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Gamer of the Void

After being rescued from the Void by a passing Love Fairy, Axton enters the world of Highschool DxD with the power of the Gamer. His life of adventures and a sexy harem start here! Smut and a morally grey protagonist. View per chapter Character Sheets(starting at Ch.12) at tinyurl.com/axton-cs Please consider supporting me on Patreon at patreon.com/shiftysword

Shifty_Sword · Anime und Comics
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42 Chs

DxD: Tutorial 06

-Tuesday, 9:48pm-

Trees whip past me as I leap from branch to branch. My hands reach out and push, pull, and pivot myself into position using other branches and trunks as I weave a path through the forest. My new Rogue skill, [Parkour], really is the coolest.

Especially in this bitch of a dungeon that is less a dungeon and more just a large patch of woods. I arrived here to see the door to the boss room right in front of me, only to be told by some cryptic riddle bullshit to go find the four wardstones and deactivate them. I'm glad it's not just more stone passageways, but being told to go on a glorified scavenger hunt is pretty annoying as well.

I see a flash of white among the greens and browns as I monkey my way through the forest and come to a silent stop on a tree branch.

"Same plan as before Yua," I whisper.

"Okay," she replies. She scrambles out of the hood of my jacket, where I keep her safe while moving around so quickly, and leaps down to the branch before leaping to another one. At level 15, her stats are already good enough for such a feat, despite her young age.

I draw my Ka-Bar Combat Knife and Iron Dagger of Burning and leap down. In the same instant that I land on the ground, my weapons plunge into the back of the Mushroom Person in front of me. It bellows out in a low voice despite not having a mouth, and turns to swing at me. I quickly dodge backwards. I had already gotten hit by one of those punches and it had sent me tumbling.

"Another one to your left!" Yua calls out from above, acting as another pair of eyes. I glance over and see it, it's rotund form slowly waddling around towards me.

"I see it," I say. "Keep an eye out for pixies, and get to the ground if you see them coming." I bait another punch out of the first Mushroom Person and stab it again. With a low groan, it falls over dead.

"Got it- oh, there are some coming now!"

I turn my attention to the other Mushroom Person. "Keep them busy like you did last time. Attack if you see a chance, but focus on not getting hit." Not that the pixies are dangerous. More annoying than anything. I run behind the Mushroom person and my knives flash out and cut it's back. It bellows as well, and thankfully it catches fire. I dodge a punch, nearly get hit by the surprise follow up, but then it dies, burning to death.

I immediately turn to Yua and see her weaving around a group of small creatures. They're humanoid, but are only four inches tall and sexless, with pure black eyes and gossamer wings. They also don't do any real damage, having no means of attack. They're simply a nuisance, getting in your face, distracting you, pulling on you, and they're fast and hard to catch.

Yua jumps up suddenly and swipes at one with her paw, catching it by surprise and throwing it to the ground, where it lay dazed. Before it recovers she pounces on it and bites it, killing it.

Hard to catch by normal standards anyways. For two DEX focused builds, they were just good target practice. My knives tear through the rest in a flash.

"Good job Yua, that was impressively done," I praise her.

"Psh. They may be weird but bugs are still bugs and no bug can escape Yua!" she proudly declares. I laugh.

"What a fearsome hunter you are," I say. I pick her up and place her on my shoulder, and she climbs into my hood. "Let's get going, there's a lot of forest left to cover." I leap into the trees and we're off again.

-x-

-Tuesday, 11:12pm-

The Mushroom People are annoying to fight, but they give good XP, especially with me and Yua taking Minor XP potions for that five percent increase. My CON and STR had reached 50, giving me perks that increased my health, health regen, stamina, and stamina regen. INT had reached 100, giving me a perk that decreased the costs of all skills by half. Those combined meant I could keep my skills up constantly, including the one I got at Rogue level 40, [Detect].

I feel [Detect] ping a location, indicating treasure. Following the ping I land next to an innocuous looking log. Not fooled by its appearance, I kick it and the top of the hollow log snaps off, revealing a treasure chest hidden within. I grin when I see that it's locked. Locked chests always have better loot.

"Another chest Yua," I say as I take out my tools and kneel in front of the chest. "Keep a watch as I pick it open."

"Yes Papa!" She climbs out of my hood and onto my head, where I can feel her weight shift slightly as she looks around. I'm not too worried due to the skills I have up being enough to give me some warning. [Detect]'s level is still low though, which means it's range isn't very high, so Yua keeping an eye out to give an earlier warning is helpful.

Plus, she likes having something to do. She doesn't really have any methods of attacking, especially anything tougher than a Pixie, so I have her mostly playing support. Which is fine, honestly. She's still a young kitten, improved stats or not. She doesn't need to be a full fledged warrior for at least a few months.

