Dark Fate

Book 11 – Diplomacy

Prologue – Trade Chat

(Community Building and Civil Defense Chat, formerly Life in the City Chat Room)

abby_gail, bento, RainyDayze, GringottsGoblin, DoritoMan, D.VaLuvr69, RadicalEdward, DarkLord, FusionGal, NotACop, Scholar, RamblingWreck, Anonymous4, Anonymous6, SevenNationArmy, BagOTrix, DarkLord, Faraday, BackpageGal, FullServiceMassage, daytrader, shadow_clone23, THE_MERCHANT, jenny8675309, Rabbit, Angelus and Tracker are in the chat.

bento: Holy shit, are you seeing this stuff coming out of Washington?

FusionGal: Serves them right.

Faraday: Come on, you can’t mean that! Six of the nine justices of the supreme court were just murdered!

Scholar: Worse. It would seem that they were vivisected.

Rabbit: What does vivisected mean?

Scholar: In this case? It means they were dissected. Except that they were alive when the person started. In the end, though, they were all cut open and displayed like a frog in a biology classroom. The parts were even in trays marked with individual organs!

Faraday: What could possess someone to do something like that?

FusionGal: Didn’t you hear about the ruling they were preparing to make?

Faraday: What, the abortion thing? Come on, there’s no way that was real, right?

Anonymous4: It was real. Of course, now that the court has been… temporarily reduced, the remaining members just published several rulings, coming down on the side of established precedent.

Faraday: So, someone kills two-thirds of the court, and the court’s rulings change?

Scholar: Yes.

FusionGal: Couldn’t happen to a bunch of nicer assholes. Conservatives already lost most of their power after their idiocy caused Congress to get basically wiped out, with only a few members managing to escape the building before it was destroyed. So, the court was hurrying to try and get things overturned before anyone could codify stuff.

RainyDayze: Well, anyways, what about the person who killed them? Any news on that?

Anonymous6: Their own families did it, apparently. It was on camera, and everything. There’s video of the actual procedures being done! And none of the justices were unconscious or restrained.

Scholar: The fuck? You do not just lie back and let someone cut you open like that. That’s not natural. Something had to be going on.

Anonymous6: Looking at the videos, it appears that the family members were moving in a slightly jerky manner, especially at the start. Might indicate some form of mind control.

DarkLord: Were they all in the same room, at the same time?

Anonymous6: Yeah, it was in a ballroom. All six justices, with their killers, as what had to be a camera crew moved around, taking in the scene.

DarkLord: That tells us a few things. For anyone in Tier 1, that kind of thing would have taken an entire team of mages using mind control spells to pull off. A team large enough that it would have been impossible for there not to be some evidence of them on camera. So, it wasn’t the normal kind of mind control.

Scholar: So, if not magic, then what?

DarkLord: Class abilities. You’re looking at the work of either a Dominator/Dominatrix or a Puppet Master/Mistress. Those classes focus on that kind of thing. It is possible that a clever person with the Slave Master profession could have pulled it off, especially if they combined their profession abilities with mental magic, but that is a real niche case.

Rabbit: How do you know that?

DarkLord: I’ve seen it before. Not so brazenly, against such high-profile targets, but I’ve seen this kind of thing before. A single, half-mad Puppet Master managed to coordinate thirty people in a fight at level 5, and he wasn’t even particularly talented in the field, using it more as a hammer than anything else. A skilled Puppet Master, at a higher level, would be able to pull this off, easily.

Scholar: And this Dominator class?

DarkLord: Same idea, different flavor. Instead of mindless puppets, the Dominator shackles a person’s will, and makes them a thrall. The main difference is that they are capable of actual thought, can act somewhat naturally to things.

Scholar: So, how does a Dominator differ from that Slave Master you mentioned?

DarkLord: A [Slave] is magically compelled to follow their Master’s orders. However, they can resist in small ways, following the letter, not the spirit, of the commands. Especially if they resent being a slave, and haven’t been tamed to the point where they serve willingly. A Dominator’s Thrall, on the other hand, serves willingly, like a religious zealot. They will only question the commands when they start receiving conflicting orders, or something of the sort.

Rabbit: Scary. Is there any way to protect yourself from things like that?

DarkLord: Unless you have a race or class ability that confers an absolute protection, then no, there is no way to completely guard against such things. However, a high WIS helps fight off mental magics. There are skills you can gain which also increase your resistance to outside control. Dominators take time to make a Thrall out of someone, so it is possible to escape before conversion. Puppet Masters, though? Don’t let them touch you. Ever. If you get hit by their [Puppet Brand], it is game over, unless you are in a couple real edge cases, or have someone who can break the effect on hand. Even if the brand is removed, you’ll likely end up like a puppet with its strings cut.

daytrader: Jesus.

DarkLord: Coincidentally, Puppet Masters in particular are not allowed in the Kingdom of Ceres without submitting to certain binding contracts to restrict the use of their abilities, and keep them from abusing their powers on the citizenry.

NotACop: So, they are just guilty until proven innocent?

DarkLord: Ceres is not the US. We have laws to restrict the use of all weapons and attack magics, based on how dangerous they are. We don’t need a couple dozen school shootings a year to tell us that weapons are fucking dangerous, and need to be controlled.

D.VaLuvr69: Hey, DarkLord! You know anything about that big blast that happened in the desert? It is all over the news. Something about a terrorist camp getting nuked.

DarkLord: I can only say that, while the Kingdom of Ceres does have ships with nuclear weapons, none of those ships have fired said weapons since the pirate fleet was defeated.

D.VaLuvr69: But that means you know something, right?

DarkLord has left the chat.

Chapter 101 – Level Up

The attack on the terrorist camp turned dungeon had been quite profitable for me. The System-created guns, ammunition, and explosives were all massive windfalls. Oh, sure, I had no reason to use them, but I could have the manufacturing plant take some of them apart, which would add those templates to what Ceres could produce. That was huge, especially considering our influx of people from Earth. While melee weapons had seen a major resurgence, and ‘archaic’ weapons, like the bow, were now back in vogue due to the System’s setup, that didn’t mean that guns were useless.

The big problem with guns under the System was how they interacted with Skills and Class Abilities. Skills that improved accuracy of ranged weapons worked fine with them. Skills that improved firing rate or range did not, or behaved differently depending on the type of gun being used. And then there were class abilities. Unless you had a class like Gunslinger or Sniper, guns weren’t going to interact well with your class ‘spells’, like a Ranger’s [Volley] ability.

However, that didn’t mean that guns were useless. Obviously, those classes that were able to use guns were able to use them to devastating effect. But where they really shined was for classes that weren’t ranged combat specialists. In other words, they were the ideal backup weapon for classes like Priests, Mages, Merchants, and so on. All they needed was a skill point to be proficient with the weapon, and they’d have a much better stand-off defense than just trying to hit an enemy fighter with a thrown dagger.

Of course, that wasn’t the only boon I got. I also managed to pick up several levels, thanks to the XP of killing not just the terrorists, but also the dungeon monsters, and the dungeon itself. I was now Level 36 in Tier 1. Distributing the attribute points was easy enough. Most went to DEX and WIS, but a couple went to STR. Deciding what to do with the skill points was more difficult, however.

Available Skills:

Note: Your available skills are based on your Race, Class, Profession, and activities.

Racial Skills:

Aerial Defender – Gain 10% to Defense while in flight.

Summon Demons – Summon demons to your side. Demons are not bound, and must be either bargained with or otherwise subdued. (Costs 2 points to take)

Aura of Lust – Project an aura of lustful energy, causing all creatures within (CHA) feet that can see or hear you to be overwhelmed with lustful feelings. Can only have one active aura up at a time. (Costs 2 points to take)

Aura of Sloth – Project an aura of indolence, causing all creatures within (CHA) feet that can see or hear you to become listless and uninspired. Can only have one active aura up at a time. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Class Skills:

Enhanced Summoning – Summoned creatures gain 10% increased stats. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Curse Resistance I – Curse Effects of Tier 2 are 50% less effective. 90% chance to be immune to curses of Tier 1. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Profession Skills:

Mind Shaping – Able to create training regimens that will increase mental attributes over time.

Artisan Slaves – Slaves designated as Artisans gain +1 INT or DEX per level (chosen at designation).

Adept Slaves – Slaves designated as Adepts gain +1 INT or +1 WIS per level (chosen at designation).

Improved Training – Reduce the cost for training or granting skills. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Class Training – Can change the class of Slaves. Slave must have attributes appropriate for the new class. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Profession Training – Can change the profession of Slaves. Slave must have attributes appropriate for the new profession. (Costs 2 points to take.)

General Skills:

Autopsy – Imparts knowledge of autopsy procedures, as well as the knowledge of how to search for and diagnose cause of death.

Harvesting – Increases your ability to harvest useful reagents and materials from corpses. May replace automatic dungeon loot.

Forgery – Increases your ability to make convincing forgeries of documents and other items.

Paperwork – Increases speed of bureaucratic tasks, reduces errors.

City Planning – Increases efficiency of managing a city, including its resources, infrastructure, and inhabitants.

Rulership – Increases efficiency of ruling a nation, including its resources, infrastructure, and inhabitants.

Heroic Leader – Increases morale of populace so long as leader lives up to their image. May have other effects.

Tyrannical Leader – Efficacy of seditious movements decreased. May have other effects.

Warlord – Increases abilities of forces when leading them into battle.

Savagery – Killing an enemy in an especially brutal way may demoralize other enemies who witness the act.

I had twelve skill points to spend. I ignored [Aerial Defender] because I hadn’t been involved in aerial combat so far. Likewise, [Autopsy], [Forgery], and [Harvesting] weren’t things I was likely to use, now that I was ruling a kingdom. [Summon Demons] was all right, but I already had the [Summoning] skill from being a Warlock, so that was a bit redundant. So, those skills were ignored.

I could use [Mind Shaping], [Artisan Slaves], and [Adept Slaves], since those would provide nice benefits over time to my slaves, but I wasn’t sure whether they were actually worth the skill points. Those skills were primarily designed for a Slave Master who focused solely on molding slaves into something useful. [Body Shaping], which I already had, required you to spend time training the slave every day, which was impossible for how many slaves I already had. As for the other two skills, those effects would continue, even after a slave was sold, making them valuable for increasing a slave’s sale value. But since I wasn’t actually selling slaves, as a rule, the small passive boost wasn’t as useful as some of the other skills I had available.

The [Aura of Lust] and [Aura of Sloth] skills were interesting, but friendly fire was definitely a problem. Since it made no separation between friend and foe, the auras would either drive anyone in the area into a mating frenzy, or cause them to become lazy peons taking a nap on shift. Both could be useful, but only in niche situations. Most of the time, they would cause more problems than they solved. They went to the bottom of the ’possibilities’ list.

[Enhanced Summoning], [Curse Resistance I], and [Paperwork] were all serious contenders. Sure, I didn’t do much summoning, but having any summons I did perform bring out better, stronger summons was always a plus. Being able to resist curses, which included things like [Slave Brand] or [Puppet Brand], was definitely a thing to consider, especially since my new position would have me getting more enemies, and higher profile ones. And being able to blow through paperwork without making errors was very nice. But there were other skills that would have bigger impacts than those three.

[City Planning] and [Rulership] would allow me to better run both Ceres, and my kingdom as a whole, once we started expanding, and putting colonies in the rest of the outer system. [Heroic Leader] and [Tyrannical Leader] sounded like opposites that would be mutually exclusive, but they actually weren’t. A Hero inspired the people, and a Tyrant kept them under control. It would take careful work, but, if I combined them with the management skills, then I could cultivate the myth of a Hero King who was Tough but Fair.

[Warlord] and [Savagery] would help in any conflicts I participated in, directly. It would only work in ground or ship-board combat, not naval engagements, but that was still a huge boost if someone managed to invade Ceres. Or, more likely, if I needed to put boot to ass because someone decided to piss me off. Either way, it was hard to pass them up.

Which just left the three skills I absolutely wanted to take. [Improved Training] would make it easier for me to give my slaves all sorts of skills. Having more skills than fewer was always better. [Class Training] and [Profession Training] would let me take anyone who had problematic classes or professions that happened to become one of my slaves, and turn them into something more useful. For instance, if I caught a Puppet Master, I could turn them into a Flame Sorcerer, and then use [Training] to alter their skills, so they couldn’t make puppets out of people. Or, I could take someone who had a useless profession, like Conspiracy Theorist, and turn them into something more productive, like Investigator.

Those three took up six of my points. [City Planner], [Rulership], [Heroic Leader], and [Tyrannical Leader] took up another four, leaving me with just two left. Those last two were the hardest choice to make. There were just too many good choices! In the end, though, I decided on [Curse Resistance I]. I’d gotten as far as I had in this timeline by making sure I couldn’t be taken out, and then looking for a way to win. As Sun Tzu said, “The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.” With [Curse Resistance I], layered on top of my other magical resistances, it would have to be a very powerful curse to affect me, and my other defenses and health pool were already at a level that could rival some Tier 2 combatants.

I made sure I was seated before confirming my choices. A good thing, too, as the sudden rush of information being poured into my head by the System was overwhelming, and would have sent me to the floor if I’d been standing. Reviewing the information, I found that most of it was from [City Planner] and [Rulership]. The other skills were all simpler, if more immediately powerful, but those two? They were comprehensive. The knowledge I had, now, would have taken years of study at a university plus years more of real-world experience to learn, without the System doing the hard work for me.

Thankfully, I had almost recovered when Lilith sauntered into my office, apparently having just breezed by my secretary. Still, she wasn’t fooled by my act. “Oh, Daddy! You didn’t try and pick all your skills at once again, did you? That’s a great way to knock yourself out for hours!”

I smiled weakly. “Well, most of them were fine. Good skills, and strong ones, but really straightforward in how they worked. It was two of the weaker ones that hit me hard. But at least I know how to run a city and a country, now!”

She sighed, as she sat down on the corner of my desk. “Well, at least you had the sense to come to the office and sit down before doing that. Really, how did you get to be so powerful, and yet always make these kinds of mistakes?”

I shrugged, as my energy recovered. “What can I say? It was just taking risks and rolling with things as they happened that led to all my successes, and my failures, in the other timeline. Don’t know about your timeline, but I assume it was much the same. And, so far, I’ve done fine, this timeline.”

“Sure, but I really would like for this timeline to go along without needing to be reset yet again, you know? So, just think a bit before you go doing things like that, all right? Especially when taking on the big skills. When you get into Tier 2, they’ll start hitting a lot harder.”

“All right, all right. You made your point.” I grinned, and leaned back in my chair. “So, what’s up? I doubt you came in just to criticize my timing on skill selection.”

“Oh, nothing much. Its just that our ‘Embassy’ in Atlanta is getting a lot of very nervous phone calls from the US and other governments. Something about a nuclear-type explosion in Libya. So far, they’ve responded with promises to talk with you, and call back as soon as they find out what is happening.”

“Ah, fuck. I guess we did kind of blow up a bit of desert. Well, that’s fine. I was going to have to meet with diplomats eventually. Tell them that I’ll accept visitors at the Atlanta Embassy tomorrow afternoon, where I will hear their questions.”

Lilith nodded. “Good choice. Don’t want them to think they can just call you at will, but still want to be open to talks. All right, I’ll let the girls in Atlanta know.”

“Oh, and Lilith?”

“Yes, Daddy?”

“Remind me after this that we need to see about recruiting a few Ambassadors of our own. And we may need to allow a couple Embassies on Ceres. We’re part of the big time, now, and should act like it.”

“Of course, Daddy!”

Chapter 102 – Greetings

I took the shuttle down to Atlanta in the morning, local time. I wanted to be fresh, and ready for what promised to be a diplomatic shit show. That meant getting down early, and having enough time to relax by the pool before showering, and getting dressed. Of course, I also wanted to have some fun with the girls, so this made for a good excuse.

Eventually, I stepped out of the shower with Talia, and went to get dressed. I wasn’t going to do formal wear, but my normal armor. I’d decided early on that the Kingdom of Ceres would not have the kind of pomp and frills that other nations seemed to collect. No, the Kingdom of Ceres was a martial kingdom, and the closest to ceremonial wear we would get would be a military dress uniform.

That was for official business, of course. I didn’t care what people dressed like in their own homes, but official wear for the Kingdom was always going to be either System arms and armor, or a military-style uniform, though distinct enough from the actual military uniforms that no one would mistake them. The idea was to promote a martial culture in my people, and to try and remove social classes from consideration. Sure, the wealthy were always going to have better weapons and gear than the poor, but the System was a great equalizer, allowing a poor person with enough drive, and skill, to gain power and gear.

The fact that such a setup allowed me to wear my strongest defensive and offensive gear, even when conducting official state events was just a ‘happy accident’, really.

Shortly after 1pm, the first diplomatic vehicles pulled up to my gate. With a mental command, I opened the gate, allowing them to enter. They were still subject to the wards I had in place, but those were no longer the main defense. After all, I couldn’t be here most of the time, and this place was now public knowledge.

Since we had gone public, I had increased the defenses of the mansion, purchasing guards for the grounds. These guards were actually golems, and were disguised as statues of armed and armored creatures scattered around the estate, though two flanked the front door as honor guards. Until a threat was detected, they would stand motionless, and only an [Analyze] skill, or something similar, from an individual with a higher level than they had would be able to discern their true nature.

The first group to arrive was, naturally, a representative from the US government. Obvious, since this was Atlanta, but soon they were joined by individuals from the British, French, German, and Japanese consulates. I had my people guide them all to the living room, which would make for a more relaxed atmosphere than creating a conference room, and offer refreshments.

Once they were all there, I walked into the room, with Lilith at my side. Nodding to all of them, I smiled. “Welcome to my home away from home. I am sure you all have a great many questions, but I wish to be clear on one thing, from the beginning. The Kingdom of Ceres is a martial kingdom, and, as such, we will not bother with flowery language and empty platitudes, hiding daggers behind smiles and wishes of friendship. You might think us barbarians, for not dancing the same dance as you, but I prefer to speak only truth, and expect the same of those I meet, and I have much more respect for someone who admits when they do not know something than a person who tries to plaster over their ignorance with bullshit.”

That caused the representatives to shift uneasily in their seats. I clearly wasn’t what they were expecting. Probably, they thought I was going to try and puff myself up like a warlord in a banana republic, with a chest full of ribbons and medals I’d awarded myself. They’d just have to be disappointed, in that case.

