19 Chapter 19

My lessons with Shinano were, to say the least... Were very productive honestly. Physically and mentally exhausting to be sure, as the stoking your life force to ever so slowly become stronger was as expected a draining thing. But eventually, we both tired, our bodies spent of energy despite us stoking the other's life force.

With her in particular shamelessly just rolling over with a stream of fluids running down her legs and onto the bed as she spoke tiredly. "Take Ahri and Musashi into the shower and practice what we did." She told me and I looked over at Musashi and Ahri at Shinano's 'order' for further training.

Musashi looked like she didn't give a single damn at all, And Ahri actually looked... Thankful for the order and I realized it was another part of her mental issues in wanting to prove her 'value' to me. In the end, I nodded and I took Ahri and Musashi into the shower while Shinano used some magic to clean up the mess on the bed.

"Are you going to do the sex to us as well?" Musashi asked bluntly and my face twitched at how she asked, making it sound like sex was something to inflict upon someone as a punishment or something.

For a moment I stared into Musashi's eyes and I eventually asked with some honest interest in her response. "Would you like to? If you don't, then we won't obviously." I said in consolation.

She simply tilted her head to the side and blankly answered. "I do not particularly mind, I would prefer if it didn't hurt, but neither you nor Shinano tried to kill or eat the other, so maybe it will be more pleasurable than the previous sex sessions I have seen." She spoke uncaringly and I couldn't help but think that the original Gumiho needed to be some kind of a Slaanesh cultist or something with how insane she sounded.

Either way, I smiled wryly as I took Ahri's and Musashi's hands and led them into the bathroom, and seeing the large bathtub I turned it on while also starting up a shower so we could get cleaned up first.

"Now Ahri, you wash my hair, and I will get Musashi's," I said gently as I put Musashi onto a bench in front of me and I took a seat behind her while Ahri stood up behind me to wash my hair and I began the lovely process of trying to wash a woman's hair that went all the way past her ass when I barely had hair that reached the bottom of my neck.

One thing I learned quickly with my Gumiho was that like dogs, cats, and other beastkin with special ears atop their heads, was how they had little divots behind the ears that were where the ear would sink into the skull properly with the girl's scalps being thicker to provide space for the ear's and possibly some padding should the ears be pulled or something.

Either way, that divote behind the ear for all beastkin was their universal G-Spot for non-sexually touching but even calling it non-sexual was a lie as the moment my hands well practised from breaking in six other kitsune began pressing my thumbs into that divote... Musashi moaned aloud with her form and tails losing all stiffness and that included any ability to sit up straight as she melted against me.

"Is this sex too?" She asked in wonder, and I could feel with my Empathy skill just how the pure comforting feeling from the massage was making her actually feel pure contentment and comfort that couldn't be denied or pushed down by her nihilistic mental state.

I smiled and indulged in the skinship we were sharing until Musashi was a blissed-out puddle leaning against me and my fingers were sore from washing her hair and massaging her scalp. "Alright Musashi, that's enough for now, you wash Ahri's back while I wash her hair," I said and she nodded and we sandwiched Ahri between us.

Ahri flushed at how I began washing around her neck while Musashi's own soft form pressed against her back as she washed her sides and such. "Do you... Wish for me to take care of that?" Ahri asked softly as my length ground against her pubic region while I washed her and after a moment I nodded and she sat back down on the bench so she could blow me while Musashi with no change in expression continued to wash her partner's back.

After the shower, I was feeling nice and refreshed after all the sex and such, so I decided to go over all my gains for the Gumiho realm.

Besides all the Job Tokens which were obviously invested into my two Jobs of Weapon and Unarmed Master, I also got more material rewards in Gumiho blood and remains which could be used for rituals. Those three shitty low-tier sacred gears I need to look into selling, a bunch of lesser magical swords, and other weapons the Gumiho Queen's and that city lord had. A bunch of raw earthen materials of varying levels of value from the major mining city and the Queens we nabbed...

That was it for the most part, besides the rather boring bits of gold and silver that I would probably just dump for cheaper magical raw materials like Celestial Bronze.

"Alright. So I got a bit stronger, but now..." I paused and considered my options, now to get stronger. Obviously going out to kill things and using my martial arts skills would help my Jobs and thus I would become physically stronger. But my Gamer system didn't really want me to become a murder hobo as I didn't gain EXP or anything for killing things only doing missions and such.

