《Paladin of Luxuria》 Chapter 0001: Not so humble beginnings "Hello everyone! It''s your favorite KikiStar! Today I will be showing you~ This!" The beautiful woman in the video said, acting astonished as she pulled a lipstick out from beneath the table. "Hmm..." Kiki hummed thoughtfully, taking care not to frown and mess up her make-up. For a short while longer, she continued watching herself introducing the newest color of lipstick from her favorite brand. Or well, her "favorite" brand in so far that they gave her the biggest sponsorship contract. Almost twenty time did she watch the short, thirty second video, trying to figure out what it was that felt off, and considering which filter would be best to use. It took her a while, but finally Kiki realized: The lighting is different, since I started earlier than usual! No wonder it looks weird. Kiki considered as she went through the list of option available. Wait! she thought as she noticed something else. Quickly, she paused the video, scolling back about two and a half seconds, before swiping up so she could continue scroling between individual frames until she found the right spot. In the video, she had just leaned forward over her table to "fix the camera", giving her viewers a perfect shot of her cleavage in the process. Of course, she didn''t mind, it had been entirely intentional. And there was no way anything was actually wrong with her set-up, she always made sure to follow the entire to-do list a professional camera-man had helped her with. But for an influencer to stay ahead, they had to use all of their assets after all. Be that money to buy expensive products, clothes and props, access to professionals to help her get things just right, her daddy''s connections with the big companies, or her own body. "Damit! Now I have to do it again..." Of course, she hadn''t just searched for a specific frame out of fun. She had noticed a problem. She had leaned forward just a bit too much. It may only be for a split second, but it was enough to leave her bra visible. It was enough to ruin the illusion, and if she had noticed, there is no way her viewers wouldn''t. "...elp! Hel...!" "Urgh!" Kiki groaned in annoyance at the screaming. I thought I made it pretty clear they were supposed to keep things silent while I''m filming. If they continued screaming around outside she wouldn''t be able to continue filming. She still had a video and a few shorts left to do. Annoyed at the commotion, Kiki quickly stood up and walked through her recording room, a perfectly and thoroughly styled afair. It was a calculated mess of a space, missmatched beside tables, lamps, and rugs, all in the same pallet of pastel pink with accents of gold. But also the occasional splash of brighter colors to draw the viewers eye where it should go. But all of it was tied together by two center pieces, a large, queen-sized bed made from dark hand-carved wood, a genuine antique several times her own age. And a large artwork of a field of flowers beneath a starry sky, the signature of a famous artist in its corner for everyone to see who knew what they were looking at. All carefully designed to give a luxurious impression without looking wasteful or overdone. Of course, that was just the part of the room visible to her camera. Off to the side, outside its view, was her studio. A shelf with a collection of pillows and blankets to occasionally switch up the look, and books or other paraphernalia she could put on her bedside tables to make them look used without destroying the overall appearance. A large make-up table, with products meant to be used on and off camera, and under all different lighting conditions. And several manequins wearing all kinds of clothes or otherwise impossible to store cosplays and their props. It was an art to make it look like someone lived there without that actually being the case, but Kiki had put a lot of work into mastering it. Following the noise, she walked several steps over to the window, pulling aside the curtains to see what was happening outside. The sight was... a confusing one. Outside on the ground, two floors beneath her window, one of the gardeners was running towards the entrance of the estate. Since she couldn''t recognize him, it was probably a new hire. "What the hell is he doing?" she wondered, watching the man as he ran. And now she could hear it. He was screaming for help. For a moment, Kiki froze, wondering what might have happened. Maybe someone had an accident? But it would have been way faster if he simply called the security, no need to run all the way here and leave the patient alone. Well, he probably panicked. She reasoned. Anyways, I can probably let the security deal with it. Since it seems to be an emergency I can forgive the disturbance. Just as she was about to turn away to go and continue edditing her videos, she stopped. She had seen something else moving, jumping through the hedge at the side of the path. "Is that a dog?" Kiki wondered. But no, that didn''t seem right. The ears were strange, looking like they were trying to be round and pointy at the same time. It was also rather front heavy, with a wide and thick chest. But most telling was the long, thick neck, comparably small head, and the slightly longer hair along its spine. "No, that looks more like... Is that a hyena? Why the hell is there a..." Suddenly, another jumped through the hedge. Quickly followed by a third, fourth, and fifth, and it didn''t stop there. "Why the HELL is there a bunch of Hyena''s here, and which sick bastard painted them green?" She wondered, frozen as her brain shortcircuited, trying to come up with an even remotely reasonable explanation. Huh, now that I see it, they look almost like one of those monsters Jason was so into. Kiki thought bemusedly, reminded of her ex-boyfriends hobbies. It really was a shame. Kiki had thought they had a good dynamic going. As much as he had tried, he only ever got her interested into two of them, and not really in the way he had planned. Cosplaying, which turned out to be a surprisingly great source of Views and Follows and made for really easy clickbait. And swords. There was something surprisingly satisfying about swinging around two meters of shapened steel, and it was a great workout on top of that. