Chapter 36 – Everything had changed

Chapter 36 – Everything had changed

Four words could change everything about a relationship. Yet, a relationship that had changed at the base could still be the exact same on the surface. After a shared kiss, they had gone back and nothing had changed about their conduct. The air between them was just clearer now. Lighter and sweeter and John was starting to wonder if someone had turned down gravity just a tad.

“So, what’s for dinner, tiger?” Rave asked, as they entered the ‘tent’. “Because I’m so hungry I could eat... something big, dunno.”

“A horse?” John suggested.

“Nah, I had horse before and I didn’t like it.”

John walked up to the stove and turned the switches. “We’re out of power again.”

“Then get to the generator. I’ll do the cooking.”

“Finally doing a woman’s job?”

“Oy, ya wanna see what these hands can do to your dick, scrawny boy?” Rave wiggled her slender fingers.

“I experienced that this morning, can’t be that ba-“

“Imma break it.”

“That’s bad... would you break your favourite toy because you’re annoyed?”

“Absolutely – plus Gamer’s Body would just snap it back straight, right?”

“I’d rather not find out.”

“Then ya gonna shut your mouth. Men are for generating mana, not for talking. If you’re nice, Imma buy ya something pretty.” Rave flashed him a disarming grin and then went through the collection of cans John had brought along. “Nope, nuh, Nein, Iie, ingen.” She tapped each of the cans.

John, meanwhile, gripped the inside of the mana generator again. Between glances at Rave’s – at his girlfriend’s butt, he opened the newly acquired Relationship window.



That seemed kind of useless.

“Alligator! I could eat an Alligator!” Rave suddenly shouted as she stirred whatever she had thrown into the pot.

“That is exotic.”

“Yep, had it once, it was awesome.”

“Where?”

“Back in Japan. My granddad’s a chef. Well, he was. He’s retired but still he sometimes cooked stuff like that.” John nodded, so at least her grandparents were norma- “I remember that one time he cooked a kraken, good stuff.”

“Oh, I didn’t mention that before? The stronger you are, the slower ya age. Mana in the body keeping ya in prime condition and all that. There’s people in the Abyss that’re like thousands of years old. Then there’s gods and all that stuff.”

The implications of that were tantalizing and terrifying. ‘So, if my level gets high enough I become basically immortal?’ he wondered. ‘To live forever with a harem... and to potentially watch all of them die if they can’t keep up with me... or to wither away while they get more powerful than me.’

Rave continued her explanation. “If your guild is old, it probably has a bunch of terrifyingly powerful people taking care of it. The US is all local warbands trying to keep their local share of the pie or foreigners like Moira and the Order trying to get a foothold. Heard Lincoln got close to unifying it all.”

“Abraham Lincoln?” John asked.

“The same – you’d be surprised how much of the Abyss is tangled up with real history. Anyway, ya want me to list the Divided Gates or not? I at least know those by heart.” He nodded and she broke them down quickly. “First and foremost ya got the Two Empires of the World, as they call them: the Mandate of Heaven in China and the Sons of Rome in Italy. There’s the Illuminati in France...”

“For real?”

“For realzies. Anyway, Prometheus is much of Greece and some of the surroundings. There’s the Dangun Clan in Korea, the Great Sultanate in Turkey and beyond, the Purest Front in Brazil, the Sons of Odin in Scandinavia at large, the Blood of the Proleteriat in Russia and here and there in eastern Europe-“

“Are they... Soviets?”

“Yeah, ya know, history might be power but some people still get kookie new ideas. How come you’re bothered by that but not by the Nazis?”

“There’s Nazis?”

“Purest Front didn’t give it away?”

“I don’t think ‘pure’ implies ‘nazi’ immediately, especially not in Brazil. Who is in Germany then? Rex Germaniae?” She shot him a confused glance. “You mentioned them in passing before. The name is also a giveaway.”

“You’re pretty good at remembering stuff,” Rave complimented and he scratched the back of his head. His memory was one of the few things he had counted as his blessings even before he got his powers and it had only gotten sharper since. “Anyway that’s all 10, I think? Yeah.”

“Surprised Great Britain isn’t on the list... or Japan for that matter. Or India. Or that the Nazis are in Brazil.”

“The Abyss of GB got annihilated during World War 2 by the Nazis and the Japanese,” Rave explained. “It was a whole mess. I don’t remember the details but all the ideological fanatics from Rex Germaniae formed a private army and joined with other fanatics from Japan and ravaged the island. They were too afraid to stay there though, so the Japanese then went back home and the Nazis fled to South America. Japan then proceeded to meet the same fate, getting annihilated by the Mandate of Heaven and the Dangun Clan after an initial series of victories... the Dangun Clan raids Japan to this day, preventing any organized Abyss from forming there.” She stopped for a moment. “No idea about India. Colonization broke their kneecaps, maybe?”

John digested all of that. “So among the Abyss’ strongest powers are Nazis, Soviets, vengeful Koreans, vikings and the Holy Roman Empire?”

“Uh, not sure about that last one, but yeah about the rest.”

“What a confusing world...” John said and laughed. “I kind of love it. This is all so strange and... I can’t wait to understand it all while I’m with you.”

“We should ask my dad if he has some books for you to check out when we tell him that we’re a thing now.” Rave smirked at him. “We’re a thing now, right?”

“Yes!” John agreed immediately. It dawned on him that they hadn’t actually stopped to talk about what exactly they were now. They had just done like always and gone with the flow. ‘Should I bring up the harem thing now...?’ He elected not to. He was too happy enjoying this right now to bring up something new. “Will your dad be mad?”

“Prolly not. I dunno. Only had a mistake that lasted a few weeks and a mistake that lasted a few days before.” She looked at him long and longing. “Ya won’t be one of those, will ya?”

“I’ll do anything I can not to be,” he promised. “Anyway, what do we do now? We have to go home at some point...”

“Yeah... quickie while we’re still somewhere I can scream my lungs out without bothering anyone?”