Chapter 268

Early the next morning, I sat at the familiar table where we've had many discussions before. This suite in the brothel was the closest thing to a home I've had since I've come to this world. Bella and Mimi sat next to me and Torien. Morrigan and Lorriene sat across from me. The mood was pretty relaxed even though Torien still seemed to be a little shy after the time we spent together last night.

Morrigan leaned back on the couch. "You know... I'm surprisingly okay with Lilith sleeping with Torien... That's weird, isn't it?"

Torien blushed and looked away. "Things would be a lot more complicated if you weren't..."

"I wondered if I would feel differently about it after the fact... but that doesn't seem to be the case." Morrigan poked Torien's cheek. "It gives me some new ways to tease my sister though," she said with a chuckle. Torien tried to give Morrigan a flat look, but the effect was lost with how red her face was.

"Well, I feel great!" Lorriene said while stretching her back. "I wasn't as old as some of the others that transformed, but it's good to feel perfectly young again! Prettier too!"

"How are you adjusting to the change?" I asked.

"Great! It was fun to tease Silva last night," Lorriene replied.

Torien's expression cooled and she unconsciously pursed her lips.

Lorriene looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Don't sulk. I didn't actually do anything. I just teased her. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw the younger me. Silva looks more or less the same age after the transformation, but I dropped like fifteen years."

"I've always found it hard to pin down Silva's age," I said.

Lorriene nodded. "I agree, she looks good."

Torien's tail flicked behind her. "How did Silva react?"

"You seem rather interested for someone who had broken it off with her," Lorriene said.

With a sigh, Torien slumped down. "I don't know... My feelings on it are... complicated."

Lorriene shook her head. "For someone so headstrong and confident in some ways, you really are indecisive when it comes to stuff like this."

"I... didn't know that anyone could make me feel the way she did when I first met her... All of this stuff is new to me," Torien replied.

Lorriene shrugged. "It's not like any of us really have a manual that tells us how to deal with this stuff. It was probably weird enough to find out that I had slept with her before."

Torien huffed. "That isn't helping, Aunt Lori."

"I beg to differ. Maybe what you need to hear is that if you hesitate too long, I'm going to go after her instead," Lorriene replied with a cheeky grin.

"I thought the two of you broke up?" Morrigan asked curiously.

"It's not that simple," Lorriene replied. "Part of what broke us up was the impracticality of maintaining a relationship when the two of us were apart for so long. In Silva's case, she couldn't even contact me when she was 'working.' There are still feelings there. I'll respect your wishes if you want to be with her, but I would be willing to give it another chance too, if you don't."

Torien leaned forward and rubbed her face. "I... I'll think about it."

There was a really awkward silence that hung in the air for a while before I decided to be the one to break it. "Did you change up much of your stat distribution, Lorriene? You don't have to answer of course. I know it's a bit of a faux pas, but I'm curious."

"I don't mind talking about this kind of thing with you, Lilith. In a way, we're kind of like family now... Though I'd like to see you and Morrigan actually get married eventually. Torien too, if she wants," Lorriene said while giving Torien a teasing smile.

Torien cleared her throat. "I don't think our relationship is really like that... As a succubus, sleeping with her is one thing, but... I don't think I want to get married to her. My feelings aren't the same as my sister's."

Morrigan shook her head. "Torien... Just because your feelings don't feel as strong as mine doesn't mean you don't love her too. I can feel your emotions too now. It's not exactly the same, but I would say your feelings still qualify as love."

"Let's talk about this again later, once things have settled more. Either way, I don't think I want to marry the same woman as my sister... It would be complicated if nothing else," Torien said with a sigh.

"I think you're taking things too seriously. What's the harm in playing around if you don't knock each other up?" Lorriene asked.

"Because it's gross," Torien replied flatly.

Lorriene shrugged. "Even if you two both marry her, it's not like you would be required to do things with your sister. Even if you share a bed."

Torien pinched her brow. "I do not want to talk about this anymore."

"I do kind of miss sleeping in the same bed as you, even if I also wouldn't really want to do anything with you in that context," Morrigan admitted. "We've always been together, so even though I started sleeping with my lovers instead, I do miss cuddling with you."