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But Jason''s hobbies played to big a part of his life. In the end, they spent less and less time together once the relationship couldn''t be carried by passion alone. No, that isn''t important right now. Kiki thought, focusing again on what was happening outside. The frontdoor had been opened, and three Estate security-guards had stepped outside, looking just as confused as Kiki watching the situation. Still, one of them quickly pulled the poor gardener into their shadow, when one of the Hyena''s stepped forward, interposing himself between the other man and the animal. As one, the guards brought their hands to their hips, and in a smooth motion pulled and pointed their handguns. They waited for a moment for the opposition to react. Well trained, as they should be. Though a little stupid, Kiki thought. Those weren''t humans. They wouldn''t know what a handgun is. Them being hyena''s, of course they weren''t scared. And when one of them took another step forward, the bark of a gun sounded through the Estate grounds, followed by a shower of pebbles shooting up from the ground in front of the animal, hitting it in the face. Clearly surprised, the animal jumped backwards and shook its head. That should be solved. Now lets hope no one tries to use that to accuse daddy of animal abuse again. Because they had tried that before. Abusing animals, releasing them onto the estate, and filming that to use it as "proof". Damn hypocrites. Right, lets hope no one... Before she could finish the thought, the animal reacted. Very differently from what she expected. It had backed of. That much had been expected. But instead of turning and running away, around half of the ones that had stayed back suddenly jumped forward, running at the security personell in a single green mass. Trained as they were, each of the guards weapons pointed at an enemy in barely amoment, and pulled the trigger, causing the reverb of three semi-automatic pistols to sound across her front lawn as all three guards unloaded the their entire magazines into the animals. For an eternal moment, silence reigned. And slowly but surely, one of the animal dropped. One. Three guards, nine bullets per magazine, one warning shot. A total of twenty-six bullets she had no doubt had hit the mark. And yet, only one of the animals died. And then, Kiki realized, the creatures hadn''t made even a single sound until now, nor had their facial expressions changed in any way. Because when they did, it was an eldritch, warbling cry, uncovered with the wet, slimy smacking of wet meat as their faces unfurled like the petals of flower made of meat. "What the..." Kiki exclaimed, gagging at the sight. Not even finishing the sentence, she turned away from the window and ran for the door of her room. She ripped it open, quickly looking the hallway down in both directions, just to make sure one of those things hadn''t managed to sneak in. Not amoment later, she jumped into the corridor, turned left, and ran. Only when she was halfway down the stairs did she actually start thinking about what she was going to do, or where her confidence in the face of those... creatures was comming from. Well, at least one of those she could answer a moment later. She hadn''t even noticed when she grabbed it, but her confidence seemed to come from the two meters of sharpened steel resting on her right shoulder. Yeah, that would do it. She thought. There wasn''t quite anything like a massive sword to give you an ego-boost. The other question though? That didn''t answer itself until she turned the last corner and stepped onto the stairs leading down into the entrance hall. Her mind raced as she took in the situation. The front door was closed, she must have somehow missed the sound of it. In front of it, the gardener was still holding onto the door handle, hanging in the air as two of the green monsters pulled on him, tried to drag him away with their pettal-maws closed around his feet. Kiki froze at the mans scream of pain and horror, trying her best to ignore the rest of the sounds. She instinctively knew she would have to vomit if she paid attention to the squelching, chewing, crunch, or even thought about what was happening to his feet. Somewhere to her left, she heard footsteps. People running. Really, it couldn''t be many people, not at this time of day. If it was Purity, their cleaning lady, the old woman wouldn''t have a chance. What was she supposed to do? Hit the monsters with her broom? No, it was more than one person anyways, so it was probably Jack and Elias, the remainng two guards that should still be in the house. And they would at least have guns. Which had already proven ineffective. Fuck! Horror, an almost deranged excitement, and a strange determination Kiki didn''t know she had allied in her mind to push her into motion. Not running away as might be sensible, but towards the creaturesinstead. She wouldn''t, couldn''t, trust the doors in this house to keep those things out permanently. And with the guards guns being almost useless, only her Zweih?nder had any chance of being a viable solution. But the only room large enough to swing the damn thing indoors was the exact room those creaures were in at the moment. The massive entrance haal. Having made her decision, and determined to see it through, Kiki charged down the stairs, taking three steps at a time. Arriving at the ground floor, she takes two steps forwards, turns to the left while heaving the massive sword from her shoulder, and spins her entire body to get the thing moving as quickly as possible. The moment her body faced back to the front, the sword quickly followed, missing however, as her blades reach fell short. It didn''t matter. Continuing with the swords momentum, she brought it back around, windmilling it above her head for a second strike, stepping forwards at the same time, and with a scream put all of her strength behind the attack. It felt like her entire body was shaking as the blade bit into the flank of the monster on the right, vibrations running up the weapon, through her arm, and from there through her entire skeletal system. Strangely, it was only now that the monsters seemed to notice her and let go of the poor gardeners feet. While they turned around, Kiki pulled a her sword with strength born from desperation, the blade so thouroughly stuck in her enemies flank that it almost pulled the sword out of her hands as it turned. Still, she held on, the sword finally getting released with a disgusting, wet squelch. Kiki had barely time to pull her sword back towards her and get a grip around halfway down the blade. Using it more like a spear instead of a sword, she barely managed to point the weapon