“But, before we get to questions, introductions are in order. I am King Zayn Greene, ruler of the Kingdom of Ceres. At my side is my daughter from another timeline, Princess Lilith Moonchild. She also serves as my assistant in these matters. Now, might I have the pleasure of your names?”

This, at least, was something the diplomats understood. The first to speak was the gentleman in a well-tailored suit from the United Kingdom, who so happened to be on the far right of the group. He looked to be in his late forties, but held himself well. “Yes. Well, I am Marley Phillips, Deputy Consul-General for Her Majesty, the Queen of England, stationed in Atlanta.”

I nodded, and said, “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Phillips,” before looking at the next in line. She was an Elf of some sort, obviously changed in the Apocalypse, so her age was impossible to guess. She wore a business suit, that spoke of practicality, first and foremost, which went well with her German accent.

“I am Lena Baer, Assistant to the Consul-General for the German Consulate-General.”

I nodded to her, as I’d done Phillips, but I didn’t miss the way her eyes glowed momentarily as she introduced herself. Probably some sort of detection skill. I smiled, and said, “A pleasure. Also, you’ll want to practice more with that skill. Eventually, you’ll unlock an improvement that you can spend skill points on to remove that tell.” The look on her face was priceless.

“Well then,” the next in line said. He was a dark-skinned man in a comfortable suit, and spoke with a Brooklyn accent. “I am Jaquon Jones, working with the State Department.”

“Greetings, Mr. Jones. I hope you didn’t have too much trouble with traffic. I know how much fun Atlanta can be at rush hour.”

“Oh, same as always. At least the car has air conditioning. I was afraid I’d melt, otherwise.”

There was a healthy chuckle at that, before the fourth representative spoke up. He was dressed in what had to be a two- or three-thousand-dollar suit, before the Apocalypse, and there were casual signs of wealth and influence, like a jeweled Rolex on his wrist. This was someone who wished others to know their importance, probably as a power play for negotiations.

“I am Jean-Noël Bellegarde, Special Assistant to the Consul-General for French government.”

“Sure, Mr. Bellegard. Nice to meetcha.” The casualness of my tone brought a flash of anger to the man’s face, but he quickly controlled it. Pushing his buttons was going to be fun.

Finally, the last representative bowed at a diplomatic angle to me. She was actually a Kitsune, as one could tell from the fox ears on her head, and the tail poking out from her tailored business suit. “I am Kitamura Ema, or Ema Kitamura, as it is used in the West. I am the Consul-General stationed here in Atlanta to represent the Japanese people.”

“Ah, Kitamura-san, it is a pleasure to meet you,” I said, as I returned her bow. There was no harm in being polite and showing respect to those who offered it first, after all.

Looking back at the others, I waved to the chairs and couches around the living room. “Please, have a seat. This conversation is going to be contentious enough, so we might as well be comfortable, right?” There were a couple grins from those who had come to accept my style, and frowns from the French and German representatives, but soon everyone was seated.

“Well, I guess we should start with the obvious. Your governments all obviously saw satellite imagery of the blast in Libya. And those images most likely saw a shuttle belonging to the Kingdom of Ceres near the scene.”

I held up a hand to stop any questions, and said, “I will answer questions at the end.” As the representatives settled back, I continued, “Yesterday, at just after midnight, local time, a team of operatives from the Kingdom of Ceres conducted a search and destroy mission on a camp near the Tazirbu Oasis. This camp, prior to the Apocalypse, was determined to be an ISIS-affiliated training camp for terrorists. After the Apocalypse, the area appeared to have been covered in haze on satellite images, which I’m sure your intelligence agencies can confirm for you.

“Since ISIS has decried the Kingdom of Ceres as a nation of heathens moving further from the light of Allah, due to our open acceptance of all races, religions, creeds, and orientations, judging only based on merit, there was concern that the terrorists would begin planning attacks at our facilities on Earth, especially once we begin establishing embassies in other countries. To head this off, and gain more intelligence on their plans, a first strike on the training camp was authorized, and carried out. This happened on my personal command.

“In the initial moments of the attack, team members discovered that the camp had become a dungeon, and the haze was a result of a dungeon’s innate ability to disguise its location. Through means unknown, ISIS forces were able to take control of the dungeon, and mold it to suit their purposes, using it as a training ground, allowing their people to gain levels fighting analogues of American servicemen while training for various terrorist activities. This also allowed the terrorists to procure System-based weapons, armor, and materiel, including explosives.

“Because of the inherent danger of such materials getting into the hands of terrorists, and spreading to the wider movement, the commander on the ground ordered that the terrorists be eliminated, and the dungeon destroyed. Following several running firefights, where the team took down many dungeon creatures posing as American soldiers and the one hundred terrorist trainees, the team reached the dungeon core. After defeating the dungeon’s final monster, they used their attacks to overwhelm the dungeon core’s defenses, and shatter it.

“Unfortunately, destroying dungeon cores is not an easy process, and is rarely safe. The destruction of the core destabilized the local mana flows, causing a resonating surge. The team barely had time to get back on board the shuttle and raise shields before the resultant mana surge exploded, resulting in the blast your governments witnessed.”

Jones frowned. “The reports said the blast was nuclear. Can a dungeon being destroyed really be that powerful?”

“Oh, certainly. Dungeons have innate dimensional magics, you know. This allows them to be bigger on the inside, so a dungeon that might claim an area the size of this estate, in the outside world, could be large enough to fit the entirety of the Metro Atlanta area inside it, with room to spare. The destruction of the dungeon causes the dimensional boundaries to collapse, which means that fitting everything back into reality is like trying to fit a basketball into a coffee cup, and the basketball isn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer. The result is matter turning to mana. If the mana is already unstable, well, you get critical mass, and then boom.”

Bellegarde growled, clearly eager to pounce on me, after I had disrespected him earlier, “And you just decided, on your own, to go violating other countries’ airspace, and letting off explosions of that nature? Without even bothering to try and coordinate with the international community? Without concern for the environmental impact? Do you realize how many treaties you’ve just confessed to breaking?”

I laughed, which did not improve his mood any. “I have not broken a single treaty, Mr. Bellegarde, nor has anyone under my command. Really, I would have expected you to be better informed than that. After all, the Kingdom of Ceres has not, in its entire history, signed any of the treaties I’m sure you were about to name, nor has it ever been a part of any international organizations or groups that you may be thinking of.”

Leaning forward, I said, “Which is not to say that We are opposed to such things, in the future. Indeed, We will likely be adding the Kingdom to the list of countries who have signed on to the Geneva Conventions, to keep warfare civilized. However, some language would need to be updated. Strictly speaking, the Conventions only apply to humans. Given what we know of the galaxy at large, those rules should be updated, to include the realities of the System, and the fact that humans are not the only sentient life that we know of.”

Kitamura smiled. “An excellent suggestion, your majesty. Speaking of the System, I watched your interview on the Late Show. Perhaps you could give us some more insight on the System, and what you know of these pirates?”

Chapter 103 – On Pirates

I leaned back against the backrest of the sofa, and smiled. “Ah, yes, the pirates. Well, for starters, you have to understand that the Sol System is in something of a backwater as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned. Halfway down a spur of a larger arm of the galaxy, well away from the Core, where the oldest and strongest species live, we are not on any trade routes. We don’t even have the benefit of being an island in the midst of a stronger empire. And there is no ‘Galactic Federation’, or anything like that. It is, to be blunt, a dog-eat-dog world out there.

“That said, the local stars are not terribly well populated. The closest system with actual inhabitants would be Tau Ceti, just about twelve light-years from Sol. The inhabitants of that system are known as the Knelfi, and that world is one of their more distant colonies as they expanded moving coreward. Think of them as ‘space elves’, and you have the right idea.

“I don’t have any current data on the Knelfi, but, if the knowledge from past timelines is accurate, then they should currently be embroiled in a war with a species called the Incux. The Incux are an insectoid race with six legs and four arms. They are predatory, scavengers, and generally a source of trouble wherever they go. They believe that all beings are either ‘predator’, or ‘prey’. Fortunately for us, they only possess basic hyperdrive systems.”

“Hyperdrive? Like in Star Wars?”

“Yes, Mr. Phillips, though not quite as easy. The Hyperdrive is basically a form of Alcubierre drive. Basically, surround the ship in a bubble of space-time, and warp space a bit so that gravity works slightly different, and the ship starts ‘falling’ faster and faster in the direction you want to go. You cheat relativity because inside the bubble, everything is moving below light speed, while outside the bubble, gravity is one of the only things that changes the speed of light.

“However, using the hyperdrive casts a ‘bow wake’ that can be seen in advance of the ship, and the top speed depends on the tech level. The Incux have older drives that can go about fifty times lightspeed, meaning that they would take thirty days, give or take, to reach Earth from Alpha Centauri, and their bow wake would be detectable about twenty days out. Other species, with better technology or just more refined drives, could travel at two hundred and fifty times lightspeed, doing the same trip in less than seven days, and being detectable only two or three days out.”

I took a breath, and said, “There are other forms of FTL, of course. The Stitch Drive, or, more properly, the Folding Space Singularity Drive, effectively reduces the distance between one point and another to zero, temporarily. However, to use it without risking coming out inside a star, or something equally unfortunate, you need chronospatial coordinates of the system you’re going to. But that allows for instantly jumping up to twenty-something lightyears at a time.

“The Wormhole drive is like the Stitch Drive on steroids, cocaine, and meth, all at the same time. It is big, loud, and opens a wormhole allowing an entire fleet to travel from one side of the galaxy to the other in minutes. However, only the richest and most powerful nations have access to that technology, so you don’t have to worry about it yet.

“Then, you have the Darksail Drive, which uses LaGrange points to shift a ship in and out of a dimension full of dark matter. Those ships can then ‘sail’ from star to star in the course of weeks, maybe months. You don’t need the coordinates like you would the Stitch Drive, and it doesn’t compare favorably to the hyperdrive, but it is very quiet, and fuel efficient, making it a favorite of smugglers and anyone trying to move large quantities of freight without drawing the attention of pirates.

“Finally, there’s the Hellspace Drive. Basically, you tear open a portal to a dimension that can only charitably be described as Hell, hope your shields hold so that demons don’t get on board your ship and rip your crews to shreds while eating their souls, and then repeat the process to come out on the other side, hopefully somewhere near where you wanted to be. It is a nasty drive, only used by the desperate or the insane, but it has the range and reach of the Wormhole Drive, yet it can be used by anyone willing to risk the trip. Oh, and time works funny in that dimension, so while most of the time you’ll come out within days or weeks of entering Hellspace, sometimes you’ll come out centuries later, or arrive before you left. So, fun.”

“And the Incux and these Knelfi use the Hyperdrive?” Jones asked.

“Yes, though the Knelfi may have the Stitch drive, as well. Their empire is spinward of us, primarily, so we have some time before they send ships our way, especially with their current conflict against the Incux. They are, however, one of the two major powers in this part of the spiral arm.”

I took a breath, and continued, “The Incux, as I said, are aggressive, but technologically not too far advanced from where we are. However, they are naturally skilled with magic, especially destructive magic, so if they get on the ground, and are able to start a hive going, pushing them off Earth would be a major task. Even using atomics.

“Fortunately, their hiveworlds are mostly below us, and corewards, as far as the galactic plane is concerned. The Kovalds, on the other hand, are much closer to hand, and are more cunning. They are a cowardly race, as a rule, but clever trapmakers, and they are very dangerous if you let them choose the area of engagement. You can recognize kovalds because they are three-foot-tall reptiles with canine features, and their voice sounds like it is chirping half the time.”

I paused, and then said, “Both the Kovalds and the Incux pay tribute to the second major power in this region, the Ouran Huntworlds. The Ouran are the big lizard-like aliens that landed around the world just recently. They are obligate carnivores, and enjoy hunting and eating live prey, especially when the prey is intelligent enough to know they are being hunted. They keep several slave species that they’ve conquered on their worlds, for use as both labor and food. They prefer their food to be both alive and conscious when they start eating, as the pain and terror help with the ‘flavor’.

“In my original timeline, the Kovalds raided Earth successfully, taking technology and slaves. That raid was quickly followed by an entire invasion force of Kovalds, who quickly crippled the governments’ command and control ability, and caused the collapse of all major world powers, though the Kovalds were rebuffed in the end. When the Ouran arrived a few months later to stake their own claim, all that was left of human governance were warlords who had seized power. The Ouran proved harder to run off than the Kovalds, and, ten years later, the local ruler here in Georgia was thrown down. But he was just one of many, around the world.”

I scanned their faces to ensure they were still following, and said, “It is a simple fact that there is no galactic government enforcing a ‘Prime Directive’ or similar law about not enslaving pre-FTL species, like Humanity. If Sol had been connected to the System, then we would have been found and invaded by pirates long ago, probably while the Egyptians were still building the Pyramids. The only defense we had was that our world was inaccessible with System technology.

“Through my actions in this timeline, I was able to stomp out the Kovald raid, forestalling their invasion, as the cowardly beings figure out how to respond. I was also able to blunt the Ouran invasion, so that, instead of a fleet of fifty ships, maintaining orbital supremacy, only eight ships landed on Earth, which was a number manageable enough that local forces could take them on, once they got to the scene. However, some of the Ouran escaped, which means the chronospatial coordinates went with them. That means the next time they want to come, they can just use the Stitch Drive, and we won’t know they’re coming until the arrival flare shows on our scans.”

Kitamura leaned forward. “So, you expect that they will return? Even after taking those kinds of losses? You said on one of the online forums that only twenty-five ships escaped, and they were mostly damaged to some degree.”

“Unfortunately, that kind of one-sided defeat means that they will HAVE to come back. They are a warrior culture, with strict rules of honor. What we faced during the big space battle was a fraction of the power of one of the weaker clans in Ouran territory, the Iscand Clan. They just happened to be the closest Ouran clan to Sol. Even so, they were several jumps with the Stitch Drive from Alpha Centauri.

“I do not, however, expect them to come back immediately. Not in fleet strength, at least. For one thing, we are reasonably certain, given information captured from the wreckage of the enemy ships, that we decapitated most of their commanders and senior hunters, at least amongst those that were present. It will take time for them to settle on new leadership, and they will want to replace the ships they lost before sending a fleet our way.

“Also, even if they wanted to send a second fleet immediately, with the rest of their ships, they couldn’t do that without exposing their necks to their enemies and rivals. Sensing weakness, they would attack the Iscand, and take their territories for themselves. That would be an even greater blow to the Iscand, one they might not recover from.

“Finally, we taught them to rightly fear our weapons and tactics, which were designed to let us take on larger, stronger foes. They will study their records of the fight, and send scouts this time, instead of a fleet. They’ll be looking to probe our defenses, and find out anything else that they can about our weapons and tactics, so that next time they can properly hunt us. They were on a fox hunt and the fox managed to take down several horses. You can be assured that they will want to know just what the fox can do before they call another hunt.”

I paused, and said, “Of course, that doesn’t mean any of us can rest easy. The Iscand are, after all, just one of the Ouran clans. The loss of so many ships, and the mauling the others took, will become known to the other clans. They will also send scouts, to see if good hunting can be had here.”

Bellegarde frowned. “Then, you should be turning over the technology you have to the UN, so that the world’s nations can properly prepare for this threat, instead of playing at being some petty dictator.”

“Yes, I’m sure the French would know all about having petty dictators running around. You sure did have a lot of them, after all. Even ones who said they were divinely appointed, so no one could question them, right? And let’s not start on Napoleon, yes?”

“Why you!”

“Yes, yes. I know, you’re very upset. I don’t care. I earned the technology I have, and I will not share it. You will just have to use the pirate ships that my forces only disabled, not destroyed, to jump start your research and advance your technology by decades.” Of course, I ignored the fact that none of the ships had landed in France. Not my problem, after all.

Baer cleared her throat to try and break the tension. “On that note, your Majesty, perhaps we could shift the topic to something more topical to why we gathered? You mentioned that you thought there should be alterations to the Geneva Conventions, based on the ‘realities of the System’ and the knowledge of the current standards in the wider galaxy? Perhaps you could elaborate a bit on that?”

Chapter 104 – Harsh Truths

I nodded to Baer as I leaned back against the sofa. “Of course, Frau Baer. I’d be happy to discuss that topic at length. The idea of the Conventions is sound, as I said, but, as they stand, they would never be applied when the wider universe comes calling, because the other side would never agree to play by those rules.

“Of course, when I talk about the Geneva Conventions, I’m also talking about the Hague Conventions, the Geneva Protocol, and other such laws, as well. Basically, all the rules of war we put in place, to ensure that fighting, when necessary, is kept to something civilized, instead of devolving into barbarism. This is a good thing, and, in essence, the Kingdom of Ceres supports this goal.

“However, there are things you must know about the wider galaxy. First, as I’ve said, Sol is in a bit of a backwater, as far as the galactic powers are concerned. There are no ‘civilized’ countries near us, save for the Knelfi. The Kovalds are a fractious species, and it would take something truly cataclysmic to unite them. The Incux and the Ouran, however, are highly organized, and have no problems thinking of other sentients as food. In fact, those of you who captured pirate ships during the invasion might have found other species mixed in with the lizardmen. Those were both crew, who could get into tighter spaces than Ouran can, and ‘emergency rations’.”

A few people looked decidedly unwell at that thought, so I pushed on. “So, saying nothing of those types, you’ll find that prisons, as they are seen on Earth, are not a thing in the wider universe. There are jails, and holding facilities, certainly. However, those are designed to hold prisoners temporarily, until trial, not for long-term detention. It should be obvious that things like prisoner of war camps are not a thing, either.”

Jones raised a hand. “So, what do the aliens do, if they don’t send people to prison? How does their justice system work?”

“An excellent question. If convicted of a crime, the court, or ruling party, depending on the setup, will levy punishments depending on the severity of the crime. For misdemeanors, you’d be looking at some form of fine or restitution, enforced by the courts and the System. For more serious crimes, like felonies, the choices are either judicial enslavement, death, or worse.

“Oh, and before you ask,” I said, as Jones started to speak, “there is a difference between ‘judicial enslavement’, and someone enslaved through other means. Judicial enslavement usually comes with a set term, though sometimes that term is ‘life’. There are also some protections for those enslaved through the judicial system to protect them from abuse. At worst, judicial slaves may end up doing the same things they’d be doing in the US, making license plates, working on the roadside, and so on.”

Jones frowned. “If that’s the case, why enslavement, rather than establishing prisons?”

