“Master!”

  I looked up to see three Nekos with mouths open and eyes wide. Damp towels were wrapped around their slender bodies.

  Skye was the first to speak. “Is… Is that really you?”

  “Hmm?” I frowned, wondering if I’d messed up somewhere. “Don’t you like it?”

  Shadowpaw giggled. It was a pleasant sound. Like a fairy playing a xylophone. The sound made me want to smile, so I did.

  Licorice tiptoed forwards, her tail twitching nervously as she leaned down and touched my cheek with a slender finger. “It’s real,” she said. “Master, you look so… different.”

  “Is it good?” I held my breath, hoping my effort had been worthwhile. It had cost me three Nekocoins, after all. And those coins weren’t easy to get…

  She blinked. “It looks…”

  “So good,” Skye moaned, practically drooling. “So handsome!”

  I pushed myself to my feet. “Excellent,” I said. “It’s important to me that I look attractive to you, too. I’d hate for you to think this was all one-sided. Your feelings are important to me, you know.”

  Shadowpaw swooned.

  Licorice melted onto the couch with a long contented sigh.

  And Skye just kept drooling.

  “Wipe your chin,” I told her. “I’m going to have a shower.”

  “I’ll wash your back,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand just in case.

  “No need,” I told her. “I can do it.”

  “Your front? I’ll wash your front.”

  “I’ll be fine on my own,” I said. “Naughty Neko.”

  “But I really want to, Master.”

  “I know.” I turned to Licorice. “Are there any clothes around here that will fit us? We can get some more on the road tomorrow.”

  “I can look. I know we usually keep some spare outfits just in case we get guests.”

  “That’d be nice, Licorice. Thank you.”

  I ducked out of the room, feeling grateful. My beautiful Nekos had appreciated the effort I’d gone to. In fairness, I think I’d gone a little overboard ensuring everything was straight and as well defined as I could make it given the lack of muscle on me.

  I really needed to get hold of some Aetherite so I could level faster. I needed more Strength.

  And definitely more Intelligence. My Mana was pathetically low.

  Sighing, I stepped into the shower and remembered last night’s horror show. Coming home to Earth had been a real shock. I hadn’t felt like myself at all. The despair had been too much.

  Then to have the hot water cut out…

  I shuddered. Life just isn’t worth living unless you could shower and bathe in hot water every day.

  Personally, I loved long hot showers. They made my muscles relax.

  Not that I had many right now. I clicked my tongue at my frail little arms and knobbly knees. I don’t think this body had ever done leg day. Still. I knew what it was like to level up and gain a stronger and more attractive body. I’d done it once. I could do it again! It would just take a lot of work.

  As the hot water riddled down my skin, I opened up my Stats sheet and checked my quests. This had become a ritual by now. In the shower is where the best thinking can be done.

  I studied my Outworlder skills again. There wasn’t enough information in their description to really provide an idea of what they’d become.

  Teleport, for example. Teleport yourself up to 1km in any direction. Target location must be in Line of Sight. I’d had skills which relied on Line of Sight before. Many of them would drop that requirement after reaching a higher level.

  I wondered if Teleport would do the same. Or if it would allow me to Teleport others with me. Both options were valuable, but not guaranteed.

  Then there was Void Blast. Inflict minor void damage on target. Void damage cannot be blocked or reduced. Many might have discounted this as useless based on the description being for minor damage. But I knew that the fact it couldn’t be blocked or reduced was more valuable.

  I’d found myself in tricky situations more than once where an enemy had a shield I couldn’t easily break through. This would have helped back then.

  And, perhaps, it might upgrade to moderate damage.

  That would be nice.

  I hadn’t heard of void damage before. Mulling it over, it felt like Teleport and Phase, which I hadn’t taken, had the basic theory of entering a different state of being. Teleport, for example, would probably disassemble me and reassemble me after throwing me through space.

  And Phase would shift me into another phase of existence.

  I’d fought some enemies who used a variation of Phase, I think.

  And Teleport wasn’t very uncommon.

