fics I read

I walked for about two hours before finding a quiet spot that was out of the way to begin the process of my upgrade. The place I picked was a small clearing in the forest on the way to the border. I'd found it a few days ago on one of my rare walks while the chalice was charging. I'd decided to do my evolution here because it was out of the way and actually kind of cool looking. It took me almost no time to reach the place, and I enjoyed the peaceful walk under the moon, the magic damping cloak blending into the darkness as I walked.

Arriving at the clearing I had to whistle softly at the sight of it. The moon shone down on a small pond against a cliff, a tiny waterfall, barely a trickle, flowed into a small but extremely deep pond. The water of the pond was crystal clear, and even through the liquid I could see a small opening at the bottom. I looked to both sides of the pond, making sure I wasn't being observed, then stashed my cloak in the pouch and dove in, swimming down into the depths of the pond until I reached the small passage at the bottom.

I had to hold my breath for a decent chunk of time to slip through the passage, and when I came up I was in a large empty cave. I climbed out of the water, relaxing as I did. This ascension was going to be a big jump, and I was worried about the disturbance it might cause. My jump to F rank had been pretty obvious, and magically was probably pretty simple to detect. I imagined the same was true of this next upgrade, so I wanted a big open space that was cut off from the outside.

Of course, there was no telling if the stone walls would help at all, but it was better than doing some crazy light show in the middle of the forest where anything could stumble on me. The nobles were strong, but I knew that there were animals of corresponding ranks too. The last thing I needed was accidentally alert some fucking A rank beast by mistake and get swallowed like an idiot. Doing the bare minimum to avoid that wasn't too much trouble for me.

Once I was in the cave I looked around, appraising everything I could see just to make sure there wasn't some secret monster hiding in here or something. It really did seem to just be an empty cave, so there was nothing to worry about. Once that was finished I started grabbing things from my pouch. I pulled out stone after stone, flower after flower, liquids and woods and any number of magical materials and objects that might be of use to me, spanning the spectrum from powerful to pathetic, just so I'd have the best possible items for my ascension.

I'd had the bandits out running the forests looking for materials, with Zee coordinating them and using her little magic sight spell to show them what they were supposed to be tracking down. They'd scoured the woods near the village, and a decent chunk of the points from the last few days had been from the things they'd brought me. The maw of the hydra was perfect for stockpiling random objects, and I'd made sure to keep all the best items in there for this trip, so I'd have as many options as possible for when I made my decision.

My first major choice here was that I needed to decide what my goal was. I had several options here for abilities. Mostly they boiled down to three things. I could enhance my current abilities, add a new ability, or enhance a specific aspect of my existing abilities, essentially creating something new. I'd considered this from a few different angles, but I kept running into a couple of issues whenever I tried to imagine where I could take my powers. There were so many options it was impossible to pick the best aspect of myself to upgrade, but that was kind of what got me where I was at the moment.

Despite having come up with a few possibilities though, I had been given a direction by the locals when I'd found the chalice. Blood. The cup made my blood a precious resource, even more than the already life giving properties it had. In light of the usefulness and the local preoccupation with bloodlines, I was pretty sure I wanted to purify and elevate the bloodline I already had, rather than dilute it by adding new tricks. The lifestorm bloodline was damned impressive, and I had a feeling it had more to show me.

While that gave me my next step however, it didn't completely decide things. Mostly because there were two parts to the bloodline. Lifestorm and wyrmkin. I could keep the lifestorm and still upgrade my wyrmkin aspect, making myself something closer to a dragon. This was the idea I'd been leaning toward since hearing about the way locals regarded dragons, and I was pretty sure it was what I wanted to do. I just needed to figure out exactly what I wanted to change about my wyrmkin race, and how to adapt it best to this world.

If I was luckier I might have found something related to dragons, but I hadn't. What I had found, however, were a series of useful blood related materials that might be the answer to the problems I was having. I'd also found a few actual animals that might have some distant draconic ancestry, and those would serve a purpose too. So with that in mind I started cataloging exactly what I had here that might be able to help me. As much as planning was helpful, I liked to work off instinct when merging, so a large variety of items made things easier as opposed to carefully chosen materials.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Bloodfruit- H rank. A special plant that is considered a delicacy in Gemworld. Purported to increase bloodline density and heavily sought after by lower ranked noble family branches, this fruit has an infinitesimal excitation effect on bloodline density when eaten consistently over a long period of time.]

That one was interesting. I suspected based on the description that the nobles thought this stuff was way more effective than it actually was, but regardless of effectiveness it did work. I could make something better with it, so I didn't care if it was mostly snake oil nonsense. It was interesting that the fruit had gained this sort of mythological placebo reputation, and it told me plenty of interesting things about the minor branches of nobility. I made a mental note to try to recruit some of those if I was here long enough.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Sangral Mud- H rank. A topically applied purification medium for bloodlines that increases not density, but potency. Condenses the bloodline to make it more powerful, allowing for more potential growth. Extremely painful to use, Sangral Mud is normally ignored by nobles, as decreasing bloodline density is considered foolish. Only the most confident or wealthy of the nobility are confident enough in their ability to recover the lost density to use this aid.]

I hadn't even known that was a thing. I'd assumed that the bloodline thing was just a percentage. A hundred percent bloodline meant you had the strongest power. But on second thought that couldn't be the case. There were plenty of pureblood nobles, and not all of them were Lords or Princesses. They wouldn't be so rare if percentage was the only factor. It seemed that there were different potency bloodlines even within the same family, which gave me another direction to take things in.

