Presenting Armors
The numbers did not shock Loki since she was quite used to them by now. No, it was Sanguinare Vampiris's new description that triggered all sorts of alarms in her mind.
Loki felt she was indeed right to be worried.
"So . . ." She started to formulate her words.
"Bad news first, what exactly triggered this change and how much of a problem did it cause fer ya to decided to stop Dungeoneering for two months?" She inquired.
"I was fighting a Black Variant-" Nox started but was interrupted.
"How did ya encounter it?!" Loki hurriedly asked.
"I found a way to trigger their appearance intentionally so I could further my training without going to lower floors." Nox revealed.
". . . Of course you can . . . I don't don't even want to know, just keep going." Loki waved her hands in surrender, electing to focus on the main issue in their hands rather than anything else extra that came up in conversation.
"Sure thing." Nox shrugged.
"Anyway . . . Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," He restarted.
Loki just gave him a look as if she was tired of his crap.
"I was fighting a black variant that quite unfortunately, had the ability to drain blood. Long story short, it drained me dry until my Blood Pool was empty and I finally tastes the effects of being blood starved for the very first time which were exactly as you have read in my status." Nox explained.
"So . . . What exactly happened?" Loki asked.
"I can remember everything clearly but my body was not under my control and I just became a predatory beast that was a slave to its feeding impulses, even if it was a very smart beast capable of evaluating enemies and dealing with them in the most efficient way." Nox said.
"I'm assuming these "enemies were not limited to monsters . . . Am I right?" Loki inquired, coming to the logic conclusion.
"Yes. I'm afraid I munched on a few adventurers. Thankfully, they were all criminals but it immediately made me reconsider the reliance I had on Sanguinare Vampiris until that point and try to figure out a solution." No shared.
"The Ikelos Familia right?" Loki suddenly pointed out.
Nox was greatly shocked.
"How did you know!?" He inquired.
"It entered ma ears that the Ikelos Familia suffered a bunch of casualties including two Level 4 adventurers to some sort of new monster that had never been seen and I was part of a discussion among top familias about that particular matter." Loki informed.
"I see . . . May I know what exactly was discussed? You know, as an innocent interested party." Nox "innocently" asked.
"Yeah right!" Loki mocked.
"Not much that could be done since the info was vague, only a rough description and the location of the encounter so there was not anything that could be done except to be on the lookout."
"Besides, a monster that can easily make short work of Level 4s while scaring a Level 5 adventurer away is not easy to deal with." The red haired goddess explained.
"I did hear some of the children from Freya's place want to hunt this beast as an offering to their goddess." Loki smirked at Nox.
"I quaking in my boots already." Nox sarcastically replied.
"What? Think ya can take them on?" Loki asked.
"No but I can sure as hell run away and the beast is smart enough to do so as well." Nox replied.
"Fair enough." Loki found it reasonable, Nox was not one to say such things lightly after all. If he said he could escape then he could escape, it was simple as that.
"Then how about the so called solution ya found fer this problem of yours?" Loki inquired.
"I haven't really found a solution for the core of the problem but I felt that if I simply restrained my use of Sanguinare Vampiris to only situations where I found it to be absolutely necessary, it would be enough." Nox started.
"However, this would greatly diminish my combat abilities so I needed something to take care of all the holes such an act left."
"My attack power did not suffer that much but sustainably definitely did since I can no longer rely on my Blood Pool to fuel my magic or use Blood Arts. On the other hand, that was how I healed and it allowed me to not preoccupy myself with my defence all that much." He explained.
"So what did ya do?" Loki asked.
"Basically, I covered up the flaws by making weapons and items that will allow me to reliably and efficiently dish out plenty of damage and forging armor to adequately protect me, thus greatly diminishing my need for self healing." Nox shared.
"I still made a few new kinds of healing magic and items just in case though." He added.
"Always better to be safe than sorry." Loki commented.
"My thoughts exactly." Nox agreed.
In the end, after some more small talk, Nox eft and Loki was more or less satisfied with the conversation. Or, at the very least, sensed she shouldn't push for more out of him. She was quite perceptive on such matters after all.
Nox was one of her children now, and she cared for him like she cared for the others and as such, would not want to alienate him by pushing too hard unless she thought she had to absolutely know more.
But, with the knowledge that Nox had a good enough head on his shoulders, she felt comfortable enough to let him keep somethings to himself.
In the following day, Nox called his team to meet him in the 18th floor safehouse.
"Nox-sama, do you have anything to say?" Lili glared as if accusing him.
Aisha looked amused while Haruhime was confused by Lili's attitude.
"I do but I have a feeling that it is something different than what you had in mind Lili." Nox replied.
"And what is it that I have in mind?" Lili questioned confrontationally.
"You tell me." Nox calmly responded.
Lili deflated a bit at Nox calmness and decided to just be honest and upfront about her feelings and opinion.
"I just got a bit jealous that you gave all those homewreckers gifts that's all . . ." She quietly confessed.
Before Nox could say anything about the matter though, Haruhime intervened,
"Lili-san! As virtuous wives of Nox-sama, our duty is not to chastise such actions but to instead help him find worthy women who are deserving of his love and affection, making sure they know how much of a privilege it is to receive them." The renard miko admonished.
Nox.exe just stopped working. He just couldn't believe Haruhime's views were so . . . He didn't even know how to begin describing them.
Aisha was being Aisha, clapping in admiration with a genuinely surprised face while claimed she had been enlightened by Haruhime's wise words.
Haruhime and Lili started discussing what each of them thought their relationship to Nox should be and how they should act as his wives but he was honestly blanking out rather than paying proper attention.
After a bit, Nox finally got a hold of himself and called everyone's attention to the matter he actually gathered them for.
"So . . . What did you call us for?" Aisha asked.
"Well, at the end of my time off from the Dungeon, I crafted your armor sets and don't worry. Only the best in both function and style for my girls." Nox said with a cheeky smile.
They loved it, not only the fact that he had made fully personalized sets of gear for them, but also, and even more, that Nox had referred to them as "His girls".
"Here they are!" Nox exclaimed as he drew them from storage.
"Try them on and let me know if there is any discomfort. If so, I'll make the necessary adjustments." He added.
Lili looked as if she was going with her armor to another room in order to change but Haruhime and Aisha swiftly started to undress where they stood.
Haruhime looked quite embarrassed as she blushingly removed her kimono but Aisha was in her element as she slowly removed the little clothing she had, all the while looking seductively at Nox.
Lili just stuttered, unable to spout a word of her outrage out of pure bush and she blushed heavily while pointing at the undressing girls with a shaky arm.
Nox was shocked at first but then thought.
'I already told them their mine and I've even made out with Aisha on occasion. Isn't this sight my right and privilege?' He asked himself in his mind and thus, began appreciating the show being put for him with gusto.
Meanwhile, poor Lili seemed about to have a mental breakdown.
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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!
The link is: https://www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/lusoba without the extra dots of course.
You'll get to read up to FOUR weeks ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.
There's also my other novel Kage of Kages, do check it out!
I would greatly appreciate any support since this is going to be my breadwinner.