Random Portals

Steven looked at Silvia. Her light was flickering like a Christmas tree on steroids. “Silvia. Silvia? Hey are you in there?” Steven waited, but didn’t get a response. “Fine, I’m going to look over my new Shards and stats. Don’t blame me if you don’t get to see.”

{Stats} {Equipment} {Shards*} {Inventory}

Shards:

~ 1 of 7

Angelic Death-

Ability effect~ Expands the distance by 10 feet between two distinct targets, while dilating time for both targets at the cost of 100 mana per second. (Note: Ability will trigger automatically when user is about to take a lethal attack. Can be turned off at any time.)

~ 2 of 7

Royalty of the Chaotic Arachnid

Ability effect~ Transform into a true Spider King at the cost of 1,000 mana per minute. All attributes get a 333% increase while in this form. You lose all equipment slots and shard abilities while in this form. (Note: This ability will automatically trigger if health goes below 25%. If hit points would be reduced to 0 or less, while in this form, those hit points become 1. All effects are removed and the shard user will revert to original form.)

~ 3 of 7

Chaos Portal of Undeath

Ability effect~ Summon Undeath familiar.

Familiar Specialty~ Portal creation.

“Well, that’s really lacking in information.” Steven shuttered slightly when he remembered the being that was to be his new familiar. Gideon had asked him to choose this specific familiar as a favor to Chaos. Steven did so, of course, but he still felt unnerved by the being. He was fixing to summon it but waited till Silvia and Nev were present. He would feel much safer with Nev at his back. For now, he opened up his stat page to see what attributes got boosted.

{Stats*} {Equipment} {Shards} {Inventory}

Level- 20

Available Attribute ~1

Essence- 1844

Essence required for next level 4,567

HP ~ 198

Stamina ~ 69

Mana ~ 443

Poise ~ 0 +35

Vitality ~ 13

Endurance ~ 10

Strength ~ 13

Dexterity ~ 17

Resistance ~ 11 +50

Spirit ~ 25

Talent-

Basic Stealth -

15% less likely to be noticed while in stealth.

15% noise reduction while in stealth.

20% more damage when attacking in stealth.

It’s coming along nicely, Steven thought, though he didn’t really have anyone else’s to compare it to.

“What was that amazing light?” Silvia said as she flew right into his face.

“Oh, come on, back up, that’s too bright. How do you expect me to respond if you are blinding me?”

“One can never be too bright,” Silvia said a matter-of-factly, “but thank you.”

“It wasn’t a light that was...” Steven froze. He got the sense of dread of just the thought of saying Gideon’s name aloud. “It was my oldest friend in this world.” Steven decided to say.

“The light was the most magnificent light I had ever seen!” Silvia said, all dreamy like.

“I suppose he did have a glow to him, but those mismatched clothes really threw off his look.” Steven said.

“A glow! That light was the brightest light in all of existence!” Silvia said.

“Uh, yea sure, whatever you say. Any way I think I’m going to place my one attribute into Spirit. It seems if I plan to use magic, I will have to do it with equipment.”

The Blight Staff came to mind. It needed four hundred and twenty mana to use; he had just enough to use it with just a bit of mana to spare, but didn’t want to drain his mana and be useless after using it, not to mention the migraine that came along with draining his mana.

After placing his point into spirit, he looked over his stat page again, mostly to look at his mana.

His mana had gone from four forty-three to four sixty-one. It wasn’t anything great, but it was progress, a few more levels in spirit, and he would be doing great, although his low hit points were concerning. He would just have to rely on his angelic death ability.

“Shard names are weird,” Steven mumbled. “Anyway, I’m going to go check on the soldiers we caught. Are you coming with me?”

After the wisp was silent, Steven decided to leave without her.

“Sorry, I just need a moment.” Silvia said.

“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll see you in a bit, then I can summon the new familiar.”

Steven was surprised at the lack of response, but he assumed she was just shaken from seeing Gideon. He would never forget the first time he meet with Gideon. The guy’s stare was intense.

As he walked, he wondered what his aunt was doing, and if she had even noticed he was gone yet. How long has it even been now? Did time even work the same here? And the old wizard, was he still on his planet, or had he made it back? He wondered if the Wizard would come back to take the Domain back, since it was apparently a big deal. It’s not like he meant to take the Domain and he didn’t mean to get them trapped in his world. He just really hoped they wouldn’t be angry with him. He got the sense that the old wizard was at a high level.

It didn’t take Steven long to reach Nev and the soldiers. They weren’t bound now and the spider Queen was in her human form teaching them how to do something. Everyone was lined up and siting as if they were in yoga class. Nev was also wearing an extremely revealing dress, if you could even call the thin layer of webbing a dress. Steven’s eyes lingered. She was a picture of perfection. As soon as she noticed him, she ran over.

