mind quite often. He knew that meant he needed to find a way to make things right with her. Bong-Cha, Maddy, Char and Samantha topped his list of the others that he thought about the most but there were others.

  Daphne, Emma, Hanna, Sora, Uremi, Abby, Kayla, Zuri, Bella, Rosa, and to a lesser extent Martina, Esseme, Faith, Grace, and Harper all crossed his mind. A part of him threw up the word lecher and he just laughed at it. He had made peace with that now. He was just the world’s luckiest man at the end of the world.

  Not only did he have a buffet of beautiful women laid out before him all the time, but he also liked them. Even Kenzie and Olivia who he found a bit too pushy at times were still overall great girls. He had both a physical and emotional attraction to all of them. So it looks like he really was gonna have a harem and maybe he was actually addicted to it.

  He had made the most of his time. While he hadn’t been able to make any great breakthroughs like Ava had with connecting to the A’snkarnt systems and then also with developing a new type of engine or drive for a spaceship, he had at least been able to contribute by helping to provide a power source.

  The majority of his time though had been spent in training. He had managed some small augments to himself and had been able to bring the girls all forward a fair amount. His skills had made great leaps forward.

  Beyond that he had made two more theoretical discoveries. He now thought that he could create a tempus fugit field with him on the outside. That had profound implications both as a research tool but also as a way to contain hostile people they didn’t want to kill. The old him might have been tempted to feel guilty about not coming up with something like that for Jasmine, but he was fully confident that she was insane and it would not have fixed anything.

  His second discovery was one that he kept to himself. He locked it down behind all the walls in his head that he could create. It was too theoretical and even if possible, too controversial. If it was something he could make real then it would forever change what fusion meant as well as his understanding of limits.

  Perhaps the most surprising moment though in the entire time came early the morning of the eighty-third day. Huong approached him and wanted some private time. He almost never refused her because she always had the best surprises for him during those times. This time though she looked concerned rather than seductive.

  “So, I’m here in my capacity as Ava’s confidant,” she began.

  Immediately Jay was worried. He ran through the past couple of months in his mind. As far as he could tell he was actively practicing being Ava’s master. He lavished attention on her in the way that she seemed to like the best. Of course next he worried that she had changed her mind. He couldn’t think of any time that she had seemed resistant but maybe he had pushed her too far.

  Apparently sensing what he felt, Huong continued, “No, no, it’s nothing like that. She is very happy with how you treat her. In fact if anything she wishes you were harsher with her, but she also understands that may not be in your nature and is content with everything. She does have one concern though and is worried that she has disappointed you in some way.”

  “Gah, how could she ever think that? She is amazing in every way. The spatial jump engine that she designed may be the key to all of this and she is the one who came up with a way for us to interface with the A’snkarnt systems,” Jay replied.

  “It isn’t anything like that. She is just worried that you don’t like her because you haven’t ordered her to bear you a child yet,” Huong said.

  Jay stood up from the conference room table where they were sitting in an explosion of motion so forceful that he nearly upended the table. “She what?”

  Now Huong got that wicked grin. “You still don’t get it after all this time. Ava is no different than any of the rest of us, in fact she is more susceptible to this sentiment than just about anyone else. We all want you. We want your children, because it is a part of you.

  “Ava tries to make herself more of a vessel for you than anyone else, yet you haven’t ordered her to take that next step. Remember that at a very fundamental and physical level, sex is conquest for a man and submission for a woman. What could be more submissive than letting you plant your seed in us, nurturing it to fruition? And who is more submissive than Ava?”

  It made sense in a weird way to Jay as he sat down. Then he got his own wicked grin. “This is what I want you to tell Ava…”

  Chapter 33 - Wind Floor

  Once the tempus fugit field fell, Jay felt amped up from the rush from the multiple fusions, the good news on all the developments, it was hitting so fast. He had to remind himself that the developments had been a long time coming and the fusions were having a cumulative effect. Of course that only made him want to offer to do the other fusions sooner. It didn’t hurt either that so far all of the girls had preferred the unclothed fusion style.

  Still he forced himself to hold off. They did need to get to exploring the other dungeon floors and finding a way to the tenth floor and beyond that to the command deck. That was one thing that couldn’t be done inside a time distortion field. So the sooner they got it done the better.

  There was also the matter that his power had increased at least in terms of stats by about three times and he needed to adjust to it. As those thoughts went through his head, Jay found Trina and the other girls on the scouting team there. He was shocked that they got there so quickly. After all he had only been inside the field for thirty seconds by their reckoning of time.