I grabbed a second blood fruit from the pouch and merged two of them together to create a stronger G ranked version of the thing. Oddly, the fruit itself didn't change, still being a blood fruit, the only change was the rank and the word infinitesimal. Apparently blood fruits came in different ranks, which was an interesting thing to note, or maybe I'd just broken the rules, who knew. Regardless I wasted no time merging the bowl of mud with the new and improved blood fruit.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Ancestral Mud- G rank. A unique substance that can raise the potency of a bloodline without affecting its density, creating a qualitative shift in the blood to excite ancestral power from deep within.]

That was exactly what I wanted, the ancestral power thing was great. I was hoping for a quantitative boost in my bloodline and race both though, so I needed something a bit...more. I sorted through the pouch, looking at and discarding multiple materials. I didn't want anything too specific in terms of attribute, I needed something that would just create a more powerful version of what I had. Finally I found it.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Devolution stone- G rank. A rare crystal with a certain chance of helping wild animals return to an ancestral state over a long enough period of exposure. Effectiveness wanes with the size of the sample.]

Since this one was about the size of an egg I was guessing it was pretty much useless, which made it extremely interesting that this stuff was considered G rank. To have that much power and still be so ineffective just told me that the process this stuff initiated must be extremely impressive. It was sort of like how deepvein titanbone could be considered high rank when a small piece of the stuff didn't have too much effect. I merged the mud with the stone, waiting to see what exactly I created.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Primordial Prism- F rank. A call to the lost. A beacon from the depths of time.]

I grimaced. Well, that wasn't fucking helpful at all. It wasn't my first time seeing that. Eros and Psych had been similar to that too. Really impressive shit tended to show up as vague and ill defined, though I wasn't sure why. It hadn't happened since I ranked up though, which made me think that my appraisal was getting more effective. That was an interesting idea, and I hadn't really considered what impact my own strength had on the system.

That wasn't important though. I wasn't here for that. It was finally time for me to upgrade. I still had two hundred and forty thousand or so points, and I was more than able to justify using another hundred. I held up the stone, remembering how odd it had felt last time I did this, but I needed to get started, so I focused, and without any more stalling, activated the merge. The stone turned to energy, to pure light and rioting power, and so did I. It was a strange feeling really, being something beyond physical while still thinking with a brain that shouldn't really exist.

I felt the energy of the stone surge into me, mixing with my own power, and when they mixed it was like pop rocks and coke. The energies reacted with each other, creating a new energy, a new me, that exponentially increased. I felt myself get bigger, become more, despite occupying exactly the same amount of space. My last merge had felt strange, but this was something else altogether.

This was a qualitative shift in my state of existence, and I was pretty sure that it was going to feel more and more dramatic as I ascended. Each rank being a bigger and bigger gap from what I was. I was climbing closer and closer to...something. Something I was getting a glimpse at now. Something huge and terrifying and MORE in such a way that my brain couldn't process what I was seeing or sensing. The merge ended, the power settled, and I started to laugh. I laughed uproariously for what felt like hours, and when I stopped, I curled up on the ground and slept. When I woke, it would finally be time to see what I had become.

February 20th 2016 Gemworld 10:00 AM EDT

I awoke feeling...full. Not of food, but of power. Every inch of me was humming with it. Originally I'd felt the energy in me as a constant buzz, I could feel I had the power and stamina under my skin, but mostly as it refilled once I was done with it. Especially after a few days getting used to it. This was...different. I was buzzing, every cell overflowing, my entire body nearly shaking with the earthshattering power inside of me.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, doing my best to understand what I was feeling. It took my a moment to puzzle it out. Lifestorm. Before, my bloodline had two elements, life and the storm. The lifestorm bloodline had been from a powerful creature with strong life force and control of storms. This though. This wasn't like that. I wasn't a vital creature who controlled the storm. There was a storm OF life inside me. The riot of power and vitality was different than before. More refined.

I let the lightning play over me, tapping into the storm as I watched the lightning play over me, my mantle of raiden having changed as the input shifted. The lightning that rolled across my skin, even outside my shifted form, wasn't blue anymore. It was green. It wasn't electricity, not really. It was LIFE. This was a storm of vitality roaring through me, a hurricane of pure creation and existence. It was intoxicating. I wasn't even really a person anymore. I was a force of nature, I was lightning in a very sexy bottle.

I dove into the water, scything through it with ease, me limbs propelling me forward as fast as I could think, my body moving like some sort manifestation of thought made into flesh. I shot out of the water, and reached out with the storm inside me, green gales catching me in the air to allow me to float slowly to the ground. I felt like a fucking god. I turned around, looking at the pond at an angle to catch sight of my silhouette. Once I could see my basic shape I used appraise on it.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Nicholas Lord- E ranked Dragonkin of the Vital Tempest. The possessor of the Greed System, and a recently transformed dragonkin. A distant child of a force of nature. An echo of a great song. Primordial might and a wellspring of life rage inside of a scion of the great beasts.]

Well. That was pretty much the opposite of helpful. I mean, it was cool as shit, but it also wasn't exactly an instruction manual. Actually, thinking back, none of the appraisals I'd done on myself had actually told me much about me at all. Which was...odd. I got descriptions of race upgrades and powers but no actual information about me as a person. Not about my past, or my present, or even about what I planned to do. I stared at the moving water hard, the reflection too shaky to be visible to me.

