July 3, 2025; "Oh that's perfect!" Giggled a woman from right beside him. Clay turned, the remaining afterimages of the bright light quickly fading.

  The woman that stood before him wasn't like any other he'd ever seen. Her raven black hair was woven into a thick braid that rested along one arm. She had a golden net laced with red jewels that sparkled like miniature fires. She wore a simple leather-wrapped sword at her waist and an intricate breastplate etched with the scars of many, many battles over thin silver chainmail. Clay noticed he couldn't move other than his head. He couldn't even say anything as she reached out a red-stained gauntlet and raised his chin. It was only then that he realized she was taller than him as he looked up into her solid black eyes.

  "Oh, this is wonderful. Oh, how I'm so glad you awoke the essence I gave you! Gaia is going to be so fucking pissed!" The woman threw her head back and cackled in mirth as she started to circle him. Clay could see everyone else. They almost looked like ghosts, or smokey phantoms as everything was dead still. Absolutely nothing moved.

  "Wait a minute..." The woman suddenly stopped her laughter behind him and stepped around to his other side, her black eyes mere slits as she seemed to look into his very essence. He could "feel" her essence pushing on his.

  She let out a gasp. "No. No that's not possible, you can't have two..." The woman started before Clay heard a crack like the sound a glacier would make as a large chunk fractured off and he had to close his eyes as a wave of energy washed over him.

  "Get away from him, Morrígan. Now!" Came a demanding husky feminine voice. "Or I'll..."

  "Piss off! You can't do shit right now and I know it, Gaia." The woman, Morrígan said with a snort as she grabbed Clay by the arm that was burnt with bluish-purple veins where his normal ones had used to run. His fingers looked a little sharper, almost clawed to him.

  "Oh no. You dumb bitch. What have you done." Came the other woman, Gaia's voice as she was now on his other side. She looked him right in his eyes as she grabbed his other arm. She was as tall as him with white eyes and dark black curly locks framing a face that was hard to distinguish beyond the eyes. He felt her essence pushing against his and the other woman's as she let out, "Oh, no..."

  He felt Morrígan's essence withdraw as something pinched inside him and he winced. Morrígan just laughed as she squeezed his arm almost affectionately.

  "That's... Not possible. How?" Gaia asked no one in particular. Her face showed surprise, shock, and worry.

  Clay's skin crawled as he did... something with his essence as they called it. He pushed outward with it, expanding it. Or tried to as it seemed like it was encased in a thin membrane. So he pushed harder, straining. He didn't exactly know how or what he was doing but it "felt" right.

  "What essence did you use?" Asked Gaia, her husky voice demanding an answer.

  "Not that I have to tell you anything... But I will just so I can see the look on your face. You really want to know who volunteered their essence for him?" Morrígan asked teasingly.

  "Tell me! It fused itself..." Gaia said, her grip on Clay's arm tightening until he couldn't feel his fingers in his hand.

  "Halfdan the Heathen willingly sacrificed his divine individuality to give my Champion a better chance at survival. Such a willing sacrifice to empower the soul essence I granted him. I do wonder who the poor soul that golden essence belonged to. They must have been very important, and powerful. Maybe... Nereus or maybe your beloved Phorcys?" Morrígan said mockingly.

  Gaia's eyes flashed with divine wrath for a brief moment before she took a deep breath and shook her head as she let out a sigh. "You fool. I didn't do this. The only interference here was you! No this was already here, this is old. Very old. This was already there. I only granted him my blessing." Gaia said as she caressed the essence around Clay causing him to shiver. He pressed harder. He could feel... something was happening but he could not for the life of him see what it was. But some sort of warm golden energy started radiating from a speck deep inside that essence. And it grew.

  "This feels like... Oh no, Clay, don't!" Gaia called out, "Please just calm down, it's too soon for this! I'll explain..."

  The golden spark reached the edge of the membrane surrounding his essence and Clay felt it roll and writhe with the other bluish-purple essence, combining inside the membrane. He felt Morrígan's essence suddenly pressing on his along with Gaia's as both women stepped away from him.

  "I... Am... Done... With... This... Shit!" He growled as he shook himself as if shedding water. The membrane had been full of the mixture of energy as he pushed with every ounce of his being. His essence burst free, as he watched both women's looks go from surprised to shocked all the way to the "oh shit" look someone got as they saw an accident coming right for them.