So, in the end, I had ritual magic I could practice as my magical erectile dysfunction didn't cripple ritual magic due to the magic being completely external, then there was me working on enchanting my gear or other items. Lastly, there was wholesale just forging on my own, and with the help of my system to create more gear itself, or automatons/golems.

And of course... There was also literally just folding my kitsune wives over into a mating press, and using the bedroom arts to get stronger. But I think for very obvious reasons I shouldn't think of that as my sole or best method of gaining strength.

After a moment of thought, I shrugged and with a flicker of light, a sheathed sword was gently laid on my lap and within but a moment, a cool female voice whispered into my mind. "You wished to speak?"

I held onto Kusanagi with both hands as I wryly smiled and then spoke. "Not particularly, just wanted to see how you reacted to being within my storage spell?"

Kusanagi went quiet so I after a moment took out my materials and after another moment of thought. I also took out some of the tails of the Gumiho I killed and then I set the system to harvest the fur from the tails to make threads out of the magical fur.

Finally though my soul bound literally divine sword spoke. "Your storage spell is... Odd, I can see out of its bounds as though I am hovering above you, which I suppose is a good safety measure as I am well aware of my ability to leave your storage at will to help defend you." She spoke with a sense of relief at being able to protect me.

This made sense, as the long line of welders she had for the most part died because they got cocky and left the overpowered divine sword behind while on some dangerous quest.

I nodded in understanding, I wasn't exactly all too gung-ho about another being watching my every move while being soul-bound to myself. But honestly, if every Sacred Gear wielder could deal with a voice in their head judging them from activation until their death. Then I could deal with Kusanagi.

"Are you making a new jacket?" Kusanagi asked after a moment of companionable silence and I smiled slightly before shaking my head with that smile growing slightly as I spoke softly.

"Not exactly... I have a design that will give me more space for enchantments though." I explained as I used some white and black fabric over the course of the next hour with the help of my system, to quickly guide my movements to make a Bleach Captain style Haori. Which I thought was fitting, with how I was now literally using a Japanese divine sword.

Once I completed the Haori, I used the threads made out of the Gumiho tail fur to stitch the designs upon there, and then the runes I was comfortable stitching upon it. Which made it so the Haori was when worn, it would increase my physical strength, speed, and durability.

"Alright, this one is a good bit better than my old one you shredded." I chided Kusangi who elegantly huffed but didn't deign to verbally answer so knowing I got my petty win, I moved on and performed maintenance on my various weapons.

But as I was filing the edge for my favorite axe, I heard Kusanagi snort, sniff, and just repeatedly make noises of discontent. "What's up?" I asked with confusion.

To which Kusangi all but snarled. "They are but lesser tools not fit to even share the same space in front of myself, let alone be used within my wielders hands... Is this a human fetish to pamper a different lesser tool in front of your bonded one?" She questioned with some actual anger entering her voice.

I paused at that... I needed to process the fact that I was in fact putting my sword in the cuck chair somehow by using a different far lesser weapon.

I was stuck honestly. I had no idea how the fuck to react right now. So in the end, I could only shake my head and say plainly. "I cannot be using you in front of people I don't intend to kill... And frankly, death for a lot of monsters isn't that permanent, to be honest... Either way, I need other weapons for fighting with people I cannot trust. With the knowledge of you being with me." I explained.

There was a long silence before finally, a cold voice echoed into my ear directly as a feminine form leaned against my own. But there wasn't anything sexual about her surprisingly curvy form leaning against me, it was a naked reminder of how close we were now. "Jake Barriss, my soul-bound wielder... I will accept Familiar formed weapons, but lesser trash will not fill your hands again lest you suffer the consequences of belittling me beyond anything else you could say or do." Kusanagi said with finality in her voice.

I literally just turned to the side and picked up the manifestation of the divine sword of the wind, placed her in my lap, and looked into the ebony pools that were her eyes. "I do not have such weapons at this time. Get over it, I am simply not ready for gods to come try to steal you away from me." I told her flatly.

My face twitched as Kusangi's eyes opened wide and a shrill 'Hngggh!' noise rang out as her face twisted up to what could only be called an 'Aqua' face at my laying down the law with tears rolling up into her wide eye's that looked up at me in disbelief.

"You cannot do this to me! I am the greatest of the Imperial Regalia, your soul-bound partner! You cannot make me watch as you use... Literal Greek garbage as a weapon!" She whined and shuddered in abject disgust at me using Celestial Bronze.