at the creatures maw as it was already jumping at her. Kiki wasn''t sure what exactly she managed to hit, and neither had she the time to think about it. But as her sword stabbed into the creatures maw, it felt less like hitting an organic being, and more like a boulder as her sword almost got ripped out of her hands, before the tip slid of, bent, and pierced right down its throat and into the creatures stomach. That didn''t mean, however, that she had managed to stop the creature, momentum still carrying its body to slam into hers, taking her along and throwing her to the ground. For a moment she panicked, thinking that surely, if it couldn''t bite her with the sword in its maw, the creature would at least try to claw her dead. And yet, the pain didn''t come. Moments passed, and the creature stayed limp, unmoving, only lying heavily on her chest. "Ha! Hahehe!" Kiki laughed, tension leaving her body and mind, both slowing down as they came down from their adrenalin high from sheer relief. Completely forgetting that... BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Three shots fell in rapid succession and panic set in as Kiki suddenly felt another weight on her body, before a hyena-like face looked down on her. She didn''t even know how she managed to dodge it when the flower-pettal-maw snapped forwards, trying to close around her head. But that was enough, as suddenly a black figure flew over her body, tackling the beast to the ground. "Elias! Get Miss Kindra out of here!" the man screamed, and when Kiki looked to the right, she saw him wrestling with the monster lying on its back, trying to keep it in a choke hold. Its maw open, it released an eldritch, warbling hiss, forcefully trying to insert a maddening spike of fear into her mind. But as much as much as all her instincts screamed at her to run, she could not. The creature lying on top of her was simply too heavy and unwieldy for her to push off. As such, her mind was once again put into overdrive. And it was only thanks to that that she noticed something. A faint, almost reflective glimmer of red shining in the back of the still living monsters maw. The strangely hard thing she had stabbed with her sword. Something her ex had told her about at some point. "Ultimately, fights are supposed to be winneable, even if hard. Its rare that they aren''t. So if an enemy seems to be impossible to hurt, they will probably also have some kind of massive weakspot. All you have to do is find it." "At the back of its maw!" Kiki screamed, "I think there is something there that will kill the thing if you destroy it!" "Some kind of weakspot?" the younger of the two guards, Elias, asked as he tried to push the dead monster of off her body. "Yes." Kiki groaned in pain as the monster rolled halfway of off her, but now lying even more heavily on just her right side. "Huh," was all he said, quickly walking over to where his boss was wrestling the creature and carefully inspecting its head as it flailed around. "You are right." was all he said as he took out the short crowbar on his belt, aimed it, and heavily swung it into the creatures maw. All Kiki could hear was a loud crack, as if what he hit was a crystal, not something organic, and almost immediately, the creature fell limp. "Urgha!" Jack, a muscular man with dak skin, groaned as he rolled the monster of his body with some effort, and stood up. "Elias! I told you to ge her out of here!" he almost screamed, poking the significantly younger and shorter subordinate in the chest. "Yes, you did. But thanks to miss Kiki, you can now do that yourself!" Elias replied. "Hrrmm." Jack grunted, clearly wanting to complain. But he couldn''t really say anything against it. Despite the fact that the situation went entirely against his command and rulebook, Kiki had little doubt that he was happy to still be alive. "Now come and help me. Kiki is still stuck, and these damn things are unreasonably heavy!" Elias complained, making to pull the now dead monster of off Kiki. Finally free a few moments later, Kiki made to stand up, only for Elias to give her his hand. Kiki gladly accepted. "You know," Elias started as he pulled her up, "I didn''t think swinging around that compensation stick of yours every day would actually come in handy some day." "You sure you''re not projecting?" Kiki replied, groaning in pain as she stood up. ===== Congratulations! You earned an [achievement]! ===== "What..." Kiki started. ===== Congratulations! You can now choose a [Class]! ===== "...the hell?" it was Elias who finished the sentence. Chapter 0002: Broken oaks "Well. This explains some things at least." Elias exclaimed. "Is that so." Kiki said doubtfully, staring at the strange text floating in front of her eyes. Somehow without actually blocking her vision. It was a strange feeling. "Okay, well." Elias said, trying to correct himself. "I guess it doesn''t actually explain anything. But it does kind of make sense in association with the, you know, monsters. If you are familiar with a certain fantasy sub-genre." he says while pointing at the green creatures. "You can explain later." Jack interrupted. "For now we have to secure the building and make sure no more of these creatures can get in. Miss Kindra? We will bring you to the bunker and close the door. We will join you there once we are done here." "R-right... Let me just..." Kiki trailed off. Quickly, she walked over to the monster she had killed, leant down, and grabbed the handle of her sword that was still embedded in its insides. With a strong tug, she managed to pull it out a bit, before repositioning and pulling again. while trying her best to ignore the scene, sound, and very fact this had been a living being at one point. Even if it had tried its best to kill her. It took a few moments, but soon she had her sword back in her hands. Returning some measure of confidence to her, and immediately she felt just a bit safer. "Right! Let''s go." With Jack and Elias staying in front and behind her, they quickly led her to the back of the entrance hall. It looked like one of those they liked to use in animated movies, where the hall extended the entire height of the building, and a mezzanine along the walls on both upper stories. And in the middle of the hall, a giant set of stairs leading halfway up to the first storey before splitting off to the left and right, providing a convenient platform in case someone planned to hold a speech. Not that that had ever really happened. It was behind the large stairs