I hear a satisfying click as I shift the last pin into place and the chest unlocks. I grin and store my tools before opening the chest. Inside is a cartoonish heart made out of a red crystal or glass.

<Crystal Heart>

<Raises the Affection of a target by 15. Only works on those below 50 Affection.>

Better loot indeed. That will be extremely helpful, though I'll have to pick a target for it very carefully. I stash it in my inventory and stand up. Yua climbs back into my hood and we're off again.

-x-

-Tuesday, 11:48pm-

The last Mushroom Person dies with a groan. I sheathe my knives and drop [Sneak]. Due to an upgrade it got when I reached Rogue level 50, I can't keep it up indefinitely anymore.

<[Chameleon](Active) - Level 22(8%)>

<When using [Sneak], you can now visibly fade into your surroundings, making you difficult to see. Increases cost of [Sneak] by 10x. Visibility reduced by 22%>

Though 10 minutes with all of my skills active is still more than enough time for most things, and a bit more leveling should see me back to indefinite stealth and all skills again. Plus, I can choose not to activate the [Chameleon] aspect if I need to save SP.

I call Yua down from the branch she's on and turn to where [Detect] is telling me a secret door is. A bit of investigation shows that what looks like a normal tree at first glance is actually a puzzle. I sigh. I've come across several similar trees, and they were all the same, but this one just looked more annoying. Climbing the tree I bend the branches in a certain way to arrange them in a pattern that was indicated on the trunk.

When I move the last branch I hear a click, and an opening appears in the trunk at the base of the tree. I drop down and hop in. It's a short and cramped tunnel directly downwards. No ladder, but the walls are close so it's easy to climb up and down it. At the bottom is a small room lit by a bioluminescent moss of some kind growing over the walls.

The last time I found one of these rooms there was a chest in the middle that had a jug that could produce a gallon of any mundane liquid once a day. But this time there was just a large stone covered in glowing runes. I touch it, and the runes fade. The sound of a bell rings out.

"Oh thank god," I say. "That's the first of four wardstones down. Come on Yua, we're taking a break." I use [Dungeon Traversal] and teleport back to my bedroom.

"Why?"

"Because you need some sleep. I'm sure you didn't sleep enough today to spend all night this active. So you curl up in Papa's hood and sleep for a few hours. I'm going to find all the secret areas in the Zombie dungeon and farm some alchemy materials."

"Okay Papa," Yua says with a yawn. I feel her weight shift as she gets comfortable. "Have fun."

-x-

-Wednesday, 2:34am-

[Detect] pings a wall with an odd looking torch, but I'm already heading towards it. To my surprise, the Zombie dungeon is absolutely filled with secret areas that I just hadn't bothered looking for my first time through. This was the twentieth secret room, and the eighth that was hidden using the same mechanism. I grab the torch and pull it downwards like a lever. The stone rumbles as a portion of the wall swings backwards, revealing a small room with a chest inside.

The chest is unlocked, unfortunately. I had some amazing luck earlier. The things I found earlier included a gem that can copy written and printed information, a bracer made of a liquid metal that could change shape into simple tools or even a blade, a skill that let me clean up bloodstains, an amulet that improved my STR by 25, a stuffed doll that looked exactly like Yua, and no less than 4 Gacha tokens.

But all of those had been in locked chests. Except for the Yua doll anyways. Unlocked chests had given me potions, simple gear, and random crafting materials, so this one didn't exactly fill me with excitement.

I open the chest and peer within.

<Remote Egg Vibe>

<Egg vibe and remote with 100 foot range, unlimited battery, and is 100% silent>

...why? Why is this even here? This isn't remotely zombie themed at all. Though on second thought, I'm extremely glad it isn't.

Whatever. I'll take the free slightly magical sex toy. Aika would probably get a kick out of it. Ooh, or Ms. Nakano. Edging is her fetish right? I mean, considering her other fetishes she probably prefers edging others, but the thought of edging her while she's teaching class is pretty hot. I store it in my inventory and turn to keep searching, but a window appears.

<Zombie Dungeon 100% cleared!>

<Dungeon Reset is now available.>

So I could just reset it and run it again? Neat. Maybe something to look into later, if I need to farm some loot. But I've done enough in this dungeon for today. The XP from the zombies here does basically nothing for me. [Lockpicking] is the only skill that got more than one or two levels. I have enough ingredients now anyways, it's time for some [Alchemy] grinding while Yua gets some sleep in.

-x-

-Wednesday, 3:55am-

I resist the urge to cackle, since it would wake Yua up, as I look at the fruits of my labor. Or, in the case of the four items I got from the Gacha, my fruits of my luck.

