Taking a step forward, she spun around. Her heel connected with my temple. I didn’t budge.
Laughter escaped her. The soothing sound was nice. She took a step back and stopped her barrage of attacks.
"Can I hit you with all I have?" she excitedly asked.
I relaxed. Finally. A long sigh escaped .
"As long as it doesn’t kill , go ahead." I nodded and spread my arms wide.
I had already resigned myself for a beating, anyway. Hopefully Alyssa can heal whatever cos out of this. Sothing told nothing would happen to . I decided to trust that feeling.
She brought her six arms back and took a deep breath. Then, she breathed out and her arms moved.
In perfect synchronization, her fists hit all at once. Her upper arms punched in the face, her actual arms on my ribs, and the lower ones on the sides of my abs.
Comfortable. Her strength was not enough to hurt , but was more noticeable than before, and pushed my head back a little. The parts she hit beca numb, and my breathing was interrupted by the impacts on my thorax.
"Yeaaahh!!" Lapia cheered.
Whose side are you on?!
Yolin was way stronger than Sonya, but the Ratnak had caught off guard with the headbutt. Plus, I got a little scared back then.
We locked eyes. Her sky blue eyes shined with excitent and she smiled. "You’re really durable, Natasha."
I nodded. "You’re quite strong yourself."
"Why do you need a tank?" she crossed all her arms.
"I don’t have skills to defend them." I nodded towards Lapia and Alyssa. "And I don’t want to take risks."
She nodded. "Good enough for . Now, you punch ."
I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms. "No, I could kill you."
"Not with everything. A mid punch will do. I’m more durable than strong, after all." she smirked.
"How about this." I began. "I will start with a weak strike, then use more strength. I haven’t fought without the intent to kill, so I don’t know how to control myself."
"What have you killed?" her eyes sparked with interest.
"Human bandits and a herd of ’ik." I reared a fist back.
"That sounds boring." she laughed and opened her arms, offering her stomach. "You’re doing it wrong." she pointed at with one of her many arms.
She took a stance and punched in the stomach. It was a perfectly executed strike.
"Like that." she straightened.
I nodded. "Okay."
Taking a deep breath, I copied her. I had seen Thai boxing before, so the picture wasn’t exactly foreign. I put my right foot forward, and my fists at eye level.
Using very little force, I punched her stomach. It felt like a boulder.
"More." she nodded.
I complied, and used a little more force.
"More." she gave a wide smile.
I did it again, stronger.
"Hmm. Now I felt it." she gave a shit eating grin.
I chuckled. I was scared inside, however. I didn’t want to hurt her, but knew this would give an idea on how strong I actually was.
Putting more weight into it, I quickly punched her stomach. She let out a sigh.
"That’s more like it." her upper arms rested behind her head, her actual arms crossed in front of her chest, and the lower ones rested on her hips. "Think of using an exact amount of strength. Just like when you use a skill and think about the ti you want it active."
"That helps a lot more." I smiled at her.
Let’s go with two thousand strength, then. I brought my arm back and punched her.
"Good!" she exclaid. "More."
That worked?!
"Okay. Clench your butt, hottie." I tightened my fist.
Three thousand strength. I punched her and she moved two steps back.
"Nice! That actually hurt for once!" she motioned towards her with her six arms. "Break a bone or sothing. I have seven layers of defenses active right now."
"That’s a lot!" my eyes widened.
"Co on, Halve!" she gave a wink.
My cheeks heated up. I want to kiss her, not hit her.
Four thousand strength. I clenched my fist and punched her.
"Oof!" She bent over and fell on her ass.
My heart sank. "Nononono!" I rushed to her and went on my knees, supporting her back. "Yolin! Are you alive?!"
"Ahh..." she groaned in pain. "How long has it been since I last felt this much pain?"
Her eyes were closed, a huge smile on her face. I sighed in relief and felt like fainting.
"Alyssa!" I called. "Please, heal her!"
I heard a giggle as the Luzo walked over to us. "She’s alright. That’ll leave a bruise at worst."
Lapia stood beside Alyssa, both held hands and smiled at us.
"That was pretty hot, both of you." the Elf bit her lips.
The Oni relaxed and sighed. "How much was that?" she looked at with sparkling eyes.
"Ehh..." I started counting on the palm of my hand.
Four thousand out of five thousand four hundred. Battle Trance increased my strength by two thousand, and Monster Hunter by five hundred and forty. Five plus two is seven. Uhh... I’ll round it up to eight thousand. So half?
"A little over half." my cheeks heated up.
"Not bad at all!" she tapped my stomach. "You’d instantly kill with all your strength."
She laughed and I shook my head.
That gave a good idea of how strong I was, and why the bandits and the ’ik exploded in showers of gore. A level 800 plus tank-focused person could take only half my strength after fighting for an extended period of ti.
"That scared the shit out of ." I sighed again.
My heart was still going fast. Yolin stood up and I helped her. All her buffs dissipated and her skin returned to its original red color. The wrappings around her hands and feet disappeared as well.
"Thank you, Natasha." she said in her soothing, mature voice. "That was really fun."
I felt a pleasant shiver going up my spine.
We stood facing each other.
Should I kiss her now? I looked her over and liked what I saw. Sa height as , lean body, her chest was bandaged, so that didn’t tell much. Her abs looked like a work of art. Her voice was really nice, and she seed like a relaxed woman.
I licked my lips. Her eyes darted to my tongue, and she licked her own as well with her black one. We already shared basic information. I should get a book on how this works.
