The Gamer Chapter 1118 – Back in Black 1 – Travel Preparation (Patreon)

“Little bit more… little bit more….” Gnome kept waving John along, as he carefully stepped on the gas pedestal. The engine of the car purred quietly, a noticeable difference to how the original 1965 Cadillac it was inspired by would have sounded like. When a car wasn’t available for purchase and magical retrofitting, having a smith that specialized in re-making the outer appearance of vehicles was the best alternative one could go for.

The custom-made hull stayed mostly faithful to the long and sleek design, encompassing the protruding lights and the half-covering of the back wheels. The cloth roof was currently raised, as it wasn’t the right season to drive with an open cabriolet. That it even was cloth in the first place was a surrender to the demands of the mundane world. If John had wanted to use the car only in Abyssal context, he could have used some magical means to keep the metal roof and make it foldable. The car sported the license plate ‘BRBIB’, which stood for ‘Back right back in black’. Not John’s first choice, but the one he had ended up with.

The custom-made ‘vintage’ car stopped when Gnome raised her hand. Then the locking mechanisms of the transport trailer locked into place and John pulled the handbrake. Although the inside of the car was modern in terms of what was in it, a radio, a proper heating system, and all of that, the style of the dashboard and the seats continued to be old-timey. A bit too old-timey, perhaps, as John had insisted on wood to be used for any surface of the dashboard that would not turn into an illegal security risk. The seats were fine leather, the floor black felt carpet, and the backbench was practically an artwork worthy of a movie set.

John undid his buckle and got out. The metal of the trailer clattered under his step as he walked around the black car for any signs of damage or lack of polish. Driving a car like this was a prestige symbol and the Gamer wanted it to gleam like Excalibur itself when he pulled up with it in front of William Brighton. If the other car on the trailer, a large jeep, got damaged, that was less important.

A week had passed since the double date, in which nothing of note had happened. Paperwork and sex, the two constants of John’s life, had trudged on like always. He had gotten another three levels because of that, leaving him at 463.


Because of the Elevation of Wisdom Perk, he had only had to invest 3 points per level into the Stat to keep up with elemental demands now. He went with four instead, because that was a clean half of what each level got him and because he wanted the margin to be wider to prepare for the inevitable change to Artificial Spirit. Otherwise, he was now investing in Agility. His health was covered well by his mana regeneration, so Endurance wasn’t as much of an issue and John wanted to be faster rather than stronger because avoiding attacks and aiming spells was of greater use to him than throwing stronger punches.

Besides sex-based levelling, he had gotten nothing of note done. Magoi hadn’t been available for any grinding sessions, and even if he had been, John had so much work to do that he could have hardly taken it. The Lake Alliance was barely integrated yet and that came with its fair share of issues that had to be looked after.

Part of John was happy that he had a fantastic excuse to delegate the majority of that work to his ministers. Paranoia left him afraid they would cock something up though or, almost worse, get taken advantage of by Emrik. He almost wanted Momo to stay because of it. If he had asked, he already knew that she wouldn’t have done it.

Like the majority of his harem, she wanted to see the city he had grown up in. Momo had only briefly been in it and that had been in the aftermath of the fight against Thana/Eliza/Eliana. She had been in his family home before. That was about it.

Of course, they would visit both his and Rave’s old homes. Unlike what John had told the Golden Rose, however, they had no intention of staying there. That job went to the vehicle pulling the trailer.

The harem’s travel bus was a marvel of all kinds of engineering and more spacious than a house in the suburbs. Importantly, the bus was suited to the needs of the harem, while the house was equipped to deal with a small family. Also, they didn’t have to worry about the true forms of many of the party members.

The bus would serve as their mobile home and the faux-Cadillac as their vehicle to move around locally. Honestly speaking, it wasn’t entirely optimal for that purpose because it could only fit five people, six if the backbench seriously squeezed themselves together.

It was too stylish not to use it though.

“Alright, last checks,” John said, when he was fully certain that his car was secure and in prime condition. “Anyone got anything they need to do before we leave?” He looked at the gathered haremettes. “Any last calls to make? Any rations to store?”

“The bus is, as always, readily stocked to sustain us for up to a month,” Aclysia informed him. She and her fellow two Artificial Spirits had caught up with John’s level just in time for this trip.




