A turbulent day’s end

The first thing Jay noticed when they arrived back at Gold Creek was the vacant area southern of the crossroad was getting occupied. Multiple people where erecting tents or pulling wagons there, all in a quite chaotic fashion. While he wondered what was up there, Jay first of all turned to the human looking Sira next to him.

She seemed to need more time to calm down from their loss, so he wished her a safe trip and saw her off to give her some room.

It was already late afternoon, close to evening, so he directly went towards the garrison. If he made a stop by the Inn, there had been a high probability he wouldn't have had the chance to give a report that day at all.

Like always since a long while, there no longer was any checking at the gate when Jay entered and instead he had to greet numerous soldiers he knew from back then. His way directly led to Haggard's office on the second floor as he learned the Commander was there.

After a loud knock and getting asked in, the two men had a hearty greeting. But what followed after the initial smile on the aged man's face was a deep frown as Jay gave his report about all he had found out:

Starting with the cultists still being active and planning in Arathor, Jay explained his premonition that they were connected to anything else that happened. Then he got to Sira whom he had freed from serving the perpetrators and her deceased master in Redridge, as well as the documents telling he had only started to scratch at this conspiracy…

When Jay finally told Haggard about getting trailed and later attacked by Xayah, the Commander asked if he really was going to keep following those leads. If Jay already lost a companion and got send assassins after him, they couldn't even fathom how powerful and influential those behind it all where. All they by then were sure of was that this couldn't have been done by one or two people but a whole syndicate!

As Jay stated there was no way he would quit after what happened, Haggard told that he got news from the capital as well. The documents had seemingly revealed more names and facts as well, but at just that moment they heard a knock on the door before it got opened.

Kathariel had directly come looking after she learned Jay came back, so the commander only finished his sentence that Jay would hear it better from the sources directly.

Though Kathariel asked if she had disturbed them, she didn't seem like she would leave even if the two men stated "yes", bringing a wide grin on Haggard's face.

Jay smiled as well and promised him to report about what he would find, but then his face got earnest again.

As he explained that he might be gone for a good while, the two military persons got surprised. It took Jay a while to narrate how it had come to him going to Geffenia, as well that he would have to leave soon.

While Haggard pondered a bit and finally got to the conclusion that it might even help them in finding the perpetrators, Kathariel had remained overly silent. Only after Jay said his goodbyes to her Commander and stated he hoped they'd see each other before he left, Kathariel decided to accompany Jay out. It still took her until they reached the big door of the main building to once again start speaking up, but her words surprised Jay all the more.

"...Have you seen the tents on the meadow south of Gold Creek? It's the Midnight Faire that'll open up tomorrow night and only stay for a single week before they move on. I thought that maybe you'd like to accompany me there…?" K.

"Are you asking for a date? I mean sure, I'd love to go there with you!" J.

"A d-date? Well… yes, I guess so…" K.

"It's a date then! ...and our first one. How about in three day's time so I can report to the capital and get some things done, then come back and have only time for you?" J.

Kathariel only managed to nod to Jay's proposal after she had already blushed fiercely when Jay inquired if she asked for a date. To the end of their short talk she had more or less taken the color of a tomato and kept her eyes to the ground.

Jay had a sudden urge to embrace her but held himself back and only said his goodbyes. The reluctance to leave in his voice was surely heard by the perceptive elf but Jay had already half crossed the yard when she rose her eyes again.

While he walked normally out of the Fort and along the first few houses, Jay noticed his own steps getting faster the closer he got to the inn.

The reason was not only because of the most certainly long and passionate session that would follow later on with Mia. Jay simply was happy to meet up with all of his "Family" back at the inn.

Only a few minutes later he opened the door to the inn and got greeted by the smell of tasty food wafting through the dining hall. Not even three steps inside, Marisa spotted him from between the tables she was serving and after smiling at him warmly yelled Mia over.