  Trina was on top of it. That was the only obvious explanation and not a bad one. She was definitely someone that he wanted on his side. The thing was though, she had made it clear. She would be like Alexis and the others. She wanted an actual relationship with him. She wanted to be a wife and treated as an equal with the other seven. It would be good if they could come to a final understanding.

  No time like the present to get to it. His enhanced Awareness may have been playing with his senses but he had a generalized dread that something bad was coming and it had that same feel as a precognitive warning, so he wanted to take it seriously. He looked around at Trina, Madison, Bong-Cha, Daphne, Esseme, and Faith. “Everyone ready to go?”

  Behind him he heard a familiar voice say, “Yep we sure are.”

  He didn’t have to turn to know who it was but he still did, it was the polite thing to do to look at one of your wives when you told them no. “I’m sorry, Amelia, but you know what this team is about. It is about me getting to know some of the other girls. I think you and I already know each other about as well as anyone can.”

  “Very true, but since you already fused with Bong-Cha, you don’t have to take her,” Amelia replied. The other girl glared at her and some communication went back and forth between them but Amelia won as the head wife of sorts.

  “It’s fine. We can have time later, and we can work on your grappling technique. You still have to practice going to the mat,” Bong-Cha said with a smile for Amelia and a wink for Jay.

  “That was easier than I thought,” Amelia said. “Now you have an opening.”

  Jay nodded. Apparently Amelia was coming along. He couldn’t help but wonder if that had something to do with Trina. He hoped she was going to cause problems and couldn’t help but send a telepathic message to her.

  “What’s this about? Worried about Trina?”

  She replied in kind, “Not at all. In fact these last few weeks I have come to peace with that. She would benefit from finishing the fusion and we would benefit from her added power. I’m not sure if we will ever be besties but I agree that she has your interest at heart. Other than me she is the best at keeping these slackers in line so if you can’t beat them, let them join you.”

  “Not sure that is how the saying goes,” Jay thought back.

  “Call it an Ameliaism, then.”

 
Out loud Jay said, “Well, I guess Amelia is coming along with us. Always good to have her stealth ability.”

  Everyone started to move in the direction of the entrance which had been found to the seventh floor. But Amelia cleared her throat again. “Just one other thing. I know that you crossed the eighth threshold. In the past at every even threshold you got an extra party member slot. So on the off chance it worked like that again, I invited Charlotte to come along too.”

  Jay smiled as she said that. She was always one step ahead. Good thing she was crazy in love with him too. He sent his scan out and found that Char was waiting at the entrance. Well the blond was fun, and while she teased him as much or more than Amelia and Huong put together, it would be fun to have her along.

  He couldn’t help but notice the happiness it created in Madison, so that was a good thing. And a reminder for him to forge temporary bonds with all of the non-fused girls. Best to stay in touch with them.

  Once they stepped through the dungeon entrance, Jay recognized something he hadn’t ever really noticed before. This wasn’t Time Lord, bigger on the inside technology. The doorway was just a form of teleporter to another area of the massive leviathan. Oh well, still cool.

  The inside wasn’t like anything they had seen before. They stepped out onto a floating island. The sky around, above, and below them was filled with hundreds of other such islands. They ranged in size from five feet wide to fifty feet wide. As far as he could tell they were all moving in some sort of pattern, it was just too complex for his conscious mind to decipher.

  “So do we go back and get hoverpods or what?” Trina asked.

  “Nah, we can handle this. Most of the islands are close enough to jump and if not we need to learn how to use our powers together to make it work,” Jay answered.

  “Shouldn’t we switch up the team then? I don’t think that my power is going to be very useful for this and I’m not at all comfortable with the idea of jumping some of these spans,” Esseme said.

  “Me either,” Daphne chimed in.

  “I need you to trust me. All that we have is ourselves. And we need to lean on one another,” Jay said.

  “I’ll come lean on you if you like. I can probably find some interesting hand holds to mount Jay, or I mean Mt. Jay, since you are built like a mountain now,” Char said.

  Some of the girls chuckled at the obvious innuendo, but Jay was no longer bashful about such things. Beside she was right, with the extra four inches from passing the eighth threshold he was now over eight feet tall. “As much as I am willing to take you up on that offer a little later, I want us to focus on working together as a team now. Even those of us not used to going scouting. Oh and we will have to fill you in on the new A’snkarnt-free stimulant that Cadence came up with.”

  “So, what is the plan then?” Trina asked.

  “Simple, the way I see it we have a combination of ways to get there. Faith can teleport to anywhere that she can see. With Daphne boosting her I’m willing to bet that she can take all of us miles at a time. But, I don’t think that gives us a chance to build our teamwork.

  “Think of this a bit like a trust fall. We are going to show that each of you can contribute in one way or another. We are saving Faith and Daphne for last, so who wants to go first?”