After a few minutes of no reaction I turned away. "Crassus." I didn't bother to keep my voice low. I was alone, and I knew if I put this off I would forget about it. "How come when I appraise myself it only gives me information as it pertains to my ranking. Nothing specific about me?" I didn't like that now that I'd noticed it. It felt like a portent. Like I was missing something big.

[Couldn't tell you kid. I couldn't do it either. I suspect it's the system's way of protecting itself from being appraised. Since it's a part of you it makes it impossible to find out details about you. Any information might lead to more information about what it is and how it effects you, which doesn't really play into its goals.]

I didn't enjoy the sound of that. " I assume you still can't tell me any more about these goals? You can't give me some kind of hint about exactly why I need to do the things I do? Because I'm getting a bit sick of being jerked around. The system has been playing in my head quite a bit recently. I know that the things it does aren't really malicious, but it's still not a feeling I enjoy."

[You don't enjoy gravity either. Doesn't mean you flap your arms and fly away. The system isn't some insidious entity you have to fight. It's a force of nature. A law of reality, it just happens to be one that only applies to you. Stop asking questions you can't have answers to and enjoy your new power. If it helps, the Greed System can't unmerge things. This is your power. Forever. It isn't part of the system. It's part of you.]

Oddly that DID help. The thought that the system could yank my leash and render me powerless was terrifying. But Crassus was right. I couldn't change this, and the system had been in my life for quite a while. The issue would keep. For now I needed to get acclimated to my new abilities. I was out in the wild in a new world. Still, it was nice that I was an actual dragonkin now. I could feel the difference between being dragonkin and being wyrmkin. I was so much...more than I had been before.

I reached for the part of me that would allow me to transform. Instead of shifting into the form I'd had before, I felt that part of me more as a spectrum. I could have that partial shift again, my claws and horns emerging, or I could take it further. I shifted myself completely into the bestial part of my nature, letting it roll over me, and I saw the scales that had covered my arms before spread across my whole body. Or at least similar scales. They covered all of me, and aside from the horns I felt my mouth lengthen and my teeth sharpen as my face took on a draconic cast.

The new scales, as I'd noted when they spread, were different. Rather than flat green they were a shimmering iridescent emerald, that shifted to azure as I moved. The scales were thinner and smaller, stacked across each other to allow seamless movement. They were as thin as a fairy wing, but I could feel how much stronger they were than the ones I'd had before, and the mantle of raiden sparked and surged through the surface, reinforcing me further as I fed off the life energy infusing my body, a kind of lightning that was also vitality bridging the gap between the two.

My horns also seemed thicker and wrapped further back, protecting more of my head, and my claws were sharper now, wings stretching out behind me. I was pretty sure the combination with the wind ability I'd used earlier would make flying a snap. I stalked across the clearing, reveling in the graceful prowl of this form. My perfect bodily control was still present as a dragonkin, but controlling a human body and controlling this one were leagues apart in terms of adaptability and complexity.

Aside from the power in my frame, my body was just qualitatively superior. My muscles had more give to them and the material they were made of seemed to possess more potential energy, increasing my power when they snapped taught. My joints were more flexible and I could move my body in ways that wouldn't have been possible as a human, almost like every joint was a ball and socket, and I had WAY more of them now. The difference between my current body and my old one was like the difference between driving an old clunker I got at a scrap yard and driving a formula one stock car.

As I approached one of the trees I launched myself at it, funneling as much force as I could muster into the attack as I whirled off my back foot to slam a kick into the trunk. My shin smashed into the wood, full on snapping the tree in half from the force, with my scales and mantle working together to absorb the impact and leave my leg completely untouched. I hadn't even felt the hit, despite striking one of the many H rank trees peppering this forest. I landed lightly

on my feet after the strike, bouncing up on my toes and luxuriating in the feel of all this power.

I let the dragonkin transformation melt away, my body flowing back into its human state, and while it was still much stronger than it had been before I felt..confined now. Like I was a prisoner in my own flesh. I shook off the impression, knowing it was just an adjustment period from a downgrade, but still, I could see being a dragonkin like that being addictive if I wasn't careful.

My battle form wasn't my only ability though, I could tap into that vital storm inside me at any time. I was curious to see what I could do with that. I approached the broken tree slowly, interested in testing out what effect all that life force could have on a living thing if I used it to infuse directly. I picked up the top half of the tree, throwing it to one side with ease that honestly made me a bit giddy, and frowned down at the stump, curious about how I should do the next part. I wasn't sure if it was purely based on intent or if there was some trick to it.

With an internal shrug I knelt and put a hand against the side of the tree, and then I called to the storm inside me, letting it spill out past my skin and down my hand. The green lightning flickered over me and into the tree stump, but it didn't burn or wilt. The stump started to glow slightly in the shadow of the nearby trees, and as I continued pouring in my energy the glow deepened. The tree stump drank in my power, and slowly, as I watched, something new began to happen to the stump.

In the middle of the broken stump, a single bud poked out. As I watched, the bud began to expand, growing bigger and thicker and before long the tree stump shattered as a new tree shoved it out of the way to make room for its growth. I sat there, in awe of the process, and continued pouring out power into the stump as it grew. It wasn't fast, at least not in terms of time spent, but for a tree growing it might as well have been supersonic. It was like I was watching a fast forwarded time lapse video of a growing plant.