  But something told me these were going to become something quite different. Having two skill trees was definitely unusual. From everything I’d ever read, a person should only be capable of having one active tree at any time. On the rare occasions someone had gained another tree, it normally blended with their first. Or took it over.

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  To exist separately while providing bonuses and additional skill choices every second level?

  I felt overpowered.

  And that thought made me grin.

  My grin slipped when I remembered the System had initialized. Had it, then, already started to expand into Earth’s biosphere?

  Would others like me start spawning?

  And what about monsters?

  I turned off the water and started drying myself on a towel as I thought about it.

  I’d have to get Licorice to monitor the internet for any signs of weirdness. Because that’s how these things begin, of course.

  With weirdness.

  I glanced down to where I’d left my clothes.

  They were gone.

  And hadn’t been replaced.

  It should have shocked me, but in Neyteria, I’d had thousands of Nekos. I could always recognise the work of a stealthy Neko with cheeky thoughts. I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped out into the hall.

  It was very quiet.

  And dark.

  Except for one light in the bedroom.

  As I got to the doorway, I found three Nekos standing in a row. Each looking nervous.

  “Let me guess,” I said, crossing my arms. “You want me to choose which of you I will make love to tonight?”

  “Umm…” Licorice’s cheeks turned redder than an apple. “We… Couldn’t decide. I thought we should go in order we were created. It sounded fair when I said it. But then I remembered Shadowpaw worked so hard to get us out of the police station while Skye did so much work flying us here… Suddenly, it didn’t sound fair…”

  “Master,” Shadowpaw breathed. “Help us decide… Who do you want the most?”

  “Please,” Skye maoned. “Tell us…”

  “Ah, Nekos.” I felt the sweet comfort which came when faced with new Nekos whose knowledge of how their new lives would work was at an all time low.

  Freshly freed of the corruption and despair of their mundane and oppressive existence, they were now looking deep into the maw of something more exciting. Something more exotic. It was only natural to feel confused. And then, to stand beside others who felt the same? Well. Then everyone is too afraid to make the first move. The fear they were so bound by starts to creep back into their minds.

  I resisted the urge to headpat them.

  “You’re forgetting one important thing,” I told them. “I am here to protect you. That is my purpose, remember? Protect all the Nekos. And I can’t protect you if I let you feel alone or unwanted. I can’t protect you if you forever compare yourself to another Neko. And, thankfully, there’s no need for you to do so. I told you the System solves everything, if only you want it to. You see, when I freed my first Nekos, we were faced with a similar dilemma. A time when a small gathering of Nekos felt the potential to be forgotten. I am, after all, only one man. A single man who, despite the conviction of his purpose, couldn’t hope to please so many Nekos. This is your true fear. Isn’t it?”

  The Nekos looked at each other, then back at me. Guilt flickered behind their eyes and their tails remained drooped behind them.

  “Licorice,” I said, deciding to quickly put them out of their misery. “You are number one. Shadowpaw, you are number two. Skye, you are number three. This is the order in which you were found on this world. It is important for you to remember your number. However, it has no meaning other than to define who goes first in any gathering. It does not in any way signify who is better. Or who gets priority in my heart. Because my heart can never be filled.”

  I tapped my forehead, closing my eyes. “Jade. Kelsi. Summertop. Branches. Moonbeam. Dusk. Lemon. Gladly. Syrup… Do you hear these names? These are the names of my first Nekos in Neyteria. And I can recite them all. Every single one. I can tell you not just their names, but describe their appearance if you like. There is not a single Neko out of the thousands whose name I do not recall.” I opened my eyes to see them staring in awe.

  Their awe made me feel proud and a few inches taller than I currently was.

  Damn this body. I needed more Strength!

  “Can any of you tell me why I remember them all?”

  “Because you love them?” Skye’s little nose gave a cute little twitch of curiosity as she made her guess.