“Because people enslaved with the System cannot start prison riots. They can be ordered not to leave a property without express permission from their master, and the System will not let them leave, preventing escape attempts. This makes it so you don’t have to have the State holding them all in one place, under armed guard, incurring heaps of expenses as they go. Instead, you can sell their ‘contract’ to interested parties, and they are off, contributing to society instead of detracting from it.

“As a side note, because they are out in the world, instead of being locked up with other criminals, recidivism amongst those who face judicial enslavement is lower than it is in, say, the US. They aren’t locked in a building with nothing but criminals, so they don’t get ‘hardened’ as easily, since gangs find it harder to reach out to them and isolate them from others. There’s also a lower rate of radicalization into hate groups, for similar reasons.”

Jones looked appalled at that. “You’re saying that slavery is widely practiced in the wider galaxy? And the other choice is death, or something worse than death? What, do they do trial by combat, too?”

“In some cases, yes,” I nodded, though that didn’t seem to improve his mood. “Though that is usually carried out by ‘feeding’ the prisoners to the nearest dungeon, throwing them in, with only the clothes on their back, and not allowing the prisoner to leave until they’ve cleared the dungeon. If they survive, they win their freedom. If not, their death strengthens the dungeon, which strengthens the country, because stronger dungeons produce better materials, and can help the adventurers who enter the dungeon get stronger.”

Bellegarde took this moment to cut in. “And what about prisoners of war? Are they subjected to this, as well?”

“Thank you, Mr. Bellegarde, for leading me to the next point. In most of the civilized galaxy, prisoners of war are treated as judicial slaves for the duration of the conflict. As such, they have certain rights and protections, so you won’t see them tortured, or other nastiness like that. These prisoners are usually released at the end of the war. Sometimes, exchanges are made during the war, especially when dealing with high-ranking or politically-relevant prisoners.”

Bellegarde frowned slightly. “So, it is like the prisoner of war laws we have, except that they are enslaved by the System?”

“Essentially, yes. Slavery under the System is different than chattel slavery. Someone with the [Slave] title is still considered a person, and has most of the rights that a free citizen would. There are some exceptions, of course, but, for the most part, even those enslaved through means other than the courts are treated as citizens. And, because of this, there is not the same stigma placed upon the practice in the wider galaxy.”

Kitamura nodded slowly. “You are saying that the part of the Conventions dealing with prisoners of war should be reworded, to have judicial slavery, rather than the current setup? That will not go over well with most people, I’m afraid. There’s too much history there.”

“As someone who grew up in the southern United States, I am fully aware of that. However, this is the reality of the world we now live in. But there are other things, which I would argue ought to be added to the list of war crimes.”

“Like what?”

“For starters, some of those ‘worse than death’ options I mentioned. We can start with the Puppet Master class’s [Puppet Brand]. Unlike the [Enthrall] ability of the Dominator, or the [Slave Brand] ability of the Slave Master profession, the [Puppet Brand] cannot be undone if the victim bears the brand for any length of time. A Dominator’s Thrall essentially is indoctrinated, like a cultist, but they can be either released by the Dominator or ‘deprogrammed’ just as you would any one you try to break free from a cult. A Slave retains their mind, and the moment the collar is off or the [Slave Brand] is gone, they can act according to their own will. It is not pleasant, but these are things that can be recovered from.

“Someone marked with a [Puppet Brand], however? If they bear the brand for more than a week, they are gone. Their mind dissolves, until there is nothing more than an empty husk, dancing to their master’s whims as a little puppet on strings of magic. However, since they are not truly dead, their souls remain trapped within that meat prison, unable to move on to whatever awaits after death. The only things you can do for them is to kill them, and release their soul, or use magic to ‘implant’ a new mind in that body. Either way, they will never be the same person they were before.”

“Mon Dieu!”

I just nodded at Bellegarde, and continued. “On the other side, you have some truly horrific things that can be done with magitech, things that would formerly be found only in the darkest pages of fantasy or science fiction stories. Things like ripping a person’s brain from their body, and using science and magic to keep them alive, as a brain in a jar, or implanting that brain into a construct, like Frankenstein’s monster, or some combat cyborg.

“In the first timeline, there was a pirate who combined the Puppet Master class with the Golem Crafter profession. This allowed them to create flesh golems, and use the [Puppet Brand] on the brains she implanted. The synergy of the two classes allowed bodies that were level 40 in Tier 1 to easily take on foes that were level 20 of Tier 2, a gap of thirty levels! Because of that, she was able to create an elite force that destroyed the alien invaders in London. But the lengths she went to made even her allies fear her.”

Phillips shook his head. “I see what you meant by fates worse than death. I assume that this [Puppet Brand] you’re talking about is one of the punishments used on those who commit crimes, but aren’t enslaved or killed?”

“Yes. It is actually one of the few socially accepted roles for a Puppet Master in civilized space. They ‘execute’ prisoners, but the State can still use them to dig ditches, or other menial labor that requires unthinking drudgery. However, leveling up to the point where they can be used like that is not easy without first using puppets, so countries usually send them to dungeons with groups so that they can ‘power level’.”

“And what about Puppet Masters that don’t join up with the country?”

I looked Phillips in the eye, and said, “It is still pretty soon after the Apocalypse, so this might not be common knowledge, yet, but the System assigns Classes at birth. The class is locked, preventing the individual from using their abilities and hiding them from appraisal-style skills until they reach puberty. So, it is common for children to be tested starting at age 12 for humans, to see what class they have. Puppet Masters are given the choice of either joining the state, having their class reassigned, or death. To do otherwise would be like allowing civilians to carry cannisters of Sarin gas as a ‘self-defense’ weapon. Not even the United States is that foolish.”

Jones grumbled. “You’re out of line, but you’re not wrong.”

I shrugged, and said, “Not sorry, but that wasn’t intended as a jab at you directly.”

Baer leaned forward. “You say that classes are assigned at birth. What about Professions, then?”

“Professions can be chosen by the individual at any time after their System unlocks. The options they are given are limited by their training and experiences to that point. However, the System Shop does offer Profession Guide books at a relatively low price, which can allow a child to add a profession to their list of options when the System unlocks for them. I believe the price is something like ten silver pieces, since all it does is unlock the option.”

“What about changing professions and classes later on? How is that done?”

“Well, Slave Masters and Dominators who have the proper skills can adjust the classes and professions of those under their control. There are rituals that can be done to change a person’s class, such as a Warlock or Priest changing a Bard’s class to their own as they initiate them into their order. These rituals are powerful, as they allow you to take your Class Skills, and either use them as General Skills, or give up those skills to spend the points on skills from your new class.

“There’s a similar ability in professions, at higher levels, allowing you to train people in your profession, and change their skills, like with the class-change ritual. And this ability isn’t a skill, by the way, so you don’t need to invest points in it, and it isn’t as quick as an initiation ritual, like for classes. Instead, it is a process. Converting a Scribe to a Soldier would involve running them through boot camp, and, at the end, they’d be able to change their Profession.

“And, of course, the System Shop has items which can change your class, profession, or even race, but they are significantly more expensive than the Profession Guides. Using one of those items allows you to change your race, class, or profession, and change the skills you got from them accordingly. The price of the item depends on the rarity and tier of the role you’re trying to take on. Changing to a Tier 4 race is far more expensive than changing to a Tier 1 race, for instance.”

“Is that how you became a Greater Incubus, then?” Baer asked. “By buying a race-changing item?”

I chuckled, noticing that only Jones wasn’t shocked by this little bombshell. State Department probably had a chat with the Detectives on the System Task Force when I revealed myself, and they knew about my race. The others, though, hadn’t realized this, until Baer revealed the result of her appraisal-type skill. “Oh, not at all. When the System came online, I spent my boons wisely. When the System turned me into a Lesser Incubus, I picked the ‘Third-Tier Race’ option as my Greater Boon, and so I became a Greater Incubus.

“But that aside, are there any other questions for me?”

Chapter 105 – Diplomatic Relations

As it turned out, there were quite a few questions, though most of them involved state secrets, or technology, and the like. Jones requested as close to a current star map of the local powers as we could get, and that was echoed by the rest of the representatives. Obviously, I did not have that information on hand, or know the details off the top of my head, but I promised that I would have one of my people send what information was available at this time to their offices.

Not long after, the meeting began to break up. Once all the official goodbyes were said, Lilith led the way to the foyer, and the three men couldn’t help but turn their heads and follow as she swayed her hips. Brau got a tight frown on her face, and nodded my way, before turning to follow them. Leaving only Kitamura.

She smiled, and turned to leave, but stopped as my hand touched her arm, hitting her with [Touch of Depravity], penalizing her Wisdom to increase her sex drive temporarily. I smiled at her as I activated [Seduction]. “You know, Kitamura-san, perhaps you could delay returning to your embassy for a bit. I’m a newcomer to the world of high-level diplomacy, and would love it if you could give me a bit of a lesson on ‘diplomatic relations’.”

Her breath caught as she turned to face me. This close, she couldn’t help but breathe in my [Pheromones]. Combined with my [Seduction] skill, [Touch of Depravity], and my Charisma, which was practically ten times what a normal human might have at my level unless they put everything they could into it, I could see the effect in her eyes, as they went softer. She breathed in again, bit her lip.

“Y-your majesty, it is hardly appropriate!”

“Why, though. We’re both consenting adults. It isn’t like I’m asking you to do anything that compromises your role, or your government. Are Japanese diplomats not allowed to have a social life?”

“N-no, not that, but not with government officials. And you’re a head of state!”

I smiled, and leaned in, pressing her against the wall. My lips took hers in a quick kiss, and [Kiss of Corruption] activated. Her eyes were glossy now, and a dreamy look crossed her face. “So, Ema, do you really want me to stop? I will, if you tell me to. But I don’t think you want that, do you?”

“N-no,” she panted, cheeks flushed. “D-don’t stop. But its wrong. W-what will people say?”

“Why would we tell anyone?” My hand rested on her waist, gently pulling her hips closer to mine, while my eyes looked into hers. “And, even if they found out, do you think your superiors would mind? They might even reward you.”

“Reward me?”

I leaned forward, my breath tickling her ear. As I did so, I saw Lilith in the hall, smiling. She raised her eyebrows suggestively, and I winked back at her, before glancing to the stairs. Lilith licked her lips, and headed for the stairs, quiet as could be, and I turned my attention back to Ema. The whole exchange took barely a moment.

“Yes, reward you. You tell them that you did your research on me. Followed my online presence. The fact that I have a harem is not exactly a secret, you know. You could say that you wanted to try and seduce me, to ‘strengthen ties’. Perhaps convince me to put our first real embassy in Tokyo, instead of the US. And Ceres is the new rising star in the solar system.”

She nodded slowly, the words taking root in her mind. The excuse just plausible enough to let her brain relax, and give in to what her body was wanting. “Yesss. That sounds good. That would work.”

I ran my hand up, through her hair, stroking just behind her fox-like ears. her eyes half-closed as she leaned into my fingers, and a guttural, almost purring sound came from her throat. “Of course, it will work.” When my other hand slipped around her waist, to play with the base of her tail, she gave up all pretense, and moaned. “But perhaps we should go upstairs.”

“Yesss,” she growled throatily, voice full of desire.

I reached down, and picked her up with one arm, just below her rear, pulling her close. Ema yelped in surprise, but then her eyes went wide, seeing that I wasn’t even struggling. “How? How strong are you?”

I kissed her neck as I carried her up the stairs, applying [Kiss of Corruption] again. “Sorry, Strength is one of my weaker attributes.” She just moaned in reply.

Before she could gather her wits enough to say anything, we were in my bedroom, and began pulling off clothes. I was quicker, not having any shame to overcome. Ema, however, was only down to her bra and panties when she realized that we weren’t alone.

Lilith was lying on my bed, naked, and with her full succubus form on display, red skin contrasting nicely with the black silk sheets. The succubus smiled at Ema, and said, “Mm, such a delicious looking treat. Daddy has good taste, no?”

Ema turned back to look at me, but I was already in my demon form, grey skin, horns, and all. I silenced her question with a kiss, and then pushed her back, onto the bed. Lilith began kissing her now, as she deftly unclasped the kitsune’s bra. She didn’t resist when I pulled off her panties, leaving her as naked as the rest of us.

Lilith shifted, so that now she was sucking and nibbling on Ema’s breast. As I got down between her legs, I winked at her. “Itadakimasu!” She moaned a reply, as my tongue began exploring her depths, but there were no words in it.

Finally, though, she collected herself enough to grab my horns. She shuddered, a climax taking her then. I let her pull my head up. She was definitely wet and ready, but still possessed just enough will to ask, “But, your daughter?”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I said. “She’ll eat you too, I promise.”

“Mmm. Yes I will,” Lilith moaned around the nipple she was nibbling.

“Ungh!” The kitsune grunted, as a bit of clarity hit her. “But, that’s—”

“A normal part of society when dealing with succubi and incubi,” I said, cutting her off. I stood up, and Lilith wasted no time taking it in her mouth. “We are sex demons, after all. A father and daughter having fun, or sharing a snack like yourself? That’s no different from a human father and daughter eating dinner at the table. You should know, by now, how the System changes you, when you change races, right?”

Ema nodded slowly, unable to take her eyes off Lilith’s head as it bobbed up and down. As a kitsune, I don’t doubt she’d felt some changes. But I was fairly certain she wasn’t even considering what I’d said. “So hot…”

I tapped Lilith’s head and she pulled up, moaning slightly as she did so, to send pleasurable shivers down my length. I looked back at Ema, meeting her eyes with mine as I lined myself up. She looked like she was going to say something, but it went out of her head the next instant as I thrust all the way inside of her in one go.

A petite woman even before the changes that being Kitsune gave her, Ema was deliciously tight. She shuddered as I went to the hilt again. But we were far from done.

Two hours later, a worn-out but satisfied Ema lay, curled up against my chest, semen leaking from both her front and back, while Lilith bounced up and down upon me, riding me in the cowgirl position. She was panting, out of breath, but Lilith and I were not even winded yet. After all, we both had the [Sensual Recharge] ability, which replenished us as we continued the fun.

Suddenly shy, Ema said, softly. “I’ve never, um, done anything like this before. You know, a threesome.”

I simply grinned as I played with her tail, causing the kitsune to groan happily. “I figured. That’s why we kept things pretty vanilla for you. Didn’t want to scare you off, after all.”

Ema nuzzled my collarbone. “If an incestuous three-way with you and your daughter was ‘vanilla’, I don’t know what you would consider kinky. Unf. You’re like something straight out of those hentai doujinshis my brother used to get when we were growing up. Always the craziest things in them.”

“I can imagine,” I said, before I grit my teeth and held Lilith down as another climax hit me. Once I had finished, Lilith pulled herself off my rod, and turned around. Before Ema could try and interject, Lilith was straddling her face. I smiled as I saw her begin ‘cleaning’ my daughter. “Comfy, Lilith?”

“Mmm. Yes, Daddy. Ema-chan is such a good girl. So very obedient, once you get past her shyness. And pretty, too.” Ema squirmed as she heard Lilith discuss her, but the Consul-General’s mouth was too occupied to respond. Just as well, as Lilith then leaned forward, and took me in her mouth again, cleaning me with her expert tongue. “Perhaps we should have a state dinner sometime, and invite her over?”

“That’s a very good idea.  Of course, we’ll also need her to talk with her government, at some point. I’d like to get a Japanese embassy on Ceres, if possible. And, of course, a Ceresan embassy in Japan. Don’t you think that would be a good idea?”

“Oh, yes!” Lilith smiled, as she pulled away from my shaft, sitting back on Ema’s face. “I think that would be positively delightful. And it would give us a chance to see Ema-chan again. Don’t you think that’d be great, Ema-chan?”

The kitsune managed to push Lilith off of her, and said, “Oh, god, yes!” She blushed, and said, “Um, well, yes, that would be a good idea. And I know that the Diet has been talking with the Prime Minister to try and get some kind of trade agreement.”

I smiled at her as I pulled her on top of me, so that she was straddling my waist, my cock resting between her cheeks. Her eyes went wide, and she said, “Again? How many is this?”

“Four for you, and three for Lilith,” I grinned. “You’re the guest, after all.” As I spoke, I grabbed her butt, and guided her back onto my shaft. Ema just moaned happily, and pressed her pretty B cups into my chest.

“You really are a sex demon. I don’t think even porn stars would be able to do that! And no recovery?”

I chuckled as I began a slow thrusting. “There’s a little recovery, but I would be a poor incubus indeed if I couldn’t perform in bed. The whole thing about the incubus is that they ravish women and satisfy those urges they can’t admit in prudish society.”

“Mmm. Mission fucking accomplished. So satisfied. I’ll be lucky if I’m able to walk this week. And you’re still going! Amazing!”

Lilith smiled as she began groping Ema’s rear, and playing with her tail. “And we haven’t even shown you all of our abilities. For instance, you know that we are shapeshifters, right? And that we can make ourselves appear like someone’s fantasies?” Ema nodded, moaning. “Well, imagine all the lovely things that could be done with that. Especially since the change is not limited to simply male or female forms.”

“What?”

“Should we give her a demonstration, Lilith?”

“Please, Daddy. It has been too long since we’ve been able to show off to someone new!”

I grinned, and nodded. “All right, then.” Without pulling out of Ema, I used [Shapeshift], molding myself into a copy of the kitsune, though a futa version of her, just as endowed as I normally was in my demon form. Ema’s eyes went wide as she stared into her own face. She opened her mouth to speak, but those words were cut off before they even had a chance to begin as Lilith, taking the same form, and with the same dimensions, slid in Ema’s back door.

“Ooh,” Lilith said, in Ema’s voice. “I can see why you made sure to take her twice here. So tight!” I just grinned, as we sandwiched the kitsune between two of ‘her’.

“Ohfuck, oh, fuck! How is this possible?” Ema groaned.

I grinned back at her. “A lesser succubus can only feed on men, and being with a woman sickens them. A succubus, like Lilith, can be with both, but can still only feed on men. A greater succubus can feed on both. Same goes for the incubus line. So, obviously, the shapeshifting sex demons can take the form that will best appeal to their prey.”

“Oh, fuck,” Ema said, as Lilith took her to the hilt. “No talking. Fuck me!”

And we did.

Chapter 106 – Discussions

Ema had to be helped out to the car when we finally let her go, four hours after the meeting ended. However, she was more than pleased with the outcome, if the smile on her face was to be believed. Before getting into the car, she promised that she would put the official requests for the embassies through to her government as soon as she got back to the office.

