Chapter 41
The days preceding the wedding flew by rather quickly. Wes had done quite a bit of talking and sitting, so over the past days of waiting, he experimented with his abilities. Reasoning that thousands of experience, compared to the millions he spent on discovering Nia’s Level, paled in comparison.
He methodically went over his minimum activation amount and then tried to get it down as far as he could.
A few things were discovered rather quickly, thanks to Wes’s new scientific method. One was that his abilities’ expenditure quickly inflated if he did not focus on their use. The more he could focus on what he wanted it to do, the less experience was used.
The second thing that was found was that he had two abilities at the moment; he had no control over the activation cost. Stopwatch and Party Chat had a set amount that they always needed for activation. Even after multiple expensive activations, he couldn’t get the activation down to anything less than half for Party Chat. Using it was much of the same compared to his other abilities. No matter how much he focused on them or tried to adjust his thinking around their use, they still used the same amount of per-second experience.
Stopwatch was by far Wes’s most disappointing ability. It did nothing but start a clock. The expenditure was still far too costly for him, even after a hundred-plus levels gained.
After all the experimenting, Wes found himself down another hundred thousand experience.
Name: Wesley of 29744C
Race: Human
Age: 27
Unique Abilities: Imperial Over Metric, Back In My Day
Abilities: Deposit, Eternal Spark, Cleanse, Stopwatch,
Vigilant, Deviant, Symbiosis, H20,
Party Chat, Topographer, Superscription
Skills: N/A
Achievement(s): Bloody Soul, Pragmatic Savant,
Pacifists Envy
Trait(s): 3
Current Status: Healthy
Level 144
Savings: 4,157,153
Next Level: 4,299,816.96
Level 10 Exp Per Sec: .3456
Current Exp: 36,212.75
wager(+5)
No other world-altering discoveries happened for Wes, but he now felt he had a better grasp of what he could expect from his abilities. He hadn’t taken Nia’s advice yet either. Vigilant was still lightly used, but that was more so he could go crazy for its use at his wedding. Topographer was not as defined in civilized places. It only offered a rough outline for places he had laid his eyes on. The overall outline of his compound was no more than boxes. The only added bonus that he found was that when the girls spoke to him, they pulsed on his map with their location. Going forward, he felt like he would be relying on that a whole lot.
The only other thing Wes had decided for himself was that he had come to terms with who he was as a person and where he wanted to go. He enjoyed the flexibility of all his abilities, although his offensive abilities were quite sparse for now; those would eventually fill out. Not having to worry about when the next level would come made it easy to plan what type of build he wanted to focus on. With that in mind, he decided to shoot for an all-around master of none. Eventually, he would find out whether he enjoyed battle, but he hoped that was still far off.
Wes chose to spend his time after his experimenting. Trying to come up with combinations he could use going forward. Both with his current ability set and for his future hopeful set.
That was how Wes came to find himself waiting alone in his own groom's room. Choosing to focus on nothing but another offensive skill, one he hoped wouldn’t cost as much as Eternal Spark. The Wedding was less than an hour away, and all the commotion of the morning had died out.
Dozens of Argyros and Nia’s family members had tried to stop by and form loose attachments with him by offering him gifts and or homes on worlds he had yet to visit, but thanks to Phony’s warnings prior, he turned everyone down as politely as he could.
When Wes got up to change into his custom suit, he heard a knock at the door. “Come in.”
The door leading into his private room opened slowly, and an abnormally large Coeus stood on the other side of the threshold in a moderate bow. “I announce, the arbiter of knowledge. A pillar of beauty and strength. Justice will come swiftly to all who do not savor her wisdom. Presenting Goddess Magdrundon”
Wes stood with his pants halfway up his thighs, “Wait, what?”
The sturdily built Coeus in the front stepped through the doorway and bowed further while still keeping himself positioned to see Wes. The woman who stepped forward wore an elegant gown that stretched all the way to the ground behind her. It seemed to billow out like waves. The front of her dress allowed only enough room to see the tips of her slightly pointed, yet rounded shoes. Her Magenta dress complemented her midnight blue skin in a way it shouldn’t have. A glow seemed to flow from her skin. Drawing emphasis around the nape of her neck and cleavage.