The one Jay had wanted to see again the most directly left her spot behind the bar and came rushing over. She zigzagged through the brimming full hall in fast steps, not minding her appearance to others and not only embraced Jay but kissed him deeply. Countless whistles, cheers and clapping was to be heard but some curses as well, but none of them both minded it.

Once the busty elf was satisfied, she grabbed Jay's hand and led him to their default table. After Mia seated him there she commented that he had to be hungry and hurried behind the bar again and into the Kitchen. Only then did Jay notice she was blushing fiercely, seemingly having forgotten the situation the moment she had spotted him.

As she came back a minute later Marcus accompanied her, though her blush was still visible. The chef though only kept laughing and clapped on Jay's shoulder to welcome him the moment they arrived. Then they all sat at the table and even Marisa came to finally say hello after she finished her round.

For the next hour and more Jay had to tell them what he had experienced over the last two weeks. In between Ellie arrived downstairs together with Eloise. While the small sister like girl directly jumped at Jay in joy and began to plapper about her progresses in training, the slave maid seemed unsure and stood shy to the side. Only after Jay greeted her warmly did she smile in relief and in the end even joined the table.

Like always Jay emptied three servings of food and even downed equally many mugs of ale while they chatted away. Only Marcus and Marisa had to tend to some customers in between as the evening continued, what made Jay's narration quite long in the end. But he wasn't the only one who had to tell something. Like Mia had already hinted him as he left, she got news that Alexis would come back this week as well.

As Jay tried to inquire why she had been gone for so long Mia didn't tell him anything though. All she stated was that he'd have to ask her in person as it was not for her to tell him at all.

About an hour later, Ellie and Eloise took their leave and the dining hall finally got less crowded. As Jay had only arrived there after dinner timer it had already gotten quite late for most people.

Jay and Mia chatted a bit about the things Jay reported to Haggard when they were finally alone. They had barely concluded their next steps when Marcus came back and stated that they didn't need to stay there. He and Marisa would tend to the Inn and later go to her, so Mia and Jay should take their time.

Instead of grabbing Mia's hand and pulling her to her room, this time it was Jay that clapped on the older man's shoulder. He congratulated him to finally have taken the last step to what Marcus thanked him with a pained expression. It wasn't that he was unhappy – completely the opposite – but Jay had slightly lost the grasp for his own strength. At least he hadn't really hurt Marcus.

After excusing himself for this slip, Jay didn't wait any longer as Mia had already grabbed his hand and then really took him up to her room. The door hadn't even fallen back into the lock when she spun around and embraced him, demanding kiss after kiss. Then she suddenly halted and looked at him a bit in thoughts.

"Have you grown a bit?" M.

After him looking at her questioningly, Mia threw the thoughts to the side and pulled Jay backwards onto the bed. Not anymore in that much of a hurry, they started to strip each other while passionately kissing and fumbling each other. It didn't take long for Jay's hand to wander along her smooth thighs to between Mia's legs where he found her already oozing honeypot.

At first he gently rubbed her small sensitive clit a bit before he carefully slipped one finger in. Then another followed a bit later and another. By that time Mia had already begun stroking his bulging member while they kept kissing deep and passionately.

The moment Jay got completely hard she stopped the kissing and lifted her head to look down along him.

"It seems at least that one fortunately hadn't grown any more…" M.

Not sure what to make of her comment, Jay had no time to think about it. Mia gently pushed his shoulder so he lay on his back and swung her leg over him. Though his fingers slipped out of her in the process, she directly occupied the vacant spot with something else as she lowered herself onto his towering pole.

While it took her a bit to get accustomed to it again, not a minute later she was carefully rocking her hips while Jay fumbled those absurdly large melons of hers.

It wasn't like they went at it extremely slow but only in comparison to the by then usual, as the two of them passionately made out and nearly never stopped kissing.

Though it somehow felt different to them both they welcomed the change and the with this transmitted feelings. The two of them swapped positions a few times over the next hours, but other than that they kept it at basic the whole time.

In the end they drifted off into dreamland laying in each others arms late at night…

.

.

.