Once her car was out the gate, Lilith smirked at me. “So, did you knock her up? The girls will get angry if some outsider took their spot as the next one to get your kid.”

“Heh. Well, the girls on staff who wanted a kid already have one on the way. Broke my own timeline a bit on that one. Couldn’t help myself. Anyways, after the celebration following the attack on the dungeon? The girls in my squad will figure out soon enough that they’re expecting.”

“So, you cleared the backlog first. Good. I’m proud of you, Daddy.”

I smirked at the condescending tone in her voice. “Well, I’m glad to hear you say that, since Ema isn’t the only one who got knocked up this afternoon.”

The look of surprise on Lilith’s face was priceless. “Daaadyyy! You could have at least told me first, before doing it! Stupid Daddy!” She fake pouted, but soon broke out laughing, and shook her head. “Well, since it seems like we’re all going on maternity leave soon, we should make some preparations, just in case.”

(Elsewhere)

“To start off, Mr. President, it is confirmed. The King of Ceres admitted that his people were responsible for the blast in Libya. Apparently, ISIS captured a dungeon that popped up in one of their training camps, as the CIA suggested. The cause of the blast was apparently the dungeon’s destruction causing an explosive release of energy.”

Jaquon Jones looked around the conference room in the White House. Immediately after the meeting with the other diplomatic officials had ended, he drove straight to the airport, and hopped a waiting jet up to DC, so that he could give this meeting, in person. Now, he was in a room with the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, going over what he’d learned, both in what was said, and not said.

“Is that possible? George, how many dungeons do we have in the US at the moment?

The Secretary of Defense sighed. “Over thirty-three thousand, at last count. We’re getting similar numbers from allied countries around the world. If the average holds true around the world, then dungeons have formed at a rate of one for every ten thousand people, though obviously they don’t fall into the same population density figures as people do. That’s including the possibility of underwater dungeons, as well.”

“Underwater dungeons?”

“Yes, sir. There is what the System is calling a ‘broken’ dungeon off the coast of Miami, spawning fish-man type monsters called Vurlocks. Because it is broken, it just keeps spawning monsters, uncontrolled, and letting them out into the nearby area. The locals just started a campaign of regular sweeps through the ocean to keep the numbers down.”

“Like those other ones you were telling me about, right? The Goblins in Boca Raton, and the Undead in Orlando. Oh, and that one out in Nevada, and a few others, right?”

“That’s right, sir.”

Jones cleared his throat. “Excuse me, sir, but the King mentioned something about broken dungeons. I had my people check it with the System on my way up here. It is legit.”

“Lay it out for me.”

“Well, apparently at the center of any dungeon is a core. Basically, a crystal or gemstone. How large it is depends on its power, apparently. At any rate, broken dungeons come about when someone ‘splits’ a dungeon core, either by physically smashing it, or cutting it in half, or something like that. That causes the mana flows that the dungeon taps into to become ‘stuck’, which results in the constant spawning of monsters.

“Fortunately, the method the Ceres forces used to destroy the dungeon did not result in that, given that there was an explosion. The explosion means that the core was improperly destroyed, but it was actually completely destroyed, unlike the broken dungeons. There should be no danger of the dungeon’s monsters spawning in the region.”

“What were the dungeon’s monsters?”

“U.S. Army troops, complete with war gear.”

“The HELL?” The President snapped. Jones wasn’t surprised at the reaction. After all, he had been Secretary of Defense before the Apocalypse.

“Yes, sir. Not actual troops, but they apparently were clearly designed to look and act as a substitute for them, in the terrorist’s training program. Get the recruits used to killing our men.”

“Nate,” the President said, turning to the Homeland Security chief, “I want a report on every dungeon we know of in the Middle East. If those jackasses did it once, they might do it again. That is unacceptable.”

Turning back to the SecDef, he said, “Now, George, I know that a lot of dungeons are near populated areas. I don’t care so much about the ones in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, but I don’t like the idea of someone being able to turn a dungeon in the middle of New York into a poor man’s nuke. We have any way of dealing with that?”

“Deploying guards to all those sites, twenty-four seven, three sixty-five is going to put a major hurt on our available manpower, sir. We could do it, but we would have critical shortages in other areas, especially with the casualties the military has taken in the last year. Some of the burden could be shifted to state and local forces, but they aren’t in much better shape, honestly.”

“Fortunately,” the Homeland Security Secretary said, “my people have been making inquiries with the System Shop, and it looks like that actually killing a dungeon is not easily done by anyone in Tier 1, even in a group. Even in Tier 2, destroying a dungeon that isn’t a Tier below you is something that most classes can’t pull off. That the Ceres group was able to pull that off is impressive. They’re either higher-leveled than normal people, or they have some other edge. Probably both.”

“Your thoughts, Jones?”

Jones took a breath, and said, “I believe that the King was being truthful, as far as what he said. However, there are a lot of things that he didn’t say, or at least didn’t say out loud. Like when we moved on to the talk on how the Geneva Conventions should be updated to reflect the System.”

The Secretary of State sat bolt upright in her chair. “Oh, damn it all! That’s right, Ceres isn’t part of the Conventions! They’re a new country, and not one that broke off from or replaced former signatories. I mean, if we caught them doing anything, we could probably still get the International Criminal Court to try and prosecute any individuals we managed to get in custody, but good luck with that, with people out in the asteroid belt.”

The Homeland Security Secretary cleared his throat. “Unfortunately, that brings up another issue that ought to be addressed. Our efforts to infiltrate Ceres have, so far, proven to be less than fruitful. Even the individual we managed to insert into his staff was caught, shortly after she started working for him. We have confirmation that she is still alive, and in position, but we haven’t had any reports from her. Most disturbingly, one of our agents managed to get close enough to use [Appraise] on her, and discovered she now has the [Slave] title.”

““WHAT?”” The President and the Defense Secretary yelled in unison.

“If I may, sir?” Jones cut in. When the President nodded, he said, “While I was not aware of this exact situation during the meeting, the concept of slavery did come up, while we were discussing the Conventions. Apparently, judicial enslavement is one of the primary means of punishment in the wider galaxy, the equivalent of a prison sentence. My people are compiling a report on that with information they’re getting from the System Shop, but the initial results back that up.”

“What the hell kind of world is this?”

“Unfortunately, a practical one, sir. The King hinted that, as people’s levels go up, we’re going to find more and more trouble imprisoning people for any length of time, without keeping them in medical comas, or completely redesigning every prison and detention facility in the US from the ground up. I’ll have full details once I’ve finished the report.”

“Damn, fine. We did call you up here directly from the meeting, but this is going to go badly with the public.”

“It isn’t all bad news though, sir. I did manage to get some news on how the system assigns classes and professions. While we all got choices when the Apocalypse happened, that apparently isn’t how it usually works. For instance, we now know why no one under 12 has had a class when they are [Appraise]d.”

NOW, everyone’s ears were perked. “The System assigns classes at birth, but those classes are masked until after the kid turns twelve. When the class unlocks, the child also gets a choice of professions, based on their current life experience. There are items in the System Shop which can cheaply give children profession options that they did not have before.”

“How cheap?”

“Ten silver, for a Tier 1 profession. There are books for higher Tier professions, but the price goes up significantly, and you might miss out on possible evolutions. Changing professions or classes once you’ve gained them is more problematic, but can be done, through different items, rituals, or other means.”

The Defense Secretary frowned. “The public will eat us alive if we put an item offering the Soldier profession to every child before they’re even allowed to vote.”

“Thankfully, Mr. Secretary, that’s not something to worry about. The equivalent of running a recruit through boot camp should give them the option to change profession to Soldier, if they wish. But the King did mention two classes and a profession that are problematic.”

“You mean the Slave Master, Puppet Master, and Dominator, right?”

Jones nodded to the Homeland Security Secretary. “Yes, sir. The Dominator and Slave Master are nasty, since they can compel people to do acts that they wouldn’t normally do. The Dominator is apparently like getting someone sucked into a cult, while the Slave Master doesn’t actually alter the person’s mind, just controls it. Both are bad, but the Puppet Master is another thing entirely. Their [Puppet Brand] is frightening enough that even the King said it should be added to the list of war crimes.”

Homeland Security nodded. “What does the rest of the galaxy do with Puppet Masters, when they are found?”

“Apparently, the children are given the choice of a free class change, being raised as wards of the State, or death.”

The Secretary frowned. “Class change and death I understand, but ward of the State? Is it like stockpiling WMDs?”

“Not quite, sir. They essentially are raised to be executioners, except that the bodies of the people they execute are still able to do things like digging ditches or sweeping streets. Of course, getting the Puppet Master to the level where their Puppets are that useful means either a lot of puppets are made as they train, or groups run them through dungeons to leech experience until they are a high enough level.”

The President shook his head. “I’m not comfortable with that, to be honest. Especially not after the brief I got on what that Puppet Master in Atlanta did. I want a plan for ongoing testing for kids when they turn twelve, and a list of classes that should qualify for a free change. I’ll talk with Carol, over at Justice, and see if we can’t get the ball rolling on making use of this [Puppet Brand] the same as first degree murder.”

The Secretary of State turned to Jones. “Anything else from the meeting?”

“The King did mention that he’d be interested in having embassies on Ceres, as well as getting more embassies on Earth. It is my impression that he wasn’t fully ready to reveal himself publicly, yet, but now that he’s public, he’s working to make sure he has all the appropriate measures in place to be seen as a legitimate state.”

“Mr. President, getting an Embassy on Ceres would be make future negotiations easier, and would make the CIA’s job a bit easier, since they would have at least some way onto the asteroid.”

“Get on it, Jan. And Tom, I know your agencies will want your people there, so work on finding some people who can try and sound out anyone we’ve already sent up there. See if they can’t figure out how our agents were caught.”

“Of course, Mr. President.”

Chapter 107 – China

“Ah, your Majesty, welcome to Beijing.”

Feng Delan, the Chinese foreign minister rose from his desk and crossed to the door as I entered. His English was perfect, though accented. He had a smile on his face that did not quite reach his eyes, and offered a small bow as a customary greeting. I smiled, and offered a similar bow in return, before replying in perfect, though accented, Mandarin. “Thank you, Minister Feng. It is a pleasure to be here. I’d always wanted to see Beijing, but never had a chance, until now. I am glad to see that the city was not too badly damaged in the pirate attack.”

Feng Delan was not a man known for showing emotions openly, according to the information I could find. However, surprise was clearly written across his face. “You speak Mandarin? The files on you said you were American, and had not taken any language courses.”

I chuckled, and said, “Unfortunately, it is not natural ability, but a spell I learned, along with some translation software running on my communicator. The handheld units have a hands-free option. I purchased a language pack for the translation software that covers all Earth languages.”

Minister Feng nodded slowly. “Ah, so, it is something that is available on the System Shop, then?”

“The hardware is easily found, but the spell is something unique to certain races and classes. I was not sure whether your people would object to my communicator or not, so I prepared the spell as a backup.”

“Very well. Perhaps we should have a seat?”

We moved to a couple comfortable chairs next to a table. A cute secretary-type came in with a bottle and two glasses, and set them down, before pouring both drinks. Once she had left, Feng took up his drink, and offered a toast.

“Ganbei!”

I downed the drink, which turned out to be baijiu. Thankfully, I was able to get it down without any trouble, despite the burning sensation. Strong drink, but my CON was already at the point where 60% was little better than a beer.

Nodding my head in appreciation, I poured new glasses for us both, and offered a toast of my own. “Wan shou wu jiang. Ganbei!”

That brought an honest smile to the Minister’s face, as he downed his second drink. This time, he refilled the glasses, but did not call another toast. “Ah, it is so rare to meet foreigners who know how to drink respectfully. Was that something the System taught as well?”

I laughed, and said, “You’ll find, Minister, that I am a man of action. I have little patience for or desire for the traditional games of business and statecraft, but for alcohol? Well, I’ll make an exception!”

“Ha! Well said. To business, then?”

“Of course. And, since it is just the two of us, let us not worry about things like the flowery language we are forced to use for public statements. Those games are necessary in public, I know, but in private, we should not need them, don’t you agree?”

“Hmm. Acknowledging tradition while at the same time dismissing it. You are an interesting one, Majesty. So, if we are going to move to realpolitik, then, I will say that there are concerns about your recent actions, starting with the pirate attack. The Science Minister was mentioning that there were explosions all through the outer system.”

“Yes, my forces basically used the equivalent of submarine warfare and wolfpack tactics against the enemy fleet, who did not know we were going to be there. We took down as many as we could, but unfortunately, there were quite a lot of them, and some broke through. And, I must say, hearing that a legend out of myth was summoned in the defense of Beijing was exciting. That would make Son Wukong the first divinity to manifest on Earth since the Apocalypse.”

“The Monkey King will be glad to hear that, I’m sure.”

“Is he still about the city? I’ll admit, I don’t often get to meet true divinities.”

“No, he returned to his mountain retreat. However, his pavilion in the city remains, and we have people maintaining it, and keeping watch over it, so that no one causes disrespect to it, or insults him.”

“Prudent. And China will be stronger for having him here.”

“Yes. Unfortunately, it also had the side effect of taking away the remains of the pirates’ ship, leaving us without some of the ‘research materials’ that other countries received. That has caused some concerns, as you might imagine.”

I sighed, and said, “Yes, that is, unfortunately, true. Which brings us to part of my business here today. As you know, the Kingdom of Ceres is a country short on manpower, while China is a country with an overabundance of people.”

“Yes, I am aware. So, how does this play into our discussion?”

“Well, part of that overabundance of people are those who are ‘troublemakers’. Whether it is Hong Kong or elsewhere, they have some reason to dislike the current regime. Ceres is currently taking immigrants from all countries. It occurred to me that, amongst other immigrants, if some troublesome types were persuaded to head to space, then they would be far, far away from their base, and would have trouble stirring up resentment.”

“So, you want us to open up China to emigration, and in return, you’ll take some of our political radicals in hand, and keep them out of our hair?”

“Precisely. Of course, there are also trade deals. China has made extraordinary strides in cleaning the air over the last decade, but there are still many areas that have issues, thanks to China being forced to rely on coal and other fossil fuels to strive for energy independence. But the System offers other solutions.”

Feng leaned forward. “You have my attention.”

“We have started production of Aetheric Fuel Cells. These fuel cells can range from the size of a car battery, to the size of this room. Naturally, different sizes produce different amounts of power.”

“And how do they work?”

“It generates electricity by converting the local mana. There are limits to how much a single unit can produce, of course, based on their own capabilities, and multiple units are limited by the local mana density. However, one of the room-sized cells would produce enough power to comfortably run a small city, without any pollution or risk to the local mana. For a city like Beijing? You could run the entire city on six. And renewable sources you already have in play would provide extra capacity.”

“What would these devices cost?”

“We would be willing to sell these units at ten percent above cost, which would be significantly cheaper than you could ever find them in the System Shop, for a period of five years. After that, additional units would be sold at market rates. However, these fuel cells have a rated lifetime of one hundred years, if properly maintained.”

“I see. And these devices, they could be used for things other than just powering cities, yes?”

“Of course. In fact, the fuel cells are perfect for a planetary-based cargo vessel, or even personal vehicles. Naturally, their use for military craft is limited, except as backup power systems, due to the intense energy draws and space constraints on military vehicles.”

“And if we were more interested in military consumption?”

I nodded slowly. “Well, that is a bigger issue. Military consumption is usually directly tied to military ships or hardware. Ceres is currently building up its own defenses right now, after all, so the major hulls our shipyard is building are already earmarked for that. And, selling weapons of mass destruction is obviously out. But, I do have designs for a Shield Array, which could be used to protect a city from orbital bombardment. Even ICBMs would be stopped by it. As this is a purely defensive measure, there wouldn’t be any problems in selling that system, and helping to install it.”

“I would have to speak with National Defense, obviously, but I believe that a shield like that would be something that China would be interested in obtaining. How large can the shield get, and how much damage can it take?”

“The shield is modular, so you could add more emitters to cover larger areas. But the system could easily cover Beijing with a few emitters. Covering the entire country is also possible, though that would be significantly more expensive. At that point, it is usually better to just find out what options there are for global coverage.”

“That is not possible at this time.”

“Of course, however, I’ll point out that these shields don’t need to be mutually exclusive. You can have local shields protecting your cities, while you work to get a global shield in place. And China leading the charge on a global effort?” I shrugged. “You probably have a better idea than I do how much that would be worth in intangible benefits.”

“It would enhance our image abroad, yes. So, before, you specifically mentioned major hulls and weapons of mass destruction. While the shields are definitely something we’d be interested in, what about something more… proactive. It shames me to admit that our weapons did not have the effect we wished them to against the alien ship when it attacked.”

“Well, I don’t have anything to hand, but I have some good people, and they like a challenge. I could probably get them to make an upgrade kit for your J-20s. Regretfully, I cannot promise how extensive the kit would be, obviously, since the nuances of fighter design are not something I’ve studied.”

“No, no. Just the idea that there might be something we can do until our own people design the next generation of Chinese fighters is something.”

“Now, I know you’ll need to get with your Defense Minister and Science Minister to get all the specifics down, and I’ll have to talk with my people, and get them started. We’re just talking about the possibilities, right now. We both have a bunch of very smart people who can hammer out the particulars on that, so why don’t we move to the next thing?”

“The blast in North Africa, yes. I’ve seen the reports. The System Shop apparently had information that corroborates the claim that the explosion was a dungeon being destroyed. There are three dungeons in Beijing, with a fourth nearby. Is this something we should worry about?”

“No. At least, not until people start breaking into higher tiers. There is only one team that I know of that could destroy a Tier 1 dungeon while in Tier 1 themselves, unless they’d gotten it in those first forty-eight hours, before any of the dungeons were really established. That team has a special and unique combination of attributes and abilities which are impossible to replicate by any means that I am aware of. So, I wouldn’t worry about anyone causing trouble of that sort.”

“Well, that is a relief.”

“Yes, that’s part of what the other diplomatic types said, when they visited my embassy in Atlanta. Which is a nice segue to the next thing I wished to discuss. I think it would serve both our countries well to exchange embassies. It would help with communication, and further deals would be much easier to work out. I’ve extended the offer to some other countries, as well, but I thought China deserved to get the invitation in person.”

Feng grinned at that. “Actually, that was one of the things I was going to ask you about, while you were here. I am glad to see that we’ve got similar ideas on the subject. I can start the process for things on this side immediately.”

“Oh, not immediately, I hope?”

Feng raised an eyebrow questioningly, “Why not?”