  Morrígan disappeared in a red mist as his essence enveloped her but Gaia let out a, "Clay, don't be upset with me, please. It's not time yet. This is too soon." He just stared at her still collecting his thoughts and feeling the raw energy now coursing through him. "Fuck, please don't hate us for this. Chronos..." Clay saw her look behind him and as he managed to flip around, now free to move he saw the tip of a gnarled, weathered staff just before it touched his forehead.

  He expected to be hit, but this. This was ridiculous. He felt his essence recoil into himself from the touch. Thankfully his knees locked up as he heard, "Sorry, my boy." And everything rushed backward almost like he hit a rewind switch on an old VHS, to right before everyone was frozen.

  The man he'd grabbed had just turned into charcoal dust as he had squeezed his hand. A wave of golden energy laced with bluish-purple veins of crackling energy erupted away from him in a blinding light.

  "Rebooting successful. Please stand by for the system to catch up." Kris said, still a tone of worry in her voice.

  "Ding! Congratulations! New Passive Ability Acquired: Divine Senses. Grants the host the senses of a demi-god. Nothing has ever been so clear and vibrant."

  "Ding! Congratulations! Level 15 obtained. 5 unassigned Ability Points gained. New Skill acquired: Spatial Storage has evolved into Enhanced Spatial Storage. The host can store up to 2500 cubic feet of nonliving material, items, or other resources. This space is accessible at the will of the host, though to place something in the space the host must touch the object. The host can take something out at will, though only one object at a time and the host must designate within a twenty-foot radius where he wants to place the object. This space is roughly 50 feet by 50 feet in size and exists entirely in another dimension." Kris said as she continued.

  "Ding! Congratulations! Host has acquired a new class! Please choose from the following choices for your Sovereign class to advance to immediately:

  Mystical Savant: Gain access to more mystical skills and abilities as you advance your knowledge.

  Heavenly Apostle: Gain access to martial skills and abilities as you advance your fighting prowess.

  Death Lord: Gain access to martial and mystical skills and abilities that are of the more questionable types.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "Fuck! Uhh, shit. I hate fucking rushing! I know I'm going to regret this but I'm not religious or evil so... Mystical Savant." He said as he saw his Status Screen pop up briefly.

  Clay Benton, Human Male, Age 40

  Titles: Zombie Slayer, Evolved Human

  Level: 15

  Class: Sovereign (15); Mystical Savant -

  Health Points: 580 / 600

  Mystical Points: 184 / 184

  Strength: 42

  Dexterity: 42

  Intelligence: 38

  Wisdom: 32

  Loyalty Monitor: 58%

  Passive Abilities - Adaptable Conversion; Cast Iron Stomach; Divine Senses; Enhanced Virility; Enhanced Spatial Storage; Greater Aura of Malice; Greater Eyes of Insight; Greater Regenerate; Paralysis Immunity; Resilience; Touch of the Divine;

  Skills - Bone Spike; Crippling Strike; Eldritch Bolts; Energy Lance; Frenzy; Multi-Strike; Web Bomb

  Remaining ability points to be allocated: 5

  He dismissed it immediately as sound and sight returned in an instant for Clay.

  Returned to whimpering and crying as everyone was lying on the ground, unable to stand up. Chronos, Gaia and Morrígan no longer anywhere around. "We surrender, please don't hurt the children!" Cried a woman from the cluster of people who had been protecting their children. Sigrid had rolled over and placed her knife against a man's neck as he carefully dropped his machete.

  Jill stood up from where she was and turned, holding her side as she pointed her mace at another man who was trying to stand. Pretty soon they tossed their weapons down as Clay contemplated what the fuck he was going to do with all these people. But before he could say or do anything Jill pounced on top of Michelle, holding the mace with her shield hand as she slapped the woman hard. Yelling at her.

  And Clay distinctly felt the blow as his cheek lit up and his ears rang like he was the one that she'd just slapped the shit out of. He even tasted copper! "What the hell?" He thought as Jill backhanded the woman. Hard enough blood splattered onto his arm as he felt one of his teeth loosen like she'd just backhanded him. He couldn't even hear what she was screaming at Michelle as she tried to stomp on her. Amanda managed to shove Jill enough to cause her to miss which infuriated Jill even more.

  Jill grabbed the little girl by her jacket hood and flung her at Sigrid who surprisingly caught Amanda and set her down pretty gently as she moved towards Jill and Michelle. With the look she had Michelle might not survive her arrival.