Which... To be fair, she was right. Celestial Bronze was known as the cheapest, garbage, divine metal that was actually worth less than actual gold. I shook my head with a wry smile as I patted Kusanagi on her admittedly beautiful hair and said softly. "It's just for now... If it makes you feel better, I will find out how to trap spirits within my weapons to make them Familiars but it won't be for a bit alright." I consoled her and she pouted with a quivering lip... But after a moment of consideration, she firmly nodded with a sniffle.

"That's a good girl," I said gently and she flushed as I patted her hair and that action seemingly encouraged her adorable bratty behavior as she looked at me fiercely and growled.

"Then you best clean my body with the finest of silks and oils, partner!" She said demandingly but it was just too cute how she asked that I just indugently nodded making her flush deepen before she poofed into smoke as her form disappeared.

With Kusangi gone, I quickly finished up my own weapon maintenance before taking a breath and moving to comfortably sit in a nice rocking chair. Once I got settled into the chair, I took out my phone and opened up the Continental App to check what missions were added, and then after a moment of thought I set the parameters to being in the Chicago area.

I already had the system granted the mission of sending the Demi-Gods that were based in Chicago and Detroit over to Camp Halfblood. So I looked at the missions the Continental had for the local area to get an idea for the local supernatural scene.

'Oh... Oh my.' I thought with my lips twitching at the very first fucking mission on the list being at C rank in danger but S rank of difficulty and a maximum priority mission. [Face Stealer Circus in the area!] [Face Stealer Circus, is a small faction of rejects from other factions that fled to America, that all have the ability to take on the form, memories, abilities, and lives of their victims. The roving tribe of monsters including members of the Changelings, Mimics, Rakshasa, Skinwalkers, and Wendigo's races fill the ranks of this traveling band of monsters.]

[Kill any members of the Face Stealer Circus, and turn in their corpses along with the circus coin all members carry to prove their identity-- Reward twenty-five Continental Coins per circus coin turned in.] [Warning, all members are labeled kill on sight due to their voracious sentient being, diet.]

Due to organizations like the Continental putting decent bounties on monsters and supernatural beings that rock the boat and bully humanity, they actually seemed to keep a lot of the bottom feeders away from hurting too many humans. With a lot of supernatural beings taking these missions to kill the other monsters and supernatural beings, the Continental only had to pay in semi-fiat currency which was determined by the value people had in the service chain.

'I wonder what John Wick is doing?' I wondered before swiping that mission to the side after putting my name on it. As I planned to head over to Chicago in the next couple of days, and if I ran into them... After the Gumiho purge, I was a lot less squeamish about killing some monster in cold blood.

I scrolled through the missions, idly marking missions like a vampire woman who was noted for killing big titty goth girls out of jealousy for taking the men who used to be so interested in her, but had now looked at the human versions of her archetype. I also paused at a mission for a werewolf woman who was noted to change into their beast form and had a fetish for young boys giving her head scratches. And the local magic guild were now sick and tired of erasing memories for her and there was this mission to beat her to an inch of her life and throw her out of the city.

"Jeez... these non-Continental missions are crazy." I couldn't help but mutter with my face twitching as the missions got weirder and fucking weirder the more I looked into them. But finally, I got something that actually coincided with the demi-god group of Chicago. [Supplies Wanted!] [The Ice Breakers are requesting this list of 'supplies' to be delivered with haste through the waves of monsters that come through the Dedealus Tunnels from around the world, the reward for supplies will be paid in monster materials worth one thousand Continental Coins.]

[Warning! The quest giver, the Ice Breaker is a group of dangerous Demi-Gods who are one of the supernatural world's meat grinders they are charged to hold one of the five Astral Mirrors of Skye that reflect into the void which brings eldritch and essence-born monsters, and spirits constantly pouring onto their area.]

I raised an eyebrow and then looked up what the hell the Astral Mirrors of Skye were. [Astral Mirrors of Skye.- A lake that perfectly reflects the cosmos above it, is conceptually indestructible due to being reflections of the stars shown within it. Going into it leads to the person going in being lost forever, with zero people, whether they be god, monster, or human returning.- Warning, Eldritch monsters that must be killed on sight regularly come out of the portal, and the pure astral energies coming from the portal are potent monster bait that make monsters wish to reside around the pools to absorb the energies and mutate to become stronger.]

"Whelp, this world is fucked beyond belief." I muttered with my face twitching as I read the name Skye again and wondered if 'Scathach-Skadi was a thing. Or hell, was Scathach still rolling around in general?