It took about ten or fifteen minutes to completely grow the tree, and when it was done I realized the storm in my skin had quieted slightly. It wasn't gone by any means, but it apparently wasn't infinite. I did still have limits, they were just MUCH larger than they had been. That made sense given the qualitative difference between ranks that I'd noticed. I slumped down on my ass, staring up at this new natural feature with a huge grin. In less than twenty minutes I'd destroyed and regrown an entire H ranked tree.

It took me about ten minutes for the storm inside me to get back up to full strength. I had plenty of energy to leave before then, but I wasn't in a rush. I could relax and see what my limits were before I left. Once I mapped that out I hopped to my feet, found my heading again, and started on my way. I knew there were threats out there still, but I was pretty sure I could handle myself better now than I ever could have before. I couldn't wait to get to Amethyst and look around. Maybe I could even get into some trouble before my meeting was set. I always loved getting into trouble.

February 23rd 2016 Gemworld 10:00 AM EDT

The walk to the Amethyst kingdom's capital was more time consuming than expected. I briefly considered flying there, but a dragonkin soaring through the sky on a green hurricane seemed like it might grab attention, and I wanted to avoid drawing the ire of any big wigs before I met with the princess. So I ran. A lot. With my Vital Tempest bloodline I had energy to spare, so even at a dead sprint I didn't really flag too much. It took me three days to make the run to the capital, and only that because I stopped to sleep during the nights.

I could have made the run straight through probably, if I pushed it and was willing to run myself ragged, but I wasn't and a few days was hardly the end of the world. I called to check in with Barbie twice while I was gone, just making sure none of the Emerald nobility had dropped in yet. Apparently they hadn't, so I was still in the clear. At about ten in the morning on the third day I came within sight of the capital of the Amethyst kingdom, and when I saw it, I had to come to a stop in shock because it was definitely not what I was expecting.

As I had assumed, the capital was very...purple. But that was about where it stopped conforming to my expectations. The city was huge and made of dozens of towering buildings, but more than the size the biggest shock was the material. I knew the Amethyst kingdom would use Amethysts in their decorating, but these buildings were MADE of Amethysts. All of them. Just huge opaque spires of purple gemstone spearing into the clouds. The gleam of the city in the morning sun was incredibly mesmerizing, and I stood there and stared for a bit, just taking it in.

I was on the road, and I sat there staring for WAY too long. I heard a voice shout for me to look out, and I moved without thinking. Rather than jumping or rolling though, I called the tempest under my feet, cushions of air buoying me up off the ground and letting me skim over the grass quickly and soundlessly. That trick was one I'd been practicing on my run when I had a free moment, and it definitely came in handy as I gracefully spun out, doing a complete about face to turn and face the person who had yelled.

I was ready for a fight in case it was someone planning to try to rob me or something, but I needn't have worried about it. The person who had yelled was a man on a wagon being pulled by a pair of weird purple cows. When he saw I was safe, he initially looked relieved, but as his eyes focused on my feet, still suspended off the ground, his face paled. He pulled the wagon to a stop, hopped down, and dropped to his knees to debase himself in front of my. "My Lord. Please forgive this unworthy one. I nearly harmed your noble person." I raised an eyebrow, doing a quick appraisal.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Abner Mccullough- H rank gemworlder. A peasant farmer coming in to town to sell a crop of violet cabbage, Abner is a hard working and humble man. Despite his confidence and worldly attitude, Abner is terrified of nobles due to the cruelty of his local Baron.]

Huh. Well that explained the horror when he saw my magic. Any reasonably strong magical power here belonged to some kind of noble lineage. I wasn't actually flying, but my wind manipulation was pretty impressive, and also it was green, which probably made him assume I was from Emerald. I let the tempest retreat, dropping a few inches to land effortlessly on my toes. I put up both hands. "Stand, friend. No need to be so nervous. No harm done, and I'd happily call out accounts settled for a short ride into town."

I kept my voice amiable and pleasant, knowing he would be easy to spook. While I could have taken offense, I gained nothing from that. The poor old guy was going to sell cabbage, it wasn't like he was a rich guy I could rob. In these circumstances, making a good impression would be a far better idea. I could see guards at the entrance to the city even from here. If this guy was a farmer who regularly sold his goods here he could get me into the city, and that was worth more than venting at some rando for an accident that hadn't even happened.

Now, some might have expected him to be suspicious or fearful when I said that, but those people didn't really understand power. As someone who had theoretically unlimited power over him, if I'd just waved away the insult he'd have been nervous. If I could decide it didn't matter I could change my mind. However, people instinctively trusted that others would act in their own interest. By framing the trip into the city as repayment for the slight, I gave him a valid way to work off the debt, which was much more trustworthy than some random nobles good nature.

As I figured, Abner's face lit with a wide smile. "Of course! You're welcome to ride in with me my Lord, welcome indeed." He scrambled up to his feet, holding up a hand. "Please, give me but a moment to arrange a suitable seat for you." He turned and rushed back over to the parked wagon, climbing up onto the bench and knocking over a few things before brushing the wooden seat off. He then reached back into the wagon and pulled out a blanket, which he folded into a cushion and set gently on the seat.

That done he turned and hopped down, gesturing solemnly for me to climb in. I gave him an approving nod and climbed in. I wondered exactly how much of a dick this Baron was, for this guy to be this terrified after just seeing me use a little wind magic for mobility. Regardless it was useful for me so I wouldn't question it. Still, even I had limits to how much of an asshole I would be for no reason, so I made a point to smile at him and try to come across as friendly as possible. He was already doing what I wanted, so terrorizing the poor bastard didn't get me anything, and he seemed like an ok guy.