“Fantastic,” the Gamer hummed, ready to kiss and hug her the moment they got travelling. “Anyone else remember something they need to get done?” There was universal denial, even Velka shook her head, so they got ready to board the bus and get moving. The first couple of girls were up the stairs (John waited to be the last to enter, for gazing reasons), when there was a sudden loud bang, echoing through the massive garage. ‘What now?’ the Gamer wondered. The haremettes poured back out of the bus, ready to fend off whatever had entered their car storage.

Incessant giggling announced someone getting closer and closer to their position. Metal scraped over the raw concrete floor, a sound worthy of a horror movie.

John was more annoyed about this development than alarmed. The lack of self-hating babbling indicated that they were dealing with a regular madman rather than some kind of Lorylim infested monstrosity. Even if there was a Lorylim coming for them right now, Nathalia was with them. The greater worry was that the car would get destroyed in any sort of meaningful fight.

What did eventually come around a corner was a man of indiscernible age, courtesy of the scars that covered every inch of his visible skin. It looked like he had been flailed with fishing hooks and cauterized afterwards. A tattered robe, covered in burn marks, covered him halfway. With one arm, he dragged a sledgehammer after him. No doubt that had created the bang when he had used it on one of the locked side entrances. In the other, he held a pink glove.

“Marathyu,” John greeted the unexpected visitor. The mad smith didn’t answer, only walked up to Rave and, with quivering hands, presented the glove to her. Up close, John could see numerous, thin transparent lines stretch through the fabric. They glowed in the full spectrum of light.

“Thanks, I guess?” Rave asked and took the glove.

“It’s a new bodysuit,” John told her. He could guess that much without using Observe.

“What? That’s what’s left of my shoes?” Rave asked. The last three versions of her bodysuit, one of which she currently had around, had come in the form of Artificial Spirits bound in shoes. The spirits used had been of incredibly simple structure, existing only to read their wearers intent and change accordingly. One of the two destroyed versions, John had given to the mad smith to try and restore it. That this would ultimately be the result of that was inside his range of expectations.

“Shoes?!” Marathyu suddenly shouted. “SHOES?! SHOES ARE AN UNWORTHY FORM OF DEATH GIVEN SHAPE!” John glanced at Siena, who noticed and hissed loudly. “I dreamed of this masterpiece. The last of those fantastic metals you gave to me, they screamed to be used – screamed in my dreams.”

“Neat,” Rave responded and put the glove on. The lines cutting through the pink fabric realigned themselves to be a natural extension of the geometric patterns that covered Rave’s right arm. Once that process had finished, the glove shrunk to be a skin-tight fit. The iridescent lines put aside, it looked like an oddly coloured, but otherwise regular glove.

“My work here is done,” Marathyu declared.

“Don’t ya wanna see me test it?” she asked.

“I know what I would see. Call me again when you have more of those metals for me to use,” Marathyu said and, still dragging the sledgehammer after him, walked away. For no discernible reason, he destroyed a second door on his way out.


“What a simple and honest name,” Rave said when John told her the name of the glove. It was no longer an Artificial Spirit, so it couldn’t be fed materials anymore, but given what had been worked into it, there was a slim chance that would ever be necessary again anyway. “We aren’t in a hurry, right?”

“We’ll get there three days early anyway, so no,” John responded and waved at an empty part of the car storage. “Just don’t test near the cars please.”

“I’ve that much thought in my head,” Rave responded with a wink and strut towards the vacant area. Only Copernicus followed her, the rest kept a respectful distance. “Besides, I’m just trying it on, I ain’t using any serious power in here!”

Just after she had said that, a flash of light cascaded out from her. It wasn’t bright enough to incur any temporary blindness, only to make everyone reflexively narrow their eyes - if they were sensitive to such things. Gone as quick as it had come, it revealed at its centre Rave in her new body suit.

While the last, and incredibly short-lived, version had been of a duller colour thanks to the Mithril used in it, this bodysuit was once again the same bright pink as Rave’s hair. The exception to this were the reinforced limb areas. The majority of her legs, starting at the upper thighs and ending with metal-capped toes and heel, were covered in a layer of black, essentially invoking the feeling of tall leather boots. For her arms, the left was covered up to the elbow with similar reinforcements, including metal plates on the knuckles. On the right, only the hand was black, but did not seem to be reinforced whatsoever. The geometric lines that covered her skin shone through the various pathways made from the Fusionals.