  When no one spoke up Jay added, “Tell you what since there are eight of us here, we will work in pairs. Esseme and I, Faith and Daphne, what about the rest of you?”

  Char immediately said, “Maddy and I are a team. We’ll go first.”

  Amelia said, “Wait a minute, why do I have to be with her?” She thumbed at Trina as she said it.

  “First off because you forced your way onto the team and second because you two are fused together for life. You need to learn to work together,” Jay said. His tone showed that he wasn’t gonna budge on it. And he only laughed when Amelia stomped her foot, quivered and gave him her nastiest two-year-old look. He knew he might pay for it later, but it was worth it now.

  Char said, “Okay, I’m gonna launch an arrow with some plexisteel fiber connected to it. Everyone is then gonna climb across the rope. And yes, I know it is a long way down, but Madison will make it so you weigh next to nothing. It will be easy even for us unfused ladies.”

  She didn’t wait for their approval but instead put the plan into place. Sure enough it worked exactly like they said it would. Climbing hand over hand along a thin strand of plexi-steel was nerve-wracking especially if you looked down, but Madison kept her power running all the time, and Charlotte went first to display her confidence in the plan.

  Jay made them do this half a dozen times till everyone got a feel for it. They moved from floating island to floating island. It took the better part of a couple of hours but experienced mountain climbers couldn’t have done what they did in days, which he felt said a lot for how they worked together.

  He took turns helping the different girls up when they were done climbing, and he could see the confidence building in them after each trek across the open air. When they reached a particularly large island, Jay said, “Okay, time to switch. Esseme and I will go next.”

  They had telepathically communicated about the plan and even if she still was lacking confidence it was solid. “Okay, you're up,” he said to the elegant French girl.

  “Oui, oui, mon cher,” she replied with a wink and then closed her eyes and concentrated.

  Nothing seemed to happen and finally Daphne said, “Is she okay?” She was right, Esseme wasn’t moving at all but sorta standing there aimlessly.

  Jay just smiled and said, “She is great, but she isn’t here anymore, look over there.” Then he pointed to a nearby island and sure enough Esseme was over there.

  Jay said, “She can create an incarnation of herself at any spot she can see.”

  “Okay but how…” Charlotte started to ask.

  “Shh, just watch.”

  Jay then extended his fingers and started shooting out thin fibers of metallic material. They all nodded as they recognized Nalani’s power in action. Esseme caught the fibers when they reached her and tied them around a small tree on the island. Jay then really went into overdrive and wove a veritable web, or actually as it took shape, a rope bridge.

  Once Esseme assured him it was solid on her end he secured it on his and then he walked across to demonstrate that it was strong enough and then waited for the others to do the same. When they had all gone, only Esseme’s body was left back on the first island, but she simply dismissed her incarnation and was then back in her original body. From there it was simple enough for her to walk across the bridge.

  “So do we have to wait for you to weave more bridges or is it our turn yet?” Amelia asked.

  “In such a rush aren’t you? But no, I want to demonstrate that our team has other ways to get you across.” With that he grabbed Esseme and leapt the five hundred feet between here and the next island. Once there he waved briefly and then jumped back.

  “Okay so, who’s next?” Jay asked.

  “You uh, are gonna make the jump with each of us?” Daphne asked.

  “I’m pretty sure that Amelia is strong enough to make the leap herself, and Trina might be able to if she could get enough running room, but I don’t think any of the rest of you are up for it. So do you mind me holding you tight?”

  The redhead said, “Why not at all, sir, sweep me off my feet if you will.”

  Again, they settled in on the next island after Jay got them all over and then repeated the process a half a dozen more times.

  “Okay we all get it. You are strong, but what does this have to do with your team getting us across?” Trina asked.

  “First off, anything I can do is something that my team can do. This isn’t about me. It is about my team. Secondly, I know you all think I’m strong, but I needed you to truly trust me. I won’t ever drop you. I will always get you there safely. Just like you know that Madison won’t ever drop you either. We are a team and that is how we roll. So now, how
about you show what your team can do?”

  “Well, we have been talking about it, and we aren’t sure that we have any skills to make this work. I can probably get myself across but not sure about the rest of you,” Amelia said. She was clearly frustrated by the admission.

  “Same for me. I don’t know why you stuck us together. She is good at hiding and some fighting, I’m only good at fighting. If you let me have my team, Uremi would be able to just fly us across,” Trina said.

  “First off your real team is those that you are fused with. After that all of Team Jay is your team. For this moment that means you and Amelia are a team. Now, to be blunt, I can’t think of a way for you to get us across, but Amelia could and she is part of your team,” Jay replied.