But either way, the information on that portal made me wonder. "Should I even push the Demi-Gods to leave in the first place?" I said with a frown. It truly wasn't so clear-cut if they were actually serving a purpose there. And if they were there doing something as important as keeping eldritch fucking monsters from invading Earth, then why did the Chiron give me the mission to bring them back at all?

But in the end, I shook my head as it didn't matter, as just like with those homeless demi-gods I found before if they would move and I got paid along with brownie points with the Olympian's cool. But if not, then I tried, and I will just avoid the Greeks for a bit. Maybe go check out the Shinto, Celestial Beuacracy, Celts, or hell maybe even go into the Underworld to go claim some of the uninhabited lands there, that no faction can be bothered to claim due to monsters or environment.

There was literally every Pantheon in existence in some way or another... The Greeks weren't the end all be all of things.

"Well... In that case, if I am going to Chicago, then I better have my ducks in a row. Do I bring the girls with me?" I pondered and honestly other than Yukikaze, the rest weren't devoted combatants with the exception of Shinano but she literally became a half sage by sleeping too deeply... Not someone I trusted to fight waves of enemies with me. And Yuki headed back to the Japanese Continental to debrief with her clan then to go and pray at their temple in their hidden clan's territory to thank Suijin for blessing our marriage.

So to put it simply she was going to be busy for the next three or four days.

I shrugged and after a moment of thought, I decided to leave in a few hours as there was a scheduled Continental portal heading from here in NYC to Chicago in four hours which would allow me to give my girls a heads up that I was going to be going on a mission. Plus doing the mission would help keep my mind off things while I waited for the claim over the Gumiho realm to settle for the week the claim needed to last.

-

As I was cycling through my options I decided to look through my system and I realized... "Holy shit, I am the most bare-bones gamer of them all Haha." I couldn't help but laugh at how utterly minimalistic my skills were due to how poor I had been so I couldn't get a bunch of good skill books or anything to round out my skills.

Jake Barriss Gamer

Job LVL 52

Title- Street Corner Emperor

[Unarmed Master LVL 15] [Weapon Master LVL 44]

Skills

Weapons Master- [Giants Blade] [Beserker's Intent]

Unarmed Master- [Flash Step] [Ki Wings]

Elemental Affinities - Water +20% Shadow +45% Fire -5% Wood +15%

Familiar's, [Water Crab]

Magical Skills

[Spells---]

[Golemancy LVL 4]

[Enchanting LVL 13]

[Forging/Item Creation LVL 19]

'But why the hell did my title make me sound like some kind of fucking pimp!' I raged before shaking my head with a wry smile and then I checked my inventory to check the amount of Continental coins I had from the missions I took previously along with the days pay I got for the purge though I thankfully had Yuki collecting my payment for the capital invasion so I had more on the way. Either way altogether I had a good fifteen thousand continental coins as the purge paid... Extremely well.

"Welp time to go check out the library again," I said with finality as I put away my stuff while making a note to rent one of the warded rooms so I could do another familiar summoning ritual.

I quickly made my way through the Continental's many floors, heading down deep into the lower floors where the utterly massive library was that held everything from spells, rituals, manuals, history, and even fictional books you could borrow.

But the majority of books were ones that you had to fully purchase as most people didn't like the idea of giving back spell books. grimoires, or martial arts books. Which was fine with me as I literally couldn't give back books that were considered skill books as they were absorbed into myself.

Either way, as I made my way down to the large library I saw Arianna and Senko talking to one another in a corner of the library hunched over a large book together. 'Might as well see if Arianna has any recommendations again.' I thought after considering if I should leave Arianna alone after she got angry at my philandering ways.

"Hey, girls," I said simply as I came closer and Senko's kitsune ears flicked in the air at hearing my footsteps in a snap of motion Arianna slammed the large tome shut making me blink as Senko and Arianna both looked at me with a barely hidden flush that made me wonder what in the hell they were reading that they didnt want me to see.

There was a tense moment of silence as I stared into Arianna's gray eyes that she inherited from her mother Athena, then looked into Senko's brown eyes... I said slowly. "Alright then... So long as it's not something that will affect me, I won't question it. But moving on, Arianna." I called her by her name.

"Yes?"

"I have some money on my own now, so I would like to get some more magical martial arts books/skills, maybe some other things," I said and she blinked before smiling and nodding.

"It's nice to hear you have some money on your own now... But don't expect the best things like Hindu, and Chinese Celestial, Martial Arts unless you actually go to the Continental in those territories to pay to learn those martial arts." She warned me and I nodded in understanding.

