Chương 100: Chapter 98: Together again, just us five

Once we are properly weighted down with quests, we head out of Elmspire, back in the direction of Marketplace. We're not heading towards the orcs or towards the mountains, and we have about a hundred and fifty miles of forest to get through before we get to the plains where Marketplace awaits. I took mostly scouting quests, with a few hunter quests and adventurer quests to even out the playing field.

Most of the scouting quests are just about going somewhere I've never been before, or about reaching the edge of the forest, or that sort of thing. Most of the hunter quests are for the more dangerous beasts out there, taken more to give me an idea of what we might come across than because I actually feel a need to complete the quests. I'll harvest whatever I can from whatever we come across. Most of the time, that ends up completing hunter quests. Now I just have a list of monsters to make sure I harvest.

The adventuring quests we take are for delving in dungeons. I hope we come across one or two on the way, but they'll keep. All the quests will keep. I'm a little worried about Vincent being able to keep up with the rest of us. I know that everyone else in the party has at least Wanderer's boots, giving the 20% bonus to speed, but I don't think Vincent has a pair himself, and I don't want to take the time to make him a pair. I really want to get out of here.

I feel like every step we take through the city is another chance for someone to try to swarm us with questions and adoration, to try to get us to join their guild or to sign something or whatever. I don't want more friends. I just want to get back into the forest. So we leave without taking the time to get him the boots. But it seems like he doesn't have a need for them. Vincent has a spell that basically allows him to levitate off the ground and then move at his normal walking pace.

That completely removes any tracks that he might leave, but it also completely removes anything on the ground that might slow him down. He doesn't have to worry about roots or slippery ground, doesn't need to worry about uneven paths or any of the hundreds of little things that make it harder to move at full pace. With his spell, he can keep up with us without any difficulty.

"Don't you have to worry about running out of mana doing that?" I ask him. He shakes his head.

"It costs two mana per second to maintain," he says.

"And I regenerate more than that. So I don't actually lose any mana doing it. Besides, I have about as much mana as you have hit points. Even if it did drain two per second, I could still maintain it for several days without running dry." He has more than twelve thousand mana? Well, I guess that explains why he doesn't have that many hit points. Doing the math, his vigor is only fifty; I'm guessing his other physical abilities are around the same level. But he's got a lot of presence, willpower, and awareness.

His build is completely different from mine. But then, it always has been. So we set a good pace leaving the city. We can walk somewhat casually at around five miles an hour, which should get us out of the forest within three days. I find I'm able to keep an eye out for tracks at this speed, and we can all maintain it without becoming short of breath. Which is impressive; I couldn't have gone this speed for any real length of time in our old world.

On Earth, you could expect to travel maybe twenty miles in a day, if you were on foot and were pushing yourself relatively hard. We're walking for ten hours a day, which in our old world would mean a pretty slow pace of only two miles an hour. But we're going more than double that. Makes sense though; our stats are more than five times what they were when we were on Earth. What we were when we were human. I know that we haven't been human since we came to this world.

El, Gigi, and I all have animal blood running through our veins. Vincent and Ash have demon blood. It makes us all more than human, which can kind of explain the stats that we have. But there's a way in which I feel like more than human even beyond my wolf blood. I don't just feel the call of the wild racing through my veins. I just feel power coursing through my whole body. I've never been super strong. It's never been my focus.

I put points into strength every level to try to keep up with my agility, but the agility is the main source of my power, so I always try to keep that one high. But I know that I can carry several hundred pounds without feeling slowed down by it. I know that I can bend a steel bar without any real effort. I know that I'm stronger than the strongest human in history. And while I know that both El and Ash are stronger than I am, I also know that I'm stronger than Gigi now. And by a significant margin.

As we walk, Gigi fills us in on what life was like in her guild. She and Ash both took a leave of absence, not quitting the Ebony Knighthood but also not staying under their umbrella too closely. Basically, they both did what Eric wanted El and I to do. But we apparently value our freedom more than they do. Vincent didn't leave his guild, either. In fact, several of the quests he took were for his guild. He's going to rank up when he levels up, if he dies.

"It's a pretty cool guild," Gigi says.

"Lots of training. My sword skill is up to fifty, and my shield is almost as high." Wow. That's higher than mine, and by a lot. My sword is still only 35. Which I thought was plenty high. My shield is only ten, but I haven't had a shield for most of the time we've been here. I've been working without one.

"What kind of training do you do?" El asks. I'm in the front of the group, checking the trail for any sign of enemies and generally keeping an eye out for danger. But I'm not far ahead, so I can be a part of the conversation. And I'm curious what happens in guilds. We didn't really get the guild experience in the Warlords, so I'm interested to know what sorts of things go on there too.

"Mostly mock battles," Gigi says.

"But a fair amount of just drills. Doing the same movement over and over again to build up muscle memory. Some weight training to build up attributes. And just some camaraderie stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" I ask over my shoulder.

