47 Chapter 46 (1/2)
How can you tell when a skill will work or not?” I asked Reinhart as he gathered up a couple of things.
He was going to take me down to the basement. He wouldn't tell me what he had down there, but he told me it was a job that he needed me to do and it'd be easier if I just saw it.
”Huh? Ah, right, your knowledge about skills is a little lacking, right?” Reinhart sighed as he pulled out a lantern and lit it. ”What brought on this question?”
Of course, I was thinking about Mental Fortitude, and how it worked towards certain sex-related activities, but would unexpectedly fail in some of the odder situations. Of course, I hadn't really discussed my other world situation with him. The only thing Reinhart knew was that I had a lot of special skills and a strange class.
”Ah… it's just like, I see a lot of skills that seem simple, but they seem to have strange rules about when they work and when they won't.”
Reinhart gave a nod. ”Well, there are a lot of books about skills. Skills beget skills. Skills supplement skills. Do this, this, and this and you'll get this skill. It's all kind of a lie though. Skills are simply you. You are your skills. Every skill you gain is a reflection of you. How skills work is the same way.”
”What does that mean?” I frowned.
”What do you want it to mean?” My frown deepened, and he chuckled before continuing. ”What I'm saying is that you influence how your skill works. How your skill works is based on you yourself. For example, if you had a skill that made you tell the truth if you became convinced of a lie, then your skill would allow you to tell a lie because you thought it was the truth.”
”Really?” I pondered over his words a little more, trying to understand what it meant to me.
”That's how it works. In fact, I knew a man once. He was smart, but he really struggled to read and write. He used to always confuse the words 'site' with an i-t and 'sight' with a g-h-t whenever he wrote them. He was a hunter, and he finally unlocked a tier 2 skill called Far Sight. It's always Far Sight with a g-h-t. But, for him, it was spelled Far Site, i-t-e. It was the same skill, but it renamed itself to him.
”There are other examples of this. Skills that have different names depending on their country of origin. Some also have different functions too, but I believe that's a symptom of people's expectations and not a limitation of the skills themselves.
”I believe skills can be opened up or weakened by your own imagination and beliefs. If you had a skill that could, I don't know, cut down trees… could you use that skill to cut down a post? That depends on you. If you can convince yourself a tree was a post, or that post was close enough to a tree… then the skill would work. If you didn't, the skill would be useless.
Or… coming from my own seductress powers, I could use skills if I was engaged in sex, or if I convinced myself something was associated with sex. For example, my Mental Fortitude worked or didn't work based on how I interpreted the situation. I approached the two craftsmen with the intent of creating sexual toys for my own sexual fulfillment. That met the criteria of Mental Fortitude. However, the girls came in and played with my sex toys, but at no point was I thinking of engaging in sex with them, or having our conversation related to my sex… so Mental Fortitude did not work as thoroughly. At least, that was my working hypothesis from what Reinhart had said.
We didn't have far to walk. The cellar was part of the abandoned complex this tower once belonged to, and at the bottom of the stairs was a small trapdoor with a ladder that we ended up climbing down, although Reinhart told me there was another entrance that went outside the castle walls. He explained this as we climbed into the darkness with his lantern lighting the way. If I ever needed to escape, this was a path I could take. He also warned me that if I did something to threaten the kingdom, he'd immediately tell the guard to head off to this spot first.
It came to my awareness that this was probably the exact kind of information Denova would want too, and I was a little regretful Reinhart had told me, as there would be a point I may have to betray his trust. We were in a damp, dark hallway now, and without saying another word, Reinhart starting lighting a bunch of torches along the walls, bringing light to the darkness.
The first thing I noticed was the gleam of bars, and I realized that we were standing in a hallway lined with jail cells. The second thing I noticed was that there was some movement behind the bars. I started squinting into one of the cages and then jumped back as a monster crashed into the bars, barking a sound. It was a creature with the face and body of a reptile.
