Chapter 3

This is overdue and for that I apologize, a variation of this note was supposed to go onto the beginning of Chapter Two.

In Chapter Two Kal saw people with very dark skin for the first time and his reactions are intended to be genuine for someone who has never seen a brown- or black-skinned person in their life.

Now ... why did I use the term “Very dark skin” and the answer is because when building the world of TRC I decided upon the concept of geographic cultures among the humans, not racial cultures. In essence, humans are humans, the geography where their ancestors lived may have brought about variances in how they look and their social rituals but every human in TRC is simply seen as human, not black/white/yellow/brown/red/purple/green/blue human.

In this context, I sincerely hope that no one found Kal’s fleeting train of thought as he sees these desert/savannah dwelling humans for the first time as offensive or derogatory. They were most certainly not written with any malice intended.

-Blu

Kal slapped the coins down on the bar, “Six nights, breakfast and supper. I’d like a room away from all of the noise,” he said pointing over his shoulder with his thumb at the dining area behind him.

“As you wish,” said the innkeeper sliding the coins off into his other hand before depositing them into a pouch on his belt. “We have a few ladies—”

“I’ll let you know if I’m interested,” the mage interrupted. The meeting with Toba earlier left him in a bad mood which got progressively worse each time he spoke to an innkeeper with no rooms available. Instead of going toward the slums where the accommodations would be extremely cheap, Kal went the other direction, toward the richer parts of the city.

In his mind, he could see Gerda admonishing him for going to the nicer inns and spending his coin on what he wanted and not what he necessarily needed. He told himself he went with the more expensive places because of safety concerns, but since he was going to set up his tent in his room anyway, it really wouldn’t have mattered if he was in one of the cheap rooms near the slums.

“Very good, sir, your room is upstairs and all the way to the right. Will you be eating now?”

Kal looked out the window and saw the daylight was fading fast. Amazed he could get so little done over the course of an entire day, he nodded to the innkeeper then went to find himself an empty table.

His server was one of the women with darker skin and when she brought his food out he was a little disappointed in the stack of thick, soft flatbread surrounded by a bunch of small dishes with different kinds of sauces and relishes. As he was figuring out how to turn this into an actual meal, the woman came back with a bowl containing roasted strips of meat layered atop some cooked vegetables.

“What can I get you to drink?” she asked.

“Ale, please.”

A few seconds later she came back with a large mug to find he hadn’t touched his food, “Is something wrong?”

He gave her a sheepish grin, “I’m honestly not sure where to start. Am I supposed to eat what is in the small bowls? Do I dump them all into the big one and mix it all up? I’ve never been to this city before and I don’t want to make myself look like an ass by accident.”

The woman chuckled, “There isn’t any wrong or right way though I haven’t seen many just eat the sauces and such by themselves.” She gave him a sidelong glance, “Or maybe you were just wanting someone to feed you?”

The mage flushed bright red, “I’m good, I can feed myself.”

Ignoring him, she pulled over one of the other chairs and sat down close enough her thigh was pressed against his. “Here,” she said with a mischievious smile, “I’ll show you how most people eat this.” Grabbing one of the flatbreads, she smeared a couple of different sauces from the bowls over it then speared a couple of pieces of meat, layering them in the center before finishing it off with some of the cooked vegetables. Folding it into a tight bundle, she lifted it to his mouth and asked, “Would you like a taste?” her eyes made it clear she wasn’t only talking about the food.

The moment was interrupted by the innkeeper calling out to her in an angry tone. Unfortunately, Kal’s translation spell only reached so far, but from past experience, he could tell the man was getting on to her for neglecting the other patrons.

Setting his food down with a sigh she leaned in close. “Leave me a couple of silver and tonight you can find out what I enjoy tasting,” she whispered as a hand snaked under the table and gripped his cock through his trousers.

“Not tonight, but I’m here for a few days, so I may take you up on that,” he said, his voice slightly strained from the pleasant feelings her hand was giving him.

The innkeeper yelled again and she pulled away with a final pat on his prick, “I’ll be looking forward to it,” she said before rising and going about her duties.