  “Yes. I love them all. But that’s not the reason. Even I, with as much love as I can contain, couldn’t hope to remember all those names.” I looked down at my feet for a moment, trying to forget the failure of a man I was before the System found me. “It is my stats which allow me to remember. A single point of Intelligence makes the difference, you see. And when you have as many as I have? Well, I find I can remember anything now. It’s very easy. Add another few points, and I’ll remember even more details. I feared I had forgotten some Nekos when I was sent back here, but the System has stored those memories and returned them to me when it initialized. I seriously owe the System so much.”

  “You really remember them all?” Shadowpaw asked. “I struggle to remember anyone’s birthday. Even my own.”

  “That’s why I put everything into my phone,” Licorice said.

  “They don’t have phones on Neyteria,” I told them. “So, Intelligence is an important stat for many people. It provides other benefits, too. Some are obvious. Such as a higher pool to contain mana. Others are more subtle and you only notice when you think about it. Like how I rationalise things in my own way. I can compartmentalise things better. I can’t explain it very well. I tried explaining it to a dwarf, once. And he looked at me and said I was insane. Perhaps I am. But if this is insanity, then house me in a looney bin, because I feel great!”

  “So, you’re saying we go in order?” Skye asked, her nose twitching again. “Because it’s logical. I mean, if you strip away all emotion and everything, it is sort of logical.”

  “That’s why it sounds fair,” Licorice agreed.

  “It is fair,” I told them. “Wherever I am and whoever is with me, we always go by the number you were found. No exceptions ever. We allowed exceptions, once, and then corruption set in as Nekos traded their places for favours or pressured other Nekos to move down the line. This led to friction. And Nekos fighting is not a nice thing. It makes me sad.”

  They nodded along, their recent memory obviously reinforcing how close they might have been to bargaining or squabbling over my time.

  “Now,” I grinned at them. I knew I was about to change their world, as mine had been changed. “You are thinking I might please one of you tonight. One of you tomorrow. And so on. But you have forgotten the System. You have forgotten the importance of stats. Stats affect everything. And I do mean everything.”

  “Stamina,” Shadowpaw exhaled the word like it came from her soul.

  “That’s right.” I did pat her head this time. She’d earned it. “Just one point in Intelligence can let me remember every Neko who has ever lived. Imagine, then, the power of one point of Stamina. I have three. And, backing it up, I have two points of Strength to maintain the hardest of erections for days at a time! My tongue will never tire. My fingers never weaken. And my single point of Agility lets me contort and twist into positions so bendy you might imagine me to be a human pretzel!”

  The three Nekos gasped, and I knew their minds must be racing with naughty thoughts.

  “I made myself this way,” I told them proudly, patting heads one by one. “To please Nekos. Not to please one Neko. Or two. But all of them. As many as I can.”

  Licorice blinked first. “But… How…?”

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and led her confidently to the bed. “Let me show you everything I am and everything I can do. And you let me know what it is you desire most of all.”

  They didn’t quite believe me. I know they didn’t. They had niggling doubts.

  But they were in a world where men loudly proclaimed their skills in the bedroom but, when it was time to perform, fumbled and failed with a few frantic thrusts.

  My three newest Nekos were lucky, in some ways. This wasn’t my first time. It wasn’t even my millionth time. I had genuinely lost count of that number even with my Intelligence.

  I love my Nekos. I love every inch of them. And I like to show it.

  I show it by stopping only when their brains are so wrapped in ecstasy that their bodies simply collapse. Tonight, I held nothing back as I showed them how a body, fortified by the System, makes love.

  When Skye finally slumped away from me, her limbs trembling and her words slurring, I smiled at my three broken new Nekos.

  “No more…” She moaned. “I… I understand… Master… I can’t take any more…”

  I lay down among them and was soon draped by Licorice on my right, Shadowpaw on my left, and Skye on my chest. Their purrs rumbled in the air and moved through my body like little earthquakes. With the smell of Nekos and sex heavy in the air, I followed my worn out Nekos into the misty land of sleep.

  Where I dreamt of Jade. And I dreamt of Kelsi.

  “I miss you,” I told them. “My heart feels so empty without you here.”

  They giggled and poured ginger beer into a frosty glass.

  I drank it.

  In the morning, I woke to the sound of screaming.