  "Enough!" He bellowed as Jill was about to slap Michelle again. He was definitely feeling every fucking blow she delivered to the woman! Very distinctly feeling them.

  Michelle grinned, blood covering her once pearly white teeth as Jill stopped her swing and looked up at Clay. Michelle spat blood out and continued to hold onto her stomach and Clay could feel her Health Points draining away.

  "What the fuck did you do to him? Answer me bitch or I'll fucking kill you." Jill gritted out as she grabbed the blonde Orc woman by her hair and jerked her up to look her in the face.

  "I tried to charm him with a skill called Tether and it backfired somehow! Please, I tried to end it, but I can't. He has to end it with the skill!" She said with a weak laugh.

  "I don't have the skill Tether though," Clay said.

  Michelle laughed. "First time this has ever happened... I'm sorry, I can't undo it. If he dies, I die. If I die..." She didn't say anything else but she looked at Clay.

  "Fuck me!" He groaned under his breath as Michelle fainted in Jill's hand.

  "Your fucking kidding me! Oh, this is beyond fucked up." Jill yelled as she dropped the unconscious woman and looked at Clay.

  "Please Sir, we can come to some sort of agreement... please." He couldn't tell how badly the women and children were wounded from whatever had happened when that Chronos fellow had touched him.

  He looked at Jill, "Are you alright?" She nodded as she turned towards the little girl, Amanda and Sigrid. "Tie everyone up that attacked us." He looked at Michelle and added, "Her too, we'll figure it out at the fucking cabin. The woman and children and those few men that didn't attack us, your welcome to stay for a few days while we figure out what we're going to do with these fuckers." Clay said as he nudged a groaning Beastmen with her eye gone from a cut. Sigrid had worked several of them over. He was surprised there wasn't more dead lying around.

  "Okay, please just don't hurt them, Sir." Another woman said as she crawled towards the pile of weapons and tossed her fairly well-made spear on top. "We don't have a healer. Please. Some of the kids are hurting pretty bad."

  He could tell they were crying in pain as he let out another groan. "Alright, fuck. Amy and Dawn are going to hate me. Come on. Let's hurry up then. The longer it takes for you all to tie them up, and us to get going the longer it'll take to get the kids help. Let alone them." He pointed at the group that hadn't attacked them and summoned several lengths of rope out of his spatial storage space and tossed them towards the group that had been non-hostile, and gestured towards the others wounded on the ground.

  Ten minutes later they were starting towards the cabin, turning down the gravel road that led to the drive leading into the valley. Near the gate, they spotted Erin herding two more black and white calves with Dolly, Fran and Maddy becoming curious as they watched them go by with a group of people tied together behind the Gator and a group of mostly women and children behind them dropping off the fog covered ridge into the valley.

  Jill had unceremoniously trussed Michelle up and she sat awkwardly in the back of the side-by-side as Amanda walked nearby, holding onto her mom. Everyone seemed to notice the temperature rise as they got lower and lower and finally came out of the fog Clay could see the people below working diligently on various things. Seeing them, and the large group of people it wasn't long before they were met by Amy and Dawn with Therra, the other Orc girl and the barrage of questions began.

  Clay ignored them as Jill and Sigrid answered anyway. "That bitch tried to charm Clay and then they attacked us!" Jill exclaimed. "The fuckers shot me and something happened to Clay out there, and there are wounded children." She got the two healers started and he heard them call for Samantha as they got to the cabin. His wife ran out accompanied by Freya and the new girls as everyone seemed to descend on the side-by-side.

  He could see Amy and Samantha working close together on the children as Joanna and Freya told the very nervous women and men who weren't tied up where to set up the tents, store their supplies, and cook for the time being. The rest that was wounded and tied up from attacking Clay's group, Sigrid, Luke and Davey watched over. Luke with a spear, and Davey just watched them as intently as he watched Amy, Dawn and Samantha as they worked. They worked as fast as they could on healing the wounded, starting with the worst-looking children. But they didn't touch the assholes that attacked Clay, Jill and Sigrid. Not even Michelle until the kids were all healed and settled with something warm to eat.