<(210) Despair>

<Extremely sharp silent throwing knives. Comes with leg holsters that hold 10 on each leg. Damage = DEX, 3x Critical Hit Modifier>

<Poisonous Sheath>

<A sheath made to hold a dagger of any size smaller than a short sword. If left soaking in poison in the total dark for 24 hours, it will apply that poison to any blade sheathed in it. Can be reset by soaking it in water in the light.>

<Senzu Bean>

<Recovers all HP, MP, and SP>

<Water Tree Sapling>

<Sapling of a tree that produces an endless amount of water from it's roots. When fully grown, a small branch can produce enough water to sustain a grown man.>

I'm not sure which one pleases me the most. Despair is a set of extremely good throwing knives from Warframe, and just the knowledge that Warframe weaponry is in the Gacha makes me smile. The Senzu Bean is nice, useful for emergencies, though not terribly unique. And the water tree would one day grow to be powerful enough to flood a manor in a torrent of water, or water an entire farm in an arid environment. It's utility shouldn't be underestimated.

But the Poisonous Sheath seems like it's custom made for me. Infinite poison application to any blade so long as I prepped it with enough poison? It was a dream come true, especially since my Alchemy skill updated when it reached level 25.

<[Alchemy](Active) - Level 29(28%)>

<Mix ingredients and mana in order to create mystical potions and materials. Limited to three ingredients max. Skill can also be used to find out what would be made from held ingredients.>

Using three ingredients is what turns potions into Moderate potions.

I had already used a lot of my potion materials making over fifty Minor Poisons, but I had enough for 15 Moderate XP potions, which increased XP gain by 10%, and 3 Moderate Poisons. Combined with the two Moderate Poisons I got as loot, and I had just enough to start soaking the Poisonous Sheath in a poison that did INT/5 damage per second, which gave me quite the edge.

I glance at the time. Yeah, that should be enough for now. I pick up Yua, waking her up. She yawns cutely.

"Come on Yua. We're gonna get a couple more hours in before I have to go to school." She wakes up quickly and dives into my hood as we vanish once more into the dungeon.

-x-

-Wednesday, 6:47am-

I flop face forward onto my bed with a groan. The next area of the dungeon was pure hell. Sentient plants that fired seeds like pistol bullets, plants that breathed fire, and plants that healed the other two types absolutely filled every inch of the place. And to access the wardstone, I had to find four red flowers to some shrine and place them there, meaning I had to hunt all over that section of woods while dealing with them.

It mostly resulted in Yua sitting safe in my hood while I ran under stealth to kill them as fast as possible before they noticed me, something only made possible with [Detect], since they blended in with all the plants that didn't try to kill me.

Still, at the end of the day, and as exhausting it was, it was worth it. I pretty much had a full set of armor now, and none of it was from the Zombie dungeon, instead being made of wood or plant like material. I also picked up four skills.

<[Gardening](Passive) - Level 1(0%)>

<Planting, growing, and harvesting of plants>

<[Overgrow](Active) - Level 1(0%)>

<Force a plant to grow faster using MP>

<[Photosynthesis](Passive) - Level 4(45%)>

<Increases Health Regen when in sunlight.>

<[Track](Active) - Level 2(33%)>

<Track a target through an environment>

The first two will be a huge help once I start raising my own plants for potions. The third is just free better healing, if a little situational. The fourth I had experimented with a little before leaving the dungeon and it might be useful.

But even better than skills, I found an insane four more Gacha tokens. I pull up my inventory and use them immediately.

<Assassin's Blade>

<A bracer with a hidden blade. Modified so the removal of a finger isn't necessary. Damage=DEX x 2, 5x Critical Hit Modifier>

<Spur>

<Laser gun made by the Hermit Gunsmith. Can be charged to fire a large, powerful beam. Damage=200 per second charged up to 5 seconds Max>

<Covetous Silver Serpent Ring>

<Increases XP earned by 20%.>

<Genderbend Cheat Code>

<Use to rewrite reality to change the sex of any one person in the universe.>

Well then. I do the mental math and the Assassin's Blade does less damage than my Ka-Bar still, but does better than any other weapon. Plus, how could I not use such a cool weapon? The Spur I didn't recognize, but it's a laser gun so therefore awesome.

The Covetous Silver Serpent Ring would have been much more appreciated earlier. I look at Yua, who is now level 45, just a little bit away from the bonus objective. Even with reduced XP, the dungeon was proving a very good grinding spot. But this will help with the last stretch, and honestly 20% increase forever will be a huge help as levels become more and more difficult to get.

The Genderbend Cheat Code is powerful. And tempting. It's basically what I did to Issei and Saji, but I can do it at any time. I can use it on Kiba, maybe, he'd make a pretty cute girl. But no, that's a waste. Especially since I have a Genderbend potion that I found in a chest. It doesn't rewrite reality, but maybe I can convince him to drink it, or trick him into it at least. There are people that are much better suited for reality warping sex changes than him anyways.