where the largest entrance to the basement was located, at least if one ignored the hidden car elevator that connected the garage to the outside. As the men escorted Kiki down into the basement, Kiki had the feeling that she was forgetting something. She decided to ignore it for now. There were many things she didn''t want to think about at that moment, and it was probably one of those. As they entered the large underground hallway, Elias joined Jack in the front, one of them always staying with her while the other checked the doors they passed by. If it was closed, they made sure it was truly the case, and if it was open they would quickly check inside before closing it. It didn''t take long before they reached the end of the corridor, Elias closing one last door on the right. Only when both men were together again did they approach the last door on the left. This time, they both approached it, and while Elias opened the door, Jack rushed inside with his gun out, the light flickering on the moment he entered. As soon as he declared the immediate surroundings safe, Elias joined him, both going in opposite directions as they checked between the shelves in the off chance something had snuck in here, somehow. "Miss Kindra, it''s safe." Jack called back, prompting Kiki to enter the room. At first glance, it was just another basement room, albeit one with a lot of shelves filled with copious amounts of canned food. It didn''t take long before they arrived in front of a certain row of shelves. While Jack stayed at Kiki''s side, Elias went ahead and opened a hidden latch, letting him swing one of the shelves away from the wall, revealing the massive steel bulkhead hidden behind. The entrance to the hidden bunker. That wasn''t to say that her daddy was a doomsday prepper, but the mansion, and estate surrounding it, had been her daddy''s pet project for many years trying to bring his childhood dreams into reality. This in turn resulted in a few interesting features. The more obvious being the foyer straight out of a disney movie, or the underground garage with hidden car elevators. Less obvious, on the other hand, were the hidden bunker, equipped to let a small group survive anything human civilization could throw at you for at least a few months, or the hidden doors in the mansion and the secret tunnels beneath the entire estate. Elias stepped aside, letting Kiki through. She put her flat hand on the scanner, then her eye in front of the sensor, and finally, she typed in the password on a keypad where the numbers randomly switched positions after each input. That way, it became impossible to find the code by watching her hand movements or checking the wear and tear of the buttons. All she could hear was a silent humm as the bolts retracted and the door swung inwards, silent as a whisper. "Enter and close the door. We will return once the building is secured." Jack repeated his instructions. "You know, boss," Elias suddenly interjected. "I don''t think that''s a good idea." "What are you..." Jack began to say, turning around with a mix of worry and anger on his face as he made to pull his gun on his subordinate. "Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! That came out a little wrong!" Elias quickly said, lifting his hands placatingly. "What I am trying to say is that I may have some degree of an idea of what the hell is going on. For one, those things seem like the type that stick together in groups. So if any more did get into the house, there is no way we will manage to survive with just the two of us, as things stand. And then the young miss would be alone and stuck in this bunker. But if you let me explain, and maybe test a thing or two, it might be possible to significantly improve our chances here. Okay? So, let''s all go in there, have a short talk, and maybe, just maybe, all survive this thing together." Even in the dim light of the basement, Kiki could clearly see worry and confusion warring with his usual determination. There was a good reason Jack was the head of security. He was strict with others and himself, fiercely loyal to her father, and most of all, always did things by the book with absolute discipline. Usually, those were exactly what was needed in his position. But, well, even Kiki could tell that he was struggling dealing with the situation, it being so far outside the bounds of his rulebooks that she doubted anyone had ever even considered writing it. But ultimately, there was one big reason he was a security slash bodyguard guard, and not a soldier. For all his discipline and rule-following, he wasn''t stupid and blind in doing so, perfectly capable of improvising if necessary. "Fine." He decided, having all three of them enter the bunker, closing first the shelf, and then the heavy door behind them. ***** A short time later, all three of them sat around a table in the common room. It wasn''t particularly large, since it was still an underground bunker and not a luxury suite, but Kiki''s father had still made sure it would be comfortable to live in. So even spending a month or two down here wouldn''t be absolute torture. "Now, explain." Jack finally said. "I assume you are not familiar with the concept of LitRPG, right?" Elias asked, receiving two headshakes in response. "What about RPG''s in general? Like, NOT Rocket propelled Grenades I mean, but Role-playing-games?" he asked further. "You mean like that Dungeons and Dragons thing? I played that once when I was young." Jack asked for confirmation, while Kiki simply nodded. She had heard more than enough about that from Jason. I''m thinking about him an awful lot today, aren''t I? Kiki realized. "Yes, kinda, though more the videogame variety. And LitRPG¡¯s imagine them to be overlaid on reality. Imagine you could simply kill a bunch of monsters, level up, and get stronger. But in reality. Those stories usually have two very common trends. One are the monsters. And the other..." "The weird... messages I got? Something about an ''Achievement'' and a... ''Class'' I think it was?" Kiki asked. "Exactly!" Elias said. "Now, here are a few important things. For one, I have absolutely no clue how this particular System works, and in the stories they are all different from one another, but there ARE a few commonalities." ***** "If anything of what you said is even remotely true, I don''t think we should either trust, or engage with this... System, at all." Jack finally decided. It had taken almost an hour for Elias to explain as much as he could, and