War God for Hire- Adventurer: A Reincarnation, Cultivation Adventure

by David Burke

  When she caught her breath Kyle asked her, “What brought that on?”

  She batted her eyes at him. He didn’t know how he hadn’t realized that her eyes were such a luminescent green, like jade. “Hilde told me that you wouldn’t make a move on your own. I needed you to know that I wanted this just as much as you. She explained that men of power often think that women want to be with them for the wrong reasons, and even more so for you as a god.”

  “I was worried that you wanted it for the wrong reason, but not that wrong reason. I thought you felt some sense of obligation,” Kyle said.

  “And what if I did. In the lycan tribes it is important that we breed with the strongest alphas. That way the tribes stay strong. My homeland is not so soft or easy as it is here in the city,” Kierra replied.

  “I get that it just is not the way that I think.”

  “Before I would have said that was unfair of you, but I suppose I can’t argue with a god.”

  “None of that. If you sleep with me, then I’m Kyle. Only Kyle, not m’lord or alpha, or anything else.”

  Kierra bared her teeth briefly before saying, “You steal honor from me so easily. Did it not occur to you that to my people there is honor in being selected as a mate for the strongest of alphas. If my tribe knew about this, I would be revered. Why do you deny me that? When I call you alpha it is as much a compliment to me as it is to you.”

  Kyle was dumbfounded by that argument. It made sense in a way even if it was alien to what he had been taught. He supposed that guys looked up to him when he had a hot girl on his arm. That made him seem more of an alpha back home, so why couldn’t it work like that for the lycan’s here. “Okay, I have reconsidered what you said. You call me whatever you want as long as you always feel open to talk with me. It is important to me that this be more than just sex.”

  He got quiet for a moment before he said, “Um, unless that was all you were wanting?”

  She grinned and licked his face. Her tongue wasn’t really any longer than a human tongue if perhaps on the longer side for that, but he noticed she definitely had some odd gestures like that. “I had no idea it could be as good as it was. I knew the females of my tribe said it was satisfying but they never described it as pleasurable. I think what you did to me is special. I would do that all day long if we didn’t have other work. But, no I am offering to be your mate. If you will have me.” Then it was her turn to be shy as she looked away for a second.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Well I assumed that because you let me do that to you that you wanted me for a mate, but maybe our peoples have different rules,” Kierra said slowly.

  “Oh we have different rules, but I don't care about any of that. I want you for a mate. But there is one thing. You know that I also care about Hilde right. So, it won’t just be you and me,” Kyle said.

  “That is always the way it is with strong alphas. It is the natural order. Besides, Hilde already warned me that I would have to share you with her, the elf slave girl, and perhaps Lash. We discussed it and we both approve of the slave girl. She is pretty and you smile a great deal around her. Although as she is she won’t add much to our team. You are going to have to give her power like Lash used to have,” Kierra said.

  “And what about Lash? Are you willing to share with her?”

  Kierra looked him in the eyes and said, “She can be cold and distant, but I have seen it in some of the females of my tribe after their mate was killed. She had a deep wound. She is strong and will make our family stronger. So, yes, I am okay with it. Not that you need my approval.”

  Kyle kissed her again and they lost themselves in that place for a time. Till he finally broke it off and asked, “Are you willing to let me try and fix the power that I partially placed in you.”

  “If you can do for me what you did for Gilthan, then I will take whatever risk is necessary. That is how I will help protect my family.”

  “Oh, sorry. I know I seem worried about this, but since you are calling our team, family, it brings up a question in my mind. So, what precautions do I need to take to keep from getting you pregnant. We are going to be traveling and establishing a place for a while. I’m open to the idea of kids someday, but not while we are fighting to find our way to safety.”

  “Ah, as long as you aren’t saying never. But don’t worry. Most lycans only go into heat once or twice a year and for five to seven days at a time,” Kierra replied.

  “Good, just keep me in the loop.”

  “Oh, you will have no trouble knowing when it is,” she said with a laugh.

  “Now as to increasing your power. Just sit still and I’m going to work on fixing what I mangled before. I need to know though; do you want me to activate your bloodline if I can? I mean I didn’t ask Gilthan and luckily he was okay with it, but as you saw it can produce some dramatic changes,” Kyle asked.

  She was quiet before answering. “I worry because my bloodline is that of a fiend and not a dragon. But it is also a poweful bloodline. You have shown me that our destiny is what we make of it. So yes, make me as strong as you can.”

  With that, Kyle began spinning his essence in the wheel. Before the practice with Hilde, he would have been glowing by now, but he had gained enough control that only a fraction of his aura leaked out. He still would have come across as a powerful being, but only if the one watching him was up close. He then delved into Kierra.