My phone alarm goes off. I lazily turn it off. I just want to take a nap but I also don't want to deal with getting to school late. Or skipping. I need a good reputation with the student council. With a sigh I get up and start getting ready for school.

-x-

-Wednesday, 11:45am-

On my way to the cafeteria to buy some lunch, I see Momo in the hallway. I tell Aika and Atsuko that I'll see them later and go over to her.

"Hey Momo!" I greet her.

"Axton!" She greets me warmly. "How are you doing? How's Yua?"

"Yua is doing great. She's so smart for her age, and so talkative. I'll have to take a video so you can hear her little meows."

"Oh please do, I would love to hear that."

"And speaking of Yua, I saw this the other day while I was out, and I absolutely had to get it for you." I pull out the Yua doll of my inventory, making it look like I'm pulling it out of my jacket's inner pocket. I hold it out for her. "Here. You might not have been able to take care of Yua, but a doll should be fine, right?"

Her expression lights up as she takes the doll. "Oh my, it looks exactly like her! That's amazing. Thank you Axton, I love it."

<+6 Affection with Momo Hanakai>

That puts her at 78 Affection. Which should be more than enough for me to do something I should've done already.

"So I know you're pretty busy with Student Council stuff, but I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime this weekend? We could go see a movie, get some dinner, something along those lines."

If it weren't for the skill I got this morning, [Cold Reading], that let me read people's expressions better, I would've missed her efforts to keep her expression calm. But even without it, there's an excitement in her eyes that is hard to miss.

"I'm free Friday evening. We could meet up at the park at 6pm?"

I smile. "It's a date," I say. A blush creeps up her face. Before she can respond I look at the time. "Ah, sorry Momo. I gotta dash if I want to finish eating before class. I'll see you this Friday!" I wave as I run off.

-x-

-Wednesday, 5:56pm-

I lean back in my bed and groan as Aika's lips move up and down my cock, working hard to take in as much as she can fit. She's getting close to being able to take it all. Speaking of close, her hard work pays off as I feel myself climax and I grunt, ejaculating deep into her throat.

She looks up at me from between my legs, naked save for her thigh high socks, bliss in her eyes. She waits for my orgasm to finish before slowly moving her head back, her tongue licking every inch of my shaft as she retracts from it.

"Did you taste any of that at all, or did it all just go straight down your throat?" I ask in a lightly teasing tone.

"I got a little bit that was left on your tip," she says, laughing. Her eyes lower. "You're still hard."

And I am. It looks like my CON or whatever stat dictated that reached the point it needed to in order to let me go twice in a row. I grin. "Get on your knees with your back to me."

Her eyes glint and she's quick to obey. I take a moment to appreciate the sight of her pert ass and beautiful legs and the way they frame her slit, which is glistening with arousal. Getting on my own knees, I line up and thrust every inch of myself into her in one go.

She cries out and cums hard. She must have been on the edge from the blowjob. I give her a moment to come down from her climax, feeling her warm insides shudder and convulse around my shaft. Right before she's calmed down, I grab her by her hips, and start thrusting roughly into her.

The sounds of flesh against flesh fill the room as I pound her from behind, accompanied by the sounds of Aika's moans of pleasure she releases every time I slide into her. Her hands grip the bed sheets tight as she presses her face down into the bed. The sight of her writhing in pleasure, her bare back flushed and sweaty, arouses me even further, and my thrusts become more rapid.

She gasps and her breathing becomes heavy. "Yes yes yes yes!" she cries out. "Right there, keep doing that!"

I can feel my own orgasm building up, but I can tell hers is too. The pressure builds as I keep pounding into her. Her cries grow louder and less articulate until finally she tenses up and I feel her tighten like a vice around me. The dam breaks, and my own orgasm washes over me as well as I cum, painting her insides white.

For a moment, we both remain tense in our post-climax positions, but simultaneously we relax, and slump down onto the bed, breathing hard. We're spooning now, with my dick softening between her legs, having been pulled out in our collapse.

For a good minute, no words are said and we just relax, basking in the feeling. Once she catches her breath she rolls over to face me before kissing me lightly. After she breaks the kiss I look down, and see my cum slowly leaking out of her.

"I might be a bit late in asking this," I start. "But I don't suppose today is a safe day for you?"

She snorts and rolls her eyes. "I was wondering when you were going to ask about that, considering last time. I'm on the pill, you don't have to worry about knocking me up." Her expression becomes sultry. "Unless you want to knock me up?"

"No no," I deny while laughing, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice. "No kids for me, not yet anyways."