I picked up my glass, and said, “Because, there is still an open bottle between us that we’ve not yet seen to the bottom. And that simply will not do. Ganbei!”

We emptied our cups, and the Minister filled them again. “Yes, it would be an insult to the drink, and the company, to leave the poor bottle still half-full. I don’t know what I was thinking. Ganbei!”

Chapter 108 – Staffing Up

“Ah, my friend! So good to see you again!”

I smiled as Shadraus greeted me the moment I walked into the System Shop on Ceres. It turned out that, instead of managing all the System Shops on Earth, his ‘contract’ with the System had him managing all the System Shops in the Sol System. It was just that, until Ceres was established as an off-world colony, there hadn’t been any shops in the system except for on Earth.

This shop was set up like all the other System Shops. It was a standardized design, that only changed based on the preferences of the dominant species in any system. Fortunately, no matter what, the System Shop’s functions were the same, no matter where you were, even if the shop’s design was completely reskinned cosmetically.

“Hello, Shadraus, I’m glad to see that the Ceres shop is treating you well. Anything new I should know about?”

“Well, there’s apparently been some movement in the skirmish between the Knelfi and the Incux. There are a lot of Knelfi who had been captured but are suddenly appearing on the Minion Market. Especially from a planet named ‘Gelsara’.”

“Gelsara… hmm. I admit I didn’t study interstellar maps much, last time, but that name rings a bell. Where is it?”

“Well, humans call the system Epsilon Eridani. Just over ten light-years from Sol.”

“Ah, fuck. That’s why I remember it. The Incux were fighting the Knelfi over it, before the System announcement about Earth. If they are offloading slaves into the Minion Market, rather than taking them to the hive-ships, then they must be wanting to pull out of the system, and can’t afford the extra baggage.”

“Yes, that’s about the size of things, as far as I know.”

I sighed. There were only two reasons that the Incux would pull out of a system, once they’d managed to land their hive ships. Either they were getting beaten badly enough that it was becoming a net loss of resources, and the hive was starting to fail, or they had sighted better nesting grounds. And I didn’t think the Knelfi had the strength, locally, to force the Incux off the planet without glassing it, which meant that the hive spotted a juicier target. Earth.

That was a problem for another time, however. We’d have some warning if the Incux came, thanks to the satellites I had out in the system. And the threat of a new player coming around just made my purpose for coming all the more urgent. I needed Ambassadors, and staff, which meant I needed people that I could trust absolutely. Hence, slaves.

“Well, let me see the Minion Market, Shadraus. I am about to get embassies starting up, down on Earth, which means I am going to need to have people to run them. And none of the trustworthy people I have right now are trained diplomats. The few who have some training are all plants and spies, so I’d have to enslave them anyways to be sure I could trust them, which would only cause problems later down the line.”

“Yes, governments get so cranky when you go around enslaving their spies and then making them work for you.”

I smirked. “Too true, my friend. Too true.”

“All right, here’s the latest listings,” Shadraus said, as he handed me a tablet. “I’ve taken the liberty of filtering out the ones that don’t have requisite skills. There aren’t that many who can actually perform as an Ambassador, I’m afraid. You might have better luck summoning and binding demons for the role.”

“Yes, I’d considered that. Unfortunately, demons tend to run wild if not properly supervised, even when bound. Trusting most of my diplomatic affairs to them would be problematic.”

“Yes, you wouldn’t want to use them for every position, but a few demons could definitely help, and as a warlock you should have some skills in that area, no?”

“Hmm. I’d all but forgotten about them, to be honest. I haven’t needed demons for combat power, so I forgot that I have those skills. I mean, I have [Summoning], [Demonology], [Soulbinding], and [Tame Demonic Familiar]. While I can only get one familiar, the other three skills should allow me to get a wide assortment of demons to answer my call.”

Shadraus nodded. “Then, if I might make a suggestion, use the Market for the Ambassadors you want, and then summon demons to pose as the staff. And I know there are some devils that could be your legal team.”

“Yes, but Demonology and Diabology are two different fields, so summoning devils will be hard for me.”

“Some sort of Wizard or Summoner, perhaps? Or a Dark Cleric. There are options, but you’d need to get an intermediary into your service, first, to do the summoning, and then negotiate the contract for the binding yourself.”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Better add that to the options. Then.” With that, I turned to look at the tablet, and see what was on offer.

Minion Market

Name

Price

Description

Nevarth Tratoris

125900 gp

Race: Knelfi

Level: 32 (Tier 2)

Class: Blessed Healer

Profession: Master Diplomat

Deity: Athtar

Skills: Diplomacy, Contracts, Pierce Falsehoods

General: A high-ranking diplomat, he was dispatched to Gelsara to try and negotiate a peace settlement.

Nuala Sarcyne

32400 gp

Race: Knelfi

Level: 30 (Tier 1)

Class: Rogue

Profession: Diplomat

Deity: Nyjun

Skills: Diplomacy, Seduction, Sleight of Hand

General: A junior diplomat under the Knelfi delegation on Gelsara, she is well acquainted to the darker side of negotiations.

Shalia Umenan

13600 gp

Race: Knelfi

Level: 20 (Tier 1)

Class: Summoner

Profession: Merchant

Deity: Iotl

Skills: Diplomacy, Bargaining, Contracts

General: While not a diplomat by trade, her business instincts and diplomatic nature earned her a spot as a diplomat on trade negotiations.

Haera Johana

25000 gp

Race: Knelfi

Level: 25 (Tier 1)

Class: Dominatrix

Profession: Diplomat

Deity: Darkmore

Skills: Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Intimidation

General: Known for being a professional diplomat, despite her more forceful methods than others of her profession.

Edwyrd Iarmoira

32000 gp

Race: Knelfi

Level: 30 (Tier 1)

Class: Fighter

Profession: Soldier

Deity: Dulotl

Skills: Sword Mastery, Diplomacy, Intimidation

General: While not the normal pick for a diplomat, he is capable of forcing individuals to compromise, for good or ill, and has no time for diplomatic games.

Aila Magfiel

240000 gp

Race: Knelfi

Level: 22 (Tier 2)

Class: High Priestess

Profession: Master Diplomat

Deity: Athtar

Skills: Healing, Diplomacy, Theology

General: A follower of the God of Judgement, she is known for weighing all the information before making decisions.

Sazama Yuyu

12000 gp

Race: Human

Level: 10 (Tier 1)

Class: Summoner

Profession: Scholar

Deity: Ama-no-Uzume

Skills: Bargaining, Summoning, Seduction

General: She was captured shortly after the Apocalypse by one of her classmates.

I quickly made my choices, and paid the gold required. There were more options out there, but none of them really fit my needs. Still, six diplomats, two of whom were Tier 2, plus a Summoner? All for less than half a million gold? That was a steal, in my book.

Clearly, the Knelfi had put together a delegation to try and stop the Incux predations on their worlds, or to at least slow them down, and give their forces time to build up and come together. That, obviously, had not gone well. The fact that the Incux enslaved the delegation instead of eating them, or worse, was fairly impressive, for them, since they rarely took slaves. After all, their hive species didn’t really know the idea of individual comforts, and the millions of drones supplied all the manual labor they’d ever need.

I quickly decided which countries I’d be sending my new diplomats to, based on the brief bios I had of them. I needed diplomats to take up embassies in the United States, Germany, France, China, Japan, and the UK. Each country had different needs, and expectations, of course, so I needed the best fit for each role.

Nevarth, I decided, would go to China, as the Ambassador there. They were a tricky bunch, and power was still male-centric, so his combination of having the Pierce Falsehood skill, which could automatically discern truth from lies, and being one of my Tier 2 slaves, would go over well there. I’d get him the cultural brief, and make sure he could hold his liquor before going, of course.

Nuala, with her darker background, I wanted to head things up in the US. ‘A den of snakes and vipers’ described Congress on a good day, and there were a lot of people who were pissy with me because of everything I’d done. So, having someone who could play the game just as dirty as they did would be a good idea.

Shalia, then, would go to Germany. I was less concerned with the Germans trying to cause trouble for me than other countries, so she’d do fine. Also, as a negotiator, she could arrange trade deals, which would potentially allow for Ceres products and industry to head out into Europe through Germany, as well as opening the possibility of getting German manufacturing supplies and skill to Ceres.

Haera would be my Japanese representative. She was used to persuading people to do things her way, and I didn’t doubt that there would be websites devoted to her almost immediately after she made her debut. I’d make sure to inform her that I didn’t care what she did on her free time, so long as it didn’t reflect badly on the Kingdom.

Edwyrd followed the God of Duty, and didn’t play games. I’d put him in France, just to ensure that they didn’t get any stupid ideas about trying to baffle my people with bullshit. He could cut through all that with a soldier’s eye to get things done. Plus, I was still a bit annoyed at how pompous the French representative had been at our meeting the other day.

Which left Aila, a follower of the God of Judgement, and my other Tier 2. She’d go to the UK, since being able to carefully weigh all sides would be more useful to her, there. And her theology wouldn’t be as problematic there, as in the US.

That all sorted, I marked those six to be delivered to my official residence, so I could properly induct them all into their roles. But that didn’t mean I was finished. I still had my little summoner to check on. As a summoner, she could summon demons, devils, spirits, eldritch abominations, and more, though she’d specialize more once she Tiered up. The important thing was that she could summon Devils, which I could then try and contract with. I decided to have her delivered to the System Shop, and Shadraus gave me a conference room for the meeting.

When she was brought in, I had been expecting someone on the younger side, since her bio mentioned a classmate, but looking at the girl, I doubted she was even fifteen, yet. That was problematic, since she’d been brought in with everything she’d had when her former master put her on the Minion Market. Namely, her slave collar, and nothing else.

Now, I would freely admit to being a pervert according to traditional morality, but even I had a few lines I’m unwilling to cross. And looking at naked children is firmly on the other side of one of those lines. I quickly ordered some basic gear for a Summoner of her level, and ordered her to get dressed. No way was I going to give people reason to say I was a pedophile, like I was a Congressman from Florida.

Once she was actually dressed, I found out that the girl had been caught by a classmate who had confessed to her, and asked her out, shortly before the Apocalypse, and she’d rejected him. He found the Slave Collar in the System Shop, and then found a chance to collar her when she was alone. He’d basically kept her as a pet girlfriend who couldn’t say no, right up until he was a little lax in his orders, and she was able to talk to the neighbors. When the police came around to ask questions, he denied everything, and smuggled her out to the System Shop, to put her on the market and get rid of the evidence.

Honestly, kids these days! It is a bit sad to go enslaving your crush because she rejected you, but I could understand that much. However, the lack of forethought and sloppy planning, which allowed her the leeway to talk with the neighbors, and then panicking and selling her, rather than planning ahead and finding a way to keep her? That was just pathetic, and not something I wanted to condone or encourage. That kind of half-assed approach was never going to work once things really started getting bad.

So, obviously, I sent a video of the girl’s statement to Kitamura, with all the details, so she could pass that along. I also provided an email address where the parents or family could reach out, if they wanted. Oh, I wasn’t going to free the girl. I’d bought her for a reason, but I wasn’t going to keep her from talking with her family. I even added a message saying that, if the family wished, they could emigrate to Ceres, since we were definitely looking for people of all trades, classes, professions, and specialties.

I was a great guy like that, yeah?

Chapter 109 – Next Steps

At level 10, Yuyu was only able to summon the weakest devils and demons. Not really the kind of creatures I would want to put in charge of the legal department. On her own, she wouldn’t be much good to me until she’d gotten to at least level 30.

Of course, that was just on her own. The Summoner class unlocked a skill at Level 20 called [Ritual Summoning]. This beauty of a skill basically allowed a Summoner to pool their magic with those of others, allowing them to summon and bind stronger creatures. Naturally, there was the slight chance that stronger creatures would be able to break the Summoner’s control if they were too far above their level, but that was why you had a second group, ready and willing to take down any rebellious summons.

In this case, my girls would be helping add to Yuyu’s magic, while I stood ready to deal with any recalcitrant devils. But that wasn’t something we could do right away. After all, my little Summoner was only Level 10, and needed to be 20 to get the skill. That meant we needed to get her leveled up!

I tasked some of the new recruits with that detail, taking her down to some dungeons in friendly countries. She’d be at the level I needed her at in no time. Ironically, not long after I dispatched them and returned to my office on Ceres, I got a call from Kitamura.

“Ah, Your Majesty, is this a good time?”

I smiled as I leaned back in my chair. “Of course, Ema-chan. What can I do for you?”

“Please, Your Majesty! I-in private is fine, but this is official business!”

“Yes, yes,” I chuckled. “So, what is it that you desire, Miss Kitamura?”

“I have the feeling you’re not taking this seriously, but fine. I have a couple of things to share. First, my Government has agreed to the establishment of reciprocal embassies with the Kingdom of Ceres. I am sending you an email now with the contact information for the individual who can help you find an appropriate property for your embassy, as well as a residence for your Ambassador.”

“Very good. And I have locations already set aside for embassies here on Ceres. They can be built with a residence in place, or your Ambassador can establish a residence elsewhere.”

“That is excellent news, your Majesty. And it brings me to the next point of discussion. Due to the rapport that we established in our last meeting, my superiors have offered me a promotion, which I have accepted. At the conclusion of this call, an official letter will be sent to you, confirming that I have been named as the Japanese Ambassador to Ceres.”

That bit caught me a little by surprise. “Really? Well, that is good news, Ambassador. And it would give us plenty of time to work on that rapport we had.” I heard her giggle slightly, and smiled. “Then, in that case, I will ensure that the Japanese embassy is the closest to the Royal Palace.”

“My thanks, your Majesty. There is just one more piece of business I need to discuss. It is about that girl you found on the System Shop.”

“Ah, yes. Sazama Yuyu. I’ve assigned a few individuals to help protect her as she goes to dungeons in friendly territories. Her level is on the low side, but I’m sure that, in time, it will rise. Was there some problem finding her classmate?”

“Thankfully, no. He had already been under suspicion, as you know, but the police had not had enough to bring him in, until after that tape of Sazama-san was played for them. By that point, of course, he’d sold her on, with you buying her. If you had not come forward, and there would have been no evidence to contradict his claims.

“With the information you provided, however, that is not the case. The police arrested him yesterday on charges or rape, kidnapping, and human trafficking. It is causing quite a stir in the press at home, I understand.”

“That is good to hear. It would lead to far too many problems if people could just go around enslaving anyone they wanted just because they were rejected in love. That kind of reckless, uncontrolled behavior only leads to more issues down the line.”

“Even when you’re the one doing the slaving, your Majesty?”

“Cheeky, but I’ll allow it. And yes, I do have limits, since I don’t just go around enslaving everyone who catches my fancy. Other than those first days after the Apocalypse, where I prioritized keeping me and mine safe, and building a power base that we could use to do what had to be done, I have been very selective in who received my brand.”

“I see. Then, I have word that the girl’s family is asking whether she can be returned to them.”

“Unfortunately, that is not something I can do, at present, as I require someone of Miss Sazama’s talents for the further development of the Kingdom. As such, she counts as a national resource. However, as I said in my message, I have no reason to keep her from speaking to or visiting her family, when she does not have other duties, and her family is welcome to emigrate to Ceres, so that they can be closer to her.”

“Yes, and they are considering that, amongst other options. It might help put their minds at ease if they knew how she is doing, and why you needed their daughter. After what her classmate did…”

“Yes, say no more. They’ll be happy to know that she’s been untouched since she came into my employ, and will remain that way until she comes of age, at the very least. When she was delivered, she was wearing only the collar her former master slapped on her, but I took the liberty of equipping her with gear appropriate for her level. She’s currently off with her guards for training, but when they return, I’ll have her contact her parents directly.

“As for what she’s doing, that’s simple. I have a need to recruit a legal team that can easily represent my wishes not just with the people of Earth, but with the wider galaxy as well. For various reasons, this would be easier to do if I employ summoning magics. My magic is powerful, but my ability to summon creatures is limited. So, I needed a Summoner.”

“I see. Then, you plan to have literal demons as your lawyers?”

“Hah! No, I would never use demons as my lawyers. I’m using devils. There’s a difference, I assure you. A devil lawyer on the hunt is one of the most terrifying beings in existence. Even kings don’t take them lightly.”

“And you wish to unleash them upon our poor, unsuspecting judiciary?”

“I’m sure humanity’s own lawyers will be more than up to the task, at least with Earth laws. My devil lawyers will guard against any ‘issues’ coming from my actions, or the actions of others. And, once properly incentivized, they will be utterly loyal to me, once they understand how I am giving them a haven from some of the more troublesome attitudes they face in the wider galaxy. Lots of hurtful stereotypes that may or may not be completely justified causing some bad blood out there.”

“Are you certain that’s wise? If there’s a reason for those stereotypes…”

“Lolis and chikans. Do I need to talk about how one shouldn’t throw stones in glass houses?”

“Ahem. No. No, that’s quite alright. I get your point.”

(Military Active Strategic Tactical and Encryption Resource Room, Ceres Royal Navy Headquarters, Ceres)

The Military Analysis: Strategic Tactical and Encryption Resource Room (or MASTER Room for short) was the center of the Ceres Royal Navy’s detection and planning system. The name would probably get changed later, but, for now, what was important was the room’s function. All the satellites they’d put out through the system fed their data back to this room, allowing the analysts here to study it in real time, and use it for their computations.

This was important, since the Ceres Royal Navy still only consisted of one true warship, a few torpedo boats, and some fighters. While the crews had been rested and replacements were being filled, along with some new crews added to the mix, that still did not change the basic math of their capabilities. Sure, the Demon’s Roar had just come off the line, but the crew was still being brought together, and the little corvette would need time to train up to spec, and shake down their new ship, so they couldn’t be counted on except in dire need.

Like the room’s name, that wasn’t really important right now. What was important was that one of the screens that had been blank up until this point, with its dedicated sensor readouts never having been tripped since they were installed, were now showing signs of life. Signs of life that could only mean one thing, one very important thing.

Ciliren Fanorin was sitting in her chair, as she always did when it was her shift. The special plug her master told her to wear today made sitting a bit uncomfortable, at first, but she’d quickly gotten used to its presence. She barely even noticed it, now, unless she leaned back in her chair, or whenever she first sat down. But, like a lot of things, that wasn’t important right now.

The sensor tech watched the data rolling over the screen, checking the sensor readings against the background radiation of the universe. She frowned, looking over the data. Then, she checked it again, and then rechecked it again. She had to be certain, because this was important.