Not wanting to be rude, Wes said while still taking the woman in, “Hiya, think you may have the wrong room. I can try and grab someone for ya to point you to Dozel?”
A smirk played across the older woman's features. A speckle of her white teeth peeked out from her slightly plum colored lips. “No, I think I’m where I want to be.”
The woman crossed the distance to Wes; her body seemed to be unencumbered by the gravity of the moon they were on. Wes said, “Well, if you are sure. Why not sit and take a load off?”
The Woman continued over to Wes and said, “You are a rather plain human, rather low level, and not versed in politics.” The woman chose to stop just inches from Wes’s face. “Now, why would the fearsome Pyrronia allow her spawn to marry off as the second to someone as unimpressive as yourself?”
“Two things, you smell tremendous! And your accent is a bit thick. You're asking why Argyros' wife is allowing me to marry his daughter?” Wes asked.
“Yes.”
Wes allowed himself to drop down into the seat beside them. “Maybe I’m just that charming. Stay awhile and let me work my magic on you; maybe you will want to be my third.”
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A wave of static overtook the whole room before slamming into Wes’s body. The Large Coeus, still standing by the door, said, “You will speak to Goddess Magdrundon with respect or cease to exist.”
The man's voice made Wes’s whole body shake. His vision seemed to slam close for an instant before returning. Luckily, Wes was sitting, so aside from his core ab muscles not working for a second, he showed little sign of being affected.
Choosing to push further, Wes said, “When was I rude? I meant every word. I don’t discriminate.”
The static began to saturate the air again, but instead of the same energy slamming into him. Wes felt a very familiar energy fill the room. Trying to keep the smile off his face, Wes acted as if he were scared. The air in the room around them seemed to give off heat waves as it did on a sunny day on his home planet. Wes found the room becoming uncomfortably hot before Nia pulled herself through the air directly to Wes's right. Due to the two women's positions being so close to him, he found himself sandwiched between them.
Nia stood still, taking the room in before looking over to the large Coeus, “See you still carry pups with you wherever you go, Magdrundon.”
Smiling Magdrundon said, “You know me, weakness for pretty faces and all.”
Pointing to the door, Nia said, “Unless you want to lose another husband at my hands.”
Magdrundon didn’t say another word, choosing to only raise an eyebrow and look at the door after looking at her husband. Her husband took the hint and swiftly exited the room.
Nia instantly suffocated the room with her vibrant orange mana, like she had in Runar’s office. Looking at Magdrundon, she said, “Well?”
Rolling her eyes, Magdrundon allowed her mana to saturate the air like Nia’s had, forming another layer on top of Nia’s own. She said, “Happy?”
Nia asked, “Whose turn is it?”
Magdrundon yelped, “Mine!”
Magdrundon made a show of stretching out her left arm and hand. She bowed slightly before saying, “I’m going to enjoy this.”
“What are you offering?” Nia asked.
Rising from her bow, Magdrundon said, “Hmmm, I’m not sure. Been wondering what it would be for a time, how about a planet in my third’s system?
Raising both eyebrows, Nia whistled, “That’s a healthy offer, but I still have you beat.”
Tilting her head in disbelief, Magdrundon asked, “You are playing with me, right? To whom?”
“Nope, and not telling, I have you beat and then some.”
“Explain,” Magdrundon demanded.
“Can’t, let’s just say if you lose. I want a pledge of 100 levels.”
Magdrundon grew serious, “What do you have that is worth as much as that?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Nia said, “You will just have to wait and see.”
“50 then,” Magdrundon called out.
“100 or nothing.” Nia shot back.
“But it’s my turn. You always pull this crap when it’s my turn.” Seeming to remember Wes was still in the room, Magdrundon looked over to Wes inquisitively. “Last offer is 60, and I get the boy for my stable.”
“If you want to add him to your stable, all I can offer is a good opportunity, and that will require a thousand levels from you.” Nia grinned.
Clicking her tongue in surprise, Magdrundon said, “Fine, 70 and the right of reprisal.”
