Chapter 54 – Lunch Break

"You're looking at a new woman. No longer am I a pervert, for now I am a slut." I reused the line that I had told Vel’s father since I still thought it was rather funny and wasn’t appreciated enough.

"A slut huh, sounds to me like you're still rather perverted." Vel cheekily grinned as she pulled back away from our embrace, and Saph let out a gurgle of agreement from where they were held in my hands.

"Your father said something similar." I shook my head in mock disappointment. "But I can’t say I don’t blame you. After all, I have developed a rather perverted reputation in the short time I have known all of you."

"So… What rarity is your slut class and have you thought about the general skills you will take now that you have the slots for more of them?" Vel enthusiastically asked, wanting to know every little detail.

Luckily for her, I trusted the young elven woman more than I had probably ever trusted anyone before and had no reason to hold back this information. "It's a rare class, and I’ve actually already selected all my new general skills, but lunch is going to be ready soon. Why don’t I tell you all about them as we eat?"

Saph and Vel had no complaints and followed me inside, where we found our lunch waiting for us at the dinner table. While Damien, Vel, and I had a selection of cold meats and salads that were made from leftover meals, the little blue slime had something else awaiting them on the table for lunch.

While monsters could technically eat and absorb the nutrients of more traditional food, it was not their favourite thing to eat nor was it the best way for them to grow stronger. As it turned out, the preferred meal of a monster was in fact the cores of other monsters. As such, Saph’s lunch waiting for them was a greenish-grey crystal about the size of a thumb, which glowed with a slight inner light. Unlike the little blue slime’s own smooth, perfectly spherical core, this one was more jagged and looked like a chunk of broken rock.

As soon as all four of us were sitting at the table, or in Saph’s case, on the table, we immediately dug into our respective meals. Which again, was slightly different in the case of the little blue slime, as instead of eating in the traditional sense they simply absorbed the monster core into their body where it remained floating inside them as it was slowly dissolved over time.

As lunch progressed, both Vel and I practically scoffed off our food given how much of an appetite we worked up during the day’s strenuous training. During this time, I did not let my hunger stop me from telling all three of them about my new class and skills, as I had promised.

Of all the general skills I learned, Damien seemed most excited about me taking the dagger skill. He even made a comment about stepping up my training to more advanced stuff instead of simple self-defence, which also included, much to my dread, sparring with the others. On the other hand, although she was still rather enthusiastic and excited for me, Vel was a little disappointed that I didn’t take any more general skills that could be used to great effect during my alone time with her.

That disappointment was short-lived as soon enough I demonstrated my new class skill and the fun we could have with it by conjuring a glowing, purple sex toy out of thin air. Instead of creating a sex toy as intimidatingly big as my old trusty vibrator, this time I created a simple bullet vibrator. The toy was only about the length of a finger and had a slightly pointed tip, but the exciting part of it was the rounded base, which when twisted made the whole toy vibrate, which was something Vel discovered for herself when I passed the toy over for her to investigate.

Conjure Sex Toy has reached rank 2

"Wow, this is amazing!" The young elven woman gasped and awed over the toy in her hands as I dismissed the notification that had popped up in front of my eyes, blocking a significant portion of my chunk.

Given everything that had happened, I had forgotten that I had the system notifications set to just pop up whenever, which could get rather annoying whenever they interrupted at inopportune times. As such, I quickly set it back to the setting I much preferred, which relied on me checking back in at more convenient times. Save for a few situations, like focusing on training specific skills, this was probably how I wanted the system notifications to practically always behave. It was just so much easier to deal with them like that.

When I turned my attention back to Vel and the vibrator buzzing in her hands, I found that even her father and the little blue slime were focused on the toy. While Damien was more interested in the skill and just what it was specifically capable of, Saph was much more jealous of the toy. As if not to be outdone, the little blue slime soon found their way over to my lap, where they took a seat and began to vibrate as intensely as they could, which was actually rather stronger than the last time I had experienced it.

While Saph pleasantly vibrated on my lap, sending shockwaves down towards my pussy even through my pants and panties, I reassuringly patted their smooth gelatinous body and even activated stimulate for them since they enjoyed it so much. That said, it was only a surface-level stimulate and my fingers did not venture inside them to stimulate their core. No doubt that would happen later, when we had more privacy and I was wearing fewer clothes.

After telling Damien all the specifics of my new class skill, including the cooldown and duration, I remembered something about the skill that I had wondered about when I was offered it and wasted not a moment in asking him what it meant. "Unlike all my other class skills, this one doesn’t scale with charm, but with willpower. Do you know why this would be? Actually, all the skills this level offered me were similarly scaled with willpower and also involved conjuring something. Are those two things related?"

"Kind of," Damien said, taking a small pause as he gathered his thoughts before continuing on. "Intellect and willpower are often referred to as the magic stats as they are more involved in the process of spellcasting which some people can get a skill for in tier 2. I’m not one of them though, so what I know about the topic is limited to common knowledge."

"Although your conjure sex toy skill is not what would be considered true magic as it involves no spellcasting, it would be what many mages consider pseudo-magic. The primary difference between pseudo-magic and true magic is the use of mana and how free-form the magic is."

"In the case of skills like druidic magic or arcane magic, which give the ability to perform true magic, a spellcaster would use their own inner mana to construct spells that could have different effects and power based on the spellcaster’s intent and power.

"Pseudo-magic, however, is much more stringent, allowing only what the skill specifically states. What separates normal class skills from ones considered pseudo-magic is that the effects are not just fueled by the system but ambient mana in the air, which I assume is what your conjured sex toys are made up of since the skill scales with one of the magic stats. The main significance of this difference  that you should be aware of is that certain class skills and magical spells can dispel other effects fueled with mana."