I climbed into the wagon, and as we rode up to the city I made casual conversation. I did my best to tease out any information I could get from him without being too obvious about it. I was able to identify a few key points about Amaranthine, which was the name of the city apparently. Firstly, there WAS a princess here. She was the daughter of a capital P princess and not a duke, but she was eighteen and still maturing, she was currently a Marquis as I had hoped she would be.

I don't know why I hadn't considered it might take gemworlders time to grow into their power, but in my defense, all the ones I'd met so far had been older or too weak for it to matter. Still, it was actually inconvenient for me, because harder or not it would have been nice to get the much bigger chunk of points for subduing her. Princess Amaya was the daughter of the current capital P princess Graciel, and from what I could gather was probably the Amy Winston mentioned in the description of the pendant, which made her my target.

Graciel was in charge, and she and her sister Mordiel (who was only a Duchess in terms of power) were the two eldest members of the Amethyst bloodline right now. I wanted to get more, but aside from this basic knowledge the poor farmer I'd caught a ride with didn't really have anything to tell. Finally we came to the gate, and Abner pulled to a stop before hopping out to approach the two guards I'd seen.

The guards were wearing thick purple plate, and when I appraised them they were apparently both Barons, which was impressive. I'd gotten the impression while common Barons were still rare enough you wouldn't usually find them as gate guards. More like squad captains. Then again the dynasties had a much deeper pool than most, and this was a big city. It did make sense to put strong guards at the gate. Abner traded a few comments with them and then passed a small rough spun bag to one of them who opened it up to look inside.

The guard gave a pleased smile and nodded, purposefully ignoring me, which I suspected was what the money was for. I wasn't sure if Abner had been planning that from the start or if he needed to do it for me, but either way, we made it through without much trouble and finally entered Amarthine itself. As we trundled through the gates in the wagon, I looked around slowly to take in the city, and it was all I could do not to whistle at the sight.

The city was absolutely stunning. I wasn't really one to get all agitated about a few buildings, but this place was on an entirely different level from any city I'd ever been in. A few appraisals showed that most of the huge towers of purple stone were at least the same level as Shadowcrest, with several of them being B ranked buildings. The city as a whole was probably A ranked at least, though I hadn't appraised it from outside so I wasn't actually sure of that.

The streets were made of gleaming purple cobble stones and lined with shops and buildings that even individually blew my whole damn town out of the water, with even most of the lower level buildings and random roadside shacks being E rank. I could see numerous people around here at G rank, and even a few F rankers walking around with entourages. I was pretty much immediately glad I'd decided to do things the way I had and build up for a meeting with Amaya. I had absolutely zero chance of siegeing this fucking city down without like, a decade of accumulation. No fucking thanks.

Once I was inside I made my way to the nearest tavern I could find. I didn't know jack shit about information gathering in a fantasy world city, but I DID know that drunk people never shut up, so I figured the old saw about taverns being a good place to find information might have a grain of truth.

Once I got inside I bought myself a drink with some gold coins I had lying around my pouch from the bandit fortress and sat back to listen to as much gossip as I could. The moon berry wine I bought was fantastic, though the berries didn't have a patch on mine. While I drank I listened to a bit of the talk around me. I stayed there for a few hours, listening and occasionally buying someone a drink or two, before finally getting the information I needed. When I was done I got up and headed for the door.

As I made my way outside I formed the rough outline of a plan (which I could do effectively because apparently this fucking vital tempest bloodline made it impossible for my ass to get drunk now). Once I had pieced out my next move I turned down a side street I'd gotten directions to and headed for the marketplace in the center of the city. I needed an in with the royal family, and I'd managed to figure out enough about their magic that I was pretty sure I had a damn good way to bait that trap. I just needed to pick up a few things first, and then the Greed System would solve my problem for me.

February 23rd 2016 Gemworld 6:00 PM EDT

Spending all day drinking incredible wine and spending money I stole from bandits I owned now was surprisingly fun, but the whole exercise was more than just an excuse to screw around. I'd memorized every word I heard spoken, and spent the entire day building up a basic understanding of how things worked here so I could get some real use out of the information I'd gathered. My brain was cranking at full tilt after my upgrade, and I was able to collate the information into a workable plan with only a small amount of direct prodding to clarify some things.

The first important fact I'd managed to puzzle out was how the magic of the house of Amethyst actually worked. From what I could tell, the house of Amethyst had three distinct abilities, but only two of them were relevant to my situation. The first ability was a form of hard light projection similar to Green Lantern. They could create crystalline light structures of extreme durability and make shields and weapons of them. This made them extremely versatile and dangerous in pitched combat, but it wasn't something I could really use.

The important part of what I learned was the second ability. While powerful weapons and shields could be constructed from the hard light constructs, these were temporary, the could use them to fight, but for crafting and architecture like I'd seen here they were useless. The other ability they had however, was the ability to manipulate and enchant ACTUAL physical Amethyst (and to a lesser degree other stones, which was the third ability, but that wasn't relevant to me right now) and use it in construction.

All of the buildings and important landmarks in the city were made of Amethyst that had been mined from the local quarries, with the more impressive buildings being constructed from higher quality and more magically dense stones. However, the Amethyst bloodline had been living on this land for a long time, and they had picked the quarries mostly clean. There were still a few veins of the stuff, but they were low quality trash stone that could only be used to make basic buildings.