Since I could tell that Torien was getting frustrated, I decided to push the conversation along a little. "So, Lorriene, you were saying about your stat allocation?"

"Ah, right... Also, go ahead and call me Lori. Lorriene sounds so stiff coming from you now." She chuckled. "Everything kind of fell into place even though I always thought I would be more protective of my nieces when it came to this. Still, you're growing on me."

"Good, because you kind of scare me," I admitted to her.

Lorriene laughed. "I could see that. Especially after I let the 'old inn lady' persona slip. Anyway, my stat allocation. I didn't move things around too much. Just made small adjustments and pulled some points out of Vitality and Charisma and put them in Strength. I have a good balance between my other stats, and I don't need the Charisma anymore."

"You took points out of Vitality?" I asked.

She nodded. "Don't get me wrong, Vitality is important, but for me, speed and endurance are what protect my life. If things go wrong, it'll be my ability to escape that'll save me more than being able to take a few more punches. I put the points in strength because I found my attacks a lot less effective on that big demon we fought than I would have liked. More strength would have helped. Fighting a strong enemy like that showed me where I was lacking."

Morrigan smiled. "I did the opposite. I had some points in Strength, Charisma, and Finesse that I don't really need. The trainers required me to diversify some of my early levels in case magic didn't work out for me. I put most of them in Vitality and Endurance since I've been learning that I could use some more after all the running around we did in the capital."

"I kept mine mostly the same. I moved a few points around, but no major shifts. I also took out all the points they made me put in Charisma. It was a useless stat before we got [Being of Karma]."

"Oh! What did you get for your Karma ability? Mine lets me increase my mana pool from the monsters I kill now! I'll be able to learn to cast normally eventually!" Morrigan said excitedly.

Torien's eyebrows rose. "Seriously? Your transformation fixed your mana issue?"

Morrigan shook her head. "Not right away, but eventually it should. What'd you get?"

"Mine says it taps into my bloodline and lets me control shadows. The strength of its effect is improved by my karma. I can do things like obscure myself in shadow or even make hard shadow constructs." The room seemed to oddly brighten for a moment as some of the nearby shadows collected into an arrow between her fingers. "I figured I could use it to scout and make my own shadow arrows like this. I don't know how effective they are yet, though."

Lorriene smiled and patted her niece on the shoulder. "I got something very similar, though mine is more movement-focused. But that makes sense to me. Shadow leap was the primary way I used our bloodline affinity. This karma ability lets me travel through nearby shadows and use shadow leap innately in a way that improves with my karma. I've tried it a little, but I think I'll need some time to master it. Especially if I want to use it in combat."

"Not that I'm complaining, but I wonder why mine isn't related to our bloodline," Morrigan said.

Lorriene shrugged. "I never taught you anything because you didn't have enough mana to use it. Perhaps the transformation can't give you something you can't use?"

Bella shook her head. "No, I don't think that's it. I think the succubus transformation seems to adapt quite a lot to the person. I don't have any kind of bloodline affinity and it gave me a strong bonus to healing and poison magic. I don't know of any nature healers or druids in my family history, but it gave me something that resonated with what I wanted to do in the future."

"I had always considered my ability to use shadow leap to be my biggest strength. Giving me a boost to something I already resonated with would make sense by that logic," Lorriene said.

Torien tilted her head. "Then is mine influenced by my interest in our bloodline affinity combined with what I normally do in the group? Scouting and shooting a bow?"

I shrugged. "It does seem like a good theory. I think it might also be possible for them to change over time. I have an ability called [Karmic Retribution] that changed quite a lot once I decided that I didn't want to use the previous version on someone again."

"You're an origin though. It could also just be more flexible for you," Morrigan pointed out.

"True... It's hard to say," I replied.

"I could ask around and see if some of the other Succubi are willing to share their karma abilities," Morrigan suggested.

I nodded. "A lot of the girls we brought in told me their karma abilities, but I didn't ask many questions about how they felt about them. There's a rather diverse number of abilities I've seen granted though."

Torien shrugged. "In the end, it doesn't matter much. I'd rather focus more on mastering it than knowing why people get what they do. If it changes down the line because I don't like it, even better."

