Chapter 733 – Augusta 6 – Rewards

Chapter 733 – Augusta 6 – Rewards

From a raw time investment point of view, it turned out that a 16-hour Assault was more effective than smashing one’s head against a Raid Boss for a couple of days straight, even with the Catch-Up Buff.

John would have infinitely preferred fighting Lady Presta again over this absolute slog of massacring individually weak enemies. He felt like he had spent the entire day playing Minesweeper on a slowly accelerating treadmill, while getting electric shocks for every time he lost OR won OR stopped playing for more than 5 seconds.

The rewards, however, were so good that he had to keep this in mind for the next time he really needed to get a lot of levels fast. Although he still didn’t like the risk of these things. “Sleep,” he declared and got universal nods. Sylph had already passed out. Her high-power adrenaline made her crash instantly the moment the action was over. Currently, she was being carried by Salamander.

They made their way back to the house, where, to his surprise, he found Lydia waiting for him. Given that it had been sixteen hours, he had assumed she had gone to sleep already. Instead, she was hanging out on the couch, with a laptop in her lap.

Sometime while he was gone, she must have succumbed to the summer heat, only rising as the warmth inside the barrier continued to scale with the warmth outside the time dilation, as she was currently wearing black hotpants and a white, sleeveless top. They were very un-Lydia-like clothes, but they suited her. No, that was selling it short, the sexy girliness of those clothes contrasted her usual militaristic get-up to create an adorably casual look. Her hair was in the usual braid, so there was an element of normal inside this surprise.

She looked up from the screen, her mouth already open and brows furrowed. It was the standard berating expression, but she immediately softened up when she saw John. “You appear to have gone through purgatory,” she remarked in a soft tone, closing the laptop. “Where have you been? We were scheduled for fencing practice.”

“Got a Quest for doing a long Assault.”

“You’ve been fighting since this morning?”

“Yup,” John only answered as the energy sapped remains of his harem went about their preparations to lay down. In the elementals’ case, that meant placing Sylph on the couch and then all retreating to their sanctuary in their summoner’s soul. For the Artificial Spirits, they walked up the stairs and prepared to warm their master’s bed. Showers could be taken in the morning.

“I see, I had a hunch that something of this nature could have occurred.” Lydia put the laptop to the side and got up. “Was it worth it?”

“8 Levels, 2 Max Class Levels, definitely worth it,” John answered. Since he was level 230 now, that made for the second of those two.

“It must have been quite straining.” Lydia reached out to him and rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you need to eat? I cooked something. It may be subpar compared to Aclysia’s creations, and cold by now, but it may help you.”

John shook his head, almost too tired to answer. “No, no... I just need to sleep.” He blinked very slowly and only barely managed to open his eyes. He focused on the red of her lips, the rest of the world seemed washed out. He couldn’t open his eyes enough to see the upper half of her face.

“Was it worse than Warsaw?” Lydia asked.

“From a raw stress level? Yeah... Warsaw at least had some resemblance of waves,” he mumbled and yawned. “As much as I enjoy talking to you, I really...” He stopped when he noticed he was being guided up the stairs. “When did we...?”

“The question is if blowjobs count,” John hummed. “If I mark Eliza, I could conceivably get her to suck me off for the entire work day. Hell, if I get enough marks, I can just put shifts out there. If they don’t, I’ll have to arrange it so Jack does the work while I fuck around...” He grinned. “This combines my two favourite things, planning and having sex.”

“You are an absolute oddity.” Lydia couldn’t help but laugh. “In this case to your favour. Now take it, make this a thing worth both of our whiles.” She was, of course, right. The Perk specified that they both received experience. While John’s levelling mechanics for group members had a steeply rising requirement past their natural potential, it was still possible. As little as the progress would be, Lydia would receive some benefit from this.

That aside, it wasn’t like he wanted the other two choices. She was right, he clicked it, and then wildly made out with her. Only a little prelude to the coming hours. They fucked in the bed, they fucked in the shower, he got a double blowjob by the maids during breakfast (which was Lydia’s cooking from yesterday – delicious, despite her claims to the contrary), and then the entire present harem engaged in debauchery.

Purely to fulfil the Lover Boy Class Challenges, of course.

John took a few minutes among the orgy to properly test what counted as sex for the purpose of Experience of Love. The answer was: basically anything that involved their primary sexual organs. As much as fingering Lydia’s pussy or receiving a handjob was enough. Notably, fondling her breasts or making out wasn’t. Not on their own, anyway. There had to be some stimulation of dick or vagina.

Eventually, they had the Challenges done. John got to picking the next Perk immediately. Lydia wouldn’t have let him hear the end of it if he added another hour to the orgy only to be indulgent. The orgy was ended with one more orgasm. After some more cuddles and a recuperation period, things got into motion again. Aclysia moved into the kitchen to get lunch ready and Beatrice cleaned up the living room. It desperately needed it.

“And there it is,” a naked John exclaimed, walking over to Lydia who was lying on the couch. Apparently she had problems feeling her legs. “See?”

Raising her head and torso with some effort, Lydia brushed back some of her cum-soaked hair to read the window. “This is utter cow dung,” she simply declared.

“Cow dung in your favour,” he added.

“It will more than double my potential, as per your system’s boundaries and declarations.”

“That’s what it says.” He happily nodded.

They were talking about Shared Steps. Sexual Submission was another choice that John didn’t really like, although it at least required consent to be reaffirmed. Regardless, not what he wanted. Lover’s Bond was more interesting and, if the competition was anything else, he would have taken it.

However, Shared Steps was just too good. At the moment, only Lydia and Scarlett would benefit a whole lot from it, but that was bound to change as John levelled up. That aside, the fact that Lydia alone would raise her potential level from 90 to 190 was worth taking the Perk. It applying to everyone who had a Lover’s Will mark and giving another one of those marks was immensely powerful.

Level 6 and upwards really was the place where Perks ramped up.

The choice was made and John withdrew an item from his inventory that hadn’t seen a lot of usage in quite a while. It was a flask with a long neck and a round body, the bottom flattened to allow it to stand. It came with a leather holster that allowed it to be attached tightly to a belt. At the moment, the translucent thing was filled to the brim with a golden liquid.

“I offer you this tribute, my Queen,” he said and handed her Helbrecht’s Soulpotion. It was a present he had received from her during the tournament. Back then, it had been vital in allowing the rest of their group to catch up to the enemy team and their much higher levels. Its usefulness diminished quite strongly in the upper one-hundred range.

The last time it had really seen use was when John had used it to get Magnus to the peak of his potential. Since then, it had mostly spent its time sitting in the Gamer’s inventory. Now that Lydia had bigger shoes to grow into, giving her this only made sense.

“This invokes a certain sense of nostalgia,” the auburn-haired metal mage said and took it from him. The glass lid was quickly pulled off and the contents of the flask guzzled down into her stomach. Directly thereafter, John got the ability to level her up with his powers. A simple click and she was level 91.

“So, how does it feel to break through the ceiling?” the Gamer asked.

“Anticlimactic,” Lydia responded, as she gave back the Soulpotion. “It appears I have better things to do now than simulate the effects of changing taxes on my economy.” She looked at her hands, then made a fist and smiled. “I had already accepted that I had peaked, having a new horizon to march towards, it fills me with determination.”

John couldn’t help but snicker.

“What was so entertaining about that?” Lydia needed to know.

“Undertale reference, don’t think you played it.”

“Is that the game with Sans?”

“How do you...”

“My exposure to memes through you and Rave has given me knowledge of the most useless variety.”