The data came back the same. The analysis was inconclusive. This was important. But it wasn’t an emergency. After all, the data wouldn’t become immediately relevant for roughly three weeks.

Leaning over her console, the knefli’s hand stretched out, and pressed the call button, alerting her shift supervisor that she had something. The supervisor, a human who had been sent as a spy before getting enslaved by the contract he’d signed, walked over, frowning. But he was always frowning, ever since he'd tried to betray her Master.

“What is it, Fanorin?”

“Lieutenant Davies, we are detecting bowshock from a ship approaching the Sol system. Estimated time of arrival, five hundred days, twenty-two hours. Vector puts it as coming from the System humans call Barnard’s Star.”

“Not Alpha Centauri?”

“No, Lieutenant. The wake is definitely coming from Barnard’s Star.”

“How many ships?”

“Looks like one, sir.”

“Any idea who it is?”

“Not at this range. But the only groups that should be in that system are my people, and the Incux.”

“That’s right,” Davies nodded. “The King bought you from the ‘Minion Market’, right? What was it you did before getting sold?”

“I was a sensor technician and hobbyist. Unfortunately, those skills weren’t very useful when my parents were deep in debt. They sold me to a slave trainer because of my looks. Once my training was done, I was put on the Market, and Master bought me.”

Davies shook his head. “Hard to believe that something barbaric like slavery exists in the wider galaxy. This kind of thing should not be allowed to exist.”

Ciliren shook her head. “That’s not something a fellow slave should be saying. Master would not appreciate it.”

“Damn that stupid contract, and damn him. He and the System have a lot to answer for. But, if someone could get rid of him, then we could be free, and work on freeing the rest of the slaves, everywhere. Just need someone close to him, who has been wrongfully enslaved, to get close enough to make it happen.”

“Master will be interested to hear your words, Lieutenant, I’m sure. You would be wise not to say such things too loudly. Complaints like yours are common with new slaves. You’ll learn, in time, that it is for the best.”

Davies’s face twisted briefly, as though he’d bitten into a lemon, before taking a decidedly neutral stance. “Right, forward the information to my terminal, and I’ll send it to Intelligence, so they can start working up what we’re going to be facing.”

“Of course, Lieutenant, I’ll send you a copy of the information.” Which she did, right before sending a copy to her Master. Along with a copy of the conversation. It was important to keep an eye on rebellious slaves, after all.

Chapter 110 – Prep Time

“So, we have potential for a more diplomatic contact, this time?”

“That is what it seems, Admiral.”

We were in the ‘War Room’ for the Ceres Royal Navy, discussing the incoming bow-wave discovered by the signals people in the MASTER Room. Of course, the fact that the information had been ‘delayed’ going through the chain of command was not lost on me. Oh, it had been passed on, all right, but it was given a lower priority, and was being sent the long way around through the organization, rather than moving directly up the chain. Not something that I could actually punish someone for, unless it caused trouble.

However, that, combined with the conversation Lieutenant Davies had with my pet, gave me an idea of what was going on. Some of the former spies turned slaves were less than happy with their new lot in life, especially since they were finding the clauses impossible to escape. They couldn’t actually move against me directly, not without some major groundwork to prepare things first, but an ‘Italian strike’ that was likely trying to make me look bad, and give nations back on Earth more leverage against me.

That wasn’t unexpected, of course. I’d always known that the slaves were going to be unmotivated. However, they were a stopgap, until I had reliable people who could do the work that needed doing. I would, however, have someone look into this Davies, and see if there wasn’t some way to properly motivate him, that didn’t involve anything obviously tyrannical, like torturing him until he complied.

Torture was a poor motivator, whether in interrogations or daily life. Especially in the current conditions, to effectively motivate through torture, I would have to all but kill him, over a long period of time, until I completely broke him. And there was no telling whether his skills, or sanity, would survive the breaking. That was poor resource management.

It was a far better system to find out what someone liked. Booze, music, women? Whatever it was, find it out, and then restrict their access to it. Make it a reward for good performance, and let them see others getting the reward. Then, you can let it slip to them that the only one making them suffer is themselves. Eventually, pleasure would win out over pride or wrath. It always did, in the end. That was Envy’s power.

Oh, on its own, Envy might not be the most powerful of the ‘seven deadly sins’, but it touched upon all the others, drawing them out and enhancing them. Seeing toys another child had? That enhanced the Greed for them. Watching someone else eat a delicious meal increased your Gluttony. Seeing another person resting while you worked hard caused Envy to enhance Sloth. Pride and Envy combined to convince one that they were ‘owed’ things, and when those things were denied to them, Wrath flared up, with Envy stoking the flames. And if Lust were not influenced by Envy, then why would there be a whole commandment about not coveting thy neighbor’s wife?

So, I made a note to deal with Davies, and then put him out of my mind, focusing instead upon the report Ciliren had sent ahead of the ‘official’ one. That report was what all the leaders of my fledgling navy were looking at, now. They were all there to give their advice on the upcoming first contact scenario, still three weeks off.

Slave-Captain Elalana nodded slowly. “The bowshock looks similar to one of the ones used by the System Commonwealth, but at this point it is too hard to say for certain whether it is one of the Commonwealth’s ships, or if it belongs to the Incux. Given the length of time since the all-System notification about Earth, it would be right in the right timeframe for either to attempt contact, given the distances involved, and the necessities required for getting a ship crewed and ready.”

“Options?”

The Slave-Captain took a breath, and said, “If it is the Incux, destroy them immediately, as the plan was with the Ouran pirates. If they are from the System Commonwealth, then making contact and opening negotiations would be best. At the very least, maintaining a nonhostile posture would be best.”

“You’re not just saying that because they’re your people, are you?”

“No, Master. But the Commonwealth already has its hands full with the Incux. Having a new neighbor who is not hostile would be a valuable thing, even if Sol system did not join the Commonwealth. And they wouldn’t offer something like that, since the system is not united under any form of central government. Offering membership to a divided system, much less a divided species, would invite too many problems.”

“Very well.” I turned and looked at the new Captain of the CRN Demon’s Roar, Alma Hernandez. She was formerly of the Spanish Navy, but her career had stalled due to her being a bit outspoken against some of the attitudes that still prevailed in the small submarine force about women in the Navy. With only two active submarines, the number of available berths was small, and any woman had to fight harder than normal to get a spot, much less command a command position, since they were quite literally taking people out of the ‘brotherhood’. She had no patience for that attitude, so, when I offered her a command position on the new corvette, she jumped at it.

“Captain, what is the status of the Demon’s Roar?”

Captain Hernandez nodded, and said, “Crew selection is complete. They are scheduled to arrive at their posts no later than 08:00 Ceres Time tomorrow morning, and we had already planned to do a shakedown cruise around the system. If we kept to the original schedule, we would be done one month from launch. However, we can expedite some things, and be ready and in position for the arrival, if needed.”

“Then make it so. The Demon’s Roar may be a copy of the Hellspawn, but I’ll feel better having more obvious firepower out in space, if it comes to shooting.” I turned to look at former Major and now Slave-Colonel Monique Stratton, who was in charge of the logistics and personnel for the fleet. “What of the new pocket carrier, and the Q ships? When will they be ready?”

Slave-Colonel Stratton nodded once. “Production of the Mercurial, first of the Monad-class pocket carriers, is scheduled to be complete in just under three weeks. However, crew selection, training, and shakedown will push actual deployment back, especially if unknown faults are found in key systems. Since this is the first of its class, allowances need to be made for unforeseen problems.”

She grimaced, and said, “Likewise, the Q ships are also problematic. Balancing power control systems and upgrading the initial design to military specs has proven difficult, but the design teams believe they’ve worked out the kinks. The first Hellflame-class bombardment ship will be complete in three weeks. As ordered, it features fourteen Pulse Torpedo launchers, as well as more traditional point defense capabilities, while maintaining a superficial resemblance to the Deltaran-class light freighter. It does possess stealth capability, and military armor and shields, but those are disguised most of the time.”

She paused, and then said, “The Huntsman-class pocket carrier, however, is going to be another two months, at least. As requested, the ship can house up to twelve X-pattern fighters, or six Renegades. There is room for the fighters, their crews, and the maintenance personnel, as well as the ship’s own crew, but that’s a bout it. From a distance, the Huntsman still looks like a Hobandi-class medium freighter, but anyone getting close enough will see the hangar doors. There is no good way of hiding them without increasing delays in launching and recovering craft to unacceptable levels.”

“Very well, we will make plans for this contact without the Mercurial or the Q ships. We’ll keep an eye on the bow wake, for now, and have both Hellspawn and Demon’s Roar under stealth and in position to act if it turns out to be the Incux, with fighters and Renegades ready to scramble, if needed. Anything more we need to talk about, on this subject?”

“No, I don’t think so, Admiral.”

“Very well, then. We’ll adjourn for now. I have to go collect my summoner so I can start work on gathering my legal and diplomatic advisors.”

(Atlanta Residence)

I was standing by the teleport pad in the Atlanta residence when my Summoner and her escorts returned from their latest outing. They’d been working hard to power-level the girl, and get her to a place where she could do the tasks that I needed of her. Fortunately, it seemed they had done admirable work.

Sazama Yuyu

Human Female

Level 21 Summoner / Scholar

Titles: Beauty, Quick-footed, Slave, Unbroken

12 STR, 26 DEX, 20 CON, 26 INT, 14 WIS, 28 CHA, Luck 20, Defense 80

Market Value: 25,000 gp

I nodded as I looked over her stats. They weren’t exactly mind-blowing, when compared to my own, but for a normal human, who did not have the same kind of benefits I did? They were quite acceptable. More importantly, they would be up for the task ahead of her.

The leader of the guards I’d assigned Yuyu, Samuel Samuels (that was his real name, I checked), spotted me, of course, and waved, heading over to me. “Boss! Fancy meeting you here! We were about to call. Last run through the Raccoon City dungeon brought your girl to the level you asked. Her Fire Elementals really do a number on those undead, let me tell you. Sure, they don’t exactly feel it, but the damage hits them all the same, and they waste time trying to claw and bite fire with their nonmagical bodies, and it just hurts them more.”

I nodded. “Then it seems I was right in putting my trust in you, Samuels. Your team has earned a well-deserved break. If you head back to Ceres on the next shuttle, you’ll find that a demonologist has opened up a brothel in the merchant district, staffed entirely by succubi and incubi, each of whom can adjust their shape to best suit your desires.”

Samuels blinked, and said, “Really, now? I would have thought you’d be against binding demons for that kind of thing, given your, um, race.”

“Hah!” I shook my head. “No, those demons are not bound, in the normal senses. They were summoned, yes, but they’re all employed, rather than Bound or enslaved. They have had to sign some binding contracts so that they don’t do anything too ‘unfortunate’ to people unless they meet certain criteria, but so long as you don’t go out trying to cheat them, or ‘purify’ them, then you won’t need to worry about that. So, go on and catch the next shuttle up. I’ll send word ahead that the first ‘round’ is on me.”

Samuels smiled wide, and nodded, a reaction that was mirrored throughout his party. “Well, can’t say no to that, Boss, even if we wanted to. Let us know when you need more bodyguards for the little miss, or others, and we’ll be glad to help out.”

As the guards cleared out, I turned my attention to my Summoner. With a smile, I said, “You’ve grown strong, Sazawa-san. Did you get the skills I told you to?”

Yuyu bowed to me, and said, “Hai, goshujin-sama! I have obtained [Devil Summoning] and [Ritual Summoning]. While my mana reserves are not yet large enough to summon the creatures you desire, with your aid, I can bring them over for you, so that you may contract with them.”

“Excellent. I am proud of you, Sazawa-san. And, I have good news for you! Your family has agreed to emigrate to Ceres. We will perform our first summonings here, so that we can set the devils about their business, but, when we return, you may stay in your parents’ residence, when I do not have need of your skills.”

Her eyes lit up, just like they had the first time I let her speak to her parents. Her old master hadn’t let her see them ever since he slapped the collar on her, so just being able to speak to them was a gift for the young girl. Now, being told that she would be able to see them in person again? It was the perfect reward for her hard work.

She bowed low, showing respect. “Domo arigatou, goshujin-sama!” I was nice enough to just pat her head, and not notice the tears in her eyes. After all, she’d done exactly as I wanted her to, so there was no reason to embarrass her like that.

Epilogue – Elsewhere

Central Park had been restored to its former… well, not ‘glory’, but it at least was looking better now than it had since before the Apocalypse. The spaceship, and other signs of the battle, had all been removed, so that, except from the monument commemorating the victory over the aliens, one would have never known they’d been here. All in just a few months.

The monument itself was situated on the exact spot where one of the most viral images of the entire aborted invasion had been taken. A small brick dais, with three pillars at the back of it, where one could look past them and see the ship, if it was still there. On the left and right pillars were listed the names of every person that joined in the defense of Central Park and survived. The central pillar contained the names, in larger lettering, of those who died.

In front of the pillars was a statue. A towering figure, clad in plate armor. In one hand, he held the hilt of a massive, two-handed sword, which rested, point down, upon the ground. Upon his other arm, held up as though he were a falconer with a bird, sat a beautiful woman in a long robe, with a staff upheld in one hand, the cry of victory upon her lips. The knight bore her weight with ease, despite the fact that she was much larger than a mere falcon.

That image, of the Black Knight and the White Queen, who had rallied the defenders of Central Park in defense of their city, had spread around the world in a heartbeat, as had the tale of how they stepped forward, first to blunt the enemy’s assault, and then to turn the tables on them, forcing them back. The last portion of the fight, as the Queen, her Knight, and the Berserkers launched themselves at the final foes, taking down the pirate lord, and slaying all the aliens who were trying to take cover in the ship, had actually been caught on video, as some adventurers thought to pull out their phones in time to catch that bit of the action.

After the invasion, some influential citizens, including the family of the pre-Apocalypse President, raised the funds to create the monument. Of course, everyone knew that it was a PR stunt, on the wealthy individuals’ part, but no one really cared about that, in the moment. Because of the backing, though, the monument was proposed, designed, and built in a surprisingly short time, though magic and the System helped with the building, at least.

Of course, the memorial and the statue were only the backdrop to the real reason for the crowd this day. Members of the New York press, and the major networks, had all been informed of a press conference that would be happening, starting in just a few minutes. That, in itself, wouldn’t have garnered too much interest. However, the individual giving the press conference? That was definitely interesting.

And it was not just the press who had heard of the announcement. Men and women of New York, adventurers all, had come out to hear this speech. Most of them had their names carved upon the pillars, or had friends and family represented there. They heard who was calling this conference, and they came to lend their support.

The small crowd grew quiet as two figures approached the stage. These were the two individuals that they had come to see. The ones rumored as being possibly the strongest in the country, let alone the city. The ones who were cast in bronze on this very stage.

James Masters

The Black Knight

Level 30 Dark Paladin / Soldier

Titles: Reforged Soul, Unique, Slave

The first figure was tall, easily over six feet, though the helmet, which he never removed, made it impossible to tell just how tall he was. From head to toe, he wore black plate armor that somehow both glistened and yet seemed to draw in all the light around it, becoming blacker than black. Even so, there were clearly visible runes of power running through the armor, tinged in red. As in the statue, he had his massive, two-handed sword, which was impossibly, impracticably large for a normal human to wield. However, he carried it in one hand, and easily planted the head of it in the ground, as he had done on the day the aliens came.

Jessica Meadows

High Human Female

Level 30 Radiant Sorceress / Enchantress

Titles: Purified Soul, Warleader, Ambitious, Heroine

Behind her ever-faithful knight and bodyguard, the White Queen herself strode forth. Light fell from her staff, her clothes, her hair. She looked like an angel, but without the wings. She was the one who had called the adventurers to fight, and she was the one who had led them, while her Knight fought on the front lines.

As she stepped up to the podium that had been placed at the front of the stage, her Knight now behind her like a silent sentinel, the light she gave off dimmed, allowing everyone, including the cameras, to see her clearly, and without a glare, while still possessing that celestial radiance she was known for. With a smile, she said, “My friends, my fellow Adventurers, good people of New York! A year ago, our world shook as the System came crashing down upon us all. Mere months ago, it shook once more, as we found out that we were not alone in the universe. We found out that there was no Federation of Planets or the like to welcome us, but instead pirates and slavers, who sought to make of us a prize.

“Yet, these pirates soon found that the weak and terrified prey they had hoped to encounter was not to be found here! For, even as hunter became hunted in the skies above, the people of New York stood firm, and refused to let these invaders do as they pleased! My image, and that of my Knight might grace the statue behind us, but we did not achieve victory that day by our efforts alone. Without those whose names are enshrined behind me, both those who lived and those who fell, victory would have been impossible.

“These were common people, from all walks of life. No one paid them to be here, that day. No one forced them to take a stand, to fight against an invader at clear risk to their own life. And yet they fought, people of all races, all religions, all creeds. I saw gang members standing shoulder to shoulder and back to back with the police that day. A priest of God stood healed a Warlock while his demon familiar stood watch over them, keeping them safe from attack. They stood, and they fought, together, uncaring of the little things that had divided us for so long in the face of new and unknown dangers from beyond the stars!

“Now, these months later on, we must come to a decision, as a city, and as a people. We cannot let this new unity of purpose fade as we go back to bickering over old arguments that have been meaningless ever since the world changed. We must move forward, and seek the glorious horizon! And we Adventurers must be a part of that!”

She took a breath, and said, “For that reason, I have come before you, not under the name those who fought alongside me gifted me, but as Jessica Meadows, Adventurer, a citizen of New York. I come to you now, to announce my candidacy for the House of Representatives, from New York’s 12th Congressional District. Because not everyone can leave Earth behind. Leave Freedom behind, trading it for an absolute monarchy, in this day and age. For those people, the common people, who love freedom and who simply wish to live their lives, free from alien persecution, I will run for Congress. And I ask for the support of each and every one of you.”

Dramatis Personae

Zayn Greene – Greater Incubus Male Warlock/Slave Master. Once upon a time, he was a hero, but he was betrayed. Now, disillusioned and intent on not making the same mistakes as he did last time, he is a Warlock who seeks to conquer his way through the post-Apocalyptic world Earth has turned into with the System’s activation.

The Black Knight – Zayn Green’s former title and persona, in the last timeline, when he was a hero. A formidable warrior, he was deceived by those he trusted, and betrayed at the moment of his greatest triumph, the destruction of the Demon Lord.

