NOVEL NEXT (draft) Vol 3, Ch 35. Enhancement
“… so he didn’t start begging right away, but by the end, I had to limit healing to once every couple hundred yards or we never would have gotten back.”
Bonny and her companions, plus one, were back in their room, crowded around the small table, most of them eating dinner.
Adelina was curled up in Bonny’s hair, content and asleep.
Zeal knelt under Bonny, supporting her. The dragon girl was purring like a cat and her tail and wings kept twitching. A smear of dirt still smudged her cheek from the rough fucking earlier in the day. Bonny had elected to skip that detail when using her purification aura before eating.
Willowbelle was happy and watered. Her sapling wasn’t fully recovered, one limb was completely missing, but Bonny had used [Mending!] to repair what she could.
Violet sat on Bonny’s lap as a blob. Nestor had suffered from extensive acid burns. He hadn’t lost any more appendages, but it had been close on one particularly sensitive one. Bonny had healed him, with Violet’s help, but he was angry with both of them and they weren’t sure if he would continue to help with magical crafting.
The ‘plus one’ was Kori, the sheep kin that Haruto had compelled to serve him. When freed from his compulsion, she threw herself at Bonny’s feet and wouldn’t let go. Several of the other girls had begged to stay with Bonny as well, but Kori had been the most insistent and had refused to be separated. Bonny finally relented and let her join them after hearing her story about Haruto killing her mom and forcing her to apologize for it.
The other girls were given space and blankets at the new school and would have the opportunity to speak with some of the priests and guards about their futures.
Haruto had been handed over to the city guard and imprisoned. An investigative team would travel upstream to evaluate the claims of death and destruction. Several of the girls that had come with him had verified the story and told the guards of other crimes. Even without that, he had killed two of Beaverton’s most skilled guards.
“You sshould have killed him. He desservess it and it would have been eassier.” Eloisss hissed, clearly exasperated with Bonny’s strange morals.
Bonny sighed. “I know, but I don’t like killing people. Besides, he’s from my world. There are only six of us. Maybe he was delusional and really didn’t think of them as real people. My world had books and games like this, where people play characters that save worlds and rescue princesses and shit.”
“Thiss iss not a game. Even the ssysstem callss him a monsster.”
Bonny had told them about her access to the system, of course. They mostly just assumed it was due to her close relationship with the gods and didn’t question it.
“No. If he had died in the fight, it wouldn’t bother me. Well, not too much. But once we captured him, I couldn’t. My world has rules about prisoners.” Bonny frowned. “Not that every country follows them.”
“It iss what it iss. What about her?” Eloisss motioned to Kori, who sat on the floor leaning against Bonny’s leg.
“I don’t know.” Bonny reached down to pat the sheep kin on the head. “She’s had a difficult time and I sort of feel like it’s my fault.”
“Why?" Freja didn’t stop eating when she asked and sprayed bits of carrots across the table. "You didn’t do anything to her. You saved her from a monster.”
“I don’t know. He’s from my world.” Bonny threw a chunk of carrot back at the centaur. “Don’t talk with your mouth full! That’s rude.”
Freja blushed and covered her mouth.
The rest of the group laughed and their conversation turned to preparation for leaving the next day. They would be escorting a mother and daughter merchant pair into the forest. Several other merchants had expressed interest in getting access to the lamia’s iron mines, but Eloisss had nixed any men traveling with them.
When they went to bed, Miu and Kanae curled up next to Bonny and latched onto her nipples like children. They didn’t do it every night, but the ambrosia that Bonny expressed seemed to be good for them and their developing children. Miu’s morning sickness hadn’t been an issue in several days, though she was still careful about what she ate each morning.
Bonny lay there, half asleep, her arms around the two girls. Miu’s ears twitched and Kanae’s four tails wagged happily as they suckled.
“Fuck me again, please?”
Bonny opened her eyes to see Pride standing above her. The demoness still had streaks of cum and other fluids marring her face and swollen body.
“No.”
“Please! I’ll do anything.”
“What is wrong with you? You’re Pride, for fucks sake. Act like you have some.”
“I … we’ve never felt like this before.” Her voice devolved into a chorus. “Take us. Break us.”
“I’m busy.” Bonny closed her eyes again.
“Please! We’ll give you everything.”
“Fine.” Bonny held up a finger on the hand holding Kanae. “Sit here.”
A moment later, a wet warmth enveloped her fingertip, and faint moans sounded as the demoness slid down to the first knuckle. Still too deep and wide for a body that size, but not as far as Bonny had stretched her earlier.
Bonny closed her thumb and started rotating her finger and thumb together. The moans escalated.
“Shh. Keep quiet or I’ll stop.”
The moans grew muffled and the tiny body writhed on her fingertip. Bonny felt the demoness with her aura and pulled a small amount of power from her. She didn’t take much, mindful of the recent experiences with Courage and Lust, but small amounts should be fine.
“Status!” Bonny didn’t often remember to check the system, but today should have given her something.
——-
Alerts (3):
* You have dethroned and captured a Demonic Champion. You will assume their role.