Rave clenched her hands into fists a couple of times, and then started to test her new suit. Extending her arms, executing kicks at various heights and twisting herself in all the ways that she could, not all of which were practical for combat, she confirmed that her manoeuvrability was fully intact. The pink areas were less reflective than the black ones. Only when stretched, did the two rival each other in that regard, otherwise the texture of the torso cover was more like neoprene than leather or latex. Regardless, a bodysuit, even (or especially) if it was a legendary one, was still a bodysuit, so seeing her fantastic body in motion was enticing in every way. Sticking to her curves in all the right ways, it revealed the perfect roundness of her bubble butt in a way that pronounced the two cheeks individually to display the full picture of glory. Her chest was similarly sexily displayed, with the body suit mildly segmenting her decently sized boobs for additional highlighting. The cat tail that was usually not physically attached to her body was at the appropriate place on Illuminare.

While she moved, the bodysuit sang. Music coming from weapons forged from the elemental extreme metals was nothing new. Rather than an instrument, Illuminare’s sounds mimicked that of a choir that had been harmonized to the point that individual voices no longer existed. It was essentially the same as the choir option for keyboards, firmly differentiated from an actual group of people singing. All of that was underlined by subtle violins. Whenever Rave ended a motion, there was a metallic end to the steady notes.

“Alright, tell me what the interesting enchantments are,” the feline Lightbearer asked, both of her feet firmly back on the ground.

“Let’s see here,” John said and checked the Attributes that were unknown.


“…This is best ever,” Rave said, so awestruck and excited that she swallowed some words by accident.

“Best what? Day, item, gift?” John teased her with a list of words that may fit.

“Best of your bullshit to date.”

“The BS here are Fusionals-“

“That’s still such a bad name,” Scarlett threw in.

“-I will spank you,” John threatened. “I will actually spank you until you beg me to stop.”

“Oh noooo,” the masochistic technomancer responded with dry sarcasm. “Whatever will I fucking do.”

Rave snapped her fingers a couple of times to make sure attention returned to her. Each snap was underlined by a bit of choir singing and light sparking. “You’ll shut up until we wrap this up, is what you’ll do. Keep going, tiger.”


“That’s kinda boring.”

“Everything is boring after ‘your presence changes the weather’.”

“Just means I should get more awesome stuff!”


John scratched his head. “Well, I guess you can use a stronger emergency burst option now that your Babel Phrase doesn’t knock you out after one usage anymore.”

“It sounds cool, so I’ll take it.”

John skipped over Chosen Loyalty, Swordmind and Indestructible. All of those were present on the other weapons of Illuminare’s kind.



Rave looked down at herself, as she made the cover of her boobs thin and ultimately flow away to the sides. With a thin bit of pink separating the delightfully firm, medium-sized and now completely bare boobs, the feline Lightbearer stood in her otherwise fully intact bodysuit. Then the entire body suit disappeared in a flash, replaced by her clothing. A couple of seconds later, the bodysuit was back. Then it was gone again, not even the glove showing, leaving Rave completely naked. And then it was finally back again.

“That’s super awesome,” she said. “I can strip instantly or I can only get my naughty bits.”

“Honestly, with how Second Skin is worded, you wouldn’t even have to get your tits out – it would feel the same to you whether I touch your boobs with or without it. Anyway, moving on.”


John made a bit of a sour face upon reading. Personally, he was not big on effects that raised Libido in combat. It sounded hot, but when the actual life was on the line, being distracted by a tingle downstairs was highly unwanted. That it had an emergency disable made it palatable, even if that came with a hefty restriction on its effectiveness.

“That’s awesome!” Rave did not share his issues with practicality. Knowing his girlfriend, she was thinking something along the lines of: ‘I love getting fucked senseless after I fight!’ “I love getting fucked senseless after combat!” she declared with a smile that only grew wider when she heard John clicking his tongue. “What? Did ya guess my thoughts slightly wrong?”

“Stop reading my thoughts, ya witch!”

“I’ll tell ya again and again, tiger, I live rent-free in your head and I ain’t leaving.”

“As if I would let you leave.”

“Rrrrrr,” Rave playfully growled and made a scratching motion in his general direction. “Gimme the last one, I need to go and appease my landlord.”


“More incentives to fuck, exactly what you needed,” John said drily.

Then a nude girlfriend threw herself at him and they retreated into the bus.