26 - Worker Ant, Get!

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Lipstick of Denial

— Rare

— +3 Charm

— Effect: Mark the enemy target with a suppressing effect, making orgasm take longer to build. Stacks up to five times.

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"Wow," Ari said. "A rare." The vast majority of item drops were commons and uncommons. It seemed building Silvana to a maxed out pleasure bar had been worth the effort, and that wasn't even mentioning the bonus experience … which while not measurable, Ari assumed had been worth it, too. "Three charm points. And the effect …"

"It seems like a bad thing," Claire said hesitantly.

"It doesn't help us win," Ari said with a nod, "but it helps with trying to do what we just did." She gestured at Silvana, who sat crossed legged and nervous-looking a short distance away from them, having just coalesced and passed over the item. "Slower orgasm means we can play with them more without worrying about them getting off."

"Oh," Claire said. "That makes sense."

An item that helped farm better loot … not the most useful drop, especially since they could always just take things carefully, but not all items were amazing, despite their rarity. Rarity just indicated potency of effect, and the bonus stats that came with the item, not whether the combination of effects and stats would actually be good. Such was the life of adventuring. Luck played a big role.

Though, Ari still appreciated what they'd received. Because a slower orgasm meant she could play with her opponent in a much more engaging way … rather than taking their fingers of tongue, she could have them inside her, without worrying about things ending too soon.

So basically, the best item ever.

"So, um," Silvana said. "Am I free to go?"

Right. Which brought Ari to a topic she'd considered earlier, but had put off. Silvana's inclusion into the Menagerie.

She still had three slots left. With a strong gut feeling that her Menagerie limit would open up as she leveled, she probably didn't need to be super strict about who she let in. Just, she couldn't go taking everybody she rolled around with. There needed to be some discretion.

Did she offer to Silvana?

Ari obviously wanted to. She wanted to offer the opportunity to almost everyone she met.

And … Ari knew she shouldn't be making this decision on something like this … but she wanted a variety of body types and personality to play with. Look, she knew it wasn't practical. She knew if she was trying to maximize her potential for advancement, she'd make the decision purely on their skills, the way they slotted into the dynamic, and their ability to help Ari level up.

But she wasn't practical. She didn't want to be. She wanted a cute, antennaed ant girl with an ten inch cock that she could play with whenever she wanted.

She could, at least, provide some mental justifications. As the first monster girl who didn't—presumably—have a combat class, Silvana would be interesting to watch grow. Who knew what kinds of skills she'd get? A 'worker ant' didn't seem like they'd have the most ground-breaking class ever, but it seemed interesting, if nothing else—especially what skills she might receive as she leveled.

Plus, Ari had been kind of concerned over Claire and Lori's living conditions. Ari had a warm bed to go home to every night, but they'd been roughing it in the wild. Which was normal, and not at all upsetting to them, seeing how they were, y'know, monster girls, emphasis on the 'monster' part, but still. She wanted a better form of shelter for them, even if they didn't know better.

Especially as the Menagerie grew. A worker ant … maybe Silvana would be able to help burrow out a well-crafted home for everyone? Or more?

Ari's head started to spin, considering the potential of the future. Assuming her Menagerie did grow, and Ari continued to collect a whole variety of monster girls, would she have a whole community, eventually? Not just a worker ant to help build, but crafters and artisans of various sorts, a functioning mini-society?

Purely made of cute girls loyal to her? That she got to play with whenever she wanted to? Assuming they were willing, of course … but so far, that didn't seem to be a problem.

Okay. She'd convinced herself. She wanted to see what Silvana's abilities would look like. And, who was she kidding? It wasn't like it mattered if she had practical justifications. Those big silver eyes were way too cute for Ari to resist. She wanted her.

"Do you want to join us?"

Silvana blinked.

"I can bind you to our group," Ari explained. She'd been through this conversation a few times, now, so she knew how to navigate it. "It's completely up to you. I'd understand if you like things how they are." She waved around at the dungeon.

She didn't know what dungeon life was like, but even if Ari herself wouldn't like crawling around these dark tunnels—or being a monster in general—she supposed that was because she was human, not … well, an ant? Different values.

"Bind?" Silvana said. "Join you three?" Her cheeks were darkening as she looked around at them, and Ari could guess why. They were, after all, still naked, and the implication of 'joining them' and what it entailed was fairly obvious.

"You'd have to help us," Ari said. "Contribute. Which means both with mundane stuff—whatever levels your class up—and uh, stuff like this." She waved around at the group of naked girls, indicating what 'stuff like this' meant. "Do you want to?"

"Do I want to?" Silvana repeated. "Uh, is that even a question? That sounds … amazing." Her nose wrinkled as she looked around at the dungeon. "This isn't my favorite assignment, I'll tell you that."

Ari grinned. It seemed she'd found her third Menagerie member.