“Master, I have been getting the troops ready.”

“I can see that… And what happened to your other dress?”

Nev lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Master, but it had gotten torn while I was training the soldiers.”

Steven narrowed his eyes. “Sure it did.”

“Is this too distracting for you, Master?”

Steven looked up and down at the Spider Queen. It was overbearingly distracting. It made perfect sense why everyone was lined up and listening to her so intently. Most of them were males, and that dress left little to the imagination.

Steven shook his head slightly. “Uh, yes, it’s…” he didn’t want to be this aroused by a monster, but he couldn’t tell her that. “Could you please cover yourself a bit more? It’s just too much.”

“Yes, of course, Master.” Nev called a few drones over that now had clothes on and they began spraying her with webs. It surprisingly turned out really nice, although he had to have them put a bit more than the Spider Queen wanted. Which was still not enough to hide her perfectly proportioned body since it was skin tight, but at least he could no longer see through it.

“I will get you some proper clothing when we get out of this dungeon.”

“Does Master not approve of my clothing?”

“Nev, stop looking down and look at me,” Steven continued once she did. “you look like some sort of fertility goddess. I can’t have you distracting every male we come across.”

“Thank you, Master,” Nev said with a wide smile before it turned to a frown, “but I only want you to look at me!”

Steven smiled, “I also don’t want anyone to look at you, so let’s make sure they can’t see how perfect your body is.”

“Master, you are too kind! I will do as you say.”

This was exactly the response he was hoping for. This was going to be easier than he had first thought.

“Master, could you tell me more about how perfect I am?”

Steven blinked a few times, this was not what he had expected. Fidah, along with every single soldier, was looking on at their strange conversation in aww and confusion. He also got the feeling many of them were disappointed that her clothing was no longer see through. Though everyone looked away from his gaze except for Fidah, she was staring him down like a hawk.

“Now is not the time for that,” Steven said. “How about you get back to your training and I’ll watch.”

“Yes Master at once.”

Nev turned to face the twenty odd soldiers. “Again!”

The next moment, all the soldiers charged her at once, weapons drawn. If it wasn’t for Nev still in her human form, he would have been concerned, but if she was in danger, she would turn into her spider form and kill them all. Even though she was in her human form, not one soldier was able to touch her. She moved through them like a ghost, flicking them on the forehead as she went. Steven noticed that when she flicked them on the forehead, a black spider web of light appeared and then vanished. His eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out what was happening. The black webbing lingered only for a second or two. Each time she flicked them, they bowed out and went to stand at the side. Soon they were all out.

“Still too slow.” Nev said.

None of the soldiers said a word, though Fidah kept staring at Steven, which didn’t go unnoticed by Nev. When the next round of their so-called training started, Fidah was the first out, although Steven noticed she never received a black webbing on her forehead. The old elf with the spear was the only one that ever got close to Nev, but was still way too slow. After a couple more rounds, Steven was certain all the soldiers aside from the elf with the spear, and Fidah received the black webbing when she flicked them on the forehead.

“What do you think, Master?”

“I’m impressed you are quite capable, even in your human form.” Steven said, generally impressed. Though he had lots of questions, mainly what the black webbing was. He didn’t ask about that yet, as he didn’t know if the soldiers were aware.

“Thank you Master, Ive been trying to get more accustomed to this form since you seem to prefer it over my original form.”

“You’re not wrong. I do like this form better, although when it comes to fighting, I want you to be as efficient as possible.”

“Of course, Master, I will change to my original form if something is too much for this one to handle, just like you do.”

“So, are you training yourself or the soldiers? And will you be ready to go to the eighth floor soon?”

“Don’t worry, Master, the soldiers will be ready soon!”

Steven noticed how she didn’t say if she was training herself or the soldiers, but didn’t push the matter. He would ask her about whatever she was doing later. “Good, well, I’m going to go back to camp. Keep doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

Steven went to leave when he heard someone hesitantly call out.

“Uh, hey can I talk to you?”

Turning around, he saw Nev already standing in front of Fidah with a hand around the elf’s neck.

“Nev.”

“Yes master.” Nev said innocently while not releasing the red heads throat.

“Release her.”

“Of course, Master.” Nev said with gritted teeth.

Steven rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe how overly jealous Nev was. “Fidah, if you want, you can accompany me back to the camp.”

Fidah looked between the spider Queen and then Steven, unsure what to do. “Uh… I um.”

“Never mind what you want, you are coming with, now come on.” Steven said, he didn’t want to leave her with the spider Queen.

The red head slowly started towards Steven while warily looking at Nev who was glaring at her.

