4.03 – New Skills II

4.03 – New Skills II

Natalie hadn’t allocated any of her earned carnal energy in some time, and with consistent sessions with Jordan, and slightly less consistent ones with Sammy, she’d earned a sizable amount. One-off encounters like with Liz, and even her lewd adventures with the vines, had provided bonus harvests, too.

***

Carnal Energy: 442

***

“I’m at four forty two,” Natalie said. “I have to imagine that’s enough to take [Carnal Harvest] up another tier, though I’m not sure how much’ll be left over. I could also go all in on an immediate power spike, though.” That had been why Natalie had saved the points in the first place, instead of immediately allocating them to [Carnal Harvest], which would boost her rate of gain. Taking each of her level two skills up to second progression would be an enormous boost in her immediate strength. She’d probably go from a ‘decent but nothing truly amazing’ student to somewhere much closer to the top.

“Mm,” Jordan said. “Tough choice. Long term choice is obvious.”

“Keep upgrading Harvest.” Natalie chewed her lip. “Saved the points in case something truly insane came along with level two, but it didn’t.” Not that she was complaining; she very much appreciated her new abilities. But nothing demanded immediate upgrades.

Natalie hesitated over the choice for a few moments, but reluctantly decided to do what was smartest for her long term career. “Probably best to get harvest up to three,” she sighed. “Though it would have been nice to go all in, right now.”

Jordan patted Natalie on the shoulder in sympathy. But she clearly agreed. “Let’s see how much you have left over.”

Closing her eyes, Natalie funneled points into [Carnal Harvest] using [Empower].

***

[Carnal Harvest]: Progression advanced from 2 to 3.

***

***

[Carnal Harvest] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 3. Extract carnal energy through {performing or receiving oral on} an aroused target. Harvested energy can be expended through [Empower] and [Advance].

***

Natalie snorted.

“What’d it upgrade to?” Jordan asked.

“Oral. Giving or receiving.”

“It’s funny that’s how it rates them. Kissing, fondling, oral. What’s after that? Penetration? Does it differentiate between each hole, you think?”

Natalie paused, then coughed. “I guess we’ll find out.”

“How much do you have left?”

“That’s fine, I’d say. It’s a good choice. Then [Stylish] next, after we talk to the team about it.” Jordan paused. “And ... what are your thoughts on talking to them about helping, too?’

“Helping?”

“You know. With ...” Jordan waved her hand up and down at Natalie, a vague gesture that took Natalie a second to understand.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Sounds like Liz might be interested,” Jordan said with a shrug. “Ana is a wildcard, but I don’t think she’d be mad if we just asked. Besides, it’s giving or receiving. I don’t think there’d be too many girls who would turn down daily oral from you.” Jordan’s lips quirked. “Or even giving. You’ve got something special down there, you know. It really is addicting.”

“Jordan.”

“Just a thought,” Jordan said. “I’m not telling you to do anything. But maximizing your harvest skill really should take priority.”

“I know. I know.” Natalie struggled for how to put it. “I just don’t like the idea of it.”

“You don’t like the idea of being serviced by a legion of girls every day?” Jordan asked.

“Not ... so impersonally? I don’t know. I don’t have anything against something casual, obviously, but it should still ...”

“Happen naturally.” Jordan nodded. “No, I get it. Pursuing relationships just for the energy would be weird. I was just checking in. Besides, I bet there’s some limitations to harvest we haven’t found yet. I don’t think if you somehow had twenty partners a day, you’d really get twenty times the energy. I bet there’s a cap per day, or maybe each successive partner gets less energy. Something of that sorts. Then again, maybe not. But the most important thing is to do what you’re comfortable with. Doesn’t matter what optimizes your class.”

Natalie both agreed and disagreed with the sentiment. A part of her wanted to rush as much carnal energy as possible. A part of her despised that kind view on sex and relationships, even purposefully casual. It was something she’d fretted over since she’d received her class, and hadn’t made too much headway on.

What she was really hoping for was to build up relationships naturally, and for having to pursue some sort of ‘optimization’ to become unnecessary through organic success.

“Anyway,” Jordan said. “Go ahead and finish advancing [Juggernaut]? Tell me what you get.”

***

[Juggernaut]: Progression advanced from 1 to 2.

***

***

[Juggernaut] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Class-bearer receives {1.6x} bonus to furor, applied after all other bonuses.

***

Natalie eyes widened. “Damn,” she said. “Went to one point six. That’s insane.”

“A passive sixty percent boost? That stacks with buffs and items?” Jordan asked. “Yeah. No joke.” She shook her head. “Even with just that, today’s spars won’t know what hit them. You’re gonna be a nightmare. Wanna give it a test run?”