We were standing at arms reach. Yolin had bow-shaped, full lips. They glistened with her saliva. Her fangs and tusks were apart enough that they wouldn’t get in the way.
Everyone has kissable lips, apparently. I smirked. Her white eyebrows arched in response. Her blue eyes reminded of the sky.
"..."
"..."
The conversation died and I froze up.
Why am I so nervous?! I’ve had threesos already!
I gathered all my courage and raised my right hand, placing it on her left cheek. Her skin was warm and soft. I was imitating what Lapia and Alyssa did when they Bonded. My gold against her red was fascinating.
She reciprocated, her right hand on my left cheek. I felt the weight of the universe leave my shoulders. Her hand was warm and rough. I liked it.
My heartbeat was picking up speed. A tiny anxiety at the back of my mind.
Just kiss her, you pancake! I told myself and slowly closed in on her.
We connected our lips and I licked hers. A soft, warm tongue touched mine. We shared a gentle, soft kiss and then invaded each other’s mouth with our tongues. I closed my eyes, embarrassed and excited. My left hand went around her waist and I pulled her against , our abs touching made sigh.
My heart was going as fast as it could. I was kissing a woman I t barely an hour earlier, and in front of my partners at that. It should be a shaful thing to do, but I didn’t let that feeling last long.
She returned the embrace and we shared a passionate kiss. She tasted a little like smoked salmon. Her body was both hard and soft. The supple skin and hard muscles were really nice.
I separated and sighed.
"Will you have ?" she asked before I could say anything.
"Yes." I gave her a peck on her dark red lips.
She smiled and turned to the other two. They walked over and Alyssa blushed as she kissed Yolin first.
"Will you have ?" The Luzo asked.
"Yes." the Oni answered.
Lapia was next. They kissed and the Elf asked the question. The tank gave her okay.
"So the lower level one asks?" I tilted my head.
"Yes, since the stronger decides in the end." the healer smiled at and hugged , giving a kiss.
Lapia gave a kiss too. I was getting flustered with so many won kissing.
I relaxed and focused on the Bond. Three heartbeats accompanied mine, I could tell each other apart, calm and clear.
Realizing sothing, I literally froze. Does she know I have a penis?
"Uh... Yolin, I uh... have a... penis..." I wrung my hands.
"A penis? Yeah, I was told. And your form said so as well." Yolin gave a thumbs up.
"I’m sorry I didn’t ntion it before." I looked down.
"Don’t sweat it. We clerics have a scan skill to perform diagnosis, so I knew when I appraised you." she laughed and playfully pushed my shoulder.
What a refreshing attitude. I relaxed.
"Does it bother you?" Lapia asked .
"Not at all. It feels natural to , but other people may find it disgusting, or a deal-breaker." I shrugged. "I can’t realistically expect everyone to accept ."
Alyssa turned to with a face of cosmic confusion. "Didn’t Lapia tell you of the species?"
"She did, but I forgot most of them, to be honest." I played with my hair to avoid looking them in the eye. "Why?"
"Changelings." Yolin said. "They can change their sex on the fly, and are very popular as partners. A little chaotic, but they’re good people."
I nodded. I had heard of those from fantasy before, so I had an idea of what they could be in this world, if they were similar in any way.
"I see. So it’s not such an alien concept?" I sighed in relief.
"Well, hermaphroditism happens. Having both properly working as sexual organs? Very rare." Alyssa explained.
That relaxed a little. I nodded and turned to the Oni. She gave a smile.
"Where do you co from?" I straight up asked.
"Red Island. A country to the far north, between the three continents. I ca to Leks over a century ago." she shrugged. "Lumin Kingdom about ten years."
My eyes widened, then it clicked. Right. Long lived. 200 years old.
Alyssa took my hand and giggled. "It won’t matter in a thousand years."
"That’s another red flag." I winced.
"When I reach level one thousand, I want to tell you sothing." Lapia gave a cheeky smile.
I shook my head. "Not listening."
The three laughed and I joined.
"What should we do today?" I asked, a wide smile on my face.
"We ca across so interesting forms." the Elf gave a wink.
More?! I felt like fainting.
"Let’s go inside, then." the Oni offered and led the way.
We followed her and returned to the room where we t. The cool air was comfortable.
Alyssa sat with , and Lapia next to Yolin in front of us.
"We found two individuals." Alyssa comnted. "They would not beco partners, however."
I sighed in relief inside my head. "Okay. Why?"
"They’re n." she simply said. "And belong to the dium species."
Okay. I nodded. So you can have male friends without having sex? Who would have thought...
Lapia offered and the Oni a paper each. " and Alyssa already went over them."
"Before that." I looked at Lapia. "Can I see your form?"
She smiled and nodded, adding another form. "Here."
I reached over the table, took them, and went over the contents.
Na: Lapia Pofeta
Species: Elf (Domi)
Gender: Female
Age: 80
Likes: Ale, fruits, seafood, honesty, forwardness, tidy spaces, studying, the sll of the ocean.
Dislikes: Liars, Gyk’els, hubis mushrooms, bandits, ropes, being underwater, discrimination.
I tolerate: Smokers.
Offspring: None.
Interested in: 90% won. 10% n.
Languages: Elvish, Low Tongue, Common, Earthen Tongue, Kator, Sign Language (Elvish, Common).
My motivations are: Furthering my research while growing in power.
Hobbies: Reading, studying.
Highest Class: Pyromancer (Fire-based Wizard)
Total Level: 300
Partners: 2 (Alyssa Pruvik, Natasha Novak)
Finally. I smiled. Lapia is revealed!
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