“Nev, continue the good work. I’ll be back later.”

“Yes, Master.” Nev said, eyes locked on the redhead as she walked towards Steven.

Fidah came and stood right in front of Steven as if she was waiting for orders.

“Walk with me,” Steven said. “pay no to mind Nev, she can be a bit overly protective.”

“Yes Sir.” Fidah said.

“So where are you from?” Steven asked as they walked.

Fidah seemed taken aback by the question. “I… I am from Mount Nester next to River’s End.”

Steven had no idea where that was. Now that he thought about it, he had no idea where anything was in this world.

“Is that far from here?”

Fidah nearly stopped walking at the question. “It’s about a two-week journey.”

“I see, and what do you have against the half Naga?”

“I… well, I don’t personally have a problem with them.”

“Then why are you here?”

“For coin.” She immediately said.

“And what do you need this coin for?” Steven didn’t think she was going to answer, but after a few seconds, she spoke up.

“My village has the Black Death,” Fidah hesitantly said, “but I can assure you I don’t have it! My clan was able to afford a cure for me and a few others.”

Steven had no idea what the Black Death was or if it was something he should be worried about catching. He would have to ask Silvia later.

“I see, and I’m guessing you need coin so you can buy a cure.”

“Yes, that’s why I and Eoin joined this raid. The pay was extremely good.”

“I see. If you are lying to me, best tell me now or I’ll let Nev do with you whatever she likes.”

“I swear to you on my clan it is the truth!”

“Okay, great! We are getting close to the camp now. It is good that you have nothing against the half Naga as that is what the camp is full of.”

Fidah stopped walking, and her eyes widened. “B-but… they will eat us.”

“Eat us?” Steven said. “I can assure you they will not eat us. I lived with them for a good bit when I arrived. If anyone was to eat you, it would be the Spider-kin. Now come on and let’s see if I can’t get my friend to make you those potions for your clan.”

Steven watched as Fidah opened her mouth, but closed it without saying anything. She was cute in the way elves were portrayed in his world. She didn’t have that over barring sex appeal as Nev had or the pure innocent beauty of Eve, but he found her extremely cute.

Steven stopped staring before it got awkward and began walking. What was he doing, comparing the attractiveness of the females in his life? He wasn’t a hormonal teenage boy. Okay, Steven, stop thinking about girls. You have a job to do and don’t need to give this elf the impression that you find her attractive, and you definitely don’t need to take advantage of her vulnerable state.

“Hey Steven, I’m back,” Silvia said as she flew right next to him, “oh I see you found your attractive redheaded Elf. Is she going to be part of your harem? I’ve been talking to Evesakia, and she is eager to join! She is just waiting for you to ask. Not only is she attractive for a half Naga, but she is quite amazing at brewing potions and I, for one, think she will make an excellent addition. As for this elf, I will need to see if she has anything to add to our group before I can accept her.”

Steven nearly face palmed as he stopped walking. “Silvia! What are you talking about? I’m not trying to form a harem! Is that why you have been spending so much time with Eve?”

“Well, you can call it whatever you like, but you are surrounding yourself with the most attractive females in each race we come across. First there is miss Evesakia, which is by far the most attractive Naga in existence, then there is the arachnid, I hate to admit it, but the spider Queen is an attractive being, even in her spider form...”

“Wait what? You find…”

“Shush, I’m not done!” Silvia said as her light flickered wildly, “and last but certainly not least, there is me. I am by far the most attractive and brightest Wisp in the land.”

Steven just blinked at the Wisp for a moment, unsure what to say. His first thought was to tell her that she was the only Wisp in the land, but quickly decided against that.

“I- I umm, well, I would be willing to join this harem if you can help me with the potions like you mentioned.” Fidah said.

Steven turned, fixing to tell her he was not forming a harem, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t seem to find the words. He was just so taken aback by her offering to join; he didn’t know what to say. He had never in his life expected this to be something he had to deal with.

“And what do you have to add to our group? I won’t just allow anyone to join,” Silvia said.

“I am an excellent archer,” Fidah said as she stood a bit straighter, “and I have the nature shard. I’m also a good tracker.”

“We are lacking some ranged attacks,” Silvia said, “and tracking could be useful after we get out of this dungeon. Come, follow me. We have much to discuss.”

“Wait, I’m not forming a harem!” Steven shouted.

But Fidah was already following Silvia to god knows where.

Steven sighed. “I’ll just have to explain that to her later.”

He had no plans to charge her anything for the potions for her clan, aside from what Eve may require. “I could really use a smoke right now,” Steven said as he headed towards the Naga camp,

“Hmmm, maybe I will. There isn’t any hurry and I can take a day off!” Maybe he could even get Eve to join him. He could always summon the familiar later.