Taking a couple of deep breaths to relax, Kal picked up the rolled-up flatbread and bit into it. As he savored the new flavors, he seriously considered leaving some silver on the table.

After the young man went up to his room, another man with a scar on the side of his head waved the waitress over. The woman approached cautiously, the other people in the dining area shied away from the scarred man like sheep ready to bolt from a wild dog and that made her very uneasy.

“Will you be spending the night with him?” he asked.

“No, sir,” replied the woman with a slight tremor in her voice. “Though he said he might be interested later.”

“By then it will be too late. My thanks, and not a word to anyone that we spoke,” he said, placing a silver piece on the table before standing up. Those sitting nearby collectively relaxed as the man left the inn and the woman wondered what kind of trouble the handsome young man had gotten himself into.

“Any other time, I’d say you should have left the silver but whatever you spent all that gold on wiped out a good bit of the coins you had,” said Ria as she and Kal watched the magical tent assemble itself in the middle of his room.

“Our coins,” Kal corrected, frowning. “I didn’t think we were getting that low, but twenty gold for the trip across the desert caught me off guard. I suppose I’m going to have to go to the Grand Bazaar tomorrow and find someone to buy a few gems.” There were other smaller markets in each quarter of the city, but they all paled in comparison to the Grand Bazaar on the northern side of the Palace. His frown came from the slave market on the western side of the Bazaar. He was hoping to avoid ever seeing the place but that looked unlikely now. He could sell his gems almost anywhere, but Gerda collected these for him, and he felt like selling them cheaply insulted the time she put into collecting and shaping them. The best prices for your goods were always at the Grand Bazaar and he could do his best to ignore the slave market.

Kal rubbed his temples as the tent finished, “From getting into it with Tetas this morning, to running low on coins, this has been a horrible day.” Stepping through the entrance, he breathed in the familiar scent of canvas which always seemed to permeate the magical shelter. After so long living in here, it was nearly as calming as going back to his farm.

“Is that why you didn’t bring the lady with you?” asked Ria as she took up her perch on his shoulder.

“Mostly. I’m still not excited about paying for a woman to sleep with me. I prefer knowing they are doing it because they want to.”

“Didn’t you say she was grabbing you through your pants?”

“Yes.”

“How many other guys do you think she did that to tonight? I’m betting it’s none. If she is going to make some money on the side, I imagine she would rather make it with a guy she is interested in first.”

Kal sealed the tent behind them. “True, but I also told her I may have her join me later. With the mood I’m in tonight, I didn’t feel like I would be a very good lover.”

“Fair enough. Do you need a blowjob to make you feel better?”

“Ria...”

“It’s an honest question, Kal. You know I don’t mind.”

He thought about her offer for a few seconds, “I might take you up on that, but something occurred to me while I was crossing the city that I want to look into first.”

“Which is?”

“Cyrene’s slime. Slimes are already strongly magical, you don’t find them all over the world because they are restricted to areas with medium to high concentrations of magic just to live. One scholar I read about, trapped one and took it to an area with little to no magic. He claimed it lived for another five days before dissolving into a puddle. The only reason they are so weak is their low intelligence, they know little more than to seek out water and food. Slime girls aren’t as limited, the size of their bodies allow them to absorb enough natural magic to go pretty much anywhere while a regular slime will split into two long before reaching a slime girl’s mass.”

“I appreciate the lesson, but you haven’t explained what this has to do with Cyrene’s slime.”

“Oops, I did get a little sidetracked there,” he said, looking abashed. “Cyrene is possibly the oldest and strongest slime in the world. Those flasks of slime she gave me are not only magical enough to maintain their slickness and keep from going bad but are still warm to the touch months later.”

“They have been stored inside me for most of the time, so their actual age is probably closer to a few days.”

“I ... hadn’t thought of that ... but I don’t think it changes things. I need to do some tests, but I think Cy’s slime might be strong enough to be a base for my next set of permanent runes.”

“Interesting, while on the subject, why didn’t you get any more tattoos like the ones on your back when we were back at the tower?”

