Divinity Rescue Corps
138- Absent Without Official Leave

Healing my mother was a piece of cake. I’d already researched the problem using the tablets in Alan’s care, gone to scout for and then replant the ingredients I needed to grow, had already dried and distilled the ingredients necessary, and all that was left was to combine them into a cure using a clearly laid out Develop Cure check. There weren’t any problems, and she lived happily ever after.

These are the sentences I’d very much like to write in my diary, but I can’t. Although my notes were guesses and I had magic on my side, there was no foolproof way to know what the cure for cancer was. After all, if thousands of scientists on earth hadn’t developed one after working on the problem for decades, it wasn’t feasible for me to just create one out of thin air.

The cure wasn’t in Alan’s tablets, though we had a starting point using some of the physical cures.

We didn’t have the proper plants scouted, though I always had some. Since I had Verdant Rejuvenation and a huge stone echidna monster, we’d taken to soiling Muppin.

“That is funny,” my mother remarked drily. “Not as funny as you’d like it to be, but funny.”

I packed more soil onto Muppin’s back, because it seemed to be in constant danger of falling out. In all that soil, though, was a wonderful herb garden that made Tweedle Dee excitably dance around Muppin, like they were suddenly siblings. A forlorn Garnet helped too, when Alan got out a spell that paled in comparison next to Trent’s abilities.

I stared off into space when I should’ve been packing dirt onto Muppin’s back.

Trent was gone.

Drat was gone.

Ivy and Isabelle were gone.

Tara was gone.

Cinzy was gone.

It shouldn’t have been like this and the pressure on my chest was hard enough and hot enough to make me wonder if I needed a doctor. Tears threatened.

The only thing I could say to save myself some misery was that they weren’t dead. The explosions in the portal room weren’t the size to bring the whole building down, only destroy the ring. They were on earth. They were alive, and it was even possible they were safe. Maybe Epsilon Plan included escaping the Agency compound.

But they weren’t here.

Arms wrapped around my chest, and I felt a face snuggle into my back. That felt better… I don’t know about a lot better, but I couldn’t have felt much worse right at this moment.

“I miss them too,” Regina whispered.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”

“It’s going to be okay,” Regina said, her voice muffled by her pressing herself into my shirt. Running my fingers over her soft skin and lacing my fingers into hers helped, but again, not enough.

I also felt a tiny presence alight on my shoulder and press against my neck. Fairy Poppins too. I didn’t know if the little deviant was trying to comfort me or exult that she still had me here to bone.

Alan cleared his throat. “A-a-a-actually w-w-w-w-w-we n-need to g-g-g-g-go.”

“Alan’s right,” Regina said. She stood beside me and kept our fingers laced together. I peered down at where our hands were together, but there was too much going on in my brain to process this. “The Agency will have people here soon, and they are not going to be happy that we’ve destroyed the portal. We need to get as far away as we can.”

I allowed myself to be steered away from the place where the portal had stood. I cast it a regretful glance back over my shoulder. The ring itself lay in a number of huge chunks, and as I watched the glow inside the runes faded back to that metallic silver. Chrysta floated next to one of those chunks, and banished her glowing blue shield. She had deflected the stones away from hitting Muppin and the rest of the Nakamamon bond mates.

Pretty soon my mom was captivated by the boogie trees with their huge spherical leaves, and the rainbow shimmer of magic that slid across the clouds or slithered through the sky. Regina showed her the place where I’d made contact with the Goddess of the Meadows. It was now a lush, flower-filled expanse of grass. We went on, avoiding the HQ, where they were hopefully slow to respond to the portal cracking.

Who was I kidding? They had dozens of Wizards, Rangers and Guardians, all capable of finding us with magic or tracking.

“Was that… the only portal?” my mother asked, breaking my defeatist reverie.

“Will you be upset if the answer is yes?” Regina asked.

She shrugged. “Not particularly. If they had one, they could have another.”

Fairy Poppins had flitted over to her and landed in her hands. She then began preening once my mother extolled her cuteness and shininess and wonderfulness. This prompted Airaconda to slither around my mother, hug her tight, then lick her with a cloudy tongue.

Cinzy wasn’t here to do this, so it would have to be me. I cleared my throat.

“We’ve all lost someone,” I said. “I’m really sorry. I wish they hadn’t gone with whatever that new plan was, but they did. We can’t change that now. What we can do is find a way to reach them. We can help my mother beat a disease that can’t be beaten on earth. We can… find another portal. Get Regina and Alan and myself back to earth, where we can bring our friends back through.”

I didn’t have the Oration skill, so the system used my Persuasion skill at level 1… it then said since I didn’t have the proper skill, I’d be -2 skill levels, leaving me with nothing. On the other hand, at least for the assembled Nakamamon, I’d get the bonus from Bondsealer.

Bondsealer

(Special Ability, Rare, Passive)

You gain +3 in all attributes and skills when dealing with your bonded Nakamamon.

You gain +1 in all attributes and skills when dealing with unbonded Nakamamon of any type.

You may bond an additional number of Nakamamon equal to your ranking in this ability. The ability’s current rank is 1.

Ugh, apparently not. All these Nakamamon, save Chrysta, were bonded, technically speaking.