“85 and the right of reprisal, and we have a deal.”
Nodding her head in agreement, Magdrundon said, “Deal.”
As one, they both put their hands behind their backs. Nia used her right, and Magdrundon used her left. Wes picked up his legs and tried to cover up as best he could to protect himself from any potential fallout. The two women locked eyes, both grinning from ear to ear.
Wes covered his body and head as best as he could; the energy in the air grew rich with both of their mana. The heat from Nia’s mana made sweat start to form under his pants and shirt. Magdrundon’s purple Mana made Wes’s body feel heavier than it ever had been. Struggling to breathe as the sweat began to pool around his neck, the heavy combination of mana suddenly vanished.
Both women yelled out, “Rock,” while they both brought their arms forward. Before bringing it back to their side and throwing out their hands again. “Paper.” Once again, they brought their hands back to their sides before throwing them out a third time, “Scissors.”
The women's bodies were shaking with excitement as they both brought their arms back again before throwing them out again one final time. “Shoot!”
Wes clenched his body, ready for something, anything to happen. But both women held their hands out inches apart. Nia was cackling with excitement while Magdrundon slowly brought her hand up to her face while examining her two pointed fingers before looking at Nia and turning around and walking over to the far wall.
Wes kept himself huddled tight while trying to read the room. After thirty more seconds had passed, he began to stretch out his limbs. Looking up at Nia, who wore an excited grin. Wes asked, “What the heck is going on?”
Turning to Wes, Nia said, “I got you a good helper, my boy. A very good helper.
“Yeah, I get that. But what the hell just happened? What ability did you both just use?” Wes asked.
Laughing aloud, Nia said, “Ability? No, my boy. That was a game amongst old friends. A very, very old game.”
Magdrundon turned around, “You cheated.”
Nia waved her off, “Now now, Maggie. Don’t be like that. I lost last time when we played BonDonDun.”
Walking over, Magdrundon sat down next to Wes and took a moment before looking over to Nia and asking, “Why do you want me to pledge to this insignificant boy?”
“Wes, if you would be so kind?” Nia asked.
“You sure?” Wes asked.
“Remember me telling you about us having to fill in certain people? She is one of those people, and she has been a friend in good times as well as bad times to me. And I hope I have been as important a friend to her as she has been to me.” Nia explained.
Wes nodded and turned to Magdrundon and said, “Not too many questions, please. I do have a wedding to get ready for. And I think I have to bathe again, thanks to you two.”
Sharing his status with Magdrundon, he watched as the emotions played across her face. Before she eventually asked, “What are your traits?”
Nia jumped in, “Uh uh ugh, If you want those answers, you have to give far more levels than we just agreed to. You will have to drop the reprisal as well to get any more information aside from what you have been given.”
Creasing her brows together, Magdrundon asked, “How many exactly are we talking?”
“At least 500,” Nia answered.
“350 and he shares my bedin the next hundred years.” Magdrundon countered.
“No, Maggie. 500, and any mating agreements and betrothals will be made by his new wives, from what I understand.”
Turning to Wes, Magdrundon asked him, “Are you worth it?”
Wes couldn’t help but laugh, “Hell no!”
Looking over at Nia, Magdrundon asked, “You have tied yourself to this boy?”
Nodding yes, Nia said, “A million thanks to Argy. That was before I knew about his unique status, but I would easily do ten times that now that I know about his status.”
“If I say no?” Magdrundon asked.”
Nia walked over to Magdrundon and took her hands into her own. “Then you leave, only loosely tying yourself to the one who will rule this universe with a mere 85 levels. I won’t force you, my friend, but I’m sure you can put two and two together.”
“You think he..”
Nia cut her off and said, “Of course, otherwise. . .”
Magdrundon looked at Wes, “I, Magdrundon of planet 417B from the ChiShiKi Empire, pledge 500 levels to Wesley of planet 29744C from the Republic.”
The weight of this pledge was unlike any he had ever felt before. It felt like something broke in Wes’s body. His very soul seemed to be weighed down. Just as he was beginning to lose consciousness, he felt another mana enter his senses. He felt it washing over him as the darkness closed around him.