answer all the questions Jack had. One part of the reason was that Elias'' explanation was an absolute mess. Yeah, I know that feeling. She thought. Every time she tried to explain something more complex, she would move on to the next thing only to realize two sentences later that she had actually forgotten to mention something else important. And I doubt the constant interruptions and questions from Jack are helping. It''s... very unlike him, to act like that... And the longer this went on, the less Jack seemed to be able to trust the situation. "That... why?" Kiki asked, confused. If even one percent of the things Elias talked about were true, this System could basically make them superhumans. And, well, who wouldn''t want that? Even if you weren''t interested in playing vigilante or some such nonsense, it would definitely be convenient. Especially if you could choose your abilities to fit your job, as Elias had mentioned. "Something like this could only exist if it was man made. And we have no way of knowing what the creators want from us. So long as we don''t engage with it, they won''t be able to force us to do anything in return." Jack explained. "Our first, and now only, priority is to protect Miss Kindra, and we can''t let either her, or either of us, be compromised." Huh... It was certainly a point of view Kiki hadn''t considered. There was only one issue. "And what do you suggest we do then?" Elias asked the same question that was on Kiki''s mind. "Simple. We stay here, and we wait it out." Jack decided, his voice determined. "But we know that there are monsters." Elias argued. "Just because we have only seen a single type, doesn''t mean there won''t be more, and there is no way to guarantee that they can''t get in here." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! "But you also can''t guarantee that there WILL be more Monsters. For all we know, this is all just a paper thin ruse to trick us into accepting Some Kind Of SLAVE CONTRACT!" Jack argued, his voice growing louder towards the end. "Nono, that''s non..." "ENOUGH!" Jack suddenly explodes and stands up with force, his chair falling over behind him. Kiki had known that Jack was a large man, it was rather obvious. But as he stood there, looming over her and Elias both, he seemed more dangerous than the monsters before him. "I made my decision! It''s my DUTY to keep Miss Kindra safe, and I will NOT allow you to put her in danger with your nonsense!" Just earlier, Kiki had thought that despite his discipline and love for rules, Jack was more than capable of improvisation where it was required. But maybe I overestimated him? she couldn''t help but think. It made sense, in a way. His personality was rigid and disciplined. Even if he was adaptable, he was still more of an oak than a willow. While he could bend farther than other oaks, a sufficiently strong storm would still break his trunk. And if the current situation was anything, it was an absolutely massive storm. A shit storm, that is. Besides, his arguments made some measure of sense, so it made sense he would try to stand his ground despite a broken trunk. But, if there was one lesson that her father had hammered into her mind, it was this: "If you see an opportunity, don''t hesitate to take it. There is no success without a good measure of risk." It was why she decided to quit school at the first opportunity and become an influencer. Sure, in the beginning she needed a lot of financial support from her father, until she managed to become self-sufficient. It was also why she started doing naughty cosplays after her ex introduced her to the scene, increasing her follower base far past mere self-sufficiency. And now? This? Well. Kiki made her decision. "System." she said. "Miss Kindra, what do you..." But she didn''t let Jack interrupt her: "I want to choose my Class!" The moment she finished her words, the world around her seemed to stop. Elias still sat, looking at Jack defensively. Jack, still standing, his head halfway turned towards Kiki, his mouth open to speak. But neither of them was moving. No, that''s not quite correct. Kiki realized. They were still moving, but very, very slowly. And Kiki herself was the same, even if her thoughts seemed to be accelerated. But before she could think about anything else, all her attention got dragged towards a single line of text: ===== Congratulations! You have chosen to engage with the System! From now on, controlling the System will be possible through mental commands. Focusing on certain words may provide additional information. Please Focus on [Class options]. ===== Immediately, Kiki was reminded of the first two messages she had gotten. And just that thought alone was enough to call them back to her mind. And just as she thought to remember, two of the words in them had been marked the same way as [Class options] in this. Doing as the text asked, she focused on the word, bringing up another window full of text. ===== Please choose your Class from the following. Your current state won''t end until you made your choice. Your choice is final! Options: [Illusion mage] [Illusion mage blessed by Shine] [Light mage] [Disguise artist] [Deceiver] [Deceiver blessed by Dezep] [Influencer] [Dancer] [Manipulator] [Warrior] [Warrior blessed by Luxuria] ===== Hmmm... That''s quite a few options. Let''s start from the top. ===== Illusion mage [common] An Illusion mage conjures Illusions of all kinds to deceive another¡¯s senses. Requirements: You have used Illusions to deceive others many times. [see more] ===== Is it... referring to video filters? ===== Illusion mage blessed by Shine [uncommon] An Illusion mage that has been blessed by the God Shine. Requirements: You qualify for the Illusion mage Class. A true Illusionist knows how to gain the greatest possible effect from the smallest details. [see more] ===== Duh! I mean, of course I have to be subtle with my use of video filters. How is anyone supposed to trust my make-up tutorials if I don''t even look like a real person in them? Also, can I interprete this as getting praised by an actual god? Well, anyways, let''s check the other Classes first. ===== Light mage [common] A Light mage conjures and controls light for their own purpose. Requirements: You have used Light to your advantage many times. [see more] ===== I mean, lighting is important if you want the shot to look nice... And it seems like it might have at least some combat potential if it can do lasers and stuff. ===== Disguise artist [common] A Disguise