Still, my Likability wasn’t zero… even if my chance of success dropped back to around 30% without the aid of Arcane Alchemy.

I took another deep breath. The stats didn’t matter. I put my hand up to my chest.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get your bond mates back,” I said. “I promise. I got them into this mess, sort of, and I’ll do my best to get them out of it.”

They all stared at me. Including Muppin, they were focused intently on my face.

“Your bond mates mean a great deal to me. We will get them back.”

But for now, we were in evasion mode.

Alan opened his mouth, and for a long time it seemed like nothing was gone to come out. Finally, he began, “I th-th-th-th-th-think w-w-w-we can… do it.”

“Get the others back?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Open another portal?”

He nodded.

“Dynamite.”

He explained that he’d have to get at least to level 50, and probably more like level 75.

As for me, I’d reached level 28 in Pleasure Seeker with all the ‘partying’ I’d done with the ladies.

Level 26: +6 skill points

Level 27: +1 Durability, +3 skill points

Level 28: Ability Upgrade: Drive In Deeper, +3 skill points

I silently pumped a fist in the air and went to spend my 12 skill points. With three class levels, I could boost Adaptability and Pheromones by 3 each, which I considered to be the best use of 6 skill points. However, Group Play was a new Quality I liked: the ability to give Adaptability to someone I wasn’t currently having sex with. Seduction was another one I hadn’t spent a point on yet, and that one had been described to me as ‘assisting in knowing when was the right time’ and ‘knowing how to appease a partner’s particular kink’. It seemed like a good Quality to have.

First, my improved ability.

Drive In Deeper III

(Special Ability, Rare, Passive)

I- While having intimate relations with a partner, you and your partner gain increased mana and health regeneration rates.

II- After having intimate relations with a partner, provided you both achieve orgasm, you and your partner replenish a Token of your choice. A partner with Close Confidants relationship level or higher will allow you to replenish an additional Token.

III- While having intimate relations with a partner of Close Confidants relationship level or higher, your attributes and Qualities are considered +1. This does not grant a first rank in unranked Qualities.

Well that settled it. This ability right here was the impetus for buying up a first level of any Quality I’d been neglecting. That included Refractory Period, the one that let me get ready for another round quickly. That one had always seemed so unnecessary given my age and hormones.

One point went there.

Next, a first point in the other Quality I’d never bought: Flexibility. This was also exactly as it sounded, a contortionist’s ability to bend and flex just a little further. In considering this, it was clear I could’ve used it all along with Adaptability. Now that I had Adaptability so high, I could use it to gift my partner some of my newfound Flexibility.

One point went in here too.

Next, a first point in Seduction. It probably wouldn’t do much—or anything—but it was better to have than not.

Next, I put one in Load. This was a vanity thing. I couldn’t get over the feeling of satisfaction it gave me to really paint up any of my super hot girls. Or in Tara’s case, fill her to bursting. Every time it happened, I was left feeling astonished. I couldn’t get over how utterly different my life had become, and in how short a time. I’d entered basically a virgin, with no ability to attract women, and half a year later here I was with an actual harem. Those women could’ve gotten their kicks anywhere, from anyone, but for whatever reason I was now the avatar of an actual sex god.

With 8 points left, I split them between Adaptability, Pheromones, and Group Play. 3 for Adaptability, 3 for Pheromones, and 2 for Group Play. Before pressing Confirm though, I took a look at what I was leaving out. I wanted more of everything, but there was no way to pay attention to all the things.

Girth and Length both made me feel amazing. Stave Off also helped, and would continue to help more if I raised it. And did I really need Adaptability this high?

I sighed.

The answer was yes. My points so far were barely enough to handle Chrysta and Poppy. The former deserved some loving, and the latter was demanding more. Still, instead of 3 points, I took one out and fed it into Stave Off.

Now I stood back with folded arms and looked at my character sheet from only the Pleasure Seeker side.

Christopher Fletcher

Healer - Apprentice Arcane Mender 29

Pleasure Seeker - Initiate Indulgent Consort 28

Attributes:

Affinity 9

Durability 7

Ingenuity 9

Likability 7

Physicality 8

Free Tokens 7

Pleasure Seeker Qualities:

Girth 2

Load 2

Stave Off 4

Length 4

Tongue 3

Adaptability 9

Pheromones 7

Refractory Period 1

Flexibility 1

Group Play 4

Seduction 1

Pleasure Seeker Special Abilities:

Eromancy III

Post-Sharing Clarity III

Drive In Deeper III

Man Enough II

Coming Together II

I sighed. I had to remind myself that I could have some serious fun with these new toys. Regina, Vellenia, Shakindria, Chrysta, and Fairy Poppins all wanted their share of Fletcher whenever they could. I would miss Cinzy, Tara, Isabelle and Ivy in the meantime. I just had to hope that Drat making plans behind my back had included some vague idea of what to do on their side of the destroyed portal.

Now what I desperately needed to do was find a way to do what no one on earth had been able to do in the last hundred years and cure my mother of cancer. Then we needed to level Alan up enough to do something only one other person on earth had ever done, period: open a portal to a completely different world.

This is Christopher with a long road ahead of him. Still, this is Christopher surrounded by people he loves.