Jessica Meadows – High Human Radiant Sorceress / Enchantress. The Black Knight’s childhood friend and lover. She betrayed him after he had slain the Demon Lord. As a Sorceress, she helped him fight against the Demon Lord.

James Masters – The Black Knight Dark Paladin / Soldier. The former Black Knight’s friend and confidant. As a Priest, he provided necessary support to help him in his fight against the Demon Lord, until he betrayed him with Jessica. He was forced to drink the [Black Knight’s Cursed Potion], changing his race, class, and profession.

Talia Skinner – High Elf Female Battledancer/Entertainer. Zayn’s former next-door neighbor. In an attempt to change his fate, he forced himself upon her, and, following the System’s activation, enslaved her to his will. She is now his obedient servant.

Hibari Kayumi – Human Female Ninja/Alchemist. A 42-year-old housewife, the System has granted her a far more youthful appearance, and increased her physical abilities. Unfortunately, that was not enough to save her from being captured by the goblins that killed her husband and son. She submitted to being Zayn’s slave in return for protection, and being released from the dungeon the goblins imprisoned her in.

Rachel Adams – Human Female Priestess/Enchantress. Talia’s roommate. She returned to the apartment building where they lived, only to find that Talia had been enslaved by Zayn. Following her boyfriend’s duel with Zayn, she now is the warlock’s property.

Shadraus – Elder Lich Male True Eldritch Summoner / Supreme Merchant. Formerly a merchant who followed the Black Knight’s army. Was sent back in time following the betrayal. Currently runs the System Shop for Atlanta.

Zarina Morillo – Beastfolk (Cat) Female Diviner / Scholar. Worked at Bill Turner’s house as his live-in tutor, secretary, and fucktoy. Enslaved by Zayn after she got on his nerves when he turned up to his new house.

James Bay – Human Male Ranger / Groundskeeper. Former US Army Ranger, retired ten years ago. Has worked for the Turner family since then. While he is in his 60s, he has been rejuvenated by the System Apocalypse. Now serves as both the groundskeeper and the lead defender for Zayn’s base of operations.

Luna Varela – Elf Female House Mage / Cook. The cook for Bill Turner, she was abused by her former employer. Her class gives her a wide array of utility around the house, but is not, generally, offensive in nature. She serves as Zayn’s cook, now.

Sameera el-Niazi – Human Female Rogue / Maid. A foreign student at Bill Turner’s college, she was tricked into going to a party where she was drugged, and photographed in compromising situations. Threatening to tell her conservative parents, he blackmailed her into coming to work for him, using her as both a maid and bedwarmer.

Shiva Azari – Human Female Fighter / Maid. Formerly a soccer star in the US on an education visa, Bill Turner got her kicked off her team, and forced her to come to work for him as a maid.

Twilight Labyrinth – Slayer Dungeon / No profession. A nascent dungeon captured and enslaved by Zayn before it could establish itself. Its limited sapience makes it a mostly instinctive creature at the moment, but it understands Zayn’s commands.

Zoe Zafieri – Moon Lamia Female Silver Dragonblood Ranger / Explorer. Zoe was changed by the Apocalypse from a human to the character they created for an online erotic RP group, complete with the name change. A natural submissive, even before her change, she willingly accepted Zayn’s brand after seeing him in action.

Ezraekiel Vasquez – Half-Troll Vampire Female Ranger / Hitman. A member of one of the cartels, the System turned her into a half-troll, while her aunt turned into a Vampire. She managed to kill her aunt, but was turned into a vampire herself. She spent the first month of the Apocalypse trapped in the Lenox Square Mall along with her sister and several survivors.

Zarina Vasquez – Human Female Adept / Enchanter. Younger sister to Ezraekiel, she was not involved in the ‘family business’, since she was still in high school when the Apocalypse happened. While her class lacks raw combat ability, she has shown promise with enchanting magical items. Currently living with Zayn.

Rosie Clark – Human Female Spellsword / Guardian – A detective with the Atlanta Police Department. She fell under Zayn’s sway when he charmed her shortly after the apocalypse, and became his contact with the APD. Her fiancé from before the Apocalypse was sadly killed by the Incubus of Avondale.

Patrick Austin – Human Male Justicar / Detective. Detective Clark’s mentor and partner as a detective. An older man, he is a veteran of the APD, and is bringing Rosie up to speed as a newly promoted detective in the wake of the Apocalypse.

Alexis Costa – Human Female Priestess / Guardian. Officer in the APD, added to the recently formed Systems Crimes Task Force, which hired Zayn as a consultant.

Devin Nixon – Human Male Rogue / Infiltrator. Officer in the APD, added to the recently formed Systems Crimes Task Force, which hired Zayn as a consultant.

Mikaela Rose – Elf Female Water Sorceress / Dancer. Officer in the APD, added to the recently formed Systems Crimes Task Force, which hired Zayn as a consultant.

Aura Moonchild – Feytouched Human Female Witch / Diviner. Arcane consultant with the MPD, and helped Zayn open the Prison of the Forgotten One. Also carrying his child.

Nyx – AI. The primary AI of the superdreadnought Black Tear of Night’s Folly. Her exact capabilities are unknown.

Lilith Moonchild – Feytouched Succubus Female Dominatrix / Diviner. The daughter of Aura and Zayn in the future, who came back to the past and was sealed in the Prison of the Forgotten One.

Maylin Gennala – Knelfi Female Fighter / Soldier. A slave bought off the Minion Market to help run the satellite warning system Zayn set up. Formerly key in putting down the 3rd Ykadian Revolt.

Ciliren Fanorin – Knelfi Female Space Mage / Courtesan. A space fanatic that got enslaved to cover debts caused by her obsession. Purchased of the Minion Market to help run Zayn’s early warning system.

Aezrelle – Succubus Female Battledancer / Courtesan. A brothel worker who self-educated herself, and was sold to a military company, who then sold her on the Minion Market. Purchased by Zayn to help run his early warning system.

Character Sheet

Name:

Zayn Greene

Race:

Greater Incubus

Class:

Blood Warlock

Profession:

Slave Master

Level:

36

XP:

635400 / 665000

HP:

34300 / 34300

HP Regen:

343 per half hour

MP:

12960 / 16200

MP Regen:

162 per min

Titles:

Executioner, Dungeon Foe 2, Admiral

Attributes

STR

84 (114)

INT

132 (162)

DEX

90 (120)

WIS

90 (120)

CON

137 (167)

CHA

329 (379)

Luck

34 (64)

Defense

80 (7299)

+7 CHA, +1 INT, +1 CON per level

0 Attribute points remaining

4 Attribute points per level

Currency

1200 CP

238 SP

46404 GP

26500 PP

5 diamonds (50gp value each)

Boons

Third-Tier Race

Item Summoning

Minor Creation

Abilities

Racial Abilities

+30 CHA, +10 INT, +10 CON

Gain +3 CHA, +1 INT, +1 CON, +2 Attribute points per level

Gain Seduction, Diplomacy, and Intimidation as racial skills

All Charisma-based skills 25% more effective.

Immunities – Immune to Corruption, Fire, Poison, and Disease

Vulnerability – Vulnerable to Holy

Hellfire – Can summon and manipulate hellfire

Wings – Able to fly with batlike wings. Must be able to extend wings to fly. Cannot carry more than a light load and maintain flight.

Sensual Recharge – Engaging in acts of passion can increase MP and HP regeneration. More involved acts may transfer MP and HP from your partner to you.

Shapeshifting – Able to shapeshift into any humanoid form. Attributes do not change in new form, though may gain physical qualities of the new form (lizardfolk’s scaly hide providing armor, etc.)

Class Abilities

+10 CHA

+2 CHA per Level

Blood Bolt – The standard magical attack of the Warlock class becomes a bolt of blood-red energy. Deals 50% more damage to living targets, 50% less damage to objects, Constructs, Undead, and Oozes.

Blood Magic – Can cast limited number of spells known to other classes. MP cost is 5x normal. Costs HP equal to the normal MP cost. Number of spells known equal to level.

Blood Control – If the blood warlock has a sample of another creature’s blood, they can attempt to control that creature’s body and mind through magic. The victim’s resistance is 50% less effective than normal.

Bloodthirst – The Blood Warlock has a compulsion to drink at least a cup of blood every day. Failure to drink blood every 24 hours results in their gaining a stacking 10% debuff to all actions, healing done and damage caused for every 24 hours they go without until they drink fresh blood.

Profession Abilities

+10 CHA

+2 CHA per level

Slave Brand – Gain the ability to enslave creatures, binding them to your will. Enslaved creatures cannot resist your commands, and gain the Slave title.

Slave Management – Can see your slaves’ Status, and influence it to some degree, depending on level and skills.

Slave Knowledge – Know the direction, distance, and condition of all slaves branded with your mark.

Skills

Racial Skills

Seduction – Increases your ability to seduce individuals. Passively increases your appeal. Active use decreases target’s resistance.

Pheromones – Reduces aggression of all females towards you. May have secondary effects.

Hellfire Magic – Able to cast spells with Hellfire.

Bestow Glamour – Enhance a willing individual’s looks, adding to their CHA, for a price.

Touch of Depravity – Increase an individual’s libido, reduce their WIS temporarily.

Contract Magic – Able to create magically binding contracts.

Fool’s Wisdom – Increase a willing individual’s WIS, for a price.

Intimidation – Increases your ability to frighten or cow individuals. Effects fade when out of your presence.

Diplomacy – Increases your ability to sway others and persuade them. May make friends and influence people.

Desire Reflection – Allows you to project a glamour that makes you look like a viewer’s most desirable romantic partner.

Progenitor – Able to overwhelm barriers to pregnancy.

Kiss of Corruption – Can reduce a person’s resistance to your seduction (and other social skills) with a kiss.

Sensual Violation – Add victim’s HP and MP regeneration to the bonus regeneration from Sensual Recharge when violating an unwilling sentient creature. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Unholy Violation – When violating an unwilling sentient creature, (Your Level – Victim’s Level) percent chance to permanently drain stat points from the victim and add them to your own. Percent chance is doubled for creatures of the Celestial type. (Costs 2 Skill Points)

Blood Purity – Eliminate genetic defects or diseases from progeny, no risk of inbreeding. (Costs 2 skill points)

Class Skills

Curse Magic – The study of curses and other afflictions that can be used to hinder and hamper enemies. Includes both short-term afflictions, and more lasting curses.

Destruction Magic – The study of turning magic into pure destructive power, for the purposes of destroying your foes.

Summoning – Allows the warlock to summon a demon to his side. The type of demon depends on the Warlock’s level, skill, and any materials used. Some demons may be hostile to summoners.

Demonology – Gain knowledge about demons and demonic entities.

Soulbinding – Knowledge of the art of creating binding magics and contracts.

Mental Resilience – Your ability to resist hostile enchantments, illusions, and other mind-affecting abilities is increased.

Mettle – Increase your resistance to hostile damaging spells.

Sacrificial Rites – Bestows the knowledge of ritual magic involving sacrifices, allowing the creation of rituals.

Blood Rage – Gain the ability to enter a blood rage, dealing enhanced melee damage, but becoming unable to cast spells for the duration.

Fell Magic – Critical damage from Warlock spells (including Blood Bolt and Blood Magic spells) increased from x2 to x3 (x4 if the target is of ‘good’ alignment).

Sanguine Spells – May deal HP damage to self in order to enhance the power of spells or substitute for needed components.

Planar Knowledge – Knowledge of creatures and magics pertaining to other planes of existence.

Force of Personality – Add your Charisma to the spell damage from all spells. Stacks with similar effects.

Corrupting Spells – Able to infuse your spells with corrupting influence, for a price. (Costs 2 skill points)

Tame Demon Familiar – Allows you to use magic to bind and tame a powerful demon, turning them into your familiar. (Costs 2 skill points)

Charismatic Fortitude – Use CHA instead of CON to determine HP and HP regeneration. (Costs 4 skill points)

Curse Resistance I – Curse Effects of Tier 2 are 50% less effective. 90% chance to be immune to curses of Tier 1. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Profession Skills

Appraise Value – Able to see the level, race, class, and profession of potential slaves, giving you an idea of their potential value. More information provided at higher ranks.

Training – Able to enhance a slave’s learning speed for skills, or teach the slave new skills.

Taming – Better able to calm emotional slaves, and prevent aggressive slaves from inciting rebellion. Also known as breaking or domesticating.

Expanded Appraisal I – [Appraise Value] now includes titles the target has, as well as their largest attribute.

Dominance – Increased resistance to mental or soul influence.

Brand Capacity I – Increase the number of brands you can maintain to 1 per every 4 points of CHA.

Commanding Aura – Branded slaves gain 10% to all actions while under direct supervision of the Master.

Bargaining – Useful for arranging the best deal when buying or selling slaves. Also useful for all types of pacts or negotiations.

Courtesans – Slaves designated as Courtesans gain +1 CHA per level.

Combat Slaves – Slaves designated as Combat slaves gain +1 CON per level.

Tracking – Able to sense the general direction to all slaves bearing your brand.

Master’s Will – Branded slaves suffer -10% to all rebellious actions.

Expanded Appraisal II – Appraisal now includes the target’s attributes. (Costs 2 points to take)

Body Shaping – Able to create training regimens that will increase physical attributes over time.

Improved Training – Reduce the cost for training or granting skills. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Class Training – Can change the class of Slaves. Slave must have attributes appropriate for the new class. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Profession Training – Can change the profession of Slaves. Slave must have attributes appropriate for the new profession. (Costs 2 points to take.)

General Skills

Weapon Mastery – Proficient with the use of all weapons (not counting vehicle-mounted weapons or siege weapons).

Armor Mastery – Proficient with the use of all armor types and shields.

Auto-Regeneration – Regenerate HP at 200% normal speed.

Toughness – Decrease nonmagical damage taken by 50%.

Magic Resistance – Hostile spells are 50% less effective.

Carnal Arts – Become more skilled in the arts of bringing pleasure to yourself and others.

Sense Motive – The ability to sense when people are lying to you, and to discern ulterior motives.

Inspiration – The ability to make inspiring speeches to get others to follow you.

Knowledge (System) – Conveys general knowledge about the System, its workings, and its limitations. Includes class evolutions.

Knowledge (Dungeons) – Conveys general knowledge about dungeons, their abilities, the different types, and so on. Helps in recognizing patterns and traps in dungeons.

Knowledge (Bestiary) – Conveys general knowledge about monsters and beasts commonly encountered. While not to the level of Anatomy, or a specialized skill, may provide general insight into strengths and weaknesses of a creature, and help with identification.

Arcana – Conveys some knowledge of magic, but is primarily concerned with altering known spells to use new elements or have new effects, creating new spells.

Leadership – Inspire others to follow your lead, and take direction from you. Enhances ability to manage a group in a crisis.

Police Procedures – Imparts knowledge of police procedures, including evidence collection and handling, escalation of force, and communications protocols.

Contract Magic – Unlocks the ability to create magically binding contracts without specialized materials.

Dancing – Increases your skill with various forms of dance.

Naval Strategy – Increases individual’s ability to conduct naval operations on a strategic level.

Naval Tactics – Increases individual’s ability to conduct naval operations on the tactical level.

Ship’s Weapon Proficiency – Increases one’s accuracy and damage with ship-based weaponry.

Situational Awareness – Increases the user’s awareness of events going on around them, even when the situation is chaotic.

Combat Composure – Increases the user’s ability to remain calm and level-headed during combat or other high-stress situations.

Navigation – Increases the ability to navigate to a desired destination, with and without instruments.

Fighter Pilot – Teaches skills needed to fly fighter-style craft.

Shuttle Pilot – Teaches skills needed to fly military and civilian shuttles.

Small Craft Pilot – Teaches skills needed to fly small craft.

Ship Pilot – Teaches skills needed to pilot starships.

Stellar Cartography – More proficient at mapping and analyzing stars and star charts.

Scientific Analysis – Increased ability to use scientific method and knowledge to analyze a situation.

General Scientific Knowledge – A broad-based, mid-level knowledge of various scientific disciplines, providing a foundation for higher understanding.

Advanced Sensor Training – Able to glean greater data from sensors than with Sensor Training.

Anatomy (Humanoid) – Knowledge of the anatomy of humans, and humanoid creatures. Can give insight into the anatomy of other creatures by comparing organs to human ones.

Medicine – Knowledge and skills needed to treat diseases and ailments that don’t require surgery, with or without magic.

Basic Surgery – Knowledge of surgical practices, giving the ability to conduct simple surgeries.

First Aid – Knowledge of field medicine and first aid procedures, including how to stabilize and resuscitate an individual.

Botany – Knowledge of different plant types, and plant biology, including medical or harmful properties.

Virology – Knowledge of different viruses, and how to treat them.

Sanitization – Knowledge of how to prevent the spread of disease, and how to clean up biohazards.

FTL Engineering – Able to maintain, repair, and build FTL drives.

Systems Engineering – Able to maintain, repair, and build ships’ systems.

Reactor Engineering – Able to maintain, repair, and build reactors.

Damage Control – Able to make emergency repairs to bring systems online. Also able to triage repairs based on what is most critical.

Advanced Maintenance – Increases operational lifespan of machines and systems, reduces rate of part failure, can catch failures before they happen. Improved version of Basic Maintenance.

Mechanic – Able to build and repair basic mechanical objects, up to simple engines.

Fabrication – Able to create tools and parts required for maintenance and repairs.

Jury-rigging – Able to do temporary repairs with substandard materials.

EVA Familiarization – Able to conduct themselves normally while in zero-G, and outside a ship’s hull.

Emergency Training – Training in emergency procedures, for when a ship is under attack, or has taken damage.

Mining Tools – Able to use mining tools to extract material with a minimum of waste.

Remote Operation – Able to use drones or remote-control systems to as proficiently as one’s own limbs.

Metallurgy – Knowledge of different metals and alloys, and their properties

Heavy Machinery Training – Training in the use and operation of heavy industrial machinery.

Safety Training – Training in industrial safety protocols.

Construction – Training in construction methods and tools

Salvaging – Training in how to deconstruct scrap to extract the most usable material from it

Cutting Tools Proficiency – Proficiency with the use of various industrial cutting tools for noncombat uses.

Welding – Training in different types of welds, including which welds are best used for certain jobs.

Fleet Command – Increases abilities at commanding a fleet of ships.

City Planning – Increases efficiency of managing a city, including its resources, infrastructure, and inhabitants.

Rulership – Increases efficiency of ruling a nation, including its resources, infrastructure, and inhabitants.

Heroic Leader – Increases morale of populace so long as leader lives up to their image. May have other effects.