Kal sighed, “Mostly because I was too focused on the gravity and flight runes. I barely looked into making another ink strong enough for permanent tattoos, not that I got very far when I did.” At Ria’s curious expression he continued, “The girls at the tower all know a little bit of magic but mostly because they were bored and wanted to learn a new skill, not because they had a genuine desire to become a magic-user. Except for a few like Sapphire, most of their natural magic goes into sustaining their lives which leaves little for spells and enchantments. Keeping that in mind, it’s little surprise the last of them stopped learning magic more than a century ago.

“With none of them actively studying, things like spell and potion components haven’t been collected and kept fresh. Most of the ingredients I needed for another permanent ink had turned to dust or completely lost their potency.”

“The girls probably would have gotten you some more.”

“I don’t doubt it, but after seeing what was left in Prentas’s alchemy room I decided to just focus on the flight rune.”

“Really... ?” the look Ria was giving him said she didn’t believe him one bit.

“Fine ... I didn’t ask them because I got too involved in the flight rune and forgot to. Happy now?”

The sprite grinned, “Yup.”

Entering the room in the tent set aside for his alchemy lab, he began setting up the apparatus he would need to purify Cyrene’s slime so he could test its magical abilities. Even if it worked, it would only be the base and he would need some other very expensive ingredients to make it into the special ink he was thinking of.

“What are you smirking for?” asked Ria as she flitted down to stand on the table among the glass tubes and flasks.

“I discovered I can make clear inks for my runes. What makes it difficult is all the components have to be clear as well. There is also a dye I can add to make drawing the runes easier that fades after a few days in sunlight.”

“Where did this come from?” asked the sprite. “I thought you had read through your book on Runesmithing three or four times.”

Kal smiled, “This idea didn’t come from there. The author of one of my spellbooks discovered a way to make secret scrolls that looked blank when you opened them, but charging the paper with magic makes the words glow. I want to use the same concept but develop a high-quality version to go on my skin.” He held up a vambrace-covered arm, “As much as I like these and as much as I feel like they are a part of me after wearing them for years now, I would like to see my bare arms more than at the beginning and end of the day.”

He asked Ria for one of the containers of Cyrene’s slime and poured some into a glass, round-bottomed flask before having the sprite store the remainder. Placing it into the distillation apparatus, he slid the small, ever-burning flame beneath it to begin the process. Now all he had to do was keep an eye on things for the next couple of hours to make sure nothing went wrong.

Far, far to the east on the bottom floor of the wizard’s tower where the first monster girls were made, Cyrene stopped talking mid-sentence, a wide grin coming to her face.

“Again?” groaned the frog-girl Molo.

“Yes,” said the slime girl with a wiggle of her blue, transparent hips.

“Lucky bitch,” growled Veir. “I wonder what Kal would think if he knew you could feel whenever he uses some of your ‘lubricant.’” The raven harpy was still annoyed with the slime for not mentioning this little fact to her until she returned from Kal’s home. She could think of several special moments the mage had with his women during his brief stopover at his home and felt like the slime girl had intruded on them. The properties of her slime probably made Kal’s and the woman’s experience better but the fact he didn’t know Cyrene could still feel what happened to her slime felt like the woman was being dishonest in some way.

Cyrene’s eyes suddenly widened in surprise, “Ow! OWWW!”

“What?! What is it?!” cried Sera, her voice filled with worry as the snakes making up the gorgon’s hair fanned out to stare at the slime. She was the only mortal Tower resident and the only one wearing any kind of clothing. Sera had been the most skeptical when the slime revealed the properties of her gift to Kal. She was certain Ria stated she couldn’t store living creatures and was curious how Cyrene had managed to get around this. The slime explained that bags of holding weren’t quite as limited as she believed. Below a certain intelligence, bugs, worms, and such, the creature would be stored and be perfectly fine when retrieved but anything above that level would be rejected. She gave the example of Ria storing a large clump of dirt, the ants and earthworms would get stored but leave behind a mole burrowing through. Since the slime she sent with Kal was just a part of her body without any intelligence of its own, she managed to get around Ria’s limitation.

“I think ... I think he’s boiling me!”