"Probably a good idea," she agrees. Her eyes look down, and she reaches a hand out to gently caress my dick. Her light touch is sensuous, and within moments it starts hardening again. Her eyes widen. "You are just insatiable, aren't you?"

"I've been working on my stamina," I say.

She gently strokes me, almost lost in thought. "I don't think I can go another round right now. We're going to have to speed up getting another girl in your bed, you're more than I can handle on my own."

"Well that's what yesterday was about, right? You starting to bring Atsuko around?"

"Yeah," she admits, still running her fingers over my length. "It might take a while for her. She's a pervert when it comes to boobs, but she's weirdly innocent about almost everything else. I didn't want to push things too fast, but she had a lot of fun on our date yesterday, so I might be able to push a little more."

"Is Atsuko the only one you have your sights on?" I need more than just two or three for Kyu's quest, and the sooner I finish it, the better.

"For now. Hmm. How are your Kendo skills? Murayama and Katase from our class are both in the Kendo club, and impressing them might lead to something. Neither of them have boyfriends, and I've heard them talk about casual hookups before, they might be interested."

"I haven't done official Kendo, but I'm not bad with a blade. It's worth a shot."

"I'll talk to them, hype you up a bit, see if I can't get their interest. How about you? Any girls caught your eyes?" She grins. "Like Hanakai? You two looked very friendly during lunch today."

I smile. "I actually managed to schedule a date with her for this Friday. No idea how that will go, or how she'll feel about a more open relationship, but things are going well with her so far."

"Hmm, so I guess you don't need any help on that end. Anyone else?"

"Well. It's a long shot. But Ms. Nakano is pretty hot, and the thought of sleeping with my teacher makes it even better."

Aika laughs. "You perv. But you're right, that is pretty hot. I might be able to help with that, give me some time to think about it."

I shrug. "No rush, she was always going to be a long term project."

"That's probably enough girls for now."

"'For now' she says," I laugh. "Not that I disagree. It's a good start. But for now, decide if you want to go another round or not, because I'm going to need you to either commit or stop teasing me."

She smiles teasingly and thinks about it as her grip tightens on my hard shaft. "Well, maybe one more round."

We go two more times after that.

-x-

-Wednesday, 11:13pm-

I take a moment to catch my breath as the enemy in front of me dies.

"This dungeon is so half-assed," I complain out loud. "Two areas with distinct and supernatural forest themed enemies. But the third area?" I throw my hands in the air. "It's just bears. Big fucking grizzly bears." I turn my head to the sky. "What, did you somehow run out of video games to steal forest themed enemies from? Did you really have to just start putting normal animals in here?"

"Uhh. Papa?" Yua interrupted me. "What about the spriggans? Are they in the real world too?"

I sigh and my shoulder slump. "No, not that I know of anyways," I admit. "They're perfectly good forest themed enemies. We've barely run into any though, at least compared to the bears which are way tankier than they have any right to be."

I shake my head. I'm just venting because the fights were annoying. I look to see what loot I got from the bear and I notice that there's another window. A much larger one.

--<Quest Completed!>--

The Little Lady's Level

Objective: Get Yua to Level 25 before canon starts

Bonus Objective: Get Yua to Level 50 before canon starts

Reward: 5k XP(for both), 1000 Hunie, Gacha Token, +10 Affection with Yua, [Mentor] Skill

Bonus Reward: 15k XP(for both), 3 Gacha Tokens, +20 Affection with Yua, Familiar Stone

--<>--

At least the bears were useful for something. "Yua, come over here a minute." She hops down from the tree branch she was watching from and trots over to me on her short kitten legs. I kneel down.

"I don't know if you've noticed or not, but you're pretty strong now," I say.

"Really?" she asks with excitement in her voice. I nod.

"I guarantee that there's not a single kitten in the world as strong or smart as you." Not a normal kitten anyways. Some sort of cat-like supernatural being maybe.

"Yay! Yua did it!"

"For doing such a good job, Aunty Kyu prepared a special reward for you," I tell her. I pull the familiar stone out of my inventory. In truth, it's more of a crystal, wrapped in a golden band with inscriptions that I didn't recognize. "If you want, I can use this to make you my Familiar."

She tilts her head. "What's a Familiar?"

Thankfully I had gotten the rundown on the details from Kyu earlier. "We'd be connected, permanently. You know how you can talk to me with that collar? Well, if you became my Familiar, you would be able to talk to me without it, from anywhere. We'd always know where the other one was, and I can teleport you to me if I need you. You'll get stronger, faster, as fast as I do, and you'll be able to stay by my side more often."

I can tell she's about to immediately accept so I raise a hand. "I want you to think about this Yua. This is permanent. There might be a way to undo it, but I suspect that if there is, it'll suck, and might come with a pretty heavy cost. So if you do this, it's forever. You won't be able to go off and do your own thing when you're older, you'll always be bound to me."

