Dark Fate, Chapter 41 (Patreon)

A kindof short one, but I felt it was needed to springboard to the new arc. 

Chapter 41 – Upgrades

““Oh, Master!””

Sameera and Shiva shuddered as they climaxed once again. The two maids were stacked up, face to face, their lovely breasts pressing against each other. I sighed, satisfied as I pulled out of Shiva’s upturned booty, watching as cum dribbled out of all four holes before me. With a smile, I patted the Arabic woman’s backside, and went to get a shower to clean up.

It was safe to say that the stamina and technique that came with the [Carnal Arts] skill was universally appreciated by everyone. So, I used my [Training] skill from the Slave Master profession to give it to all my slaves. While some of the girls, like Zarina, were less keen on the skill, I gave it to them regardless, even if I wasn’t planning to sample it with them. Which isn’t to say I didn’t benefit, anyways, as the day after I gave the skill to James and Luna, the cook, looking extremely satisfied and walking just a bit bowlegged, went the extra mile with dinner that night.

But now that I had enjoyed my bit of relaxation after a dungeon dive that had been a lot harder than I had expected it would be, it was time to focus on other things. I couldn’t just lie around screwing my pets, after all. Well, I could, but I really should take a look at what I had gained from clearing out the mall, first. I mean, I’d already distributed my attributes, but there was still the matter of picking skills.

With that in mind, I pulled up my entire status page, to see how it had changed.

Name:

Zayn   Greene

Race:

Greater   Incubus

Class:

Blood   Warlock

Profession:

Slave   Master

Level:

14

XP:

98400/105000

HP:

14400/14400

HP   Regen:

144   per half hour

MP:

9200/11500

MP Regen:

115   per min

Titles:

Executioner,   Dungeon Foe

Attributes

STR

76 (106)

INT

85 (115)

DEX

80   (110)

WIS

50 (80)

CON

114   (144)

CHA

164 (224)

Luck

30   (60)

Defense

80 (4004)

+7   CHA, +1 INT, +1 CON per level

0   Attribute points remaining

4 Attribute   points per level

Currency

$45,202.87

600 CP

38 SP

404 GP

0 PP

2   diamonds (50gp value each)

Boons

Third-Tier   Race

Item   Summoning

Minor   Creation

Abilities

Racial   Abilities

+30   CHA, +10 INT, +10 CON

Gain   +3 CHA, +1 INT, +1 CON, +2 Attribute points per level

Gain   Seduction, Diplomacy, and Intimidation as racial skills

All   Charisma-based skills 25% more effective.

Immunities   – Immune to Corruption, Fire, Poison, and Disease

Vulnerability   – Vulnerable to Holy

Hellfire   – Can summon and manipulate hellfire

Wings   – Able to fly with batlike wings. Must be able to extend wings to fly. Cannot   carry more than a light load and maintain flight.

Sensual   Recharge – Engaging in acts of passion can increase MP and HP regeneration.   More involved acts may transfer MP and HP from your partner to you.

Shapeshifting   – Able to shapeshift into any humanoid form. Attributes do not change in new   form, though may gain physical qualities of the new form (lizardfolk’s scaly   hide providing armor, etc.)

Class   Abilities

+10   CHA

+2 CHA   per Level

Blood   Bolt – The standard magical attack of the Warlock class becomes a bolt of   blood-red energy. Deals 50% more damage to living targets, 50% less damage to   objects, Constructs, Undead, and Oozes.

Blood   Magic – Can cast limited number of spells known to other classes. MP cost is   5x normal. Costs HP equal to the normal MP cost. Number of spells known equal   to level.

Blood   Control – If the blood warlock has a sample of another creature’s blood, they   can attempt to control that creature’s body and mind through magic. The   victim’s resistance is 50% less effective than normal.

Bloodthirst   – The Blood Warlock has a compulsion to drink at least a cup of blood every   day. Failure to drink blood every 24 hours results in their gaining a   stacking 10% debuff to all actions, healing done and damage caused for every   24 hours they go without until they drink fresh blood.

Profession   Abilities

+10   CHA

+2 CHA   per level

Slave   Brand – Gain the ability to enslave creatures, binding them to your will.   Enslaved creatures cannot resist your commands, and gain the Slave title.

Slave   Management – Can see your slaves’ Status, and influence it to some degree,   depending on level and skills.

Slave   Knowledge – Know the direction, distance, and condition of all slaves branded   with your mark.

Skills

Racial   Skills

Seduction   – Increases your ability to seduce individuals. Passively increases your   appeal. Active use decreases target’s resistance.

Pheromones   – Reduces aggression of all females towards you. May have secondary effects.