Arianna turned to Senko and then pushed the large book towards her and hissed. "Guard it with your life!" And then as I did my best to ignore that little interaction, Arianna spun out of the chair she was sitting in and grabbed my arm then pulled me deeper into the library while she began babbling questions on what kind of martial arts I wanted to learn.

"I would like some techniques that either help my body heal or just make my body more durable," I explained what I really needed and then I wore a wry smile as I added on. "Also... If there is any martial arts that lets me send off sword beams with a slash, that would be nice."

She looked at me and deadpanned. "Sword beams?" At my shameless nod, she rolled her eyes and muttered in rapid fire that made my head almost spin. "Dear, all the gods of all the Pantheons save me... Jake!" She said sternly with her eyebrow twitching and I realized I stepped on a landmine of conversation as Arianna spoke dully as though she had repeated this conversation dozens if not hundreds of times.

"I apologize, but this library mainly caters to Western Orthodox magic and rituals. For those looking to use sword beams, please acquire a holy or demonic sword that will perform the sword beams for you... Or go to China, India, or Japan to learn their martial arts that will allow you to do so with your own powers." She recited clearly and concisely making clear how many times she has had to say that. And she seemingly realized that as after her whole spiel, her lips twitched and she looked at me in apology.

"Sorry Jake, but anyway we mostly carry Western Martial arts which are actually good for what you wanted previously as Merlin worked with King Arthur to make a weapon-based martial arts for Westerners that allow them to bully fighters." She explained gleefully and then she lead me across the library and all the while gave me a history lesson on this martial art.

"So anyway, Merlin being a child of Lucifer's bloodline though its uncertain if he was actually born of the original Satan's seed or something else hated devils, the church, and especially the Fallen, so he worked hard with Arthur to make a special martial art that Arthur and his knights could use that would make them far more magically resistant and with flying horses, they were able to kill all the factions that tried to set up to control on the British Isles... The original martial art was so potent and fit Arthur so well that it actually passed down as natural/inborn memories into his bloodline! So now the Pendragon family is feared as some of the greatest human fighters due to them being almost conceptually immune to curses and other magic due to Morgan also blessing the family line in recompense for her actions."

Arianna's rambling about the martial art finally ended after I asked the pressing question. "And how much is this going to cost me?" I asked wryly as I had no doubt this was a lesser heritage martial art but as I asked Arianna, she looked at me with something akin to a scowl but I knew it was aimed elsewhere as she growled.

"The fucking book is completely racist and Morgan's magic fills the book with terrible curses that not even gods dare to mess with... And it costs nothing to learn as the book's nascent intelligence curses anyone who dares to charge for pure-blooded humans to read it, half humans at least get a warning, but only pure humans are allowed to read the book!" She almost screeched and I realized how for a fallen angel hybrid that was the daughter of Athena...

A book being racist and refusing to be read was the ultimate insult to her.

I raised an eyebrow as I realized there had to be something more. "So what's the catch then? Why haven't I heard of it, or you didn't mention it before?" I asked and her snarl flipped into a mischievous smile as she said flatly but with humor at my misfortune.

"Because the martial art requires you to use the blood or essence of dragons in a potion bath and you will need to be boiled in that solution to give you a dragon's inherent magic resistance to go along with the martial art. To even use the martial arts techniques within it... Most people don't have the durability or regeneration as you do, to survive being boiled alive in dragons blood or essence." She said plainly.

She led me into the restricted section of the library and then sitting at the very front of the so-called restricted section due to the books being extremely valuable or cursed on its own still. Was a large book bound in red leather.

"The Raging Dragon, Martial Art. It was born of watching Ddraig, and Albion tearing themselves apart and its bindings are actually skin from Ddraig that were torn off by Albion. With the White dragon's deadly venom also being part of the curses interwoven into defending the book." She spoke with clear distaste as she lead me closer before clearly fucking off out clear out of view so she couldn't 'peek' at the cursed book.

I wryly smiled at her excessive actions and then threw an observe onto the book to see the details on it. [Raging Dragon Martial Manual.- Warning inhuman beings cannot touch or look upon the contents or they will suffer six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six curses upon their mind, body, and soul. Warning, This object is a phylactery, and thus the soul within may attempt to take over the host body!]

I froze as I stared at the book and then my face twitched as I fully processed the knowledge. And then without another step forward in mid-step, I pivoted around, and as soon as my foot took another step away from the book, I felt a soft hand land on my shoulder from behind me.