artist uses physical tools to change their own or another''s appearance. Requirements: You have used Physical tools to change your appearance many times. [see more] ===== So, a make-up artist, basically. ===== Deceiver [common] A Deceiver uses their actions and words to deceive others. Requirements: You have used your actions and words to deceive others many times. [see more] ===== Pah, what Deceiver!? At least be direct and call it horny-baiting. And let''s be honest, which influencer wouldn''t do that if they have the option? In that sense, you can hardly call that being deceptive nowadays... ===== Deceiver blessed by Dezep [uncommon] A Deceiver blessed by the God Dezep. Requirements: You are qualified for the Deceiver Class. You know what you did. [see more] ===== ''You know what you did''? What the hell is THAT supposed to mean? I DON''T know! ===== Influencer [common] An Influencer uses their actions and words to influence the opinions of others. Requirements: You have used your actions and words to influence other people''s opinions many times. [see more] ===== Any other situation? Definitely my first pick! But without being able to tell the extent of the whole monster situation? ===== Dancer [common] A Dancer dances for either their own enjoyment, or that of others. Requirements: You have learned both freestyle and structured dance. You are proficient at moving your body. [see more] ===== I wouldn''t call ''knowing twenty different dance moves without any connection'' knowing structured dance, but thanks, I guess? ===== Manipulator [common] A Manipulator manipulates another¡¯s emotions to their own advantage. Requirements: You have manipulated another¡¯s emotions many times. [see more] ===== What do you mean? That''s a bald fucking¡­ Okay, maybe not a lie, but isn''t this basically the meanest possible way of calling me a good actor? ===== Warrior [common] A Warrior fights in close quarters using [cold weapons]. Requirements: You have trained using a close quarters cold weapon. [see more] ===== ''Cold weapons''? What''s that supposed to mean? ===== cold weapons Weapons that work at their maximum intended potential without the need to burn physical fuel. Contrary to [hot weapons]. ===== Huh... Interesting. So, it means swords and bows and stuff like that. And ''hot weapons'' would then be... Yeah, guns I guess. I wonder, would a chainsaw count as a ''hot weapon''? Anyways, this is the last one. ===== Warrior blessed by Luxuria [uncommon] A [Warrior] that had been blessed by the Goddess Luxuria. Requirements: You qualify for the Warrior Class. You possess and have worn the proper attire. You have trained and used an appropriate weapon. We can work on the rest ;) [see more] ===== ...what the hell is that smiley supposed to mean? Okay, first let me check this thing. ===== common The lowest of all [rarities]. ===== ===== rarities known rarities: common uncommon All Classes and Skills have Rarities. The rarer a Class or Skill is, the more powerful they are. ===== Yeah, that sounds pretty close to what Elias had mentioned. That means the ''uncommon'' Classes should all be better than the ''common'' ones? Though that makes me wonder if having a God''s blessing is a requirement to get anything better than common, or if this is just and accident¡­ Urgh... I wish I had a pen and paper to take notes. This is so much stuff all at once. Though I guess I have a lot of time to make my decision... Chapter 0003: Big ass choices Chapter 003: Big ass choices Okay, let''s see. Kiki thought, calling up the list with her Class options again. ===== Please choose your Class from the following. Your current state won''t end until you made your choice. Your choice is final! Options: [Illusion mage] [Illusion mage blessed by Shine] [Light mage] [Disguise artist] [Deceiver] [Deceiver blessed by Dezep] [Influencer] [Dancer] [Manipulator] [Warrior] [Warrior blessed by Luxuria] ===== Okay, I have eleven total options to choose from. And no clue if that''s a lot or not... Since all of the blessed options seem like they are upgraded versions of the ''common'' Classes, lets ignore them for now. So, more than anything, the Influencer Class would probably be perfect for me. Or would it? Hmm... A big part of being a successful influencer is to at least appear genuine and real. If you seem to obviously fake, people simply won''t believe or trust you after all. This might work if I were, like, a salesman or something and met customers that don''t know me directly. But with a big social media presence like mine? People will probably try to figure out what my Class is. And unless I can fake having a different Class entirely, people will probably get doubtful wether they know my Class or not. Hell, I don''t think I could trust the opinion of someone who might have some kind of magical superpower that lets them manipulate my opinions... So... Deceiver, Manipulator, and Influencer are already out. Whether I can return to being an influencer at some point or not, having those kind Classes and abilities sounds like it could come with the kind of social stigma I really don''t want to have. Disguise artist and Illusion mage should still be viable though, since they don''t sound like they would directly affect another person''s mind, but just what they see. Then, from here... What do I actually need? If Elias'' words can be believed, and I guess there is some degree of truth to what he said, then the general situation could be anywhere between ''leaving the house gets you mauled by monsters'' all the way to ''human civilization is dunzo''. And that means, while rescue might come at some point, it can''t be expected. Which means I would need something that allows me to defend myself. Which means... Warrior stays, it''s the obvious one. Light mage too, since it can probably do lasers and stuff? Illusions might allow me to become invisible, I guess? Disguise artist is out then. Even if I could make myself look like a rock or something, and hide from a monster like that, the description directly mentioned the use of physical tools. So without those tools and the time to use them, being a disguise artist would probably be useless. That leaves Dancer I guess? I mean, there was that Kapo-thing that was some kind of Chinese war dance, right? But it''s not like I know how to do that, or ever enjoyed dancing enough to learn more than individual moves for short videos... So, that leaves the two Mages and the Warrior? Is there any good reason to take one over the other? Mages