  This time he found everything in place already. Unlike with Gilthan, the divine splinter was already deeply embedded into her. It had increased all of her physical attributes and turned her fur white. As he saw tonight it had even enhanced the green of her eyes. Now he needed to solidify the way that the splinter interacted with her body as well as the connection back to him.

  Knowing where Gilthan was all the time was a bit disconcerting, but at least he could turn it off and it wouldn’t be bad at all to know where his women were. As he explored inside her, in a different way from earlier he found that lycan bodies were different. Their skeletal structure was slightly denser, and they had more muscles broken up into smaller bundles with denser fibers. This allowed them not only to be more durable but also to move their joints in ways that humans couldn’t or couldnt’ generate force while doing.

  He allowed himself a moment for curiousity as he got to know Kierra and through her the lycan people better. He also saw the fiendish bloodline within her. It didn’t exude evil or scream of ill intent, it just was. Kyle was reminded of the lesson that kept coming up here in Verden. Power wasn’t good or bad. It was what you did with it that mattered.

  Once he had finished examining her, he could see that she had an innate connection to Deception and Earth Essence through her bloodline. Thanks to the divine splinter within her she would also have access to War Essence. The question was if he should work with what was there or try to add one of his additional essences.

  Hilde and he had discussed this at length following Gilthan’s accension. She had been worried that by splitting his power three ways rather than keeping it focused on Sky and War that he would end up weaker. Obviously, the Earth had paid off in the way that it had granted him an accelerated regeneration and more durability. Otherwise, the slender elf probably wouldn’t have been alive still after his encounter with the green dragon.

  Kyle was learning though that for all Hilde and Lash knew there were still things that he needed to handle by instinct. His unique nature just gave him a feel for things that was beyond them. It was something he had learned the hard way when playing ball. The coaches had far more knowledge than he did. But their knowledge was generic and meant to apply to the average player. Kyle had never been average. Sometimes he just had to go with what worked for him. The trick was knowing when that was.

  In this moment Kyle didn’t feel that Sky Essence was a good fit for her. At first it would seem perfect given her high agility and speed. But she was a creature of the earth. Her power came from her transformation
and from the way her body had been altered from that of a normal human.

  Equally, Death Essence might have seemed like a good fit but really wasn’t. For all that she was willing to hunt and kill she was a protector not an attacker. For her violence was about protecting her family, her tribe, and herself in that order. The longer his senses dwelt within her the more he felt that he knew her. His mind opened to divine possibilities and he saw a bright future for her. He wouldn’t tarnish it with something that wasn’t ideal even if it might have increased her power.

  He began pouring War Essence into her and filled the splinter up. This time he watched more closely for the changes that he could make in her body. Having done it once before he had a better idea about how it worked. Now he pushed her Agility up into the Spirit Tier while pushing both her Strength and Constitution well into the Monster Tier.

  Then as he focused, he increased her ability to handle Earth Essence but rather than abilities it poured into the structure of her body causing her to become even stronger. Her physical stats crept up another point. Content with the progress he saw that her fur had shifted from a dull white to a glistening silver. Her body was filled to brimming with physical power.

  Kyle decided she was strong enough then for him to fully awaken her bloodline. He didn’t know what sort of transformtion it might trigger in her but from the way that it had affected Gilthan there was a good chance that it would be impressive. She began to tremble as the fiendish potential stirred within her. Soon it was obvious that she was in serious pain, but he was proud of how she gritted her teeth and barely let out a whimper.

  More and more raw essence he poured into her waking up every aspect of it. He knew what it was to be fiendish. It was treachery and selfishness. It was wanton desire and a craving for power. None of those things were Kierra and he began to wonder if he had made a mistake.

  The more he saw the fiendish nature coming alive before his eyes the more he understood this wasn’t the same thing as power. This type of evil was like a mental illness. It couldn’t help what it did. This type of evil viewed the world through a slanted lense that distorted everything. Kyle began to feel pity for fiends, and he would not let Kierra become this.

  Instead of applying just raw essence he sent his own War Essence into her channels. He began to rewrite her bloodline. Not only did he activate what was there, but he changed it. Kyle made it into what he wanted it to be. He purified and refined it and as he watched her silver fur shifted to a luminescent gold. Her bloodline shifted from Fiendish Hound to War Wolf in the span of a few minutes.

  Kyle never doubted for a moment that he had made the right decision. But it was confirmed by how he saw the facets of her soul click into the grooves of the War Wolf bloodline. She was still lycan, but a purer, stronger breed of lycan. The power had caused her to grow and now rather than being nearly six feet tall she was nearly eight feet, only an inch shorter than him. No one would be able to question her physical might.

  Then before releasing her, he drew through her and opened his own Deceit Essence. The very idea made him nervous, but he couldn’t deny that every source of power was one which he would need. Kyle felt his own power burst open and in return her ability to use Deceit Essence grew into the Monster Tier.