"The usual," she says.

"Drinking, eating together, playing games. Sex."

"You had sex with your guild mates?" El asks.

"Like, in an orgy?"

"The knighthood isn't like that," Ash says.

"My guild is," Vincent says.

"I've had more threesomes over the last six weeks than I ever dreamed possible. Sex is very important to magic."

"Is it?" I ask. Vincent gives me a lascivious grin. I almost make a quip about wanting to get better at magic, but I think better of it. If I make a sex joke, then El is almost definitely going to insist that she and I sleep together. Because it would be only fair, since neither of us have gotten laid since coming to this world.

"Sex is a good way to bond, a good way to release tension, and a good way to pass the time," Gigi says.

"There aren't any relationships or anything. The guild actually frowns on that."

"Wait," El says.

"The guild frowns on relationships? So it just promotes casual sex?"

"It promotes emotionless sex," Ash says.

"Lack of attachment. Sex for its basic purpose."

"I thought the basic purpose of sex was procreation," I say.

"Prude," El says.

"No one's getting pregnant in the knighthood," Gigi says.

"But sex is for fun. It's for releasing tension and increasing relaxation." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. El steps forward and nudges me.

"You seem tense," she says.

"You need to relax more." I laugh, not sure how else to respond to this conversation. It's making me very uncomfortable.

"We have sex as part of the process of training," Gigi says.

"It helps remind you that the body is a tool, that it can provide pain or pleasure, depending on how you use it."

"Hey, do you guys know anyone else who has Shell?" I ask, desperate to change the subject.

"I haven't come across it in any of my studies," Vincent says.

"And no one else has any defensive spells that are nearly as powerful."

"What kinds of spells do they have?" I ask, hoping we can stay on this track of conversation.

"There are some that reduce incoming damage, but none that reduce it to zero," he says.

"Most defensive spells are more focused on either reducing the incoming damage or eliminating the ongoing damage. I myself have one that ends status effects on myself. So I can't be poisoned, burned, or suffer from bleed so long as I can cast it."

"How long does it take to cast?" I ask.

"It's an instant cast," he says.

"But most of my spells cast quickly, thanks to a talent I picked up with this most recent level. It cuts my casting time in half." That doesn't sound like it would be that useful. But then, I don't rely on magic all that much. If you were shooting spells as your whole battle tactic, I can see how being a little bit faster would matter.

"Was it just threesomes?" El asks.

"Or did you have, like, legit orgies?"

"I've been in a room with ten other naked people, all using magic to enhance the experience," Vincent says.

"You can project your mana out of your body like an aura, and when the auras mix, it increases the sensations. It's kind of like being on molly or ecstasy." I wondered if there were drugs in this world.

"Can we talk about Shell?" I ask.

"I think it means something that we have it and no one else does."

"Yeah, it means we're badass," El says, more than a little bit dismissively.

"Can anyone push their aura out and have it increase the pleasure of sex?"

"Yes," Vincent says.

"If you like, I'll teach you how." He looks around at the group.

"We could all have sex once we have camp set up, if you like." I can feel the blood rushing to my face. I'm not ready for an orgy. I'm not even sure I'm ready for a twosome, let alone a fivesome.

"I think that it means more than that," I say.

"I don't think Shell was supposed to exist."

"What?" That gets Ash's attention, hopefully enough for them all to stop planning an orgy.

"I think that Shell was supposed to either be a spell that only worked in the tutorial, or that wasn't supposed to exist at all. I mean, it's like Vincent said. There aren't any defensive spells that do what Shell does. But if you combine a bunch of them, I bet you get Shell."

"That makes sense," Vincent says.

"Shell prevents status effects while it's up. It reduces damage from all sources, not just melee, ranged, or magical. It's based on your hit points, not on your mana or on any of your stats. Plus it can be recast very quickly."

"I used to think that a five minute cooldown was a long time," I say.

"But after we just fought off two armies basically relying on Shell to keep us alive, I don't think that it is."

"Most of the defensive spells that I know of have a cooldown of at least an hour," Vincent says.

"And I've studied a lot of spells, even the ones that I don't have."

"How many spells do you have?" I ask him.

"Thirty nine," he says.

"I'm well prepared for anything that might come up." I count up my spells. I have eight spells. And thirteen abilities. Even combined, that's like half of what Vincent has just in spells. I guess that's what it takes to be an archmage.

"So you think that Shell is like a combination of other spells?" Ash asks me.

"I think it might be a glitch," I say.

"Something that only exists because our tutorial god was dead and couldn't fix it or break it into other spells."

"Didn't you get Mab's Rage in the tutorial too?" I shake my head.

"No, I bought that one in Elmspire. It's not as broken as I make it look. It just gets really bad when you have high stats."

"I have that one too," Vincent says.

"It's a good spell to have when traveling with a group, but very difficult when you aren't just surrounded by enemies. The fact that it is indiscriminate is extremely dangerous."

"This is boring," El says.