"I think the most important one of the three of ours is Morrigan's. From what I've put together, your goal is to raid dungeons for the adventurer's guild once you return to Traehall. She should get plenty of opportunities to improve her mana pool on the way and once we get there," Lorriene said.

"I want to be on the guard team on the way there for most of the trip. It seems like a good opportunity to get a few monster kills," Morrigan added.

"Nelly's priest training should be finished the day after tomorrow, so that should be our last full day in Goldenhearth unless something comes up. We should finish up whatever business we have here in the next two days and spend time resting and visiting with the people here. We also need to get a full list of everyone who's coming with us and who Oceane is planning to send along. We have our own carriage, but I need to check in with Cecilia to see if we intend to travel with a caravan on the way," I said.

"It would be ideal to travel with a caravan. She's probably already set something up. The trip is a lot more dangerous otherwise," Torrien replied.

"Don't forget to talk with Madeline and Fellia," Bella reminded me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I haven't talked to them about what they want to do yet. There's a lot of little things to take care of." I cleared my throat. "I also promised to spend a night with Grace and I wanted to see if Oceane would join me for that. Are any of you interested in joining as well?"

Bella laughed. "I think I'd rather sit this one out this time. Grace was enough. I don't know if I could handle Oceane at the same time after I saw how energetic she was after her transformation." I got nods of agreement from everyone.

"Torien, can we practice our karma abilities together today? Maybe we could take a hunting job for the adventurer's guild today," Lorriene suggested.

"I'd like to come with!" Morrigan said excitedly.

Torien laughed. "I suppose that settles it. We'll go hunting today and try our new abilities together."

"You three have fun together," I said. It was nice to see them reconnecting and spending time with each other after everything they had been through. I hope becoming their 'triplet' will help Lorriene get even closer to them.

After that, everyone left the room and headed out for the day. While putting on my clothes, I looked over my status. Nothing had changed from the last time I had checked it other than sexual appetite ticking up to fifty, but I chose to look at it anyway in case I had missed something.

[Status]Name: Lilith BaphometRace: Greater Succubus [Race Hidden - Displayed as Beastkin (Sheep)]Gender: FemaleClass: [Novice Magic Swordsman] Lv. 14Level: 52

Stat Spread:Strength: 100Vitality: 100Charisma: 10 (1010)Luck: 20 (1020)Finesse: 70Magic Control: 100Magic Force: 100 (170)Speed: 70 (90)Endurance: 30

Karmic Energy: 10000

Unallocated Stat points: 0

Skills:Haggling Lv. 15Swordsmanship Lv. 39Illusion Magic Lv. 6Light Magic Lv. 15Light Manipulation Lv. 12Uuna Riding Lv. 13Linguistics Lv. 10Ritual Magic Lv. 17Drawing Lv. 19Mana Sense Lv. 9Luck Magic Lv. 10Enhancement Magic lv. 10Flying lv. 7Intimidation lv. 1Internal Mana Manipulation lv. 5Cartography lv. 5

Class AbilitiesMerchant Skill - CalculationsProstitute Passive - Resist DiseaseProstitute Passive - Magic FingersProstitute Skill - Ease PainProstitute Skill - Freshen UpProstitute Passive - Tight FitProstitute Passive - Group DynamicsProstitute Passive - Go UnnoticedProstitute Passive - Resist SleepProstitute Skill - Center of AttentionProstitute Skill - Nightcap

Special Passives:Soulbound CompanionsSpecial drop rate upSightspeakDouble Down

Innate Abilities:Karmic RetributionBeing of Karma

Racial Traits:Succubus ConstitutionSexual Appetite Lv. 50Succubus BondGreater Succubus Shifting

Titles:[World Traveler - Hidden Title][Origin of Succubi - Hidden Title][Dungeon Destroyer][First Explorer][Early Intervention][Demon Hunter][Follower of Sorsette][Mother of the Succubi - Hidden Title]

I nodded to myself and closed my status. There weren't any changes as expected, but it was good to keep an eye on it. I finished lacing up my boots and headed downstairs for the day.