  He was much stronger than he had been before with Gilthan but the emotional connection that he formed with Kierra combined with the way that he rewrote her bloodline caused him to feel a deep exhaustion. But that was fine as he had the perfect blanket to cuddle with.

  Chapter 27 - Adventurer’s Hall

  The next morning everyone marveled at the changes in Kierra. Kyle was proud to show her off on his arm but if he didn’t miss his guess then Hilde was almost prouder. And why not, he was doing what she had suggested all along and expanding his connections. She just happened to like it when he included beautiful young women.

  The last to rise were Meeka. For some reason he couldn’t bring himself to call her Lady Meeka now. Her tent, which was really just some blankets that her guards had managed to gather when they ran from Barak. That memory still stung Kyle, but he had to think of it as a tactical retreat. It didn’t help that he had also made Barak flee. The simple fact was that he hadn’t been strong enough to win a decisive victory.

  If it had just been a massive green dragon then Kyle felt sure his team could have handled it. The fact that there was a demi-god who seemed to be hunting him though was an entirely different matter. None of them, not even Kyle had yet progressed to the Demi-Tier in any of their stats or skills. So, they really never had a chance. It was just an entirely new level of power. And he had to be okay with that. For now.

  Gilthan wasn’t far behind her. He didn’t have a tent but a couple of former slave girls that he had rescued from the arena. It made Kyle grin that the man had been cut wide open, but he still found an opportunity to pick up some of the ladies who had been lusting after him back when he had been at the arena. Apparently, chicks did dig scars.

  Once everyone was gathered round the morning campfire Nyda and some of the others started serving breakfast. It wasn’t that they were slaves anymore. In fact, the first thing Kyle had done once they felt safe to stop after a day and a half of running was remove the slave manacles from everyone. More than anything it amused Kyle that while he was in his fugue state, the party had grown in numbers.

  He looked around taking in everyone who was now going to be looking to him for leadership. The core team had not filled the newcomers in on Kyle’s identity, but he was still taking the lead. Now there were five slave girls that he didn’t know by name, Meeka and her two guards, Saber with three of his trainers, and Selma. For the most part he was happy with their team. He would have preferred if Meeka had stayed in town, but she seemed so terrified he couldn’t refuse her.

  “So, we don’t have a map, but I have it on good authority that we are only about six miles from Nargossa. I am still learning the geography of this area but supposedly it is a small city. But if my information is correct, it has a chapter house for the adventurer’s guild. We should have enough gold with us to rent housing for everyone. Then some of you have a choice to make,” Kyle began.

  “The first choice we need to make is not to stay in Nargossa. It is a tribute city to Calrissa,” Meeka said in her imperious voice as though her simple statement explained everything.

  Kyle simply said, “And?”

  Lash jumped in to explain, “She is a noble of Thena and Calrissa is an enemy of Thena. If her identity were discovered she would be killed or perhaps taken as a hostage to see if they could get a ransom for her.”

  “Ah, well, I’m not sure what to say Meeka. We are going to Nargossa and most likely further south. Something that we are looking for is down there. But you are of course not obligated to stay with us. I will need your word though that you won’t try to send anyone after us. We are free now and belong to no one,” Kyle said.

  “But you can’t leave me out here in the wilderness. You still owe me something and it isn’t like I was ever harsh to any of you. I am not the one who captured any of you or made you into slaves,” the noblewoman pleaded.

  “I allowed you to come with us and I won’t abandon you now, but you are going to have to enter the city incognito. Can you do that?” Kyle asked.

  She smiled back, “Probably better than you would guess. I will just be a merchant with my two guards. No one would believe that a noble would travel with only two guards. I can enter the city separately from you and then we won’t draw as much suspicion as a larger group would. But I will need you to lend me some coin. In the circumstances I wasn’t able to bring any with me.”

  Kyle shook his head but said, “Fine.” Then he looked at Saber and Selma. “What about the two of you?”

  Selma said, “I’m a bit old to run around as an adventurer but I’m willing to work for you as a healer. I won’t even charge you that much if you can help me work through the book.”

  Everyone else
looked at Kyle in confusion but he knew what she was talking about. He remembered that she had a book on healing that was written in English. Truthfully, the mystery of it was enough to make him willing to agree to a lot just to get to learn more about who might have written that book. Supposedly from what little Selma had told him it was some eccentric healer, although it sounded as though the man had been more interested in modifying the appearance of noblewomen than working with the sick or injured.

  “Agreed gladly. We can work out the specifics later.”

  Saber spoke up then while waving his hand at the four trainers with him, “Me and the lads spoke about this last night. We are done with the arena. Trying our hand at adventuring might be just the thing. I don’t think we are in your league but maybe we can help scare off a bear that's killing a farmer's sheep or smaller tasks like that.”