"I don't care about spells. I have my three, and I'm fine with them. Let's talk about sex some more!" Damn it, El. Stop thinking with your crotch. I focus on the trail in front of us. If I can't change the topic of conversation, maybe I can get us into a battle or something to distract them from the idea. I really don't want to have an orgy. I don't want to sleep with my friends. It just feels like a bad idea. Maybe I'm wired differently. Maybe I'm not wired for polyamory.

Or maybe I'm just not wired for casual sex. What if I form too much of an emotional attachment? I already consider the four of them to be basically like family. Closer than family, though. They're pack. Does that make sex with them incestuous? Is that why I'm bothered by it? Do I feel like I'd be sleeping with my sisters and my brother? That's one of those taboos that it's never interested me to break. I like breaking taboos generally.

Sex is more fun when it's something that society at large would cluck at and disapprove of. But I never wanted to sleep with my family any more than I wanted to sleep with a child. Which is to say: not at all, ew. I know it's not an age thing. They're all around my same age. I know they can consent, and I know that they will consent. Enthusiastically and all over the place. They've as much as done so just during this conversation. But would it be like fucking my sister? Would it feel like incest?

I look back at them, trying to imagine it. And, strangely enough, the image of it doesn't bother me. El is incredibly sexy, her body carved out of stone like a warrior goddess. Ash and Gigi aren't that much different. Vincent is a bit on the softer side, but not in an unattractive way. I can imagine sex with any one of them. They're all very attractive. It would be like having sex with celebrities or super models, they're all so gorgeous. So why don't I want to do it?

"You okay?" Ash asks, her voice a little lowered. I notice that I've put some distance between myself and the rest of the group, and she's come up to join me. I can hear the others talking about sexual exploits again, and can hear the whine in El's voice, disappointed that she hasn't had a chance to join with them. Apparently, Gigi and Vincent had sex at least once a day, and they're not particularly looking forward to a dry spell. They may have sex just to get rid of the stress of the day.

"I'm fine," I say. It's not true. I'm not fine. But I'm not sure what's bothering me about it.

"Not the attitude towards sex that you're used to, is it?" she asks me. I shake my head.

"I understand. We were always told that sex is something you do with someone you care about, or rather not with someone you want to be friends with. And then there's the disease fear."

"Plus pregnancy," I remind her.

"Plus pregnancy," she agrees.

"The ultimate STD." That makes me laugh.

"This is a different world, Caleb. There are different rules."

"I know," I say.

"But I don't feel like those rules have changed."

"I understand," she says.

"But the world as we knew it is gone. It ended when the tutorial started."

"So then, what? We should've been having sex in the park?" She shrugs.

"Maybe," she says.

"But the fact remains that the body has needs. Desires. It's not healthy to deny yourself."

"How do you know that?"

"Mentally, I mean."

"But what about the diseases and everything?"

"They don't exist here, I don't think." She says.

"No one is getting pregnant, so far as I can tell. And diseases, if they do happen, are easily healed with magic. Like everything else, magic changes the rules of the game."

"It's not a game," I say.

"No one is going to force you," she says.

"You know that, right?" I'm not sure they could force me. Maybe working together. Better not to think of that. My friends would never do that. They'd never try to even massage my consent.

"I know," I say.

"I'm just. I'm not comfortable with all this yet."

"Yet? Do you think you will be?"

"I don't know," I say.

"Maybe if the four of you all start fucking, I'll start to feel left out. Maybe I'll get over whatever my issue is and join in. But I'm just worried that I'm not wired this way."

"Not wired for poly?"

"Not wired for sex with friends," I say.

"Sex changes things. It always has. It's always made things more complicated. There's too much emotion."

"Is that what the problem is? You're afraid of catching feelings?"

"I'm afraid of hurting feelings," I say.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to hurt one of my friends."

"You won't," she assures me.

"We're all adults here. We can have a little sex now and then to relieve the tension. It won't hurt anyone."

"But what if it does? What if someone decides they want to have a relationship? What if it turns out that El is more monogamous than she thinks she is? What if she gets jealous? She could rip us in half like a phone book in a fit of rage." Ash laughs at that.

"I think the only one here in danger of being monogamous is you," she says.

"And if that's what you decide, that's okay too. You can pick one person to be with, and the rest of us won't get mad."

"But what if the person I choose doesn't want to be monogamous?" She shrugs.

"Then they don't have to be. You still can be."

"What?"

"It's possible to be in a polycule and be monogamous," she says.

"Didn't you know that? You can be partnered with one and only one person, even if they're not. You just have to be able to deal with your own jealousy." I hadn't considered that. Would I be jealous if the person I slept with also slept with other people? I mean, it wouldn't be cheating; everything would be out in the open. We'd communicate about it. I'd know that they were still choosing me, even if they chose someone else too. That could work, couldn't it?

"Ugh, this is all so hard. Why can't we go back to just fighting for our lives?" I say.