3.33: Avatar of Efficiency
“So that’s why you look so different from a bunch of the photos I’ve seen. I was wondering about that. Well… your tiny frame is rather deceptive. Your strength and speed score must be insanely high. When you tossed me onto the bed I could tell it was effortless for you, and then every time you zipped around the room you did it so fast that my eyes couldn’t keep up.”
“Well… it’s a combination of high stats and my demonic abilities. I have both [Demonic Strength: Tier 7] and [Demonic Reflexes: Tier 7]. My stats are super high, but my demonic abilities are definitely what gives me the biggest boosts.”
“I would love to see all of your skills… You’ve got to have some insanely powerful ones.”
I shrugged and grinned widely as I opened my skill menu and draped my arm over hers and held it in front of her face so she could see everything listed there. I watched her eyes look over the lengthy list, and I kissed her bare shoulder without even thinking. Her eyes immediately flicked upwards and she stared at me with a curious expression.
“Emelia is a very lucky woman.”
Before I could respond she went back to reading my skill list. Every once in awhile she would reach up and tap one of the skills so that she could read the description for it, and it was absolutely adorable to see the look of intense focus on her face.
“So, based on this list, I'm guessing each time you corrupt someone you receive a unique skill?”
“Yes. Oh, huh. I totally forgot about that until you mentioned it. I didn't even check what skills I got from corrupting Tifa and Jade.”
“I'm guessing [Empowered Blood] is from the Blood Mage… [Coldfire] is clearly from Emelia. [Blastburn] would be from Niall.”
“Nialla. Niall was actually a girl. Her character was renamed Nialla after she transformed.”
She nodded and continued to read the skills, presumably to guess which unique skill had come from each clan member I had corrupted.
“So… [Corrupting Fire], [Demonic Chains], [Shifting Superiority], and [General’s Prowess]. Originally I would have guessed that [Demonic Chains] would have been from the clan member who had the chains wrapped around her wrists and ankles, but seeing as how she is still a Demonspawn, I am unsure who that one came from. Out of the few clan members I have interacted with, none of them seem to fit the description for that one or [Corrupting Fire]. However, given that the latter is the only one with the word ‘corrupting’ in it, I’m going to venture a guess that that one is unique to you specifically?”
“Yes. Originally it was called [Demonfire], but it changed to that when I respecced my character and gained the [Corruption Specialization].”
“You respecced your character? How did you achieve such a thing? I was unaware it was possible to do much beyond changing a small number of skills with high tier enchantment magic.”
“So, after I corrupted Nialla I used a siphon shard to absorb the essence from the transformation. Judas described it as a massive surge of energy that occurs whenever a powerful creature is born. And the siphon shard allows me to capture said energy and use it as a catalyst for resetting my character. Which… Is what I’m planning on using when you start to transform. I’m honestly surprised you haven’t already started… Is your Corruption Meter maxed out?”
“Yes. It maxed out when you came inside of me. Now it’s sort of… broken? I am unsure how else to describe it.”
“I’m familiar, actually. It happened to me as well. But it’s really strange you haven’t started transforming. When I transformed Nialla it started almost immediately after we had finished.”
She hummed softly as she considered what I had said and then looked up at me.
“May I see the siphon shard, I would love to see what type of magic it uses.”
“Oh, sure.”
I opened my inventory and retrieved the siphon shard I had planned on using for Hana’s transformation. I held it up in front of her and she reached out to take it. Once she grabbed the purple gem I watched her eyes fix on its structure as she studied it closely. All of a sudden, the entirety of her blue eye shifted to a jet black. When she saw the shock on my face she looked up and narrowed her eyes.
“What’s wro-”
She stopped speaking midsentence as her entire body began to glow a bright yellow. I watched as the iris of her brown eye changed to a shining yellow to match the glow that was surrounding her body. All of the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention and my reflexes screamed at me like I was about to be attacked. I jumped back from Hana and landed on my feet beside the bed. A split-second later, chains burst from the walls from every angle and wrapped themselves around the Angelspawn woman. She was soon covered like a sort of chain cocoon, and the dark gray metal chains writhed around her like a swarm of snakes. When they all suddenly went taut and pulled at her body, it appeared like she was being torn apart. The wet sound of tearing flesh filled the room as Hana was quite literally being ripped into pieces from the chains pulling her in every direction. After a few seconds of this, I watched in complete horror as all the chains withdrew back into the walls, with absolutely no sign of Hana anywhere.