With a maturity and thoughtfulness uncharacteristic of her age, she actually listens to me, and seems to think about it. "Could Yua still save lost kittens?"

I nod. "Whenever I don't need you for something. Which should be most of the time, Papa will be very strong and will have a lot of friends to help him. And I'll even help you when I can."

"Then Yua wants to do it. Yua wants to stay by Papa's side forever, especially if Yua can still save lost kittens."

I nod. "Okay then." I gently press the Familiar Stone against her small chest, and it sinks into her.

--<Yua is now your Familiar!>--

Yua will now gain full XP no matter the level difference.

Yua can be summoned instantly once a day

Yua can now communicate with you telepathically.

--<>--

"How do you feel?" I ask her.

She tilts her head. "...Yua doesn't feel any different?"

I suppose without the notification, I wouldn't be able to tell anything was different either. But there's one way to confirm it to her. "Here Yua, I'll show you it worked. Let me remove your collar, I have a better one for you to wear anyways." I take off the Multiversal Telepathic Collar. "Try talking to me now."

"Can Papa still hear Yua?" I hear her voice a little differently than when she was wearing the collar. Like it's coming from a different 'direction', though with telepathy the concept of direction doesn't translate very well. But it's just as clear.

"Yep, I can hear you just fine," I send back on the telepathic link, making her perk up in surprise. "Now here, lemme put this new collar on you. It'll protect you a little bit." I pull out a collar that dropped from a spriggan earlier and put it around her neck.

<Spriggan Collar>

<Cat collar made of a plant like leather. Provides 50 damage reduction against magical attacks.>

It doesn't protect her all that much, and it isn't very cute, but I'll take what protection I can get. She's still a kitten, and with no perks to give her modifiers to her health, her health is still at a measly 530. I'll have to do something to fix that as soon as I can. At least she regenerates health at 1% per second now, instead of whatever the healing rate of a mundane kitten is.

"Well, we could stop here. You're strong enough now, and so am I. But screw it. Let's finish up this dungeon and then go home."

"Yay!" Yua exclaims and jumps up onto my shoulder and climbs once more into my hood. "Let's go!"

-x-

-Thursday, 1:44am-

I bury my Ka-Bar knife and my Assassin's Blade into the back of the spriggan, right where her heart is. She screams in pain before the color drains from the wood that forms her body and she falls to the ground, lifeless.

"The barrier around the stone thingy is gone now!" Yua reports from where I have her watching it. I sigh in relief. It was just a simple kill quest after all, not another scavenger hunt.

"I'm on my way, make sure you keep [Sneak] active," I send back to her. I take off, running full tilt even under my own [Sneak], barely making a noise as I speed through the trees.

I almost missed it when I completed the quest to make Yua stronger, but the new skill I had gotten was very useful indeed.

<[Mentor](Active/Passive) - Level 6(13%)>

<Teach party members your skills. Students can only learn 1 skill(s) at a time. Skill only improves while in a party with you. Skill only receives 6% of XP. [Mentor] cannot be taught.>

Perks can't be taught, and if there are limitations on what skills can be taught I'll have to find out later, since I can only teach one at a time. For now at least, the description implies that number will increase. I immediately taught Yua [Sneak]. Of all my skills, only [Photosynthesis] comes close to being as helpful for her survivability.

I arrive at the clearing containing the wardstone for the third area in mere moments. 250 DEX is no joke, and neither is the perk I got when I reached it.

<[FTL Synapses] - Your reaction time is zero, there is no time lag between thought and action.>

It was a little underwhelming at first, but I think I'll appreciate it more once I get even faster. Already I was noticing an increase in my efficiency in parkouring around the forest, and enemies were much easier to dodge now.

Sure enough, the magical barrier that was around the stone before is gone now. I lay a hand on the stone and the colors fade away and a bell chimes in the distance.

It was still pretty early in the night. "Hey Yua, you feeling tired?" I call out to her. She zips over to me and climbs on top of my shoulders.

"Nope! Yua has barely done anything except watch over Papa."

"That's a good point. Hopefully the next area has some enemies you can fight. Come on, let's get this dungeon over with."

-x-

-Thursday, 4:12am-

"Fucking BEES," I yell as I cut two more of the bastards in half. The bees in question are roughly the size of an American football, fuzzy, and have dangerous looking stingers that don't fall out after one sting. Oh, and there are a million of them.

Okay, probably not actually a million of them, but still. They've been swarming us since the moment we entered this section of the dungeon, with no chance for me to [Sneak] again. At least they go down easy, so I don't need the stealth attack multipliers. My new Rogue skill, [Critical Detector], tells me where their weak points are anyways, and they're easy to aim for.

