The Gamer Chapter 1205 – No Holds Barred 4 – Sphere (Patreon)


John felt more than a little intrigued by the new design. The proof-of-concept Scarlett had presented him with several months ago had been covered in spikes, rather than the black dots that rose from the silvery-white plates. A change for the better, as far as John was concerned. The Mandala Sphere was always around him and appearing like a flying morning star would not look good on photos nor would it be a safe household item.

“What happened to version 3.1?” he wondered, while placing his hand on the new Mandala Sphere and casting Possession. He wanted to give it a test drive before he made it into his Extension.

“We were practically done with assembling it when I made a breakthrough while working on Schattengarn. You know how it turns into threads when thinned?”

John pulled his suit, consisting in large parts of the metal, into place. “I am distantly aware, yes.”

“Had to ask, you have your mind in my pants most of the time,” Scarlett responded. The only reason why John had to accept that as true was because she happened to wear pants at the moment.

They were inside her work room, the large chamber in the skyscraper Thorn had built where machine modules made up every surface and at least a metre behind it. All of it was designed with Scarlett’s whims in mind, mostly because she had perfected every inch of it over the years. It was a technomancer’s workshop in every regard.

Scarlett pulled a cigarette from the inside of her suit. After it was between her pink lips, John took the lighter from her. He flicked the metal lid open and ignited the cigarette for her. “You deserve it today,” he told her, “but I still want to kiss you less right now.”

“You’ll survive,” Scarlett joked past the cigarette and inhaled the smoke. Slowly she pushed it out again, her red eyes focused on the Mandala Sphere as it rose from the socket and began moving around. It felt easier than the previous iteration, which doubtlessly had to do with one of the many new enchantments on it. John browsed through all of them that were new to him.


There was the explanation for the ease of movement. After hovering the Mandala Sphere in a circle for about fifteen seconds, he tried out the primary new feature. One of the plates individually rose from the rest and moved outwards. The two layers underneath followed, all of them connected via a black thread that simultaneously seemed solid like wire yet stretched like liquid rubber.

As per the dictates of Possession, all of it was one object, and the Gamer had incredible control over the extended segment. Stretching it out to the maximum, it measured three metres. Each of the plates along its length could be individually angled and the ‘tendril’ curved and even coiled as John wanted.

“This is amazing,” John commented. One by one, he extended the other plates. There was a total of 12 segments, each with three plates, all controlled by his mind. They were all anchored to the core, a crystal of a similar variety to what Artificial Spirits used. Between the black threads, the silver light of John’s mana and the purple of the enchantments pulsed.

Scarlett sat down on a piece of the floor that was raised by her will. A table swiftly followed and she placed her empty cigarette package on it. “Try picking this up.”

That was an interesting challenge. The Mandala Sphere hovered over. Each of the plates came to a curved point where the top or bottom of the consolidated sphere would be. Using two of the tendrils, he managed to pick up the piece of used cardboard in a similar vein as he would pick up food items with chopsticks.

There was an issue in executing the manoeuvre: the location of John’s sight. Possession allowed the ‘eyes’ to be located practically anywhere on the surface of the object. With the old Mandala Sphere, that had been a non-issue as all the plates were always the same distance from the centre and could rotate however he wanted. Now he had ten tentacles to control and switching the viewing position required his mind to ‘travel’ from wherever it currently was. In order to jump from the tip of one tendril to the other, his consciousness needed to either go all the way to the core and up to the new tip or he needed to get the surfaces to touch.

All of that was possible, yet quite distracting. It was best to have one of the tendrils stay back and serve as the ‘head’. All of the tentacles not in view, he would just not use for more complicated movements.

“I’ll have to do a lot of rethinking,” John mumbled as he curved all of the tendrils in one direction. With all of the sharp tips pointed ahead, except for the one plate used to serve as his eyes, the Mandala Sphere looked like a mixture of a Beholder and a closed flower. The maximum range across was six metres. Considering the demands of motion, curves and whatnot, the effective area it could cover was more around four. Even with that and even with the ways the tendrils could interact being obviously limited by their blade-tips, this was an incredible upgrade. “It’s more of a flying decapod than a Mandala Sphere now.”

“Doesn’t really matter to me what you call it,” Scarlett responded and blew some more smoke into the air. A second segment extended the bench with enough room for John to sit down next to her. He didn’t have to stand to check what his new toy could do. Neither did he need his hands. As he felt up Scarlett’s petite chest, he kept on reading.


Upgraded flight speed was a necessity at this point. The previous Mandala Sphere had been unable to keep up even with the slower members of the harem without constant mana investment. While this new one would still struggle to that end at the moment, it had a scaling factor. If his Extension’s lack of speed became an issue, he could now actively do something about it.


‘Now that’s interesting,’ John thought and pulled the tendrils back in. Activating the enchantment on one segment, he watched as the black dot on the surface, the outermost patch of Schattengarn, transformed into a ten-centimetre-long thorn. Thin and pointy, it cut through the air when he unleashed the Kinetic Discharge. John could barely steer the attack or the Mandala Sphere, until the plate had reached its maximum range and stopped. A little bit of wind brushed over John’s face from the force of the movement.