were supposed to do their stuff at a longer range, right? So I guess they would have the advantage of being able to stay out of reach of whatever might try to kill me. On the other hand, Mages are supposed to be weaker physically, right? So if things go to shit, the warrior would probably increase my chances of running away... Except if Light magic could let me move at the speed of light, I guess? Could it? Let''s take a closer look then... Thinking that, Kiki focused on [see more] for each of the three Classes. Urgh... lets ignore all those numbers for now... here! These ''Skills'' should be those superpowers Elias talked about, right? So, all three Classes get two Skills each... And I can only see their names without any description about what they do... I guess that settles that issue. For all I know the mages are just glorified light bulbs. Better to take the Warrior where I at least know how it works to some degree. Then all that''s left is to choose which Warrior I take... Let''s see. ===== Warrior [common] A Warrior fights in close quarters using [cold weapons]. Requirements: You have trained using a close quarters cold weapon. Skills: Enhanced Armor Enhanced Weapon [Personal Stats]: Strength +2 Endurance +2 Vitality +1 Dexterity +2 [Stats] per level: Strength +1 Endurance +2 Vitality +1 Dexterity +1 ===== So, two Skills, and a bunch of Stats I have no clue what they do. Let''s take a look at the other Class before I look into that. ===== Warrior blessed by Luxuria [uncommon] A [Warrior] that had been blessed by the Goddess Luxuria. Requirements: You qualify for the Warrior Class. You possess and have worn the proper attire. You have trained and used an appropriate weapon. We can work on the rest ;) Skills: Luxurias Blessing The Bigger the better Less is more Equipment swap [Personal Stats]: Strength +1 Endurance +2 Vitality +2 Dexterity +1 Charm +6 Lowest +2 [Stats] per level: Endurance +1 Vitality +1 Charm +4 ===== Okay! This is a MUCH bigger difference than I thought. Twice as many Skills... I think twice as many Personal Stats, whatever those are? And... one additional Stat per level... You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Is this the difference between a common and uncommon Class? Or has this something to do with the Class being ''blessed'' by a supposed Goddess? Though I guess the Stat distribution looks a bit... weird? Even if it''s more overall, it gives actually less physical stats than the common Warrior. And the Skills have weird names as well. And what kind of Stat is Charm even supposed to be? I can understand stuff like Strength, but Charm? Let''s see what this System is willing to tell me... ===== Stats There are seven different Stat values: [Strength] [Endurance] [Vitality] [Dexterity] [Intelligence] [Wisdom] [Charm] There are a total of six different sources for Stats: [Personal Stats] [Base Stats] [Class Stats] [Free Stats] [Achievement Stats] [Gained Stats] Your effective Stats are calculated based on all six sources in the following way: (Base + Class + Free + Achievement + Gained) * Personal/10 + Gained ===== Fucking hell... Thirteen more sub menus and a bunch of math... And all of it without being able to take notes. Great. Just GREAT! Kiki had no way of telling how long it took her. Sure, the individual menus weren''t actually all that long, but without being able to take notes, she was constantly forced to go back to ones she checked already, not sure if she remembered correctly what they said. It was a disorganized mess to work through, but by the end of it, she was reasonably sure she understood what was going on. So, to summarize. Stats per level have surprisingly little value. I only get five, six for the uncommon Class, per level. Plus three ''free'' Stats that I can put wherever I want. But since everyone seems to start with a hundred points in every Stat, for a total of seven hundred, just to double them I would have to get to level one hundred. A bit less with the uncommon Class. On the other hand, Personal Stats seem to be much harder to get, and serve as a multiplier, making them worth that much more. And not only does the blessed Warrior give twice as many of those, they are also focused on a single Stat instead of spread out, which should result in a much greater effect. And not only that, but Charm appears to be my strongest Stat already, so it would only be even better. The only issue is... ===== Charm Determines the strength and reach of your presence, the effect of which varies depending on you, the person, and your behavior. Determines your resistance towards non-physical magical effects. Partially determines your resistance to mental influences. Partially improves your ability to perfectly recover from injuries. (Does not let you regenerate missing body parts.) ===== Yeah... What does this thing about my presence even mean? Though... Didn''t it say somewhere that... Right! Only my Personal Stats affect my appearance. Since my Charm is my naturally highest Stat,and my good looks have always been my greatest strength, I guess Charm would have to do with that? At least somewhat? But what would a Warrior even do with that, then? I mean, it should make me a better Warrior in some way, right? Otherwise the Stats wouldn''t be focused on it so hard... But then, why does the common Warrior completely ignore it? Then, I guess it must have something to do with the whole Blessing thing? Or rather that goddess... what was her name? Luxuria? So, it might just make me a rather unconventional Warrior... Which might not actually be a bad thing? It might make me harder to predict at least. What kind of goddess is that supposed to be anyways? I mean, the other two that showed up appear to be pretty on the nose with their names actually... I mean, Illusions seem to usually be visual tricks, which require light, and light shines. And ''Dezep'' is basically the first half of ''deception'' with a spelling mistake, isn''t it? So, since this one is supposed to be female, ''Luxuria'' sounds kind of like a female version of ''luxurious'' right? So, some kind of Goddess of luxury? I mean, the Skills names would fit at least? A bigger yacht is more luxurious than a smaller one, right? And while flaunting wealth might be fun occasionally, there comes a point where any more is simply gaudy and crass. And a Warrior for a Goddess of Luxury should have enough different equipment that they need a superpower to swap between them quickly. But could I subscribe myself to a religion based