My speed coursed through my body as I turned on my heel, ran across the room, threw the door open, and burst into the hallway. I looked and listened for any signs of her, but I could only hear the faint sounds of my other clan members. I took three more steps when a meteoric rumble shook the entire castle. The walls trembled and I had to struggle to maintain my footing as the floor beneath me started wobbling back and forth. I heard my other clan members shouting in surprise, and I rushed ahead as best I could to find them so we could figure out what the fuck was going on. I made it another ten feet before the castle completely stopped shaking. I looked around me as if I could sense what had caused the disturbance, but I couldn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary. I walked quickly through the castle until I arrived at the clan hall. The door was pushed open and I could see several other clan members looking around for whatever had caused the tremors. I walked up to Emelia, Ikelos, Kyra, and Tifa who all wore looks of deep concern. They all turned to face me and I saw their expressions change as they looked at my body. Which… I suddenly realized was still in a state of complete undress.
“Lookin’ good, Lady iPhone charger! Although… the next time you bang a new clan member, maybe try to keep the earthquakes to a minimum?”
“That uh… Wasn’t us. Have you guys seen Hana?”
Emelia, Ikelos, and Kyra looked at me with confusion, but as I glanced at Tifa I could see her eyes looking up and down my body with a hungry stare. As much as my body would have liked to respond to her openly ogling me, I redirected my focus and did my best to explain the situation.
“After Hana and I… finished… We were talking about how weird it was she hadn’t started the process of transforming and I explained how siphon shards work. Her eyes suddenly changed, she started glowing, and then a bunch of chains came out of the walls, surrounded her whole body, and then ripped her apart. But there wasn’t a single trace of her anywhere in the… the um…”
“The sex room?”
“Technically it’s lesbian orgy room but… that’s not the fucking point. The point is that Hana is literally missing.”
“Damn… ghosted in a game. If I wasn’t standing next to two girls you’ve recently fucked I’d feel sorry fo–SHIT– OK, yep. My bad. I deserved that one.”
I heard the sounds of more and more clan members rushing towards the clan hall and I quickly waved my hand in front of me to materialize my clothing. Em watched me and I saw her eyes suddenly light up with an idea.
“Check your minion menu. See if she’s there. If she is, use it to summon her.”
“That’s an awesome idea!”
I rapidly opened the menu and, sure enough, I saw a picture of Hana at the bottom. I selected it and a yellow flash of light appeared in front of me and then formed into the shape of the beautiful Korean woman I had just brought into my clan. The glow surrounding her skin faded and my eyes went wide at her appearance. Standing in front of me was Hana, but one of her eyes was completely black, while the other had a glowing yellow iris. She had horns on her head, but they were so far back they looked more like chopsticks holding the bun that was on her head in place. She had a small gold line on her cheeks and her ears were slightly pointed. She wore a very suave and sexy black pantsuit that screamed “girlboss,” which was only further accentuated by the fact she didn’t have a shirt beneath the jacket. Her gorgeous cleavage was on full display, and it looked like one wrong movement would cause her breasts to spring free from behind the silky black material. Hana glanced around the room and then trained her gaze on me.
“That was… odd.”
“Hana… where the fuck did you just come from?”
“The… castle?”
She said it slowly, like her answer was completely obvious.
“Where in the castle?”
“All of it.”
“I’m sorry… what? What do you mean ‘all of it?’”
“I was in- am in the entire castle. My consciousness is, anyway. Like… I can tell that Ash is currently putting all of Kyra’s smithing tools back into their places from where they fell when the tremors shook the castle. Scythe and Bray are… online and are either having the strangest sex I’ve ever seen or sparring? It’s unclear. Three of Aeryn’s small spiders are quickly moving towards the clan hall with Judas and Tesrif following closely. All 196 demons of the 1st Corrupted Legion are searching the castle grounds for some sort of threat.”
“How the actual fuck do you know all of that? How do you know all the clan members' names?
Before she could answer, I heard the sounds of heavy boots clanking against the stone floor as Judas and Tesrif entered the clan hall and stood behind Jade, Areandra, Ghost, Nialla, who were all gathered just inside the enormous room. I turned towards them and held up my hand to get everyone’s attention.
“OK. Everyone… Everything is all good. The castle isn’t under attack. It was a side effect of whatever happened to our newest member here. Everyone, this is Hana. Hana… this is-”
“Jade, Areandra, Ghost, and Nialla. Jade recently changed the settings of her room so that all of her belongings are now loaded in Tifa’s room, and the size of the bed was adjusted to accommodate both of them.”
“Uh… yeah. Yeah I did. Why the fuck do you know that?”
“Hana, would you explain what exactly is going on. I think I am beginning to get an idea, but maybe break it down for all of us.”
“After we finished having sex and cuddling together, I was looking at-”
I interrupted her quickly and had to resist sighing at her carefree she was when it came to sharing details of everything that we had done.
“Can you skip to the part where the chains tore you apart?”