‘Now THAT’s interesting,’ John thought, almost stopping in his steady teasing of Scarlett’s erect nipples. The invisibility was negligible. Useful in certain situations, certainly, but nothing core to what the Mandala Sphere or his Double were supposed to do. It was the ability to imbue the Extension with relocation spells that was truly powerful.

John reapplied his Possession with Magus Step and then watched as the Mandala Sphere vanished with an arcane spark flickering where it had just been, to reappear immediately a metre to the left. Checking on the Skill itself, he clicked his tongue with mild disappointment.

“What’s the problem?” Scarlett asked, throwing the cigarette butt down a tube that reared up next to her.

“It uses the same stacks as I do,” he explained. “A mild drawback, but the Skill is free otherwise, so I won’t complain about it.”


That one was decisively ‘meh’. It would help the Mandala Sphere when it came to holding positions, such as blocking a corridor, but the scaling on the shield was pretty poor. John’s Particle Skin blocked 1 damage per 1 MP, so it was four times as powerful. Regular mana shields also had the issue that spatial magic could circumvent them.

It was better to have it than not, though.

John activated the barrier. As it was fuelled entirely by his mana, the translucent bubble was tinted silver. It made it appear like the Mithril sphere got a ghostly fourth layer about a metre out. Interestingly, that distance was set. The tentacles effortlessly expanded outwards, but they left the protected area in doing so.

“Did you do any testing on how sturdy the connections are?” John asked, eying the Schattengarn wires. When he didn’t receive an answer, he turned his head to find Scarlett giving him a deadpan look. “Yeah, that was a stupid question,” he admitted and cleared his throat. “What were the results of your tests on the sturdiness of the Schattengarn links?”

“To start with, it’s not Schattengarn, it’s a Schattengarn-Poseidury alloy that I dubbed Thornium.”

“And you complain about Collimets being a stupid name.”

“It’s fucking horrendous,” the technomancer responded. “I could have named this pitch-black metal ‘Scarlettium’ and it still would have sounded better. Instead, I named this metal that forms thorns when charged with magical energy ‘Thornium’ so you can fuck right off with comparing it to the verbal raping that is ‘Collimets’.”

John slid a hand into her pants and lifted her into his lap. Having already worked on her boobs for several minutes, he found her pussy slightly wet and easy to slide his fingers into. Her overplayed rage was replaced with a lewd sigh. Steadily, he masturbated the redhead, keeping her writhing body pinned with his other arm.

“It’s s—ssturdy,” Scarlett struggled to answer his actual question. “Obv-iously can’t take too fucking much… oh FUCK!” Her hips suddenly pressed hard against his palm, while his fingers rubbed her clit rapidly. He could feel the dampness in her panties increase alongside the repeated spasms.

“Fifteen seconds,” John whispered into her ear. “Someone is sensitive today.”

Whatever answer she had was lost as John continued to work the androgynous beauty’s cunt. She breathed heavily, then screamed at a high pitch as a second orgasm swiftly followed the first. John only upped the pressure further, basking in her intensifying reactions. As one of the haremettes physically inferior to him, he could keep her locked down with one arm no matter how much she squirmed. His arm wandered, from holding her in a tight embrace to pinning her by the throat.

That was what broke the dam. The bratty masochist’s panties turned from damp to soaked, as she squirted all over his fingers and the inside of her expensive suit. John bit back the remark he could have made in regards to it looking like she had soiled herself. “Strip and answer the rest of my question,” he demanded and let go of her.

“Okay, boss,” she answered sarcastically between heavy breaths. Disregarding her tone, she did stand up and unbuttoned the front of her pants. They fell down easily, unlike the red lace panties that had turned clingy and see through. “The links are sturdy and flexible. Unless it’s a clean hit by someone around your level, they should bend rather than tear. Even if they do get separated, it’s fairly easy to repair, just line up the separated ends and they meld back together on their own.”

“Let’s hope I don’t forget to retrieve them, then.” John tapped the button that made his clothes disappear, just as Scarlett’s shirt hit the floor. As per usual, she was not wearing a bra. “Your choice,” he told her when she gave his dick an inquisitive glance.

“If you leave any of my work on the floor anywhere, I will fucking charge you by the gram,” Scarlett threatened. At the same time, she turned around and aligned her drenched pussy with his erection. Reverse sitting cowgirl was most certainly one of John’s favourite positions. Watching her bubble butt descend on him until its squishy cheeks pressed against his groin solidified that preference. “I ca-ahn check exa-aaaah-ctly how much you owe me.”

“Of course you can,” John groaned, the pleasure straining his own voice. “Any reason Indestructible wasn’t put on it?”

“It’s not the final design,” Scarlett responded calmly, keeping her moaning under control while she gently oscillated her ass. “I wanted to keep improving on it, so it could have been necessary to smelt the materials back down. Obviously, you have some urgent uses for it.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” John responded and thrust up into her.