"Oh, wow. That’s interesting..." I smiled from ear to ear after learning I had just performed magic, even if it was just pseudo-magic. "Does this mean I might be able to learn true magic in tier 2?"

"Not necessarily, but I would say your chances are good," Damien responded, as his daughter watched intently from the side. From the looks of things, it seemed like this was her first time hearing a lot of this herself. "Just because someone can perform pseudo-magic doesn’t mean they will be able to learn true magic in tier 2, but like most things, that depends on class and skills. The fact that you have a rare, personalised class at only tier 1 is a good omen, but then again, most lifestyle classes aren’t able to use true magic. Not to mention, I’ve never heard of a sex-based class using pseudo-magic before either, so yeah, your chances a pretty good."

"Normally, most spellcasting-focused classes are hybrid ones that have a plethora of pseudo-magic skills in the early tier. Take Velyna, for example. Her nature shaping and plant growth skills are both pseudo magic, and if she continues on her path, she will no doubt eventually pick up druidic magic sometime in tier 2."

"They are? I had no idea about any of that. Why didn’t you tell me that my skills were pseudo-magic ones sooner? Or that was actually a thing?" The young elven woman gasped and gave her father a pointed look upon learning something new about herself.

"Ah… sorry. I didn’t really think it would be that relevant before now since I was letting you develop at your own pace." Damien bowed his head and apologised as he slid his empty plate forward on the table. At this point, pretty much everyone else had been finished with their lunch for a few minutes now, but we still continued to just sit here talking with one another for a few more moments.

"But, I know just how to make it up to you." The big, burly man grinned excitedly at his daughter as he lifted his head and looked at her. "I’ve been thinking about it all morning, but how would you and Saph like to be bonded to one another?"

"I don’t know what that means?" Vel said flatly as the slime let out a confused gurgle as they left their seat on my lap and crawled back onto the table.

Although I also didn’t have any idea what being bonded to a monster truly meant, I had a little bit of an idea since one of the classes I declined during my class evolution would have given me two extra bonded monster slots, whatever that meant.

"Right, yeah, that’s my failing as well…" Damien awkwardly scratched his head as he explained what was no doubt common knowledge where he was from. "As long as a few criteria are met,  it is possible for a person to bond themselves to a monster, affording both parties involved their own boons. Most people can only have one bonded monster, but certain classes can increase that number, but that’s not something you should pursue without serious investment as there are downsides to bonding to a monster that get worse the more you are bonded to."

"The first of which is that both the person and the monster have to be willing for the bond to be formed, and either can break the bond at any point in time. Once a bond is broken, it takes around a year before either can bond to another, so if your partner isn’t chosen wisely, it could be a serious time investment. Of course, finding a monster willing to be befriended instead of wanting to eat you and then actually befriending them is an even bigger time investment than that."

"Another serious downside, and the reason why you would never normally see a lifestyle class with a bonded monster, is that all the experience you earn towards your next level while bonded to a monster is split with them. Although monsters don’t normally gain levels and need experience, the experience they gain through the bond and any other circumstance helps them grow and evolve to the next tier in its own way. Additionally, while sharing experience is normal when engaging in combat with allies by your side, sharing experience earned through engaging in your profession for lifestyle classes would practically be crippling."

"That is why I offered this to just you and not you or Eve. If you want to bond with a monster, Eve, I will help you do so if you want to, but I really, really don’t recommend it. Even with your high levelling rate, a bonded monster would become more of a hindrance than a boon soon or later. Of course, that is only if you keep on your lifestyle path and don’t pursue a combat or hybrid class, more suited to fighting."

"Oh, I’m definitely staying as far away from combat as possible. Learning to fight is one thing, but I would rather not actually have to fight anyone or anything if at all possible." I interjected to say my peace.

"Smart, too many people seek the life of adventure and glory, only to have their life snuffed out too early." Damien somberly nodded his head before continuing his explanation.

"While there may be significant downsides to bonding with a monster, there are also upsides. For one, both Saph and you, Velyna, would be able to sense each other's presence and well-being. For another, Saph’s growth would be greatly sped up, especially through tier 0, since you are already past that, Velyna. And lastly, you would both have a capable ally by your side to protect and fight with you."

"So, what do you say? Do you want to be bonded together?" Damien finished with his explanations with a big grin, looking between his daughter and the little blue slime.

Vel took a moment to tentatively look over at her slime friend before responding, "I would be up for it if Saph is…"

Of course, the little blue slime couldn’t have been more thrilled by the idea of being bonded to their bestfriend and growing stronger. As such, they let out a rather loud gurgling noise, brimming with excitement to the point where it could only ever be understood as an enthusiastic yes.

"Great!" Damien beamed a smile as he clapped his hands. "Shall we head outside and do the bonding ritual then?"

"Right now?" Vel’s eyes rose, not expecting this to progress so quickly. "I guess that’s fine. It’s not going to hurt or anything like that, is it?"

"Not at all. It’s actually a rather simple process, and the only thing we need is crushed monster cores, which I have plenty of hidden away in the shed from all my monster hunting. I just need to crush them into a fine powder." He said as he stood up from the table to lead his daughter and her slime friend outside.

While those three moved to go outside, I began to pick up the various plates and other such cutlery so that I could give them a quick freshen up. Not only was doing this a great way to earn experience for one of my class skills despite it not being the intended use of my skill and not at all sexual, but it was also much quicker and easier than doing it the old-fashioned way.

Before Damien had completely left the kitchen, he turned his head back to me and said. "Thanks for doing the cleaning up, Eve. Once you are done here, come outside. It’ll take a little while to get everything ready, so you should be done before they start the ritual, and afterwards, we can continue with your dagger training."

After saying that, the big burly man left the kitchen, and I let out the groan I had been holding back. Damn, I was hoping we were going to training my fellatio skill first.