The nobles could raise the rank of Amethyst stones by imbuing them with power, but trying to do so would be an absurd waste of time and energy on the scale needed to make more impressive buildings and create powerful enchantments. Because of this, a new office had been created, headed by Mordiel, Princess Graciel's sister and Amaya's aunt, to acquire more powerful gems that could be used to lift the Amethyst kingdom out of the rut it had fallen into in the last several years.

There were multiple important political ramifications of this decision since Mordiel was apparently a power hungry psycho who desperately wanted to rule the bloodline, but she wasn't actually strong enough to take power from her sister. Graciel kept Mordiel in check, but since she was a Duchess and one of the more powerful ones at that, she couldn't afford to punish or execute her sister without proof of some sort of transgression.

So to get her out of the way, she'd put Mordiel in charge of the country's declining gem stores, something she couldn't produce any reliable results for, to keep her both occupied and away from power until Amaya was strong enough that the two of them could handle Mordiel in a way that wouldn't damage the kingdom.

Now, all of this might have seemed pointless to a layman, but in fact it was VERY important for a few reasons. Fact one, they needed higher ranked Amethysts in bulk in order to return their kingdom to its peak. Granted, they were still more than strong enough to hang with the other dynasties, but Amethyst used to be the undisputed top dog, and at this point they only had a slight edge over the other houses. If they could find a new source of powerful gems they could reinforce their power base substantially.

The second important factor was that power hungry and influential noble was in charge of ACCRUING said resource, and had a vested interest in sewing discontent and weakening the current regime. Which meant once I got a chance to get Amaya under my control, Mordiel had a valid reason to HELP me do that, especially since I would be taking her with me when I left, massively weakening Graciel as a ruler and giving Mordiel a better chance to fight for the throne, or at least for more power.

Which was why I was currently on my way to marketplace in the city, to pick up as many pieces of low grade Amethyst as possible so I could merge some more powerful stones. I wanted a meeting with royals, and while I might get on the docket with what I'd accomplished, chances were good a random Earl showing up to ask for a meeting wouldn't be prioritized, and I didn't feel like waiting around for the next three weeks or however much longer it might be for a spot to open up in the court schedule.

If I could stockpile some powerful gems and bring them to Mordiel, I could claim that my town was near a quarry. It wasn't like I couldn't MAKE a quarry if need be, and I could supply them with gems directly until then. Mordiel would get a bump to her prestige and a result she could use to show her own capability and allow her to wield some more influence at court. I'd get someone to keep Emerald off my back and a head start on wooing my new princess. I'd have to actually convince her of that, but I could be charming when I wanted to be, I was sure I could make her see reason.

I considered fucking her, and I actually might, but if I did it would be AFTER I met the Princess and made a solid agreement for trade with the kingdom. The last thing I wanted was for her to get a buzz off my new and improved super charged cum and lock me up in her basement to be her little battery bitch. I had a feeling if I went to see Mordiel and dicked her down the same day, I might never be seen again. At least not by anyone that wasn't a cock hungry Duchess hoping for a quick juice up. Hell, I couldn't even be sure Eros and Psyche would work on someone that strong, and that was my biggest trump card against women.

Once I got to the marketplace I browsed around for a while. There was a surprising amount of shit here, and when I had time I'd come back to look into some of it. I was pretty sure there was a few useful things hidden around, but I had other things to do sadly. I found a couple stalls selling low level Amethysts, and paid a couple of gold coins for the things, happy the bandits had been so wealthy. When I picked up the first stone, a shaft of purple crystal the size of my arm, I used appraisal on it.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Gemworld Amethyst- I rank. The dregs of a once mighty quarry of primordial Amethyst that has supplied the Amethyst kingdom with materials since its inception. The lowest possible grade of stone, literal trash rock found as a byproduct from the quarry and sold to gullible tourists trying to make a profit by getting lucky and finding something of value.]

I winced. That made sense. This stuff was their main construction material and the source of all their power. If these pieces had been useful to anyone they wouldn't be on a table in the middle of the market being sold to random idiots. I bought every I rank Amethyst I could find, which luckily didn't cost too much once I made it clear I knew they were garbage, and ended up with about eighty of the damn things. Then I headed for a comfortable inn someone recommended nearby.

Once I was upstairs in a room, I slipped a pair of the I rank stones from my pouch and, without much worry about price at this level, spent a hundred points to create an H rank Amethyst. Once it was done I held the stone up, staring at it to see if there was any external difference. I could see the stone was both shinier and more deeply colored, but other than that there wasn't a visible effect. So I appraised it.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Gemworld Amethyst-H rank. An incredibly basic material found in the quarries of the Amethyst kingdom. Used in the construction of only the most benign and inelegant projects at the height of their power, the increasing rarity of more powerful stones has made this lackluster gem a staple of Amethyst creation in recent times.]

That was...better. Not great still, but at least functional to start with. I pulled out the other seventy eight I rank gems. After an expenditure of four thousand points I'd managed to merge them all, leaving me at about a hundred and thirty six thousand GP. Determined to see the next level up and hoping it was at least useful enough to catch some attention, I merged another pair of gems, the H ranked ones this time, before appraising.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Gemworld Amethyst- G rank. A Baron level material used by the Amethyst kingdom as its basic construction material in times past, currently considered a mid grade asset due to its growing scarcity.]

This time I could actually see the difference in the stone. The Amethyst was charged with a sort of energy I hadn't seen, flickers of glowing purple light danced through the surface of the deepest purple material I had ever seen. I felt like I was falling into a violet abyss just staring at it, even as the wisps of light were refracted by the prismatic interior of the absolutely breathtaking stone. This, I decided, was the literal least impressive material that I could get away with bringing them to create interest.