I see another bee approaching, but before it gets close a nearly invisible orb of force slams into it, battering it but not killing it. I draw Spur with my left hand, the same hand that I'm wearing Assassin's Blade on, charge a shot, and fire it, finishing the bee off.

"Good job Yua," I call out.

"This is so much fun! No bug will ever escape Yua now, no matter how high they fly!" Yua exclaims. I look over at her. In her mouth is a Wand of Magic Missile that I found in an earlier chest. It uses 200MP and only does INT damage, so her damage output isn't very high, but it's something. And she's enjoying herself, which is more important.

Motioning for Yua to follow, I head deeper into this section of the woods, killing bees as we go. [Detect] pings off of something I don't recognize, so I head for it immediately.

I enter a clearing absolutely covered in honeycomb. It looks like a bee hive trying to subsume a forest. In the center is the final wardstone, and right in front of it is a humanoid queen bee. She's actually pretty cute.

"Greetings, your Majesty," I call out. "Would you be open to negotia-" I curse and dodge as she screams and lunges at me with her stinger.

"Violence it is then," I say to myself. I call out louder. "Yua, watch for the normal bees. I'll take care of the Queen." I raise Spur and start charging it.

"Got it Papa!"

Spur reaches its maximum charge and I release the trigger, firing a massive white beam of energy straight into the Queen Bee. She screams again in rage, and the fight is on.

-x-

-Thursday, 4:35am-

[Dungeon Traversal] brings me back to my room, the dungeon finally completed. The final boss, who turned out to be Petey Piranha of all possibilities, hadn't been too bad. He had no ranged attacks so I was able to keep my distance and whittle him down with Despair and Spur.

"Wow, you guys really blazed through that one, huh?" Kyu says. I look over at her and blink in surprise. She was much much bigger now, standing at maybe two and a half feet tall. She notices me looking at her. "Yep, I'm halfway back to full size."

"Aunty is so big now!" Yua exclaims. She zips over to Kyu and jumps at her. "No fair, Yua wants to be big too!" Kyu laughs and catches her, her new form just barely big enough to hold Yua.

"Oh you'll be big soon. You just gotta grow up a little. And I'm sure your Papa can find a way to make you even bigger." They both turn and look at me expectantly.

"I'll look into it," I say. "Yua needs a way to increase her health anyways. She's way too squishy."

"Yua isn't squishy!" she protests. "Yua's strong!"

Do I explain the concept of squishiness to her? Nah, too much work. "You're right, I'm sorry. Papa was just teasing." She pouts, but Kyu distracts her with head scratches.

"You've got some Gacha tokens right?" Kyu asks. "Maybe that'll give you something that can help."

"Yeah. 4 from the quest, one from the Queen Bee boss, and another from the final boss. Also have another Crafting Skill gem, but I think I'll hold on to that until I get a Mage class, or until I have a need for a specific skill."

"Well come on then bub, chop chop. Spin that wheel!" Kyu exclaims. Shrugging, I use my six Gacha tokens.

<(3) Black Key>

<Holy swords used by the Church's Executioners. Normally carried as bladeless hilts, you can use 100MP to create a full length blade. Weighted for throwing. Deal DEX damage. When stabbed into a being's shadow that being cannot move.>

<Purging Stone>

<Break it to remove a curse. Works on any curse.>

<Sentient Rope>

<A 50 feet length of rope that is sentient and animate. Has roughly the same intelligence as a dog. Responds to verbal commands. More durable than mundane rope.>

<Stardrop>

<A mysterious fruit shaped like a star that empowers those who eat it. Permanently increases HP, MP, or SP.>

<Shiny Coin>

<A mundane coin except that when it's flipped, everyone's eyes are drawn to it and they're unable to look away>

<Isma's Tear>

<A teardrop green crystal on a silk cord. When worn around the neck, it provides 100% resistance to Acid.>

All of the items are pretty useful, but it's the Stardrop that catches my attention. It's a bit of a dice roll, but it can definitely provide a boost to Yua that she desperately needs. It's pretty useful for me too, but I have a lot of ways to empower myself, and so few ways to empower her. Decision made, I pull it out of my inventory.

"Alright Yua. Eat this. It will make you stronger."

She disentangles herself from Kyu and walks over. "Okay Papa!"

When she finishes eating it, something that takes a while considering that the fruit is definitely larger than her stomach, a light purple glow emanates from her for a moment. I use [Observe] on her.