Tyrannical Leader – Efficacy of seditious movements decreased. May have other effects.

0 Skill points remaining

Primary Slaves

Talia Skinner – High Elf Female, Level 36 Battledancer / Entertainer

Hibari Kayumi - Human Female, Level 36 Ninja / Alchemist

Rachel Adams – Human Female, Level 36 Priestess / Enchantress

Available Skills:

Note: Your available skills are based on your Race, Class, Profession, and activities.

Racial Skills:

Aerial Defender – Gain 10% to Defense while in flight.

Summon Demons – Summon demons to your side. Demons are not bound, and must be either bargained with or otherwise subdued. (Costs 2 points to take)

Aura of Lust – Project an aura of lustful energy, causing all creatures within (CHA) feet that can see or hear you to be overwhelmed with lustful feelings. Can only have one active aura up at a time. (Costs 2 points to take)

Aura of Sloth – Project an aura of indolence, causing all creatures within (CHA) feet that can see or hear you to become listless and uninspired. Can only have one active aura up at a time. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Class Skills:

Enhanced Summoning – Summoned creatures gain 10% increased stats. (Costs 2 points to take.)

Profession Skills:

Mind Shaping – Able to create training regimens that will increase mental attributes over time.

Artisan Slaves – Slaves designated as Artisans gain +1 INT or DEX per level (chosen at designation).

Adept Slaves – Slaves designated as Adepts gain +1 INT or +1 WIS per level (chosen at designation).

General Skills:

Autopsy – Imparts knowledge of autopsy procedures, as well as the knowledge of how to search for and diagnose cause of death.

Harvesting – Increases your ability to harvest useful reagents and materials from corpses. May replace automatic dungeon loot.

Forgery – Increases your ability to make convincing forgeries of documents and other items.

Paperwork – Increases speed of bureaucratic tasks, reduces errors.

Warlord – Increases abilities of forces when leading them into battle.

Savagery – Killing an enemy in an especially brutal way may demoralize other enemies who witness the act.

Spells

Spells Known

Summoning

Shadow Armor – Wraps your body in armor made from shadows, aiding in your defense.

Curse

Affliction of Weakness – Reduce target’s STR by caster’s CHA for 1 min. A creature reduced to 0 STR falls prone and is considered helpless. Multiple uses of this curse on the same target do not stack. Instead, the duration is reset, as though cast by the caster with the higher CHA.

Affliction of Infirmity – Reduce target’s CON by caster’s CHA for 1 min. A creature reduced to 0 CON is instantly slain. Multiple uses of this curse on the same target do not stack. Instead, the duration is reset, as though cast by the caster with the higher CHA.

Affliction of Ugliness – Reduce target’s CHA by caster’s CHA for 1 min. A creature reduced to 0 CHA falls into a catatonic state and is considered helpless. Multiple uses of this curse on the same target do not stack. Instead, the duration is reset, as though cast by the caster with the higher CHA.

Suppress Emotions – A temporary curse that prevents the target from feeling any strong emotions, positive or negative. Can counter and suppress emotion-based effects like a Barbarian’s rage, or spells designed to spark infatuation.

Destruction

Spellblade – Channel spells or magical energy through a melee attack.

Hammerblast – Deals CHA damage to target creature or object. Damage to Creatures reduced by target’s CON. Damage to objects ignores armor.

Hellfire Blade – Use your demonic heritage to channel the fires of Hell itself through your melee attacks.

Arcane Barrage – Unleash a volley of unerring bolts of magical force against your enemies.

Hellfire Barrage – Unleash a volley of unerring bolts of Hellfire against your enemies.

Blood

Cunning Linguist – Use a kiss, with tongue, to learn a language for 24 hours. Only one language can be learned in this way at a time.

Mystic Eye – See magical items and effects, and identify their uses.

Craft Basic Homunculus – Use blood to create a temporary servant.

General

Heal – A more inefficient, touch-range version of a Priest’s basic healing spell.

Mending – A more inefficient version of a Wizard’s basic spell, repairs damaged objects.

Mark Enemy – A more inefficient version of a Ranger’s basic tracking spell, allowing you to keep track of an enemy’s moves in combat.

Shadow Armor

Wraps your body in armor made from shadows, aiding in your defense.

Cost: 20% of Maximum MP reserved

Duration: Until canceled or dispelled.

Defense increased by amount equal to MP reserved. (Stacks with worn armor and other effects.)

Reduces damage received by amount equal to MP reserved.

Receiving damage equal to 2x MP reserved (before reduction) in a single attack ends the spell.

Hellfire Blade

Use your demonic heritage to channel the fires of Hell itself through your melee attacks.

Cost: 300 MP, 300 HP

Target: Melee weapon or natural attack

Duration: Until canceled or dispelled.

Add INT+CHA to damage of melee weapon enhanced by the effect. This damage is Hellfire damage.

Melee weapons enhanced by this spell take 10% durability damage every 5 seconds while this spell is in effect (minimum 10% durability damage).

Becoming disarmed ends the spell.

Spellblade

Channel spells or magical energy through a melee attack.

Cost: 100 MP, 2 MP per second

Target: Melee weapon or natural attack

Duration: Until canceled or dispelled.

Add INT+CHA to damage of melee weapon enhanced by the effect.

Becoming disarmed ends the spell.

Cunning Linguist

Use a kiss, with tongue, to learn a language for 24 hours. Only one language can be learned in this way at a time.

Cost: 250 MP, 50 HP

Target: Creature kissed

Duration: 24 hours

Able to understand, speak, read, and write languages known by the individual kissed for the duration.

Heal

A more inefficient, touch-range version of a Priest’s basic healing spell.

Cost: 200 MP

Target: Self or Creature touched.

Duration: Instant

Heals the target of damage equal to caster’s WIS.

Mending

A more inefficient version of a Wizard’s basic spell, repairs damaged objects.

Cost: 200 MP

Target: Nonmagical item touched.

Duration: Instant

Repairs nonmagical item weighing less than INT pounds. Must have all the pieces of the item, or suitable materials for repairs.

Mark Enemy

A more inefficient version of a Ranger’s basic tracking spell, allowing you to keep track of an enemy’s moves in combat.

Cost: 20 MP

Target: Creature you can see within 30’

Duration: 10 minutes

Creature becomes marked with a magical symbol only you can see. Marked creature does not gain benefit of stealth or invisibility against you. You can track its movements as long as you are on the same plane, even if creature moves out of the initial cast range.

Only one creature can be marked by you at any one time.

Hammerblast

A blast of arcane power, particularly suited to destroying objects it strikes.

Cost: 20 MP

Target: Creature or object up to CHA meters away

Duration: Instant

Deals CHA damage to target creature or object. Damage to Creatures reduced by target’s CON. Damage to objects ignores armor.

Affliction of Weakness

A temporary curse which reduces the target’s STR for 1 minute.

Cost: 150 MP

Target: Creature within (CHA/2, min 5) meters

Duration: 1 minute

Reduce target’s STR by caster’s CHA for 1 min. A creature reduced to 0 STR falls prone and is considered helpless. Multiple uses of this curse on the same target do not stack. Instead, the duration is reset, as though cast by the caster with the higher CHA.

Hellfire Barrage

Unleash a volley of unerring bolts of Hellfire at your enemies.

Cost: 10 MP and 10 HP per bolt

Target: Any number of creatures or objects you can see (or otherwise target) within range, up to the number of missiles launched.

Range: 100 ft + 10 ft/level

Duration: Instant

Launch a number of magical missiles made of hellfire at your targets. These missiles always hit their target, and cannot be evaded, though magical effects may block or mitigate the damage. Each missile does 2xCHA damage to the target. This damage is hellfire damage. Each casting produces 1+(CHA/10, min 0) missiles.

Arcane Barrage

Unleash a volley of unerring bolts of magical force at your enemies.

Cost: 10 MP per bolt

Target: Any number of creatures or objects you can see (or otherwise target) within range, up to the number of missiles launched.

Range: 100 ft + 10 ft/level

Duration: Instant

Cooldown: 6 seconds

Launch a number of magical missiles made of arcane force at your targets. These missiles always hit their target, and cannot be evaded, though magical effects may block or mitigate the damage. Each missile does 2xCHA damage to the target. This damage is force damage.

Mystic Eye

With this spell the flows of magic become visible to you. This allows you to see active magical items, auras, and effects, and gain a sense of their purpose. The information gained is affected by your knowledge.

Cost: 100 MP and 100 HP initially, 1 MP and 1 HP per second to maintain

Target: Self

Duration: Maintained

See magical items and effects, and identify their uses.

Craft Basic Homunculus

The most common use of blood magic, outside of casting spells which one might not possess the qualifications for, is in the use of Homunculi, or Blood Puppets. This spell crafts a simple homunculus to serve you. The caster shapes the homunculus according to their will. The size, toughness, and duration of the homunculus depend on the amount of blood and mana used in its creation. The Basic Homunculus is mindless, but capable of following basic orders.

Cost: Varies

Duration: 1 minute per 32 ounces of blood used in its creation.

The Basic Homunculus is created with 1 HP per ounce of blood used, and has STR and DEX attributes equal to 1/100 of the total ounces of blood used. The Basic Homunculus is created with ablative armor, allowing it to take damage up to 25% of its initial HP before taking HP damage.

Affliction of Infirmity

A temporary curse which reduces the target’s CON for 1 minute.

Cost: 150 MP

Target: Creature within (CHA/2, min 5) meters

Duration: 1 minute

Reduce target’s CON by caster’s CHA for 1 min. A creature reduced to 0 CON is instantly slain. Multiple uses of this curse on the same target do not stack. Instead, the duration is reset, as though cast by the caster with the higher CHA.

Affliction of Ugliness

A temporary curse which reduces the target’s CHA for 1 minute.

Cost: 150 MP

Target: Creature within (CHA/2, min 5) meters

Duration: 1 minute

Reduce target’s CHA by caster’s CHA for 1 min. A creature reduced to 0 CHA falls falls into a catatonic stupor, and is helpless. Multiple uses of this curse on the same target do not stack. Instead, the duration is reset, as though cast by the caster with the higher CHA.

Suppress Emotions

A temporary curse that prevents the target from feeling any strong emotions, positive or negative. Can counter and suppress emotion-based effects like a Barbarian’s rage, or spells designed to spark infatuation.

Cost: 150 MP

Target: Creature Touched

Duration: 1 minute

Prevent the target from experiencing strong emotions. This suppresses natural emotions for the duration. Spells and effects which change the target’s emotional state (like most Charm spells, or things causing a morale bonus or penalty to their actions, or class features like a Barbarian’s rage) are ended immediately and countered for the duration if your Level + CHA is higher than the Level + WIS of the one activating those effects or spells.

Equipment

Account Holder

Zayn Greene

Account Number

13D7b2ĕΨλγΩ

Account Balance

54,486,526 PP

139,471,181 GP

734,149 SP

129,212,234,921 CP

Items Held

Astral Diamond x4

Necklace of the Prophet

Band of Murder

Gauntlets of Stability

Dress of Creation

Ancient Greatcloak of Fire Protection

Cursed Girdle of the Scourge

Steel Greatplate of Demonic Powers

Destiny’s Will, Tower Shield of the Stars

Furious Shoulderguards of Eternal Glory

Kurokishi, Legacy of Dark Fate

Type

Armor Set

Rank

Unique – Scaling

This set of armor has been created by the System for a singular individual. Betrayed by those closest to him, he refused to bow, even at the end. The Black Knight’s Dark Fate has been shattered, and now rests upon those he meets. And yet this legacy remains. Every ten levels, it gains new power.

Soulbound to Zayn Greene

Defense increased by (100 x Level)+CHA

+10 to All Atributes

Defiance of the Fall – 1/Day negate all damage and negative effects for (CHA) seconds. Costs 100% of remaining MP.

Shifting – This armor shifts with the wearer’s form.

Self-repair – This armor will repair itself over time by feeding on the wearer’s MP, even if destroyed.

Absorption – This armor may absorb weapons and armor the wearer owns. This ability allows it to upgrade the materials it is made of, and potentially gain new powers and abilities from the items it absorbs.

Dread Armor – +50% to Intimidation while wearing the armor.

Darksoul Protection – Take 25% less damage from Holy attacks and spells.

Commander’s Aura – Those under your command have 10% increase to all abilities while within line of sight.

Spellmight Bracers of the Dark Lord

Type

Bracers

Rank

Unique

These bracers, made from tanned angel skin, and dyed with demon’s blood, offer a substantial bonus to any who tread the path of darkness. Those who see these bracers know that they are dealing with one who has embraced the dark side.

Indestructible

+10% Defense vs. Holy Spells and Effects

+20 CHA

+10% spell damage while not in direct sunlight

Chimamire

Type

Exotic Two-Handed

Rank

Super Rare

Damage

CHA+CON

Damage Type

Varies

Chimamire (otherwise known as Bloodbringer) is not your typical weapon. In fact, in its idle state, it appears to be nothing so much as a human spine, set into a long handle, with hand grips at appropriate spaces. When held by a user that is bonded to it, however, the skull at the top of the staff opens its mouth, and a blade of blood-red energy emerges from it, curved like a scythe. This weapon requires a bonding ritual to use, after which it is considered soulbound to the user until their death. Chimamire cannot be destroyed by any known means. Any damage done to it is healed by sapping health from its wielder. The blade has two modes, Bloody Blade, and Vampiric Blade, that can be changed at will, by paying 250 HP.

+20 to all stats except defense.

Bloody Blade – Chimamire ignores enemy armor and resistances, and does slashing damage. User takes damage equal to damage inflicted on target.

Vampiric Blade – Chimamire does necrotic damage. User regains health equal to half the damage dealt.

Replica Katana

Type

Sword (1-1/2 Handed)

Rank

Very Common

Damage

1-10 + STR / + 1.5*STR (2hand)

Damage Type

Slashing

This replica katana was designed to be a display piece, for aesthetics rather than combat. Can be used either one-handed or two-handed Not being designed for combat, it has a low durability.

+10 Attack

STARTER: This item and its sheath are Indestructible.

Sacrificial Dagger

Type

Dagger

Rank

Uncommon

Damage

5-20 + STR

Damage Type

Piercing / Slashing

This enchanted dagger is a thing of pure evil, despite the fact that it is all too common for many beings’ taste. This is because, though it can be effectively used as a weapon, its battle effectiveness is wholly a secondary consideration to its true purpose.

Durability 40/40

Sacrifice - When used to kill a sentient creature, gain 10% of their highest attribute score for 24 hours. If the death comes at the end of a sacrificial ritual lasting at least 1 hour, the gains are permanent.

Ring of Elemental Immunity

Type

Ring

Rank

Legendary

This ring appears to be simply wrought, with four gems set into it. However, the enchantments upon this ring make it a treasure easily worth fortunes.

Immunity to Cold, Fire, Electricity, and Acid damage.

Magic Van

Type

Vehicle

Rank

Common

This panel van has been redesigned and refit to have a hybrid drive system. While in Performance mode, the vehicle uses diesel fuel. While in Economy mode, the vehicle does not use fuel, but has reduced speed and cargo capacity.

Seating: 2

Performance Mode:

Max Speed: 80 MPH

Max Speed with Cargo: 65 MPH

Cargo Capacity: 4500 lbs

Economy Mode:

Max Speed: 65 MPH

Max Speed with Cargo: 55 MPH

Cargo Capacity: 3000 lbs

Knelfi Shadowsoul Transport

Type

Vehicle

Rank

Rare

A personal transport designed to grow with its bonded user, Shadowsoul Transports are rarely seen outside of knelfi space. Shadowsoul transports grow with their users, gaining new abilities every ten levels the user has. This transport has two modes, Performance and Economy. In Performance mode, the transport runs off mana crystals. In Economy mode, the transport is fueled by ambient mana.

Seating: 2

Levitation – Can levitate slightly off the ground while in motion, ignoring penalties for ground condition (though not undergrowth or obstructions). Able to drive across liquids (though will sink if not on solid ground when stopping).

Variable Gravity – Able to change the relative direction (but not force) of gravity relative to itself, allowing the bike and its rider(s) to drive up sheer surfaces, or even upside down. Cannot be used to fly. Normal gravity reasserts itself on rider(s) when they dismount the vehicle.

Performance Mode:

Max Speed: 150 MPH

Economy Mode:

Max Speed: 75 MPH

Hellspawn

Name

Hellspawn

Type

Corvette

Owner

Zayn Greene

Model

Oscuns-Class Shiphunter

Systems

Weapons

Mendelius Point Defense System x2

Y’thran Arms Ion Cannons x2

Imperial Grav-Lance x2

Standard Torpedo Launchers x2 (10 Tiamat torpedoes each)

Hellfire Cannon

Pulse Torpedo Launcher x2 (Dual-side)

Shields

Standard Cruiser Shield System

Armor

Hateforged Warsteel Armor

Sensors

Standard Sensor Suite

Power

Mk. 25 Reactor

Standard Emergency Reactor

Standard Ambient Mana Collector

Drives

Standard Sublight Drive

Standard Warp Drive

Misc

Coolbreeze Heat Sinks

Tokomak Pulse Torpedo Reactor

Multi-Grapple Array

Inhibitor Module

Phased Travel Array

Active Jamming Array

Complement

Crew

50 (9 officers, 1 medic, 40 crew)

10 Passengers/Specialists

Cargo

170 tons

Further Reading

Be sure to read my published works!

Frozen Soul series (Sci-Fi Supervillain story):

Frozen Soul –

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071R125QT

Tales of the Void Traveler - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ52G37

Memoirs of a Supervillain - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R9NWS8J

Rules-Free VRMMO Life (Dark Fantasy GameLit):

Volume 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VPRNDB

Omnibus 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0774T354X

Complete 1-20 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R5CHNNP

Into the Black (Sci-Fi GameLit):

Book I - Game Start https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071LT5WGL

Omnibus I - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077X2KR7Y

City of Champions Online (Superhero GameLit):

Issue I - Origin Stories https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075SHXQS1

Lewd Dungeon (Dungeon Core GameLit):

Book 1 - Welcome to the Apocalypse https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB34DHF

Omnibus 1 - Books 1-4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FBPF6HR

SCI Stories (Dark Supervillain story):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RL93VQN

Winterborn (Dark Fantasy LitRPG):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082S3S3K8

Dark Fate (Postapocalyptic GameLit):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086S35WZ6

The OP Lich is a Returnee (Isekai Light Novel):

Book 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YR8JTD

The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T