I merged the rest of the damned things, bringing myself to a hundred and twenty thousand, and my stock of G rank crystals to twenty, before stopping. These would be enough to prove I had a source for these things, but if I condensed them any more it would be just as possible I found some kind of cache or pocket. Plus if I went any stronger the attention I got for this might not be a good thing. Mordiel might get greedy and just wipe us out for the vein if it was too strong. Baron ranked stones were useful in large quantities, but no way would a duchess be willing to mine the things herself.

No, this was just enough of an asset to make me interesting and useful without being valuable enough to push her to act personally. While it was hard to remember here, I had to watch out not to produce anything so valuable it made me more interesting than I was dangerous. The chalice might be a cheat, but it was a cheat people nearby understood, and it wasn't a cheat that upset the balance of power. Being able to manufacture stones the could return the Amethyst kingdom to glory was liable to get me locked up in a basement, and not in a fun way.

Still, twenty G ranked stones was perfect. Large enough amounts to look like a deposit, not too powerful, and since the quarries sometimes had higher ranked stones peppered in, I could 'conveniently' find an F ranked stone here or there when I needed a bit of cash. I stood up and stretched. Now, all I needed to do was contact Mordiel through her official position and initiate a meeting. It would be a delicate negotiation though, so I'd need something nicer than armor. I headed off towards one of the local tailors. I wanted to pick up a new outfit before my meeting with the wicked Duchess. Regardless of world, I was sure it would be useful. Every girl was crazy about a sharp dressed man.

February 24th 2016 Gemworld 10:00 AM EDT

I was down to a hundred and ten thousand GP after merging all the G ranked crystals, but that was still plenty to keep me nice and sane. The rest of the night I spent out picking up things I would need, getting a custom suit made and making sure I was well dressed for my meeting with Mordiel. I decided to go with purple as a color scheme, because it looked fucking awesome and would appeal to her vanity, and I paid through the nose for a nice custom set of clothing that when appraised actually turned out to be F rank somehow.

As I got ready the next morning to go see the Princess's sister, I couldn't help but admire myself in the mirror. I looked awesome. Black slacks, a black silk shirt and white silk vest with amethyst buttons and a purple silk tie, all under a purple crushed velvet waistcoat topped with a black bowler hat with a band the same shade as the coat. The white gloves I wore finished off an tied the outfit together, and I was told it was the height of fashion for Amethyst nobility.

It was honestly a bit flashy, but I'd never been a low key person when I didn't have to be, and I made this shit look GOOD. Once I confirmed that I glanced suspiciously back up to the face of my reflection. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, it's eyes jerked up to meet mine, but that was what any reflections eyes would do. I started into its face for a good five minutes before confirming that it was just a reflection and heading out to meet with Mordiel.

I had considered making an appointment, but upon some recon last night after visiting the tailor I'd learned that hardly anyone went to the Crystal Proliferation Office unless they had to. Mordiel didn't like being let down, and no one had any decent crystals to hand over, so unless she called to question them they mostly dropped off crates of the things downstairs so they could stay out of her way. While she might have been trying to turn things around to begin with, at the moment she mostly just stayed locked up in her office.

As such, when I arrived at the purple spire that housed her place of work, I wasn't expected to wait long when I mentioned to her receptionist what I was here for. The woman, a pretty dark haired lady in her early twenties with pouty lips, looked genuinely worried for my sake when I brought it up. "Are you sure that you want to meet with Duchess Mordiel? I'm not sure she'll appreciate whatever you have to say. Maybe you could leave your news with me and I can deliver it when she's in a good mood?" Her tone was sweet, and I actually smiled at how much she was trying to do to spare me some pain.

Sadly for her though, I absolutely wasn't going to back down at this point. This was my best possible in with the royal family, and I had to take advantage of it. I just smiled charmingly. "I appreciate the thought, but I assure you, I have wonderful news. She'll be grateful to you for letting me in, I have the answer to all her problems." I paused. "Well, a few of her problems, I have access to trade goods, I'm not a witch. Anyway can you get a message up to her that someone is here for a meeting? I promise if anything happens I recognize that it's all on me."

She pouted fetchingly. "Fine, see if I care if you don't take my advice." Then she muttered. "Why are the pretty ones always so cocky?" Her voice lowered was a bit sulky, and I shot her a wink. She blushed, having obviously realized I'd heard her, and then turned away to busy herself sending a message up to her boss so she would know she had a visitor. I imagined she had no clue about what, since I wasn't carrying my physically given my maw of the many headed hydra. I really loved that thing.

The receptionist did...something, with a purple stone, not saying or writing anything but just touching it, and then paused and waited. After a few seconds the thing flashed and she gave me a wry smile. "She says she's free...are you sure you want to go up there handsome? She's always in a bad mood, but mornings are the absolute worst. If you wait until later in the afternoon she might at least be in her cups. She enjoys moon berry wine, but she doesn't indulge in the mornings."

I smiled at her. "Like I said, I appreciate the concern. But tell you what, why don't you tell me your name? I'm planning to give her news that will likely put her in a good mood for some time. Maybe I can put in a good word." She looked dubious, but informed me her name was Sinthia before pointing off to one side to show me to the entrance to the upper levels of the tower.