on Luxury? I mean, a Goddess of Luxury might demand some pretty hefty tributes, right? But... It''s just a Blessing, right? Usually, having someone''s blessing just means they agree with your actions and support you. They can''t REALLY demand anything from you, and at most they can retract the blessing... Which would probably leave me as a normal Warrior if it happens, which would have been the Class I would have otherwise chosen anyways. But that smiley... Urgh... I guess, here goes nothing. ''I take the Class Warrior blessed by Luxuria!'' ===== Congratulations! You gained the Class: Warrior blessed by Luxuria (uncommon) From now on please note these commands: [Status] [Level up] [Achievements] ===== ===== Normalizing Personal Stats. Strength 11 -1 = 10 Endurance 12 -1 = 11 Vitality 9 -1 = 8 Dexterity 14 -2 = 13 Intelligence 7 -1 = 6 Wisdom 6 -1 = 5 Charm 20 -2 = 18 ===== ===== Congratulations! You gained 9 [Achievements]! Personal Strength Personal Endurance Personal Vitality Personal Dexterity *2 Personal Intelligence Personal Wisdom Personal Charm *2 ===== "...think you are doing!" Jack turned to her and screamed, clearly angry. Kiki, meanwhile, had basically forgotten about that by this point. And she ignored it to boot. Because she felt... "Incredible..." she whispered as a pleasant shudder ran all throughout her body. She could feel it, how she changed, grew, became... more on an existential level. And somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt a sense of confidence, satisfaction and relief, almost as if she knew that someone was cheering her on and telling her that she had done a good job. that her decision had been the right one. Yeah. I should probably look into that at some point, but I do admit it feels kinda nice... "Wha... " Elias looks at her and asks. Or at least he tries, as he goes slack jawed in the middle of his word, and the look suddenly turns into a stare. And looking back to him, she notices that the same happened to Jack. "Ehmmm..." Kiki was confused, and really not sure what to think about this particular situation. Wait, is this the effect of my... Presence, was it? My increased Charm? It was only then that she realized that she was feeling uncomfortably tight around the chest and hips. Just as she brought her hands down to adjust her hotpants, a single sound almost echoed through the currently silent bunker. RIIIIIIP! "Kyaah!" Kiki let out an undignified shriek as she suddenly felt a cool breeze where the sun shouldn''t shine, ripping the two older men out of their reverie. "Miss Kindra! What happened!?" Jack exclaimed, pure worry in his voice, his anger completely forgotten. "My... My pants ripped..." "Puh! Hahahahaha!" Elias burst out laughing at her answer, quickly followed by both Jack and Kiki, as the previous tension made the situation seem all the more ridiculous. After a few moments, Kiki finally asked: "Where is the bath? I think the last time I was down here I was like, ten." "Over there." Jack answered, pointing at a door. "Thanks," Kiki answered as she walked over, covering her ass with her hands. Just as she slipped into the bathroom she called back at the two men: "And could someone get me some pants?" Closing the door behind her, the first thing Kiki did was to slip out of her hotpants. Or at least, she tried. "Urgh! Come! ON!" She groaned, trying her hardest to push the pants down, but she could hardly even get her fingers into her pants. She knew her pants had been tight when she put them on, that was kind of the point, but definitely not like this. She couldn''t even get enough slack to get the button open. Really, there were only two answers to the problem, either her pants had shrunk spontaneously, or, well... Giving up on that for now, she instead went one step higher, loosening her bra a little in the back. But even then, the fit had suddenly become uncomfortable. Almost as if it were a size too small... "As if. There is no ''almost'' to it." At a rough guess, with a single decision, she had gone from a comfortable E to an F. That was actually kinda troublesome. It wasn''t easy to find a comfortable bra, and now her entire wardrobe¡¯s worth would no longer fit her properly. From there, she went another step up, looking at her face in the mirror. It was a small one, the bath being way too small for anything that showed more than her face, but that was enough. Despite wearing heavy make-up for the camera, she could tell that something had changed. Not much, but her practiced eye could immediately tell that it didn''t sit quite perfectly any more. At closer inspection, it seemed like her lips had gotten just a little bit more luscious. Not so much to make her look like one of those sexdolls that called themselves humans, but just enough that she didn''t think she would have to cheat with her lipstick anymore in the future. Then there was the shape of her eyes. They seem to have gotten just a little bit sharper, pushing her natural looks just a little bit more towards cool and sexy instead of cute. Finally, her eye color was maybe not the biggest change, but definitely the most... disconcerting? Her eyes had always been a beautiful emerald green, with just the smallest bit of brown speckles. Now? The brown had almost entirely disappeared while the green had become brighter and clearer. Almost as if her eyes had become actual gems. It was... definitely striking... Even looking at herself in the mirror, she had a hard time averting her eyes as they almost seemed to shine with an inner light. She could understand why the men had so much trouble looking away. *knock* *knock* *knock* The knock on the door suddenly ripped her out of her narcissistic reverie. Quickly she turned around and opened the door. Taking the pants out of Jack''s hands, she quickly asked: "Could you also give me some scissors?" "Scissors?" the man asked, confused. "Why?" "Because..." Kiki trailed off, not quite sure how to explain it. "Just give me the damn scissors!" she finally said, closing the door in front of him while trying to ignore the laughter from deeper in the room. A few minutes, one chirurgical operation, and a pair of incredibly boring cargo pants later, Kiki stepped back out of the bath. "So," Elias asked. "What kind of Class did you get?" "Apparently," Kiki decided on her answer, "the kind that made my ass bigger." Laughter filled the bunker again, and Kiki noticed even Jack grinning a little. Even if their situation was serious, this felt a lot better than the previous tension.