Hellfire   Magic – Able to cast spells with Hellfire.

Bestow   Glamour – Enhance a willing individual’s looks, adding to their CHA, for a   price.

Touch   of Depravity – Increase an individual’s libido, reduce their WIS temporarily.

Class   Skills

Curse   Magic – The study of curses and other afflictions that can be used to hinder   and hamper enemies. Includes both short-term afflictions, and more lasting   curses.

Destruction   Magic – The study of turning magic into pure destructive power, for the   purposes of destroying your foes.

Summoning   – Allows the warlock to summon a demon to his side. The type of demon depends   on the Warlock’s level, skill, and any materials used. Some demons may be   hostile to summoners.

Demonology   – Gain knowledge about demons and demonic entities.

Soulbinding   – Knowledge of the art of creating binding magics and contracts.

Mental   Resilience – Your ability to resist hostile enchantments, illusions, and   other mind-affecting abilities is increased.

Mettle   – Increase your resistance to hostile damaging spells.

Sacrificial   Rites – Bestows the knowledge of ritual magic involving sacrifices, allowing   the creation of rituals.

Profession   Skills

Appraise   Value – Able to see the level, race, class, and profession of potential   slaves, giving you an idea of their potential value. More information   provided at higher ranks.

Training   – Able to enhance a slave’s learning speed for skills, or teach the slave new   skills.

Taming   – Better able to calm emotional slaves, and prevent aggressive slaves from   inciting rebellion. Also known as breaking or domesticating.

Expanded   Appraisal I – [Appraise Value] now includes titles the target has, as well as   their largest attribute.

Dominance   – Increased resistance to mental or soul influence.

Brand   Capacity I – Increase the number of brands you can maintain to 1 per every 4   points of CHA.

General   Skills

Weapon   Mastery – Proficient with the use of all weapons (not counting   vehicle-mounted weapons or siege weapons).

Armor   Mastery – Proficient with the use of all armor types and shields.

Auto-Regeneration   – Regenerate HP at 200% normal speed.

Toughness   – Decrease nonmagical damage taken by 50%.

Magic   Resistance – Hostile spells are 50% less effective.

Carnal   Arts – Become more skilled in the arts of bringing pleasure to yourself and   others.

6   Skill points remaining

Slaves

Talia   Skinner – High Elf Female, Level 14 Battledancer / Entertainer

Hibari   Kayumi - Human Female, Level 14 Ninja / Alchemist

Twilight   Labyrinth – Dungeon Core, Level 6 Slayer Dungeon

Rachel   Adams – Human Female, Level 14 Priestess / Enchantress

Zarina   Morillo – Beastfolk (Cat) Female, Level 6 Diviner / Scholar

James   Bay – Human Male, Level 6 Ranger / Groundskeeper

Luna   Varela – Elf Female, Level 6 House Mage / Cook

Sameera   el-Niazi – Human Female, Level 6 Rogue / Maid

Shiva   Azari – Human Female, Level 6 Fighter / Maid

Zoe   Zafieri – Moon Lamia Female, Level 6 Silver Dragonblood Ranger / Explorer

Ezraekiel   Vasquez – Half-troll Vampire Female, Level 6 Ranger / Hitman

Available Skills:

Note: Your available skills are based   on your Race, Class, Profession, and activities.

Racial   Skills:

Intimidation   – Increases your ability to frighten or cow individuals. Effects fade when   out of your presence.

Diplomacy   – Increases your ability to sway others and persuade them. May make friends   and influence people.

Desire   Reflection – Allows you to project a glamour that makes you look like a   viewer’s most desirable romantic partner.

Progenitor   – Able to overwhelm barriers to pregnancy.

Kiss   of Corruption – Can reduce a person’s resistance to your seduction (and other   social skills) with a kiss.

Aerial   Defender – Gain 10% to Defense while in flight.

Contract   Magic – Able to create magically binding contracts.

Fool’s   Wisdom – Increase a willing individual’s WIS, for a price.

Class   Skills:

Fell   Magic – Critical damage from Warlock spells (including Blood Bolt and Blood   Magic spells) increased from x2 to x3 (x4 if the target is of ‘good’   alignment).

Sanguine   Spells – May deal HP damage to self in order to enhance the power of spells   or substitute for needed components.

Planar   Knowledge – Knowledge of creatures and magics pertaining to other planes of   existence.

Blood   Rage – Gain the ability to enter a blood rage, dealing enhanced melee damage,   but becoming unable to cast spells for the duration.

Profession   Skills:

Bargaining   – Useful for arranging the best deal when buying or selling slaves. Also   useful for all types of pacts or negotiations.