<------>

Yua

Race: Feline

Level: 67(12%)

HP: 1360 (27.2 per second)

MP: 680 (13.6 per second)

SP: 680 (13.6 per second)

CON: 68

STR: 68

DEX: 135

INT: 68

WIS: 68

CHA: 137

LUK: 76

<------>

I let out a sigh of relief. It did increase her health, and it increased it by a percentage, not by a flat value, which I was afraid of. An increase in MP might have been okay too, I would just have to find a way to make her a forcefield powered by mana or something. SP would have been the worst, leaving me with no choice but to rely solely on [Sneak].

I picked her up and held her against my chest. She closes her eyes and starts purring. "Okay, come on. Let's get a couple hours of sleep in before I have to go to school." I look at Kyu. "You too, come join us."

"Oh?" she asks teasingly, even as she floats over to the bed. "Trying to get me into your bed without finishing the quest first?"

"I don't need to complete a quest to cuddle with a friend, do I? Plus you sleep there every night, I'm just not usually there too."

"Nah fam, you right. Come on, it's cuddle time."

I lay down, and Yua stays curled up on my chest, already asleep. Kyu snuggles up to my side and within moments we're all asleep.

-x-

-Thursday, 12:02pm-

"We should ask Axton to weigh in on the Great Boob Debate," Aika says while I, her, and Atsuko eat lunch.

"Boob debate?" I ask, confused.

"Me and Aika disagree on who has the best boobs in school," Atsuko answers. "It comes up every now and then but we can never agree."

"Oh? I'm surprised. Weren't you saying the other day that all breasts are great, but now you're ranking them?"

She shrugs. "I mean, all candy is good too, but you still have one you prefer more often, right? Same thing."

"I guess," I respond. I look at Aika. "What is the current state of the debate? Who are our top contenders?"

"We eventually whittled it down to either Rias Gremory or Akeno Himejima," Aika said. "Unless you've changed your mind since last time Atsuko."

Atsuko shakes her head. "Nope. Gremory has the best boobs, no question. Himejima's are bigger, but bigger doesn't mean better. Gremory's are the perfect size."

"But even if we're talking about who has the best boobs, presentation and context matter," Aika argues. "I'll agree that Gremory has nice boobs, but Himejima is a perfect Yamato Nadeshiko with big boobs, and you can't beat that."

"And you're still wrong about that," Atsuko denies. "It doesn't matter what she is, we're judging boobs, not girls." She turns to me. "So? What do you think?"

"I think that I have no idea who you guys are talking about," I lie. I haven't seen them or heard any conversations about them since coming to this world, so it's only sort of a lie.

Atsuko slumps. "Oh right, you just transferred here. They're the two prettiest girls in school. Gremory has long red hair down to her waist, and Himejima has even longer black hair that she keeps in a ponytail, and they both have really big boobs. Usually they're together. You wouldn't forget them if you saw them."

"I see," I replied. "Sorry, looks like I can't really contribute to the Great Boob Debate yet. Or at least, I can't help break the stalemate." I lean forward. "But I can say this. I think your boobs are pretty cute Atsuko. They get my vote for sure."

I can watch the blush speed up her face as she goes red from embarrassment. For a little extra oomph, I hit her with just a little bit of [Erotic Pierrot].

<+12 Affection with Atsuko Hyoudou>

"I- you- you can't-" she stammers.

Aika laughs. "You raise a pretty good point Axton. Maybe cuteness is what we should be focusing on."

Atsuko buries her face in her hands. "Noooooooo," she whines. "Stop teasing me you guys."

"No teasing here," I said. "I mean it."

Unsurprisingly, this seemed to only embarrass her further, and the rest of lunch is spent trying to coax her back into the conversation.

-x-

-Thursday, 5:11pm-

It's as Atusko, Aika, and I are walking home together that I see her. She stands out because she's wearing a different school's uniform despite being this close to Kuoh Academy. An [Observe] confirms it.

<------>

Raynare

Race: Fallen Angel

Level: 77

HP: 3600

MP: 3120

SP: 2240

CON: 120

STR: 112

DEX: 107

INT: 78

WIS: 65

CHA: 97

LUK: 34

<------>

The Fallen Angel in disguise heads toward us. I try not to tense. If she's here, now, that means canon is about to start. I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle her trying to kill Atsuko. Do I let Rias resurrect her as a devil, or do I prevent it entirely? It looks like my time to decide is running short.

As she gets closer I frantically try to guess her plan. She asked Issei on a date in canon, which worked because he was a guy constantly reviled by girls before his entrance into the supernatural world. But here, as a girl who didn't seem to have any particular hangups, I'm not sure how Raynare will approach her. Will she just attack outright, not bothering with the deception? I tense up slightly, ready for a fight.

She stops in front of the three of us. "Umm, excuse me!" She starts frantically and bows. "My name is Amano Yuuma. I noticed you at the park the other day and I just had to come and talk to you and ask if you'll join me on a date this weekend because I really want to be your girlfriend Axton!"

...Wait, me?