* You have enraptured a demon and taken it’s power. All stats increased. Aura strength increased.
* The Demon Pride is devoted to you. The touch of the Demonic will be seen upon you. You will command admiration and respect from those around you. Your aura may intimidate anyone not demon-touched. Your aura strength has increased. Your will has increased.
* You gain access to Pride’s enhancements. Excel and be proud.
Status:
Name: Bonny
Race/Species: Outworlder / Rabbit-kin / Succubus
Age: 22
Health: Healthy
Soul: Healthy
Enhancement points: 34
Titles:
Dragonslayer - You have slain a dragon.
Journeyman Sage - You have learned all magical affinities.
Ageless (H) - You have stopped aging due to residual Divine essence. Hidden!
Demonic Champion (H) - You champion the cause of a Demon. Hidden!
Divine Engineer (H) - You have changed the System. Hidden!
Achievements:
Proficiency with all Magic Affinities - Sage title earned.
Attention of the Gods (H) - The Divine Seven are watching you. Hidden!
Demigod (H) - You have acquired and given up Divinity. Hidden!
Demoness (H) - You have maximized your Demonic affinity. Hidden!
System Update (H) - Divine Engineer title earned. Hidden!
Magic Affinities:
Arcane:
Journeyman 12%
Demonic:
Master - Lust 100%
Journeyman - Wrath 40%
Divine:
Expert - Courage 0%, Healing 5%
Journeyman - Justice 0%, Compassion 0%, Hope 0%
Elemental:
Beginner - Air 0%
Novice - Earth 0%
Aura Abilities:
Demonic Desire (area) - Increase desire in entities around you.
Demonic Drain (affected) - Drain essence from entities affected by Desire.
Demonic Esteem (area, affected) - Increase admiration and respect from entities around you or those enthralled.
Demonic Fury (self) - Increase physical speed and stats when enemies are around you.
Divine Cleansing (area) - Purify the area around you.
Divine Courage (allies) - Allies around you will be immune to fear and have their morale boosted.
Divine Empathy (area) - Improved Perception and increased awareness of those in need.
Divine Healing (area) - Friendly entities around you will slowly heal.
Divine Hope (area) - People around you will look to you for guidance. Allies will have morale boosted, enemies will feel despair.
Divine Retribution (area) - Enemies around you inflicting damage to allies will take half damage in return.
Earned Abilities:
Divine Leveling - Double experience rewarded for conflict with Demonic Champions or minions.
Dragonfear Immunity - Immune to Dragonfear and lesser terrors.
Dragonfire Immunity - Immune to Dragonfire and lesser fire.
Class: Expert Medic/Demonic (alternatives available, advancement available)
Skills: (no skills available, no skills may be improved)
Analgesia (all) - 2%
Analysis (all, spirit, system) - 3%
Create Water (all) - 17%
Mending (all) - 100% (Advancement available - Heal, Rehabilitate, or Restore)
Panacea (all) - 100% (Advancement available - Catholicon, Remedy, or Theriac)
Sacrifice (demonic) - 64%
Ward (all) - 83%
Wound Transfer (demonic) - 62%
Non-Class Skills:
Contraception (all)
Invigorate (arcane, divine)
Racial Skills: Draining Aura, Draining Kiss
General Skills: Agility, Dancing, First Aid, Flexibility, Running, Shield Use, Sword Use, Walking, Otherworld Knowledge
Equipment:
Big Red - Bonded, Growth (Legendary, multiple parts/Demonic)
Brush of Death - Bonded (Legendary)
Cup of Compassion - Bonded (Divine)
Cornucopia of Hope - Bonded (Divine)
Fist of Wrath - Bonded, Growth (Rare, Demonic)
Spear of Courage - Bonded (Divine)
Sword of Justice - Bonded (Divine)
Sword of Pride - Bonded, Growth (Rare, Demonic)
Phys Pow: Novice 37%
Phys Con: Novice 37%
Stamina: Novice 38%
Mag Pow: Journeyman 41%
Mag Con: Journeyman 41%
Mana: Journeyman 42%
Aura Pow: Expert 18%
Aura Con: Expert 1%
Will: Expert 30%
——
“Enhancements? Haruto mentioned twenty four points and I have twenty nine? Can I get a breakdown of what those are?” Bonny spoke to herself as she concentrated on the new enhancement category in her status.
An explanation popped up over her status window.
Enhancement points can improve a skill or ability beyond it’s base capability. Each point increases the efficiency and effect of a skill or ability by ten percent of the base. Points may be gained by exceptional feats, achievements, or strong bonds with subordinates.
“Subordinates? I guess Haruto had enthralled twenty four people. But I haven’t? Where …?”
Another window popped up.
——-
Enhancement Points and Sources: 34
Kanae - 3
Zeal - 3
Adelina - 2
Eloisss - 2
Freja - 2
Hyzenth - 2
Miu - 2
Thana - 2
Willowbelle - 2
Altha - 1
Bess - 1
Brooke - 1
Clara - 1
Eris - 1
Gloria - 1
Helem - 1
Iolana - 1
Kori - 1
Lupa - 1
Nellie - 1
Tamanna - 1
——
“Oh. Oh!”