“Ah, yes. The chains didn’t actually tear me apart as much as they absorbed my essence and then pulled me into the walls. From there, I felt my consciousness expand and I could… see? I think that’s the best word to describe it. Anyways, I could see the entirety of the castle like the walls are my eyes. And then I could hear everything that was happening. And then a rush of information filled my head. I can see who all is registered to the castle. I can see details of modifications they’ve made, and I can sense everyone within the bounds of the outer walls as if I was standing next to them.”
Everyone stood in complete silence as they thought about what Hana had said. It was nearly a full minute before anyone spoke. Emelia’s voice beside me made me practically jump and she placed her hand on my arm.
“Hana, is it like you are the castle or more like a building management simulator?”
Hana thought for a few seconds and then gave one of her “expressionless” smiles to Em.
“The second option. I’m not the castle. Like… I can’t feel through it. I can sense things, but it’s more like… information. And I can change things.”
“What do you mean?”
“One second.”
Hana held up a single finger in a ‘wait’ gesture and she sighed softly through her nose.
“Apologies, I’m talking to Ash and explaining exactly what I’m planning on doing. It’s… slightly disorienting being in two places at once. Sorry… one moment.”
Hana suddenly disappeared and we all stood around and stared at each other in confusion. After about 30 seconds we heard and felt the sounds of rumbling again, although it was much fainter than the first time. Hana reappeared and she looked back at me.
“I moved the forge room so that it is now across the hall from the armory, and shifted Kyra and Ash’s bedroom so that it is directly adjacent to the forge room instead of three rooms down.”
Kyra cocked her head to the side and then smiled widely at the shorter woman.
“Thank you. That will make it a lot more convenient and I won’t have to worry about disturbing anyone to get to the forge room.”
“I’ve also taken the liberty of moving Nialla’s room much closer to the one Emelia and Allexus share. I can change it back if you want me to, Nialla, but seeing the matching collar around your neck made me think you’d rather be as close to Allexus as possible.”
Nialla blushed profusely and her ears went flat against her skull as everyone turned to look at her. Her tail thrashed back and forth and the tip of it shook in annoyance.
“Alright, everyone, leave her alone.”
I moved closer to her and bent my head down so my face was in her line of sight.
“Hey kitten, are you OK with Hana moving your room closer to ours?”
She blushed even harder and bit her lower lip as her tail swayed back and forth.
“I mean… uh… If that’s not a problem with-”
I stood up and pulled her in close to me, she let out a sudden yelp and somehow turned even more red. Despite her obvious embarrassment, I felt her arm wrap around my back and she laid her head on my shoulder.
“I think that will be fine, Hana. But… Why are you able to manipulate the rooms like that? How does that-”
I exhaled and laughed through my nose as I considered the possible reasons she was able to move the rooms in the castle around according to her whims.
“To maximize efficiency.”
“Exactly. That’s actually my class: Avatar of Efficiency. I feel like it is very fitting… despite how inefficient the entire process of corrupting me was. Not that I’m complaining. Quite the opposite. You are rather skilled at using-”
“OK!!!! So… Now that you’re a full clan member, why don’t we see about getting some of those enchantments set up in our PvP rooms.”
“I’ve already taken the liberty of getting several of the required components ready. Once Areandra is close to the places I need to cast the enchantments, I can get them done pretty quickly. Since I only have to cast them at tier 3 or 4 it will go much faster thanks to her [Corrupted Radiance] buff.”
My eyes bulged out of my skull slightly at how quickly she was getting things ready. Hana really was extremely suited to the role of Avatar of Efficiency. Her boss lady suit gave her the appearance of someone who is good at managing hundreds of complicated tasks all at once, and I made a mental note to ask Hana more about what she did IRL.
“Awesome! When you’re done with that, I actually need you and Areandra’s assistance with a little side project I’m working on.”
The others instantly looked at me with interest and I shook my head.
“Nope. It’s gonna be a surprise. Although… I do need Em’s help for it as well when it comes time for one part of it.”
I turned towards Kyra and gave her a grin.
“I actually need to talk to you about a few things. Are you free right now?”
“I am. And that works out well, I was also hoping to speak with you as well. Did you want to chat here, or in the forge room?”
“Your forge room.”
Her smile widened at the fact I called it her forge instead of the forge. I turned towards the others and raised my voice above the chatter that had started.
“Alright everyone, I’m sure you have things to do. If you don’t, I’m quite confident Hana can find you something to do in the meantime. Sooo…. Go!”
Hana disappeared instantly, and the rest of my clan members shuffled slowly out of the room until it was only Kyra, Emelia, and me. I turned towards my future wife and kissed her softly on the cheek.
“I need you to go find something to do, babe. I have to talk to Kyra privately. K?”
She arched an eyebrow but gave me a wry smile.
“Alright, my love. I’ll go see if Jade and Tifa need help with anything. Message me when you’re ready?”
I nodded to her and my heart soared as I watched the love of my life saunter out of the clan hall.