  Clay waited for them to start to heal the wounded and told Dawn as she went towards Michelle who was finally awake, albeit a lot paler shade of green than before. "Bring her in the cabin, Dawn. Samantha, could you join us please?" He asked Samantha as Dawn helped stand Michelle up. The woman was pretty severely wounded but he could"feel" that her Health Points had stabilized, while low, she wasn't losing anymore at the moment.

  Clay followed them into the cabin. Over the next twenty minutes he heard Michelle explain again to Dawn and Samantha as to what happened and after a few... Uncomfortable tests Dawn proceeded to carry out after Samantha healed Michelle. They were sure she was at least telling the truth about anything done to each of them that was reflected onto the other. Dawn even pulled a bullet out Clay was sure he'd caught in his stomach initially.

  But once Clay told her to shut up something else happened. In mid excuse for why she'd tried to charm him, he heard her teeth click together she shut up so fast. It was almost like she didn't have a choice...

  "Hop on one foot." He said as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  Michelle stood out of the chair Dawn had her in and with her hands tied she started hopping on one foot. A look of horror and regret splayed across her face as she mumbled something.

  "What was that?" Clay asked as she continued to hop on one foot, her face turning red.

  "Please no..." She mumbled louder.

  "Say you're a fucking fool and slug yourself as hard as you can in your face," Clay said, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he watched a tear run down the woman's flushed reddish-green cheek.

  "Please..." She stopped and through gritted teeth drew back a fist, "I'm a fucking fool." She cried as she slugged herself as hard as she could with her balled-up right fist in her left cheek. The woman's knee buckled as she was still mid-hop. As she started to get back up off the floor, sobbing now with a swollen cheek and tears Clay understood exactly what the "charm" meant. It was just another way of saying "enslave" and he was not happy.

  "Enough, could you heal her Samantha?" Clay asked.

  "Of course, husband," Samantha said as her hands started to glow a light green. Michelle's swollen, bruised cheek healed after only a few moments and as Samantha finished she said, "I'll deal with her, husband... Since we can't punish her or it'll hurt you... I have a few ideas, get up." Samantha's tone sounded almost dangerous as she nudged the woman with her foot non to gently.

  "Go ahead, bring her daughter in here and get them a damn bed. Find them something to do. And you, Michelle," He looked at her with contempt and disgust. "You'll do everything Samantha or Dawn tells you to do as if it were me telling you to do it. Do you understand?" Clay asked her as she finally stood up.

  "Yes. Please, Amanda didn't do anything, don't punish her." Michelle pleaded as she bit her lip, still sobbing.

  Clay didn't respond as he walked outside and wandered away from everyone towards Ashley Creek. Or he thought he'd walked away from everyone as Sigrid appeared beside him.

  "Are you okay, Clay?" She asked softly, sticking her slender arm through his and clasping his hand in hers. She was worried, he could see it written all over her face.

  "Yeah," He looked up, judging the distance to be about the center of the valley, "I'm going to try something." He pulled out the Settlement Core he'd received and stopped. A flash of inspiration popped into his weary brain as he held the blue baseball-sized core. It looked like a flawless cut sapphire. Sigrid's eyes sparkled as she looked at it.

  He smiled as he summoned the Godly Level Item Blue Print, usable on any item in his inventory. He sent the Settlement Core back as he used the blueprint and tried to focus on the Settlement Core again.

  "Settlement Core's are not considered items, they are artifacts," Kris said. "Please select another item to be upgraded."

  "Damn it!" Clay said as the Godly blueprint was now gone. He looked in his inventory, "Ahh fuck! I don't have anything!" He looked at Sigrid, "I used the blueprint and didn't fucking know that the Settlement Core wasn't considered a damn item! Now I need something!"

  "What?" Sigrid asked a puzzled look on her face.

  "Thirty seconds left for the host to use their Godly blueprint," Kris said.

  He started to panic. "I need an item!" Clay said. "Fast..."

  Sigrid casually reached up and tugged on the necklace as he suddenly stopped. He flashed her a smile and reached down to kiss her. As he did he touched the necklace and placed it in his inventory and focused on it as Sigrid slipped her tongue into his mouth and grabbed his ass.

  "Congratulations! Your exquisite fanged necklace has transformed into the Amulet of the Beast Lord. The host gains 10 Dexterity and Wisdom as well as the Skills Call of the Wild and Dominate Beast while wearing the Amulet." Kris said, her tone now somewhat pleasant sounding.

  ~Thank you all for reading! I hope to continue producing content you can enjoy.~

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