Some of the numbers made sense but some didn’t. But Hyzenth? They didn’t have a bond, did they? At least not like everyone else.
At first she assumed it was a list of people she had slept with, but she hadn’t been with everyone on the list. Plus there were a few that she had been intimate with, but weren’t on the list, like Lake and Hananoka. Granted, she hadn't focused on either of them, or on Tamanna, but the ferret had continued to interact with her, while the otter kept her distance.
There were other inconsistencies as well.
Lake wasn’t listed, but Gloria was. The encounter with Gloria and Hope was similar to the encounter with Lake and Aqua, but did that mean Gloria had a stronger bond with her than Lake did, or something else?
Did Brooke’s addition mean she had been involved in Kanae’s game or just that she was overly obsessed with Bonny? Could the healing and surgery make a difference? What would Eloisss say if she knew Brooke was included on the list? Bonny quickly resolved not to share that detail.
Zeal was strong, but she didn’t have access to the system. Kanae did use the system, but Bonny didn’t think she was that much more powerful than Eloisss or Freja. Could it be tier based? Did that mean Kanae was tier three now?
Kori was both interesting and disturbing. It couldn’t be healthy for her to form a strong bond with Bonny right after being released from some magical compulsion or whatever Haruto had done. Bonny decided it would be best not to sleep with her.
She finally decided it had to be a combination of power and connection. Supernatural entities obviously weren’t included, like the gods, demons, and Susan, but any other strong connection from someone seemed to give a point, even if Bonny didn’t reciprocate the feeling. People classified at a higher tiers gave more points, whether or not the system applied to them.
So, who the fuck was Thana? How could they have a connection if Bonny didn't know who it was?
When she considered where to allocate points, [Mending] was first in line.
She had always felt called to the medical profession and had always wanted to help cure people. As a child, she wanted to be a doctor or find the cure for cancer, but her family didn’t have money for college and she had settled for nursing. Stripping was fun, for the right audience, but it was originally just a way to pay for school.
Now she could fix people with magic. She had fixed people. Had cured cancer - sort of.
[Mending], [Panacea], and her Regeneration Aura were her primary methods of healing. Of course, [Sacrifice] had done it’s part as well, especially early on, and she still used it to transfer mana or stamina when needed. [Ward] had helped her avoid injury and if she had used it when approaching Haruto, maybe it could have prevented him from cutting her throat. [Triage], which became [Analysis], was important as well, it had helped her save Brooke and others. They would all benefit from improvement.
[Analgesia], [Create Water], [Contraception], and [Invigorate] were all nice, but they were fine as they were.
She wasn’t sure about [Wound Transfer], it was an odd skill that she rarely used now, but it had saved both Eloisss and herself by magically transferring exceptionally serious injuries that would have taken too much mana to heal with [Mending] or [Sacrifice]. Her latest injury was worse than the time the assassin had cut her throat, but she had survived without someone to transfer it to, even if she had needed supernatural aid.
Her racial draining skills could presumably be enhanced as well, but she decided they didn’t need the power up for now.
What about her general skills? Flexibility or Agility could be fun. Shield Use could help, though she would need to carry her shield for it to be useful. She skimmed over the others and decided to pass.
She mentally allocated ten points to [Mending]. If she understood the explanation correctly, each point would increase both the efficiency and effect of the skill, so ten points should double the healing power and, at the same time, reduce the mana cost by half. Mana was often her biggest limiter with this skill and that should increase her ability to heal by four hundred percent.
Next, she tried to allocate points to her Healing Aura. She wasn’t sure if they could be applied to non-skill based auras, especially when the enhancement was demonic and the aura divine, but to her surprise it worked. She gave it ten points as well. She didn’t know if she could remove the points once they had been assigned, but those abilities were the two she considered most important. Iolana would be happy at the increased power and faster regeneration.
She considered her other skills for a bit, then decided to hold onto the remaining points. She could probably get more by sleeping with more people, like Kama. The brothel owner might be a good candidate, and fun, since she seemed to know what she was doing, but Bonny decided to talk to her companions about everything first.
She glanced over the changes to her Status and was surprised to see a new notification.
——-
Alert:
* Pride has granted you additional enhancement points. Excel and be proud.
Status changes:
Enhancement points: 19 (20 allocated)
Auras:
Demonic Esteem (area, affected) - Increase admiration and respect from entities around you or those enthralled.
Enhanced Divine Healing [10 points, +100%] (area)
Skills:
Enhanced Mending [10 points, +100%] (all)
——
Five extra points? Why?
Bonny had been absentmindedly rubbing her thumb and finger together the entire time she had been contemplating her status. Pride had kept her moans quiet, as Bonny had requested, and Bonny had tuned out the jerking convulsions around her finger.
She focused on it now and was surprised to find the demoness had apparently passed out, but was still spasming and quivering each time Bonny’s thumb brushed across her clitoris.
She smiled, relaxed her hand, and drifted off to sleep.