Sounds of confusion came from the girls around the room until Sera held up a hand for silence. She had traveled with him the longest of all the women there and could only think of two methods Kal had in the tent for boiling liquids, and she didn’t think the mage was going to use Cyrene’s slime for making stew. “Can you tell what your body is in?”

“Something smooth,” said the slime girl, cringing. She could make her body not feel pain, but it took time for the magic keeping her parts connected to travel the long distance between her and Kal.

“Glass?” asked Sera.

“Probably.”

The gorgon began laughing. The serpents making up her hair settled down, laying across her scalp and looking more like thick ropes of human hair, except for all the patterned, scaly skin. “It sounds like your slime just became one of his experiments.”

“Dammit, now I’m going to have to wonder what he is going to use me for every time he takes me out of Ria,” Cyrene pouted as her connection with the part of her half-way across the world finally severed.

“After getting to fuck him every time he used you to lube up for the past couple of months while the rest of us went without, I’m going to find it very difficult to feel sorry for you,” said Veir. “But I do hope he doesn’t boil you again, I don’t like seeing you in pain.”

“Me either,” said Sera as Molo and a few others nodded in agreement, “but I’m with Veir on this. It doesn’t seem fair to the rest of us that you still get to do stuff with him. Especially when it happens right in front of us and you brag about it.”

“I was being kind of a bitch, wasn’t I,” said the slime, looking contrite. A moment later her face brightened, “But I might be able to make it up to you!” Watery tendrils streamed out from her body, one for each of the women in the room. “Exact replicas!” she announced as the tip of each tentacle formed into a representation of Kal’s cock. “The next time he uses my slime, I’ll invite whoever is with me to join in the fun.”

The other girls in the room looked among themselves for a moment before Sera answered Cyrene. “Having others in the room might be a little uncomfortable at first but I think I would like that.”

“Kal ... Kaaal ... KAL!”

The mage’s eyes popped open and he sat up in his chair blinking rapidly.

“Cyrene’s slime is done, I think. The flask is dry and it looks like whatever was left wanted to catch fire,” said Ria.

He squinted at the sprite as his eyes continued to adjust. Kal had no idea how long he slept for, but it couldn’t have been more than an hour or so. Once he could see properly see, he noted the burner was pushed away from the round-bottomed flask and the other side of the distillation now had a crystal clear liquid in it with just a hint of its original blue color. Thanking Ria for watching things after he nodded off, he went over to the set of shelves in the room and picked up a tiny bottle.

To most mages, the substance in the bottle would be extremely expensive but more because of the difficulty creating it than the actual value of the contents. A small latch and hinge made of stiff wire held the lid on and a ring of oiled leather maintained the seal. Kal removed the tiny silver spoon attached to the side of the container and carefully opened the lid. Inside was fine sand made of mana crystals. The individual grains were so small no amount of shaking the bottle could ever cause a strong enough collision to crack one of the grains. If even one shattered it would set off a nasty chain reaction that could easily kill him. Using the little silver spoon, he dipped some of the sand out. The crystals stayed fully charged but when put in liquid the grains were too small to hold onto their energy and would lose it to their surroundings. How quickly that happened depended on the fluid’s affinity for magic. In water, the crystal sand produced a dull glow for around a minute while in Aradelle’s nectar it glimmered brightly, but for only a few seconds.

Pushing some magic through the silver spoon and into the crystals to be sure they were fully charged, Kal dumped the contents into the flask. The light from the crystals as the energy escaped into the liquid was bright enough to make Kal wince and turn away while lasting just over a second.

“That looked promising,” said Ria.

“It’s certainly better than Aradelle’s nectar, but I think I was hoping for a super bright, instant flash. But if I can find the other ingredients, I think I may try making it.”

“What else do you need? Since we are going to the Grand Bazaar tomorrow, I’ll stay out and be an extra set of eyes.”

Kal closed the tiny bottle and replaced the spoon in the clip on its side. Holding it up he said, “I need something like this, but finer and made from diamond.”

Ria’s eyes went comically wide, “Diamond?! This man was using powdered diamonds on a magic scroll?”