Rather than stairs, the tower's ascension method was a platform of purple stone (of course) in a shaft. It reminded me of an elevator, except it wasn't a box and it had no chain or mechanism, it just ascended the shaft when you touched the activation button. I stepped on and tapped the purple gem set into the black stone wall (internal walls of the Amethyst buildings were mostly black with the occasional silver section, presumably to give break up the color monotony) and didn't even feel a lurch as the thing began to climb.

It moved pretty damn fast, and I got to the top of the tower within a minute or two, stepping out into a small but well appointed office. It was pretty nice, with several powerful magical artifacts, though it was much smaller than I had expected from what I'd heard about Mordiel. Granted, small in this case meant thirty by thirty feet, but still, I'd expected a ballroom or something.

In the middle of the room was a large and well crafted desk, made from a purple tinged wood and carved with magnificent scenes of heroism and bravery, behind which sat...well, a milf. I could admit that I had a type. liked older women usually, and especially curvy ones were my favorites, and Mordiel hit just about every one of my buttons. She was tall, blonde, and busty, with long legs and smooth skin. Her long golden hair was swept back into a ponytail and held up with a crown of purple gems, and she wore a purple toga that exposed large swathes of her body.

Most alluring though, was her face. She was absolutely gorgeous, her features so symmetrical and delicate it was hard to believe, and set into an expression that anyone back home would refer to unequivocally as 'resting bitch face'. I really wanted to fuck her. Since I'd already decided doing so would be fucking stupid though, I forced myself to meet her violet eyes and offer her a smile. "Duchess Mordiel, it is lovely to meet you." I gave a courtly bow, as was the custom for lower ranked nobles, but I didn't break eye contact as I triggered an appraisal.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Mordiel of Amethyst- C rank Amethyst Noble. The younger sister of Princess Graciel and Aunt of princess Amaya, Mordiel thinks her sister and niece are much too soft to rule. Despite secretly caring for both of them, she deems them unfit, and frequently schemes to oust them from power so she can take control and lead the kingdom in a way she sees fitting.]

That, I actually hadn't expected. I was figuring her for a power hungry monarchy in the making, a vicious opportunist who would be willing to sell her family up the river to gather strength. Instead it seemed she was just genuinely unhappy with the style of leadership employed here. That would change how I went about this, but not by much. The Duchess raised a delicate golden brow. "I was told you have important news for me? I have to inform you that should this turn out to be a deception I will be...most displeased."

I smiled at her placatingly. "Of course, you're a busy woman, and I wouldn't deign to waste your time." I reached into my pouch and pulled out a G rank stone, placing it on the desk. She looked less than impressed. Then I pulled out another. The first few didn't seem to really interest her much, but once I took out more than ten I saw her gaze focus a bit, as if this was finally worth her time. Once I had them all on the desk I gestured to the twenty stones. "I come from a village on the edge of Emerald territory. We've recently discovered a quarry of Baron level Amethyst gems nearby."

Her eyes snapped to mine, the intensity in her gaze ratcheting up a factor as I continued. "I have heard your kingdom searches for new sources of the stone even now, and tales of how Duchess Mordiel in particular is a devoted and caring leader who scours the nearby surroundings for any news of a way to help her family's domain recover from its gemstone deficit. Of course, my first course of action was to come and visit your ladyship, to hopefully work out a trade deal with the kingdom. May I ask if your highness would be interested in such an arrangement?"

Her eyes surged with heat, not directed at me, sadly, but an almost sexual urge to acquire more power. Even knowing her reasons from the appraisal, I could still tell what kind of person she was. Ambitious, brutal, she might not be willing to seriously harm her relatives, but aside from that, I needn't have worried she would be willing to do what I needed. She leaned forward, her full lips spreading into a wide, predatory smile.

Her voice was softer than it had been a minute ago, cajoling. She was almost purring with interest. It was ridiculously hot. "What an impressive young man. To have my Amethyst kingdom's best interest at heart and to seek me out to aid you in your noble quest. I suspect we might be able to come to an arrangement. Such a contribution to the kingdom should of course be rewarded. In my capacity as Duchess I have full authority to negotiate such contracts, and will of course be more than willing to do so, might I ask what you hope to gain from this arrangement?"

I was ninety percent sure she was hitting on me, which was totally reasonable, I was pretty sexy, and even though my dragonkin upgrade made concealing my vitality much easier, even without her noticing my power, fucking the handsome teenager to get a better deal for her kingdom was a no brainer. After seeing my admittedly overt drooling, I wouldn't have respected her if she didn't at least try to hypnotize me with magic milf pussy. Luckily for me, I had other intentions for my visit here.

I dropped to one knee, pulling on all of the acting experience I had. "My lady, I have indeed come to this place with a purpose. I have long admired princess Amaya from afar. My sole wish, aside from the Amethyst kingdom's aid in the development of my town, is that I might lay eyes on her beauty in the flesh. Might you arrange such a meeting?" I saw her eyes flash with minor annoyance, but she suppressed it quickly, and a change in her demeanor signified she'd realized the opportunity here too.

I knew from the moment I had her hooked. Using me to distract her niece would work better for her if I was a legitimate suitor. She didn't need me on her side to make use of me. Which was perfect really, because I felt the same way about her. This bitch was going to help me get everything I wanted, and she wouldn't even know it was happening. Once that was done...well, once I was in a more stable position I would take her up on her previous implication. C ranker or not, I was gonna turn her brain to mush. She'd be damn useful to take home with me, even if I had to make a return trip to pick her up later.