Pretty early the next morning it was Jay again that woke up first. Looking down at the weight he felt on his left shoulder he found Mia still sound asleep and hesitated to move at all. Instead he decided to check on his log that he had ignored since the day before. There were bound to have been some gains and changes but as he took a glance at it, the sheer amount he saw surprised him.

Starting with [Barrier Magic] that got an update to Level 8, it were all Mia's skills that Jay found following first. Like this [Shadow magic], [Arcane Magic] and [Chant shortening] all got an equal raise to LVL 8.

As he checked on them Jay learned that he even got three new spells with this, two from the shadow department and (Arcane Storm LVL 1) as the name suggested from Arcane magic. It was an areal spell that seemed to consume tons of mana to produce a devastating effect around the caster that therefore could ignore party members or selected targets.

The others were (Life Drain) and (Crippling Field), both at level one. The former worked similar to Soul Drain, just that it took the targets life-force and directly added it to the caster instead of forming a crystal.

(Crippling Field LVL 1) therefore was the first areal spell from Shadow magic. The targeted space would momentarily restrict enemies movement and fuel itself with their health to stay active longer. As Jay thought about how this could be applied he thought it was a pretty scary skill if used right.

The first thing he gained from Mia once again was [Light Magic LVL 8], bringing all the corresponding abilities to the same level with it.

As there was nothing new he swiftly skimmed to the next Skill he found in his log. That one was the last one he had integrated from the Succubus back at the tower.

It was called [Avoidance LVL 2] and other than raising his chance to dodge attacks, it reduced the chance to be hit and damage received from areal attacks by 10%.

Not sure if this would possibly stack with his abnormal luck, Jay was still somehow reluctant to test it.

Next he found [Camouflage LVL3] that had kept her invisible even to him with the higher leveled and boosted (Hide). As it only hid one optically, it was still far from perfect, but Jay was sure that combined with his own skill this would enhance his stealth combat immensely.

From having analyzed her back then, Jay already had a hunch to what was the next skill he gained from banging Crzall'a even before he read it anew in his log. It was a skill he didn't really need but would still most certainly put it to use at some point. [Seduction LVL 3] did exactly what one would expect and charmed – or better brainwashed- the target as long as it was active.

The [Shadow magic] he found next in his log was only on Level 3, so it obviously didn't change his own Skill or bring new abilities. Therefore Jay gained a completely new Skill from her as the last in his log.

It was [Whip LVL 3] and came with three abilities straight. The first one was (Loopy Lash) and boosted the attack power like (Slash) did with blade attacks but less, therefore made the direction of attack hard to predict. The second ability had the name (Trammel Lash) and though it dealt less damage, it had a good chance to stun the target. Both of them were at level three just like the skill itself.

Last but not least came (Lash of pain LVL 2), a magically boosted attack. Though it seemed the physical part dealt slightly less damage than (Loopy Lash), it got combined with shadow magic and that way nearly doubled the output.

Satisfied with his gains, Jay went on to the last line in his log he hadn't checked. It was no Skill that was mentioned there but the Racial traits he had reaped from the Succubus. They read:

***

Racial Traits integrated:

Nat'rehzani (Darkness-Demons):

Dark Beings – DEX +5%, STA +5%, AGI +5%, [Shadow Magic] +1

Sayaad:

Fatal Temptation – Libido increased immensely, [Leach]

[Nat'rehzan]

Demon language

***

Once again, those racial traits were absurd. Not only did they increase his stats again, he even got his [Shadow Magic] upgraded and another Skill. As Jay read the description of [Leach] he learned it enabled him to actively suck mana or life-force from an intercourse partner and generally boost his regeneration of both during it.

About the increased Libido, Jay wasn't sure what to make of it. Up to that point he hadn't seen any need on his part in that department and hoped it wouldn't increase his drive and desire even more than it already was – if that was even possible...

Done with checking, Jay had just closed his menu when Mia on his shoulder began to move. He looked at her until she opened her eyes and found his watching her.

She smiled at him and before she whispered him a "good morning" stretched herself up to place a soft kiss on his lips.