“No, Ria, settle down. He used high-quality quartz and one other crystal I can’t remember the name of. Since this is going into my body, I want the highest quality components I can get. Funny enough, the diamond doesn’t need to be of extremely high value.”

“That goes against what you just said...”

The mage laughed, “I know, it sounds like it but once the gem is crushed, I can use the process for Bea’s dust to separate any impurities.”

“Take a low-quality diamond and turn it into pure diamond dust. I must say I’m impressed. How do you plan on crushing it though?”

Kal thought back to when he made the pendant on Perra’s necklace and the stone table filled with the powdery remains of many, many amethysts as he learned how to use geomancy to shape the gems. It was also the same process he used to make the powder in the little jar once the mana crystals were completely drained. “That won’t be a problem.”

“Other than diamonds what do we need?”

Kal picked up the flask and looked carefully at the grains of mana crystals resting on the bottom. “I’m going to need something to thicken this to make sure everything is uniform and then I’m going to need a pigment that fades in the sun and isn’t toxic. He made his dye from the stuff left over from burning tar and I just don’t think I want that in my skin. So, I’m going to keep looking for something else.” Plenty of pigments for dyes eventually faded, but he didn’t want to have to wait months for it to happen.

“I know you can tie illusions to things or places. Is there some reason you couldn’t tint the ink with an illusion?” asked Ria.

“Umm ... other than I’ve never tried before. No, I don’t think there is.” He set the flask back down, “Let’s find out.” With a finger, he drew a glowing rune in the air. Choosing a pitch-black image in his mind and the liquid in the flask as the target, he activated the spell. To his surprise, the faintly blue liquid turned black. Amazed, he picked up the flask and swirled it around. The black color immediately began to fade and within seconds, all that remained was a few wisps of color. Soon enough, those vanished as well.

“Was that a success?” asked Ria.

“I think it was,” replied Kal, still staring at the liquid.

“Why did it go clear again?”

“I can’t say for certain, but I may be able to show you.” Setting the flask down he drew the rune again, this time he directed it at his hand. The effect erased any features, making it look like a hand-shaped hole in space at the end of his arm. “That’s interesting,” he mumbled before going back to his explanation. Moving his hand back and forth in front of him, he said, “As you can see, the illusion doesn’t have any trouble staying with me, but if I move it too fast,” he shook his hand vigorously and the darkness covering it winked out of existence, “it’s gone. I think that’s what is happening in the flask but it doesn’t explain those last few trails of color.” Looking up at the sprite, he smiled, “Thank you, Ria. I was concerned the fading dye would contaminate the ink and make it more likely to burn. Now I don’t need to worry.”

“Glad to help! So ... I have a question about something you said earlier.”

“Yes?”

“When you said, ‘our coins,’ did you mean it?”

“Yes, I meant it. I consider you one of my women and you are a member of my party. I don’t think it’s too far of a reach to say, ‘our coins.’ I would do the same if it were any of the other girls. We’ve discussed this before, haven’t we?”

“We have ... but we’ve never discussed something like me having a say in the money.”

“Was there something you were wanting? By the way, I still reserve the right to say no, just like with the Perra or the others.”

Ria smiled, “Yes, there was, and she will only cost two silver.”

Kal stared at her for a long time before speaking. “You’re talking about the waitress, aren’t you,” he deadpanned.

“Yup.”

“Didn’t I mention I wasn’t excit—”

“That’s the best part!” Ria interrupted, “I’m the one buying her for the night, not you! You just get to fuck her into next week while I watch. It’s perfect!”

“I think you are missing a point somewhere. But since I was already tempted to take her up on her offer, I’ll play along. We’ll see if she’s free tomorrow night.”

“Good,” said the sprite, growing in size as the motes of light exited her bag and flew into her body, “Because I love it when you talk about me like I’m one of your living, breathing women and I want to show you how much I appreciate it.” Landing on the floor, she walked toward the room’s exit. Casting a sultry look over her shoulder, she gave him a slight smile as her wings disappeared and her hair lengthened slightly. Her bottom swaying sensuously, the bag of holding’s avatar slipped out the door and made her way to Kal’s bedroom.