”Ah, watch out, that one is a lizardman.”
I glanced over at the next cell and saw that there was a different creature in that one. I quickly noticed the creature slouching in the corner was none other than a goblin. I had been made all too familiar with their kind.
”What is this?” I asked.
Reinhart chuckled. ”Well, after you mentioned how you've spent time with monsters, and showed me the results of your seed potion, I was curious what other potions could be made. I went out and requested hunters from the guild catch a couple of monsters, and I secured them down here. As you can see, I have a Pigman over here, so you can make more of that potion you gave me, and we can see if you can generate any other potions with your talents.”
”So, the job then, that only I can do…”
”Well, I figured that you are uniquely talented for collecting specimens. You can consider this your own personal seed farm. It seems a little severe, but I've heard there are farmers who collect bull semen to inseminate cows, so I thought we could keep this clinical. Although, if you have other uses for them, I will… ahem… look the other way.”
I stared a bit in surprise and wonder at this. It wasn't just a treasure trove for potion making, but also for leveling. I wouldn't need the king's piddling sexual advances or the glory hole if I could take on these monsters.
”Which ones do we have? Did you have any of the spiders?”
”Ah, right, you mentioned that it might be a good adhesive, but spiders are kind of tough to handle. I picked mostly hominids. I don't really have much experience in this department. These are the top races known for raping women. I figured they had the most likelihood of being compatible with your… harvesting methods. I've got one Pigman, one kobold, one lizardman, one goblin, one apeman, one orc, one minotaur, one troll, and one satyr. Nine in all. I'd have to acquire demons if I wanted to get you a better selection.”
”How about a slime?”
”Slime? They don't really have sexual parts…”
”Still… I think they could have some interesting advantages in potion making.” I deflected his criticism.
After a moment, he nodded. ”Well… if you're feeling confident, we can acquire other monsters with a less… humanoid qualities.”
Even I wasn't ready to start moving down a route that felt like bestiality. For the moment, I felt that Reinhart had made the appropriate selections.
”Ah, no… for now, I think this would be fine. It really is a shot in the dark with this, right?”
”I suppose so…” Reinhart shrugged, ”Well, I'll leave you to it. Um… be careful, these are monsters and they are dangerous. If you can coerce one over to the bars and get it to… well, stick it through the bars, that'd be ideal.”
I nodded at his advice. Likely, I'd need to seduce these guys enough times to turn them all into my sex dolls, much like I did to the Pigman before. Then, there would be no more danger. Reinhart started climbing back up the ladder. I supposed he didn't want to remain for the show. As I walked up and down the cages, some of the monsters growled at me, but they didn't make any particularly scary movements. Of course, I remembered the seemingly innocent looking Pigman quickly eating each other, and the trauma from that day allowed me to gain some distance from these monsters. I'd use them and then kill them when I needed to.
I looked at each of the monsters. A few of them, like the orc, the apeman, the minotaur, and the goblin all wore their dicks on the outside. Most had loin clothes, but the minotaur in particular seemed to be packing quite a shaft that swung only half covered by his loincloth. Meanwhile, a few of the others seemed to have no visible dick at all. It was likely that they extended out from somewhere when the animal was sexually excited.
I used Examine on them but didn't gain any useful information. Most of them seemed to be in their teens or younger. It seemed like monsters grew quickly and died young. I knew at this point I was really just stalling. The idea of getting nine first times on monsters, as well as the potential novelty of some of them, did excite me, but it also left me wary.
Deciding that I needed to know what I was working with before I started working, I decided I needed to give them a test run. With them locked in cages, there was really no danger to myself. So, it's not like there was anything holding me back. I released my Pheromones. I could feel the eyes of all the monsters suddenly turn to me. Each animal surged forward, almost at the same time, and the lust in their eyes became fervent. The sudden surge of monsters racing at their cages caused a racket, and even after telling myself I was safe, I still lept back a few steps at the surge of monsters.