Body   Shaping – Able to create training regimens that will increase physical   attributes over time.

Mind   Shaping – Able to create training regimens that will increase mental   attributes over time.

Tracking   – Able to sense the general direction to all slaves bearing your brand.

Commanding   Aura – Branded slaves gain 10% to all actions while under direct supervision   of the Master.

Master’s   Will – Branded slaves suffer -10% to all rebellious actions.

General   Skills:

Inspiration   – The ability to make inspiring speeches to get others to follow you.

Anatomy   (Humanoid) – Provides enhanced knowledge of humanoid anatomy, the better to   heal, or harm, with.

Sense   Motive – The ability to sense when people are lying to you, and to discern   ulterior motives.

Knowledge   (System) – Conveys general knowledge about the System, its workings, and its   limitations. Includes class evolutions.

Knowledge   (Dungeons) – Conveys general knowledge about dungeons, their abilities, the   different types, and so on. Helps in recognizing patterns and traps in   dungeons.

Knowledge   (Bestiary) – Conveys general knowledge about monsters and beasts commonly encountered.   While not to the level of Anatomy, or a specialized skill, may provide   general insight into strengths and weaknesses of a creature, and help with   identification.

Arcana   – Conveys some knowledge of magic, but is primarily concerned with altering   known spells to use new elements or have new effects, creating new spells.

Leadership   – Inspire others to follow your lead, and take direction from you. Enhances   ability to manage a group in a crisis.

It had been a while since I looked over the entire thing. Some of my abilities and skills I had not been using to their fullest potential, but that was due in part to the fact that many of those skills relied on ‘fighting’ a superior, or at the very least equal, foe. Just like you didn’t get much use out of sword skills when killing an unconscious puppy, I didn’t get much use out of Seduction when attempting to entice normal women.

Of course, I knew that I wouldn’t always so outclass my opponents. Eventually, humans and former humans would grow to the point where they could challenge me, especially if I slacked off. And they weren’t the only threats I would have to face. We didn’t have too much longer before aliens started coming around, drawn by the prospect of easy conquests, and then I’d be forced to use my skills more heavily.

Honestly, as much fun as it was being the big kid on the block, and being able to push my weight around and do whatever I wanted, I was looking forward to the competition. That was one thing I had learned in my last life. There was no thrill like meeting someone you knew, absolutely knew, was more powerful than you were, and triumphing over them. The only thing that came close was to find a rival who could constantly push you to greater heights.

But if I was going to be prepared for that eventual competition, then I needed to pick skills that would allow me to do what I needed to do, and respond to enemy attacks. That meant reinforcing my strengths, shoring up weaknesses, and finding new avenues of attack or new utility abilities I could bring to the table. And that meant I needed to be certain of what skills I picked.

So, first off, reinforcing my strengths. There were plenty of skills that I had access to that would allow for that, but some of them reinforced things that I wasn’t really using that much already, so I set those to the side, for now. [Blood Rage] was the first of those, since I already concentrated on melee due to my overpowered nature. Likewise, [Commanding Aura] was an easy pick, because I relied on my slaves as party members, which meant they would always be doing better while in my party.

Next, covering my weaknesses. At the moment, outsiders would say that I didn’t have any, but I knew that was just an illusion, due to my inflated abilities. [Sense Motive] was the only one that I had access to that could cover a critical weakness at the moment. Being able to spot deception and manipulation would be critical in the future, so it was an easy pick.

For more utility, I immediately went to [Contract Magic] and [Bargaining]. They were great choices, really, and synergized well. [Contract Magic] would allow me to keep people ‘honest’ in their dealings with me, without going so far as to make them my slaves. That worked on a small scale, but if I tried to scale that up, it would fail, fast. Using [Bargaining] to improve my negotiations in contracts just made it better.

That left me with a single skill point remaining, and I decided to add to my utility a bit more. [Fool’s Wisdom] was too good to pass up. It increased someone’s Wisdom by 50%, for the price of decreasing their Intelligence by 10%, and adding that amount to my Intelligence, and making my abilities more effective against them. Like [Bestow Glamour], the effect was permanent, until I removed it or it was dispelled.

I was just finishing selecting my skills when Zoe slithered into the room. Smiling at the two well-fucked maids, she said, “Ooh, Master, I wish you had brought me in on this. I’ve been wanting to feel you all day!”

Chuckling at the lamia, I said, “Now, now. We’ll deal with you later. I assume you didn’t come here just to get fucked, right?”

Sighing the sigh of those who are long oppressed (or wish others to believe they are), Zoe nodded. “Yes, Master. Your police detective contact is here, and wishing to talk to you about further business.”

“Excellent. Let’s not keep her waiting, then.”