Considering how the beginning of his day went, he was tempted to beg off for a tryst tomorrow morning instead. But looking down at the flask with Cyrene’s purified slime, he smiled. This morning had been awful, but these last few hours were certainly productive. Maybe he would finish the night on a high note.

The view as he stepped into his room didn’t disappoint. Ria knelt on the edge of the bed with her feet hanging over the side, swaying her bottom back and forth as a hand reached up and played with her clit. Fine details were difficult to make out from further away because of her glowing body, even in this larger form, but as he stepped up behind her he could easily make out the pucker of her rear entrance and the lips of her sex. The sprite’s body was unique in many ways to any of his other lovers. Because she was an avatar and magical projection of his bag of holding, she didn’t feel things the same way as the other women. Much like her sense of taste, her sense of touch was closely tied to her mood. She once told him she could climax from being punched through a stone wall as long as she thought it was foreplay. The sprite then quickly said she never wanted to test that idea. Despite her boast, her body could only take so much damage before involuntarily returning to her bag.

To Kal, this explained in part why she was such a voyeur. Watching ramped up her arousal quicker which in turn made the fingers inside her and on her clit feel even better. She didn’t always need to watch in order to enjoy herself. One very touching night on the trip between Telsin and Carriston, Kal was feeling down from missing his women and kids back home. He was also feeling guilty for wanting to abandon his quest to meet Ikuno and turn back. Ria made sweet, gentle love to him that night without any of her normal antics.

She wasn’t looking for sweet or gentle tonight. The lengthening of her hair before walking out of the lab meant she wanted him to put it to good use.

His hand came down on her ass with a loud crack and Ria let out a long moan in response. He hadn’t swatted her any harder than any other woman, but the unique nature of her body once again had strange effects. There wasn’t flesh in her bottom to jiggle and bounce when spanked, it would give a little but felt very solid beyond half a finger’s depth. It would only act like true flesh if she consciously willed it.

Kneeling next to the bed, he pushed her fingers out of the way and replaced them with his tongue. The sprite sighed as he switched from small light circles around her clit to teasing her lips and dipping the tip of his tongue inside her.

“I thought I was supposed to be showing my appreciation, not the other way around,” she panted.

Standing, the mage chuckled, “You make it sound like I don’t enjoy it. I’m feeling a little overdressed, Ria.”

She waved a hand, which looked like she just flopped her hand and arm around in the bed for a second, and all of his clothes vanished into specks of light that chased her bag to the floor as the belt it was hanging on disappeared.

“I know you like it, but you always tell the other girls you like how they taste, and well...”

Kal couldn’t really argue with her, licking her sex imparted more of a sensation than a taste. He didn’t want to tell her the strangest part for him wasn’t the odd tingling he felt but that she didn’t get wet when he licked her, it was as though her body repelled the moisture on his tongue.

His cock brushed against her entrance as he reached forward and grabbed a handful of her hair. “I don’t do it just for the taste,” he said, pulling her up so her face was next to his then slowly sliding his prick into her, “I do it because you like it.”

Ria didn’t answer as she savored the feeling of Kal’s cock pushing into her sex.

After a dozen strokes in this position, the sprite moaned, “Harder Kal, let it all out inside me.”

The mage’s hips stuttered. The phrase was a code between them, it was Ria’s way of telling him to release all the frustrations built up over a particularly bad day on her. In the past he had taken full advantage of the offer and gotten so rough with her he regretted it later. Not for the sprite’s sake, she was grinning with pride from a job well done, but because he got so caught up in the moment he didn’t consider the limitations of his human body. Were it not for his healing rune, he would have been sore for the next few days.

With the recent successes in the alchemy room, he didn’t feel the need for her offer, though he did appreciate it.

“Not tonight,” he said pushing her back to the bed. Keeping a grip on her hair, he used it to pull her back onto his cock as he thrust forward. The pace he set wasn’t fast but the sprite’s body shook each time he drove into her. Ria reached down and began playing with her clit, her moans turning into short whines of pleasure each time Kal’s hips slapped into her rear.